Where to begin?

At the beginning?
Seems logical.
One might think so...but, not for me.
I think I will just spew a blog post here and there and eventually I will cover the Idaho trip.
When last I posted I was feeling a wee bit melancholy---things turned out all right in the end.
A good time was had by all.
All right, so let's get crackin'
What do you want to know about first????
How about I tell you about me really getting in touch with the old farmgirl roots?

Here's the story:
Pretty much every visit home includes at least a couple of cow chasing episodes. This one did not disappoint. I actually don't mind getting the cows in. There was one instance that I didn't get the heads up to head on out....something about my parents thinking I was already asleep and letting me be--c'mon guys--I'm am good to go any time!! It always makes me feel farmgirlish to get the cows in, a little nostalgic I guess.

In fact, even my running was cow related this year. (besides the fact that our team name is 'We need more Cowbell') One morning I was heading out for a run and those crazy beasts were out so after running down to the state line and back twice, I called it a workout.
I did my last long run before the race with my brother, Richard and sister, Sara. Richard picked the location--Giraffe Hill. We drove to our starting point and ran about 6 very windy, but very beautiful miles. After we were done, we climbed back in the truck to head home. Long story short: someone was taking their cows out to range and we were stuck in a 'cow parade' for about 25 minutes. Good times.

Wanna know what the very best farmgirl thing was? When my dad asked me to stay a few extra days to help swath the hay. Need to see pictures to believe it??? Okay, Lucy was my trusty photographer....

Yep, this crazy girl right here.

There I am, in all my swathing glory.
You may not be able to see it very well, but that is indeed me behind the wheel.

Here's my view, not too shabby 'eh?

Have I ever told you my parents live in just about the most beautiful place on Earth?
No??
Well they do.

Goose took a self portrait of the two of us.
I'm a beauty to behold.
How do you like my googly eyes?
I like to refer to them as my swathing eyes...
one eye on the camera and one eye on the field.
(okay, so maybe not so much one on the field and one on the camera
as two eyes just plain going in two different directions)
That's how I roll.
I'm gifted.
Can you do that??
Ya, I thought not.

They keep a bean bag in there for the kiddos to sit/sleep on.

FYI the swather is pretty much the best nap spot ever.
Grant got some good zzzz's out there with me.
This is my view of her.


And this is her view of me.

There you go...farmgirl the swathing fool.

And while we are on the subject of Goose...
That girl of mine asked me a few weeks ago how long her hair would be if she cut 10 inches off.
I donated my hair a few years ago and she wanted to do the same.
She is a sweet girl, that one.



Her hair was really long.


Of course, she wouldn't dream of making such a change without the beautiful
Aunt Amanda behind the scissors.


I know my fancy camera work did not capture the moment...
but the look on her face was classic.

Such a cute, sassy new do.
Very, very Goose-esk.

Truth is....

I am still alive and have not fallen off the face of the Earth.

Truth is...
I am in Idaho.
I am in Idaho attempting to enjoy some R&R.

Truth is...
Normally when I am in Idaho I don't give the rest of my life much of a second thought, I unwind with the best of them. I soak in the scenery and recharge my farmgirlness.

Truth is...
That plan isn't working so well this year. There are people, important people, coming and going back in the St. G in the next little while. Specifically a baby coming and some besties going. I'm not a huge fan of missing any of this. And so--

Truth is...
I feel like I'm here but a big piece of my heart has been left behind. And I'm not used to that. As a general rule I like to keep all of my internal organs with me. However--

Truth is...
I better get it back together because I'm gonna need a lot of heart to run this race. That's right, the race that is happening Friday. As in, the day after tomorrow. The Wasatch Back is here again. I'm running with four of my siblings, that fact alone makes it all worth while.

Truth is...
I'm not feeling as prepared as I was last year.

Truth is...
I think I will be just fine any way. !st run-- 3.4 miles. 2nd run--7 miles. 3rd run--6.1 miles. Total milege--16.5 I can do it. I can do it. I can do it. I can do it. See a pattern?? Ya, I can do it.

