Mondays are my P-days ( P stands for preparation)  It's when I do my grocery shopping and errand running. and Fridays are my work days when I I clean my house, like the bathrooms, dust, change sheets on beds, mop and wax my floors, kitchen, etc...etc... AND I mow and edge the lawn. That's my favorite of my jobs. I LOVE mowing the lawn! I love putting my earphones in and listening to music or an Audible. My lawn is huge, and it takes me a good 3 hours to get everything done. Then when I am done, I love taking my overalls off and  sit in my neverminds on my porch swing with a Dr. Pepp ..read more

 Gigs gladly accepted to take a few critters- in this case, lizards home from the FFA classroom for the summer. When I picked him up from school today, we loaded up two very large  aquariums with two lizards. One of the lizards, Cheese, accompanied us at dinner tonight along with Lottie's best friends, who were mesmerized by the creature. Or maybe it was Gigs?  He's pretty cute, too! Yum!!  On the menu: Lasagna, salad, garlic bread, grapes, and Cheese the Lizard ..read more

Today we let the chicks roam free outside under our front yard tree.   Under very close supervision from Lottie and Gigs (Angus too). They pecked around, scratched, and were super adorable.   And I have to give kudos to Angus, who was a very  good boy and well-behaved around the new brood. And we know we have at least one rooster in the mix since one of the little brown guys tried chasing Angus off when he got too close. Gigs and Christian are designing a mobile chicken coop  for these lucky ladies (and dudes). We're going to name it the chicken hytte (That ..read more

A few weeks ago, Nicholas was asked by our friends to take care of their  beautiful chickens while they went out of town. This is a job he's this before, and he usually brings home the eggs they lay, which I love because I'm enamored by the colors and always set them out on the kitchen counter because they make me happy,  and they are, of course, delicious! This time, he gathered the eggs (all 21 of them) and brought them home and put them in our egg incubator. Unsure of the outcome, they cooked under the warm glow for 24 hours for about 21 days, and then, one day, we noticed moveme ..read more

 It's almost 5th-grade graduation and this is a BIG deal since it means my little Lottie  won't be in elementary school anymore.  (My heart is breaking.  She's too little for Middle School). We've been dress shopping for the big day. She agreed on a super cute ice cream dress. We thought it was so whimsical and adorable! Claire, via Marco Polo, sent Lottie her opinions on this cute dress, and sent her some fun photos of her and Jane at their  elementary school graduations in 2014 and 2015. We all had a good laugh!   This will be the end of an era for me;  ..read more

Tonight Christian and I spent the evening in the temple, and  it was one of the most spiritual experiences I've ever had with him. I felt so much peace. Quiet peace. Secure peace. Solid peace. Sure peace. Calming peace. This world! I've never felt so worried and threatened as a woman and mother, in my life. Sometimes it's just so SO overwhelming, and I can't keep up. I'm trying to stay afloat, and the world tries to  pull me into despair and discouragement. Tonight with Christian, I felt peace. We need peace to keep us planted and protected from all the noise that occupies so muc ..read more

 This afternoon Christian came into the house after  making his afternoon pasture check very somber. "We lost a baby," he announced. My heart sank. Baby May was probably born earlier in the day without us knowing, we're not exactly sure, but we think mamas teats were too big for baby May to grasp, and without that early colostrum right after birth babies have a much greater risk of death and exposure. That's what we think happened. She was so tiny and beautiful, and I was so sick about it. We've got four more mamas still close to delivery, and  we're checking on them muc ..read more

  I woke up this morning at 5:45 to wake up Gigs for seminary. Ugh, another Monday. I have to admit, I was feeling a little anticlimactic with Andrew gone and a whole week ahead of  testing and other stressful events with school winding down, and so much work responsibility for Christian. Sometimes it's overwhelming! I was a little depressed. I climbed the stairs, fully preparing to have to shake Gigs awake. But there he was on his knees (well, almost) praying. "Gigs?" I quietly asked. "I'm just saying good morning to God,"  he announced, popping his head out from under t ..read more

 This morning we got up, packed the truck with our beach essentials;  blankets, towels, a cooler full of drinks, sandwiches, and our radio  (which wasn't charging in the car and was DOA).   We drove three hours to my favorite beach, Emerald Isle. It was a little more crowded than usual and a little chilly. I kept my sweatshirt and jeans on most of the time. But Andrew, Christian, and Lottie (Gigs had to work...booo) all got in the water at least once. The rest of the time, we played wiffle ball,  we found cool jellyfish and shells, and, of course, we lay out and ..read more

 This morning we woke up to rain. Normally I would rejoice in this weather, but why did it have  to rain today, on Lod's field day?! Nevertheless, I got her up and packed an extra pair of clothes in her backpack, then in the pouring rain, I dropped her off at school. She was still really excited. I love kids! When I came home, Andrew was snuggled up on the porch swing with Angus at his feet, just living their best lives. I made bread in the kitchen and then sat with him on the swing  while the bread was on the counter rising. Once the bread was cooked, we ate almost the whole ..read more