An Egg in the Nest Box...HURRAY

Brian spent the evening last night rearranging the coop once again. After calling the farm where he got the chickens he found out the perches are necessary and upset chickens won't lay eggs. (The chickens were VERY mad the perches were taken out and became very noisy.) So back in went the perches and wood shavings replaced the straw in the nest boxes. Golf balls were placed in the nest boxes to simulate eggs. This is just so much more than I ever wanted to know about chickens. :)

When Nick got home from school today the first thing he did was go out to the coop to check things out and TA DA....the first non-splattered egg was found in the right place...in one of the nest boxes!!! He was one excited boy!!!! He is planning on eating it for breakfast tomorrow morning, but I'm thinking he might need something else along with it since it is pretty darn small...which is normal when they first start laying. I know this because I am quickly becoming an expert in all things chicken!! :)

Last Year of Elementary School

I know it's not like me to post 2 days in a row...but yesterday was Nick's first day of school and today was Hailey's. It's so strange to have them in different schools this year!! Hailey got very lucky and got the same teacher Nick had last year...Mr. Johnson...who we LOVED!!!! She had the normal first day jitters but came home very happy and excited...hurray. The first day of school is always a bitter-sweet day for me. It's great to have the kids back in school and not hearing the words, "what can I do" every few minutes, but it's also a stark reminder that they are growing up...quickly!!! I can't believe it's my baby's last year in Elementary School! I've been on the verge of tears all day thinking about that! In fact, I've been thinking about a time when she was a baby and down for her nap. I went in to check on her and she was sleeping up on her knees with her little bum in the air. I remember just watching her wishing I could freeze that moment. That seems like forever ago!! Time flies...that's for sure!

Bear Lake, 7th Grade & Chicken Eggs

Last weekend we went back up to Bear Lake...for fun this time, not for physical punishment. :) It was our annual trip with the Harris' and Atkinson's only this year the Atkinson's could only spend a day at the lake with us. They did come back to our campsites after the lake for a little while but it wasn't the same without them camping with us!!

I realized that the word "camping" can mean different things to different people as I took a peek into Krista's tent! :) Her bed is about 3 feet high and on it she had sheets, a comforter and even a decorative pillow...what???? :) She said the decorative pillow just happened to be in the bag with the comforter...uh huh...whatever...hahaha.

Of course the kids love to roast starbursts over the fire and it wouldn't be a camping trip without doing that!

The first night was freezing so Hailey bundled right down into her sleeping bag.

The next morning we were heading to the lake but Krista first had her breakfast of champions...Pepsi and peanuts. In the picture below you can see the peanuts actually floating in her Pepsi. She grew up on a farm and said their hands were always dirty so that's how they learned to eat them for a quick snack and drink.

This year instead of renting a boat we rented a water trampoline. Sadly it turned out to be a little disappointing. It wasn't very bouncy and they anchored it in waist deep water so the kids' dreams of doing back flips off it into the lake were shattered. They did manage to have some fun on it though but we just won't do it again next year.

Courtney does not love being out in the sun but this year he showed up in a stylin hat to help protect him from the rays.

It obviously didn't do the trick since the towel was soon up over his head too...reminiscent of last year. :)

These kids are such great friends and are awesome together!!!!

As always it was a very fun trip...one that we look forward to every year. We are thankful for such great friends to share it with!!!

Well this week is a big week for Nick...starting Junior High School. He has been nervous all summer about being able to open his locker and find his way around. Last night was back to school night and we spent a couple hours there attending the orientation meeting, practicing opening his locker and walking to each of his classes. By the time we left he felt very confident that he could find his way around.

When we got home from the open house Nick went out to check on the chickens and low and behold there was the first EGG smashed on the ground in the coop. This was very exciting as Nick has been checking every day for 2 weeks knowing that they could start laying any day. The problem was it was not in the nest box. He kept going out there on and off all night last night after finding that and as he opened the door to check on them he sees another egg flying through the air and smashing on the ground...the chickens were actually laying the eggs as they were sitting on the perch and the eggs were dropping about 5 feet. So when Brian got back from his trip today the first thing he did was get the perches out of there. :) We didn't have any more eggs today but I guess it's a little sporadic for the first little while.