Truth is...
It is now 10:57. The latest I have been awake (by a good 45 minutes-and even that was only one night and kind of a fluke) since my arrival here. And I am starting to feel it.

Truth is...
I took a Tylenol PM before sitting down to write this.

Truth is...
I think the drugs are catching up with me....
:)
Peace out.

Dear Diary,

Day five of summer vacation. So far, so good.
Currently listening to two oldest children fighting, like to think of it as our summer themed background music--it plays a lot. After a while it's like elevator music, hardly even notice it.
Quite enjoying the lazy mornings. Lazy meaning still up at 6:15, just enjoying not going from sleep to fifth gear in 60 seconds.
House cleanliness: approximately 67%.
Okay for now, cannot maintain sanity and 67% cleanliness for extended period of time.
Leaving for three days to attend Youth Conference in mere 36 hours, taking oldest child.
Expected house cleanliness upon return: approximately 38%.
If house is still standing, and all four remaining children are unscathed- will accept 38% happily.
Hoping to ban entire family for minimum 4 hours from house for recovery mission.
Clean House = Happy Mama
Clean House cleaned by Mama = Even Happier Mama
Happy Mama = Happy Family
:o)

Back in Business.

Question?

What do you need to create this?...

(I'm referring to the food in these pics, not the children.
Clearly, I've got that one figured out--
five kids, remember?
Yup, I know what it takes to create them.)

;)

(Goose is crazy. I love her.
But there is no denying that she is nuts.
I smile pretty much every time I even think about her.)

(Yes, we celebrated a birthday 'round here.
And a birthday brownie cake was requested.)

(I love my boys. They love my cookies.
It's a match made in heaven.
And they love it when I take pictures of them eating.
Especially Adam, I think it's his new favorite thing.)

(It sure is a good thing I got that whole Kid Creating thing down,
because I really do have some oh so good looking punks.)

(please try to control your jealousy over my circa 1970 plate,
i have a whole set, you know. as i said, try to control the jealousy.
it's not good to covet thy neighbors flat ware.)



But, I digress.
Now- back to the point...
what does one need to create such delectable goodness?

Ohhhh, just one of these little gems.
I was prepared to go ovenless for the long haul.
And then, well.....
Isn't great that some times life is just so good to me?
And, yes, it has been less than a week and I have made ALL of those things.
Some more than once.
What can I say??
I'm really good in the kitchen.

This is it.

The last day of school.
The last school bell will be ringing in just moments....
Are we ready, Troops?
I think I am.
This has been such a crazy, busy year I am actually looking forward to just being with my own kids for a while.
Are you all okay???
Did the fall cause any permanent damage?
Ya, ya, I know-- you can all get back up off the floor now that you have fallen out of your chair with the shock of that statement.
And, yes, I will need to come and reread that statement often because I'm sure I will forget why exactly I was looking forward to the chaos-fight-fest that we like to call summer vacation.
Actually, the summer is already feeling pretty full to the brim.
I'm sure it will come and go at light speed, just like the school year did.

Only a week and a half until operation Recharge farmgirl's Farmgirlness Ways begins.
We also like to call that, my annual Idaho trip.
Pretty exciting stuff.

All right, that's it.
I'm going to go savor the last 5 minutes of school year that is left for me.
:o)

My life as a Pea Plant.

Anyone who has spent a spring or two here in the St. G knows that the wind blows.
Oh, how that wind does blow-
Especially here on the heights.
This has been a particularly weird weather year, instead of our normal spring wind we have had sort of a cool-esk/wet-ish spring.
And then yesterday came, and then last night came, and then today came
...and it's been a bit breezy.
Nothing too horrible, unless, of course, you are a pea plant....


A pea plant residing on the south side of the trellis specifically.

