Fresh

Who doesn't love fresh eggs?? There's just something about walking out to the chickens in the morning, noon, or whenever the mood strikes me, and checking for eggs. There's just something about finding 6 eggs in the boxes in one trip. There's just something about pulling a still warm egg from the box. Or even taking one out from under the poor girl who just wants to sit on it for awhile. 24 Hens. 2 Roosters. Such bliss. Until they get sneaky. The little twits :) I heard a few singing their egg song last week and walked out to the coop. Lo and behold, one of the girls was NOT in the coop. She was in the blackberry bushes. Singing away. Oh, and for those that don't have chickens, the egg song is what they "sing" when they are laying. It's sounds JUST like the cadbury bunny. I walked carefully through the bushes and there she was. The little sneak. Sitting on TWO eggs and working on a 3rd!! I grabbed the two and waited for number 3. She was NOT happy with me! Since then, we have not found anymore in the bushes, but I still check everyday. We had 11 eggs yesterday and have already gotten 6 today... 1 of which is the biggest egg I have EVER seen! Poor girl! Thankful for the chance to raise these girls. Thankful for fresh eggs. Thankful for some yummy chicken... We'll be down a roo soon. He went after Caden last week and I'm not one to tolerate bullies. So, after some friends borrow him to breed to their hens, we'll get to see what tasty home grown chicken tastes like. He sure looks like he'll taste good!

Not Going To Whine...

Just give the facts. It's the end of July. We went camping for 5 days. It's the end of July. The sun came out for 1 half day. ONCE. The other days it did not appear or only appeared around 4 or 5. It's the end of July. I was wearing socks, shoes, jeans, sweatpants, a long sleeve shirt, a short sleeve shirt, TWO fleece sweatshirts and my Dad's snazzy green fisherman's type windbreaker. All at the same time. Everyday. I smelled good. It was cold. We sat around the campfire. All day. We played at the beach.We made smores. We snuggled close. We ate crabs and clams. We woke up to sounds of raccoons. Every night. The raccoons got into our cooler and we awoke to find paw prints there and a loaf of bread gone. The raccoons freaked me out a bit. It was July. We curled up in our beds. Snuggling. Layered in many layers. Laughing that we had also brought shorts to sleep in. We had 8 campsites. 20 kids. 18 adults. The kids explored. Rode bikes. Whined. Played in the sand. We journeyed 15 minutes north to find the sun one day. We enjoyed the warmth of the sun. The kids played in the warm sand. Some went crabbing. Some found sand dollars. We stopped at the cheese factory on the way home. Watching them make cheese and ice cream. Then, we had to try some ice cream for ourselves... White licorice. Cookies and cream. Cookie dough. Peaches and cream. Peppermint candy. Strawberry cheesecake. Coffee almond fudge. Yum. We drove home. Stripping sweatshirts off as we got closer to home. Happy to watch the thermometer climb. Loving the warmth as we pulled into the driveway. Unpacked. Found the camera that had been missing. Made dinner. Pulling meat out of crab legs. Sweating at my kitchen sink. Loving every second of it.

Amazing

In the beautiful blue waters of Cabo San Lucas, while I swam next to my amazing husband, I said these words... Happy Anniversary! It's not really our anniversary. Not yet anyway. Not until August 8th. But, I figured, it's not far off and I loved being in the same place that we were 12 years ago. 12 years! I can't believe it. The last time we were on these shores with no children, we were practically children ourselves. 21 (me) and 22 (Cory). So young. So in love. So much ahead of us. I cherished every single day of our trip. Enjoying the peace. Enjoying the fact that I did not get stressed at all. Enjoying the fact that I didn't have to cut any one's food up or eat cold food because of doing said task. Enjoying the fact that I could just reach over and hold my love's hand as we walked wherever it was that we were going. Enjoying the fact that we could have a conversation without being interrupted (well, mostly, there were still vendors on the beach that required many "no, thank you's"). Cherishing it all. Soaking it all in. Because, if it's another 9 years before we get another kid free vacation, I will want to remember this for as long as I can... We spent the week at a house that our friend's parents own. 3 beds. 4 baths. Beautiful view. Infinity pool on the roof. 5 minutes from the closest beach. We ate dinner out. We ate dinner at home. We went to the beach every single day. We ate lots of chips and guacamole (well, I did anyway!) I read 3 whole books and one entire magazine! We laughed until we cried and cried until we laughed. We got to spend the week with some amazing friends. Friends who we've known forever. Some we've known well and the others that we were so blessed to get to know better. We were so blessed by this trip and I couldn't help but look around and see God everywhere. Filled with awe and wonder at the fact that He did not have to make it so beautiful here. This is not it. It's not heaven. And yet, He did. He gave us crystal clear water. And Land's end. And the arch. And amazing sunsets. And white sandy beaches. And guacamole :) So thankful for an amazing trip. So thankful for amazing friends... friends we vacationed with and the amazing friends that cared for our children while we were gone. Thankful for Cory's sister and brother in law who also loved on our kiddos. Thankful to come home and wrap my arms around my sweets babes. Thankful for it all!