This morning Nick got up at 6:00 a.m. because he wanted plenty of time to check on the chickens before getting ready for school. The bus comes at 7:50 so he REALLY had plenty of time get ready. Just the 7th graders went today, which I think is a great idea, and they learned everything about the schedules, the school in general, etc. He came home very happy and excited and ready to go back tomorrow.

Waiting around for it to be time to head down to the bus.

There he goes...I didn't think he'd be too happy if I followed him to the bus taking pictures. :)

Bike the Bear

WE DID IT!!!! 52.15 miles around Bear Lake in 4 hours and 10 minutes of ride time and about 5 minutes of rest time.



We picked Nick up from Scout Camp at Bear Lake around 7 pm and went over to pick up our race packets. Nick's front bike tire was flat so when we got down the canyon to Logan we had to find a Walmart to get the things Brian needed to fix it. By the time we got dinner, fixed the tire, got to the hotel, had Nick get in the shower since he was stinky from not showering at scout camp all week, we fell into bed somewhere between 11:30 and midnight. We had to get up at 4:30 am to get ready and back up the canyon to the starting line by 6:00 am. We headed out on our way about 6:50 and it was chilly but perfect riding weather. The ride was smooth sailing till about 15 miles in on the east side of the lake...that's when the hills began and didn't end till about mile 30. We were VERY happy to finally reach the north side of the lake and leave the hills behind us!! The last 20 miles was just a matter of pedaling, pedaling and more pedaling and then the thrill of seeing the finish. It was a great feeling to accomplish this goal and it was awesome to do it with Nick!! Hurray!!!



This is Nick when we picked him up from camp...he was a dusty, filthy mess and had the time of his life. :) I've been trying to post pictures that he took from the week but for some reason it's not working...hopefully I'll be able to figure it out and get them posted.



Brian and Nick riding...key learning is you do not let a marathoner set the pace for the ride if you are not a marathoner yourself. :) We were fine keeping up with him until we hit the hills. Then we sent him on ahead and we went at our pace. He kept coming back and checking on us though so he obviously rode much further than 52.15 miles that day. :)

View from the ride.

Nick still going strong around mile 25.

We finished and got our medals!!! :)

Thankful Thursday

Today is Brian's birthday and I am thankful for him. He is such a great husband and father and I am very blessed to have him in my life. He also thinks he's pretty funny and sometimes I think he's pretty funny as well...he certainly keeps life interesting. :) He's a great example of setting and accomplishing goals and also of serving others. He's always willing to lend a hand in some one's yard or with a project and would do absolutely anything for his friends. We love him!!!

While the Cats Away...

Brian and Nick left for scout camp Monday morning at 7:00 and Hailey and I had big plans while dad was gone...a bedroom makeover. Hailey wanted this so bad she was willing to pay for it (most of it) with her own money she's been saving. So after I finished working on Monday we headed to Ikea. She has been wanting a bigger bed, but didn't want to pay the money for one that was already finished so she was willing to do the labor for the right size and price. :) She picked out an unfinished pine frame that came in a flat box full of boards...that's what it looked like to me. :) She also found a white desk she loved, a hot pink chair to go with the desk and a cute little hot pink reading light for the desk. Unfortunately they were out of the desks so we have to go back at the end of the week to pick that up...but we got everything else and then realized Brian had the truck up at scout camp and we had his little car that would not hold all of this great stuff. Our wonderful neighbors came to the rescue with their truck...thank you Krista and Courtney!!!!! After we unloaded at home we headed off to Home Depot to get the paint. She wanted it white since she likes to change the colors in her room often. We primed it and did the first coat of paint that night and went to bed about midnight. The next morning we put the 2nd coat of paint on and after it had plenty of time to dry we put it together. She loves it and thinks it was totally worth all the work. :)

Babysitting, Biking, & Fishing

We (Hailey) got to babysit our favorite little Ellie this week and she was SO fun!!! She turned 1 this week and is doing more and more things every time we see her. We love this little girl! :)

