Girls Night Out

There are a several young mothers in my ward and occasionally we like to get together and have a girls night out. One of our friends is moving soon, so we decided that we needed to get together before she goes. We live in a very small town so anything we do is in the city about a half an hour away. When I say city I really mean bigger town! We went to Chili's to eat- it was yummy- and sat at our table and talked for three hours. Luckily our table was in the back corner because our conversation was not family friendly!

Why is it that when women get together without husbands or kids the conversation always includes pregnancy, breastfeeding, and sex? Is that the only thing interesting going on in our lives? Or is it because those seem to be universal topics that eveyone can relate to and tell a story about? It is fun to hear other people's experiences and laugh together. And I always walk away thinking that i'm not so different from everyone else- we all have trials and we all need people to relate to.

I also learned that staying out until midnight is not something my body does well anymore!

Picnic

What do we do when mom is grumpy, dinner isn't cooked and the kids are hungry and dad is out of town? Picnic in the living room while watching a movie! Grilled cheese (seems like such a cop-out, but everyone loves it), carrots, grapes, and Powerade. Happy kids- not so grumpy mom!

Sunshine

I love my little Sunshine! She always amazes me with her generosity and her tender heart. Today we had to take the 4-H sheep to the official weigh-in and get signed up in the club. When it was our turn our Buck had a tag in his ear that the officials didn't like so they took it out. I didn't see them do it but Jared and Sunshine both described it as "they just ripped it right out!" They were a little upset and his ear has a big ol' hole in it that was bloody and gross looking. Then they stuck a different tag in his other ear. Poor guy. I didn't really think about it much as we went through the drama of signing in and weighing and transporting the sheep back home- which went pretty smoothly, I think we are figuring things out. (now that I said that all hell will break loose!)

-On a side note, they served doughnuts at the weigh-in. Picture this: twenty sheep, at least fifty people, trucks driving back and forth, sheep pooping and making noise, and my kids go eat a doughnut. I thought Jared was going to come unglued with the smell and the noise and the yuck everywhere! Who serves refreshments at a livestock weigh-in? Mormons!

Anyway, about an hour later Sunshine was getting upset about something silly and I asked her what was really wrong and she broke down and just sobbed about the poor Buck's ear. She was really worried about him. Her little tender heart was sad that he had gotten hurt. She's such a sweet girl! I am worried when it comes auction time, though. I think she knows that they will be lamb chops, but hasn't really processed it yet. I guess we'll cross that bridge when we get there- and I'll take some kleenex!

Chasing Sheep

Sunshine is old enough to do 4-H this year and wanted to do a lamb. She has cousins who have been very successful with their lambs and had good experiences, so she was excited to try it. I, on the other hand, hear the horror stories from my sister about all the things that can go wrong with sheep and I am not so excited! It is amazing what we do for our kids in the name of teaching them responsibility and the importance of work. Sunshine does a good job getting her chores done and she is pretty responsible, but it always creates more work for me when she gets a project! Maybe I should say it creates more work for Jared:)

Anyway, we got two lambs on Saturday morning and the first thing they did when we got home was get out and we spent an hour chasing them. Sunshine threw herself in front of one of them and got trampled, but she remained in good spirits and Jared finally got a hold of one. The other one came right over once his sister was in captivity. They aren't very smart, which is a plus for us! The rest of the weekend went smoothly and I was starting to enjoy seeing them out the window and the kids have had fun petting them. Then this morning happened.

Sunshine fed them and forgot to wire the fence shut when she was done. The lambs can't get the gate open from the inside so we are assuming that our sweet lab Kobe pushed it open for them. I looked out the window to see him chasing them around the pasture. He was in heaven! Of course, Jared wasn't home. So, Sunshine and I spent forty-five minutes chasing sheep.

Eleven weeks until the livestock auction:)

Bagels

I made bagels today. I had never before thought to make my own bagels until I saw THIS post on Pinterest about making bagels. It is surprisingly easy and they tasted FABULOUS! No more stale, expensive, store bought bagels for me! I was surprised to learn that they are boiled before they are baked. Weird, but awesome:)

Jared was home today and he put the kids to work in the orchard all morning and I spent the morning in the kitchen alone, which never happens, doing dishes and making bagels. It was a really great morning- as much as I love my kids I enjoyed some quiet thinking time and being able to wash dishes without the help of Little Lou! (Her idea of a good time is a sink full of soapy water and some dishes to fill up and dump out!)I sure do love my handsome hubby and all that he does for me!

Crockpot Love

We have been married for thirteen years now and I am starting to see a disturbing trend. No, not the sagging of all things once perky on my body, or the fact that all bodily functions are no longer embarrasing to him- although both of those things are disturbing in their own rights. But what is really bothering me is that all of the small kitchen appliances that I recieved as wedding gifts are wearing out. My crockpot, toaster oven, hand mixer, waffle iron...its like a sudden mutiny of small appliances. The crockpot went first- I loved my crockpot. I may have shed some tears. It had the perfect settings, was the perfect size and fit nicely in my cupboard. I have never bought a crockpot or even shopped for one so it was a bit daunting to stand in Kohls and look at all the new options. They have more buttons and settings than I could ever hope to figure out. Sometimes with my old crockpot I would turn it on and forget to plug it in, or plug it in and then forget to turn it on. There is no way I am going to remember to program it correctly when I barely remember to plug the thing in! I searched several places and finally found a cherry red, 5 quart crockpot that only has three settings and doesn't require computer programming knowledge. It is oval instead of round so it doesn't fit in my cupboard as nice as my old one, and it is taller, so it doesn't fit on the bottom shelf of my fridge like my old one did. I am learning to love it, though. And I'm sure after thirteen years I will shed few tears for it.