If you had the unfortunate luck to be on the south side, well, it's probably been kind of a rough 24 hours.
When I walked out this afternoon to check on the beloved garden, I discovered those southern trellis pea plants. Poor guys all fallen over, I thought for sure the stems and stocks were all broken. However, on closer examination I discovered that was not the case--
Yes, they were leaning.
Ya, they were falling over, big time.
At a glance it looked like they were beyond any help.
Any closer to the ground and it may have snapped them right in two.
BUT,
They were hanging on.
They were down, but not out.
How did they do it?
How did they survive?
Holding on to the trellis?
Sort of.
But, mostly,
they were holding onto each other.

This is the part were if I had a fancy shmancy camera you could really see just how intertwined those pea plants are (since I don't you will just have to work with me people).
There is one little guy living on the south side holding on for dear life, ready to bite the dust and there are a whole bunch of helpful northern friends leaning over the trellis, not letting go. Keeping that friend of theirs from completely falling over.

And I just had the thought while I was picking up those tough southern side pea plants and tucking them back into safety that they maybe feel a little like I do.
Really, really grateful for a garden full of pea plant family and besties.

I'm thinking I should be afraid.

Very afraid.

Audrey is a self portrait queen.
The Queen.
You can all bow down to her greatness and glory.
She takes a lot of self portraits, at one point I wanted to do a blog post about it.
I had a vision of the cool little doodads with tons of pictures on them...I don't know if you even know what I'm talking about here--but, I have seen them on other blogs and they are pretty cool.
However, I am very limited in my abilities (blog wise) and I really don't think I could of show cased the masses of pictures she has taken.

The other day when I was down loading pictures off of the camera I came across a fresh batch of her latest work.....



I know I'm her mother and all, but--seriously?--she is beautiful. So beautiful.
She is her own special kinda crazy (aren't we all?).
This girl is absolutely one of a kind. :o)
--but, I'm thinking her dad and I need to be afraid. Very afraid.

Moving on....

Wow,
After such an overwhelming response to my ramblings I thought I would move on...
Sheesh, people!
If I want to ramble and have next to no one notice I have a husband that I have been married to for almost 16 years that can do the job right nicely. ;-)
(JUST KIDDING DEAR. I know you hang with baited breath on my every syllable.)

Where did everybody go? Are you out there?

Anyhoo.....

Here's an update I know you have all been on pins and needles to read about.

Thee Garden.

It's been so much fun and thanks to my genius husband we have bypassed our two biggest problems we faced last year:
1-forgetting to water
2-keeping dogs/small children out

Tonight for FHE activity we harvested peas.

Good times. Good, good times.

Elsie and Audrey were very excited about the work.

The finished project.
Minus a few.

First of all, is that or is that not a fantastic fence?
Secondly, let me explain the irrigation system so that you can have the proper appreciation.
What we have hear is a square foot garden,
meaning,
the boxes are divided into square foot grids with a plant in each square.
Get it?
We started down the square foot road last year after many a failed garden attempt.
So, my genius husband made the grid out of PVC pipe,
drilled holes in it,
ran water to it,
using the pipe as a drip system,
and that is how we water the garden.
Smart, right?

And, finally, just in case you were wondering...
Yes, if you do a head count in the garden you'll come up with 5 chitlens.
No, I didn't trade Grant in for a cute browned eyed 7 year old girl.
He was inside.
But don't you worry....

He still enjoyed the bounty.
(btw the nasty scab on his nose is a direct result of a little too much excitement when he spotted,
and ran for a tractor/backhoe thing down the street.
when your feet can't keep up,
you know you are REALLY, REALLY excited)

I like this family.
I think I'll keep them.
:o)

Mind if I ramble???

No?
Okay, good.

-I'm not scoring any points on Mother/Wife of the Year.
Here are my confessions.....Fathers and Sons was last night, don't tell Mike-but I may have encouraged Grant's excitement about the whole thing. What? Mike was considering not making an over nighter out of it. Does he not realize he was taking the kid who keeps me up the latest at night (teenager) and the kid who wakes me up earliest in the morning (three year old)??? Do I look like a fool? Am I stupid? Was I really going to let that opportunity pass me by?? Uh, NO. So, Wife of the Year is out of reach for me....maybe next year.
I am also the mother that abandoned her daughters on the night of fathers and sons. Loser. Who does that? So, there goes Mother of the Year. I did try to make it up to them this morning and took them to breakfast (thank you dixie direct card. and thank you gift giver that gave me dixie direct card).

