Cluck-Cluck!!

This is the owie Elrey got:

While building this:

It is a coop for, you guessed it, these pretty ladies:

Let’s go back to the owie-As you have seen there is a poll going on about a staple gun accident. I am very disappointed in some of you. It is clearly harder to rip a staple from my husbands thumbnail with pliers than it is to actually get the staple imbedded in the thumb!! I was a literal war medic! I gave him a wooden spoon to bite down on, some whiskey and yanked with all my might! I am clearly tougher!!!

Seriously though, it was a little frightening! He was using a staple that you pound like a hammer and it staples. It just so happen his thumb got in the way. I think he wanted to make sure his thumbnail is securely attached to his thumb! He was pretty tough, though-he only cried a little…actually he didn’t cry at all. The first thing he said after I performed surgery was-“I should’ve taken a picture!!”

Our awesome friends, Karlie and Jeremy gave us 2 of their chickens! We got our 2 lovely ladies who were quickly named Gabriella(white) and Chicken(black and white). Take a guess who named whom!! Chicken has been recently crowned Princess Chicken. 

Our girls love these two hotties! They always want to go out and check on them which includes (lucky for the chickens) chasing them around to try and pick them up, checking for eggs, throwing stuff at the birds when they won’t let them pick them up, and tracking all sorts of mud and possible poo on to my kitchen floor! I think that last part has been remedied, I hope!! My children’s love is a painful thing since it is usually emphasized with a knee to the crotch or gut so I feel these chickens’ pain!

They are a fun addition to our family and we are happy that not only do they provide us with lots of chicken poo, they give us breakfast! So far it’s been more of an Easter egg Hunt since they weren’t laying in the coop so we were searching for the eggs we were sure they laid. Turns out they were nesting UNDER the coop in our compost pile and we found 4 eggs under there! That has now been blocked off so hopefully they learn to do that “bidnes” in the coop!

Here is one last pic of Lily, she LOVES these chickens, all ready to chase her new live toys!

As Amber said-we are going sooo country!!! YEE HAW!!! Next thing we will do is build a cow stall in our easement!!

Contentment

I am sitting in my very quiet, slightly messy house enjoying a great book on self-discovery on my couch with the delicious rays of sunshine falling on my face on this cold spring day.

As I sit here I have had the most beautiful blanket of contentment wrapped around my body and soul! I am afraid to move for fear I might rip the blanket.

I must leave to pick up my fabulous five year-old from school but I find it amazingly beautiful that although I woke up to frightening news (all about money!!), with Despair and Doom bounding on my mind's door, I can sit here amid the clutter with the sun falling on my face and smile.

Spring Hath Sprungeth!!

I LOVE SPRING!!!!! I love the bright sun, blue sky, birds chirping!! It's the best!! It makes me want to be back in high school just so I can sluff!! As I breathe in the warmer fresh air, it fills my soul with excitement and giddiness! I start having a nice farmer tan and flip-flop tan! I love having my windows open so I can hear the neighborhood dogs barking at the tiniest thing and the train blaring it's happy horn (I'd like to show them where to shove that happy horn, especially at 2 AM!!) much more clearly. It is also the time of annoying motorized scooters and ATV's zooming past our house...yeah, that's the best!! It makes me want to take some Crisco, head up to the mountains, lather up in lard and lay out for my first tan/sunburn of the season!! Come on, you know you all did that at least once!!!

It makes me think of my favorite springtime experiences. Walk with me, if you will, down memory lane....

High school's only purpose for me was a meeting place to plan out what we were really going to do that day, going to the mountains, some one's house or like this one time we took a trip downtown. Six of us piled into this guys little truck that seats two and made the slightly perilous drive down I-15. We went on a tour of Temple Square, watched church movies in a special screening room in the Visitor's Center, and visited the Christus. We then went to the Church Office Building and went to the top floor to enjoy the view. Afterwards, we 'snuck' into the cafeteria there for a delightful lunch! It was one of my best sluff days ever!! I may be a rebel who is truant but at least I was righteous when I was breaking the law!!

I've talked about this one before but, when I was 19 me and 20 or so other random people loaded up a 'short-bus' and drove down to Baja Mexico. All I had was a backpack full of underwear and a swimsuit, a sleeping bag and 100 bucks. There is nothing like sleeping on a beach in 90 degree weather in March!! Now January/February I get very antsy for a beach or at the very least a road trip!