This morning I set out to ride 35 miles on my bike by myself. Nick decided it would be a lot more fun to go fishing with dad then biking endlessly with me. I can't say that I blame him. I did some research this week to see if Brian was right about all that hydration and eating stuff before a big ride and low and behold he was...darn it. Only it did say that I could eat and drink an hour before rather than 2 hours before. So I got up and had a wheat bagel with peanut butter (which was another suggestion I found and was something other than oatmeal) and I drank water. I drank lots of water while I was biking and ate a few bites of a cliff bar and I felt WAY better at the end this week compared to last. I was still exhausted and my legs were burning, but I did notice a drastic difference in my energy level. So with this 35 miler my training is now complete and it's on to the 50 miler event next Saturday. Wish me luck because I'm going to need it!!! :)

Riding by myself today for that long was a little challenging. I do love listening to great music and taking in the scenery but just under 3 hours is a long time to be on a bike by yourself. So I amused myself by trying to take a self portrait with my camera while biking and not crashing. :) This is one of the only ones where I'm actually in the shot...attractive I know. hahaha

Some of the scenery that I passed a couple times trying to get in the miles. :)

The best part of the day...bike back on the rack and leaving with a sense of accomplishment that I actually did it! :)

These are the only 2 catches of the day for Nick. They gutted them and cooked them over our fire pit in the backyard and fed them to the chickens...who LOVED them!! :)

Thankful Thursday - A Day with Hailey Ray :)

Okay so that's not really Hailey's middle name, but it is Brian's middle name and it rhymed with Day and I think it sounds cute...I kind of wish I would've thought of that when we were naming her. :)

But today I am thankful for the day I spent with my cute daughter. First we went to get pedicures together which was very fun and relaxing...except when it tickled...that part wasn't very relaxing! :) It was fun to sit in the massage chairs and chat and read while they were making our feet soft again. Well, Hailey's little 11 year old feet were already soft but my, older than 11 feet were pretty rough and were in desperate need of TLC. After we were done there we went to get Hailey's hair trimmed and a few layers added. (I forgot to take pictures of that.) It was a nice little make over day for her and fun for me to hang out with her one on one. We stopped at the grocery store on the way home then she helped me make dinner. I love her so much and she is growing up way too fast for me!!! Sometimes it's nice to stop and smell the roses together. :)

This picture is actually from last night when we had a HUGE rain storm. Nick and Brian were gone and I noticed the window was open in the Chicken Hilton in our backyard so I sent Hailey out to shut it and shut the little chicken door out to the run. The minute she got out near them they all stampeded out back into the run and I could hear her say, "No, get back in there" and motion with her hands. She kept motioning and saying, "Go back in...go back in..." and for some reason they just weren't obeying her. It just made me giggle. :)
Hailey getting ready for her awesome pedicure!

The tickley part...but she endured. :)

Pretty toes.

Pass the Ibuprofen Please

As per our training schedule, Nick and I rode 30 miles on Saturday. Remember that ray of hope I had after the 25 miler we did last Saturday that I could actually do 50 miles? Well that might be a tiny little pen light of hope now rather than a whole ray of hope. It DID NOT feel good. The first 25 felt pretty good just like last week, but that additional 5 felt like it went on FOREVER!!! I barely had the energy to lift the bikes back up on the bike rack when we were done and I came home and took a handful of Ibuprofen and put ice on my knees. Nick, on the other hand, came home and walked around normally the show off. :) Oh to be 13 again!!! Brian is telling me that it's because I'm not eating and hydrating properly before I go on these rides. He says I should get up about 2 hours before we are planning on riding and eat some oatmeal (which I don't even like) and drink about 16 ounces of water. Uh, I don't like getting up at 7 am to get on a bike let alone get up at 5 am to eat and drink? This is why I'm not a marathon runner...because you have to do things like this...plus the running part too. :)

Next Saturday we're supposed to go 35 miles so we'll see how that goes. I will say that before the utter exhaustion sets in, I really enjoy riding along with Nick and listening to great music on my ipod. It always makes me giggle when my music is between songs and I can hear Nick behind me singing loudly along with his ipod. :) I'm really proud of him too for sticking with this goal to get his cycling merit badge. I think I might request a badge of my own after this is over. :)

Nick on a cliff bar break to keep the energy up. :)

This was Nick's favorite part of our ride last week...the cows! :) Like father like son! :)