-I hate, and I do mean HATE the ice cream truck. This isn't a case of 'oh, that's annoying' or 'that kinda bugs me'. No, it's a case of 'where do I send hate mail' and 'can I send a petition around to get them out of my neighborhood'. Grant's chances of being hit by a car go up at least 90% when he hears that stupid music. We convinced Adam when he was little that it was just a music truck, those were the good old days. Seriously, who watches a kid running down (and venturing into the middle) of the street with their mother chasing (and yelling) after them, flips a u-turn (causing child to venture further into the street), pulls over, opens the little window and hangs an ice cream bar out for the child to almost have in his little grasp, so that mother can then sweep him into her arms and haul the child (kicking and screaming) back to the house? That's dumb. Not to mention .75 for a little ice cream bar on a stick?? DUMB.

-Running. It's been a little rocky.
I took a stupid fall over spring break. Something reminiscent to what a 75 year old might encounter. That is, of course, if the 75 were holding a three year old in their arms at the time, loosing their footing on a stair, opting to protect the child thereby allowing all the force of both 75 and 3 year old bodies to impact on the 75 year old tail bone and hip. The only difference was a 35 year old body instead of a 75 year old body. But, I will tell you in the weeks following I felt much closer to a 75 year old. Much closer.
So, I dealt with that frustration. It took some time, but I did heal up nicely. But, by then I felt behind in my training and I've sort of felt behind since then.
I'm running a different leg this year in the Wasatch Back. A different, longer leg. My total mileage is 16.5, my longest run is seven miles. It's at night, that helps, but I do want to feel ready. Let's face it--I'm not fast. Nor do I have any real desire to be. I'm a ten minute miler kind of a gal. So, anyhoo...here I am plugging along, having more mediocre runs then good ones (any one who has run at all knows exactly what I am taking about. sometimes you get out there, run the kinks out, and feel like you can run forever. other times you get out there, run the kinks out and just feel rather crappy the whole time.) although.....I did have a bit of a break through this morning. Six miles, folks. I ran six miles. It felt really good. That was nice.

-Even with as much denial as I can muster, the fact of the matter remains that school will be out in just a couple of short weeks. I don't really want to talk or ramble about that. Just thought I'd throw it out there.

-I feel some what volatile at this point in my life. I'm not a big fan. Yes, I know--changing is up to me. And I'm working on it. I don't have nearly the patience that I used to. Especially with my own children and husband. That's not so good. But, I'm working on it. I used to be a much funner person. I kinda want that girl back. I'm working on it.

All righty, then. That just about sums up our rambling session for today. If I add anything beyond this it could get weird. Thank you for tuning in.


post script:
A couple of days later and a re-read and I would like to say....
Hello, Debbie Downer (woah-woah)
I'm a bit of a kill joy, ya- sorry about that.
Things, they are a changin'.
Life is good, people are good, and I am good.
:o)

Just Because....

I wanted to post something new,
And he is adorable.
I don't think he can help it, actually.
What can I say....he's a natural.

There are a couple of things that I try to get Grant to say
multiple times a day,
purely for my own amusement.
1) His name.
{some day, some where, some one is going to tell him the grim truth that his name isn't actually Grant Delicious. I am probably going to need to smack that person upside the head.}
2) His favorite color.
3) His favorite food.
{Adam and Sam taught him this Napoleon Dynamite tidbit and we all think it is hilarious. He veered from his usual answer only because we were in the middle of enjoying a lovely batch of rice crispie treats, which he is wearing all over his funny little face.}




*p.s.
I'm still looking on the bright side.....
this boy
(and the rest of the punks)
are a real big bright spot on the bight side of life.
I sure am glad they are mine.