I had Annie at the beginning of March so I not only had the restlessness of "I can finally move again!!!", I also had Spring Fever. By the time I was going in for my six week appointment, I was running 3 miles with both girls. In fact, on the day of my 6-week check-up I took them running. I was coming up on this lady who was out in her yard with her 2 dogs. I love dogs but I DO NOT trust them and sometimes don't have a whole lot of trust in their owners either so I am always cautious when I come upon dogs especially when I am running. I was checking them out, making sure they wouldn't come after me because (hopefully) they were on leashes. Well, for some really stupid reason this lady had one of her dogs unleashed. As I passed them, this one dog ran up and without so much as a 'hello' or 'woof' bit me on the leg! Right on the calf! Luckily I had pants on so it barely broke the skin but it hurt like a swear word!! Either way I went to get home was half way and I didn't want to scare Audrey-I don't even think she noticed anything except for me talking to this lady. So I just ran/limped home and went to the doctor. I thought he was going to destroy this woman and her dogs! He was madder than me! I just kind of saw it as a battle wound of being a runner! He told me I needed to make sure the dog was up on it's shots and if not I would need rabies shots. I went back to the lady to ask-you should have seen her face when she saw it was me! CLASSIC!!! I got the paper work but as we talked she politely told me it was my fault her dog bit me because I ran past. So I politely told her that I would be happy to call animal control because he wasn't on a leash and he bit someone running past. I wonder why I don't trust the owners.....

SpringTime=GoodTimes in my book! So go out and give a budding tree a hug!

Birthdays, Scooters and play...Oh My!

UPDATE POST!!! Yay for you! So, Annie had a birthday this month and she keeps reminding me that her 4 year old is gone. I find that very rude! She keeps trying to make me cry. Why would she do that???

Anyway, she wanted a Scooby-Doo party with her friends and I have to say there are times where my brilliance is so astounding, I am embarrassed to be around myself because I am so dumb! It's rare when that happens so I always enjoy basking in that short lived glory!

This was Annie 5 minutes before her friends showed up:

I actually had to get her friends to wake her up for her own party! After I was pretty sure everyone who would be coming was there, there was a knock at the door. When the kids answered the door there was this note on our porch from Scooby:














Basically, Old Farmer Jenkins kidnapped Scooby and he and Shaggy left Scooby Snack clues to help them find him and save him.











At the end of their hunt they found this in our linen closet:

It was all so incredibly exciting, it completely exhausted Savannah and she fell asleep on my couch:

(Poor thing got here and minutes later had a fever and just wanted so lay down and sleep :( )

After the candy shower from the pinata, Annie opened all of her awesome presents from her friends! She was so happy with all fun stuff they brought! Then came the cake! Now, this totally deserves a drum roll!! dadadadadadadadadadadadadadadada:

The E-Dogg Master Cake Decorator (ElRey) graced us with his brilliance and handsomeness and created this masterpiece! I took 2 bread pans and baked the cake in them. He then stacked them on top of each other, cut a little off the front for the windshield and using frosting and his pure awesomeness, created The Mystery Machine! The wheels are mini-donuts and the writing on the side is just a print out on paper of the vans name. Isn't he brilliant?!?! I am one lucky woman!!!! I think all the kids had a pretty good time and Annie was very happy with her day so it was a success!

Just a couple other fun pics. With this nice weather we've been out more and the other day we got these cute ones of the girls playing. Lily really loves the scooter!

The jumping-rope queen!

This is a cute pic! Note the boots!

Lily is scooter-ific!!















We also enjoyed the weather at my parents house yesterday and got some other cute pics!













Who doesn't love eating ice cream topless!?!

Cool swinging pic, my shadow is in the way, though..

Audrey is just cute!

Needless to say, we've been having some fun in the sun! My 4 year old is really gone and it makes me sad! She has been my baby for so long and now she will be going to kindergarten and my baby will get older and older. It's so exciting watching your kids grow up but it is always laced with a little sadness and longing! I have the cutest girls in the whole world and I am so glad they are mine!!!

Super What????

There is a vortex within our domain. No one has discovered it's actual location but we all know it's there. It is our own Gadianton Robber, stealing what it may, never to be found again.

There is one who knows, one who can fight. She goes about in her tights and cape, unearthing treasures once thought to be lost forever.

"Mom, where is my other shoe?"

"Moooooomm, where's my underwear?"

"Hun, where is the remote?"

NEVER FEAR!!! Super UnderWhere? is here!!! In a flash she has uncovered the hidden shoe! Without hesitation she finds the remote! She is a hero bold and true! The Vortex is no match for Super UnderWhere?! Try as it might, it will never defeat our superhero!

What no one seems to realize is that our super hero hasn't seen her keys since before Christmas!

Maybe they are hiding out with her self respect, dignity and her girlish figure....laughing at the lady in tights and a cape....

Oh...that's why.....

**Little update: Apparently things are better now with the person I offended. I just kinda left it alone and he/she is talking to me again so I am very happy about that!! I hope things will continue to be okay! :)

So as you may remember (I'm sure it's been etched in your brain!), I recently went to the doctor. I went away a bit frustrated as you may imagine. Something was just bugging me about it all. I really felt like it was more than I just need to stop putting food in my mouth. I'm tired, sore, sad and moody all the time (I know, I'm a total party!!). I have dizzy spells and it is painful to wake up in the morning. I feel like an 80 year old sometimes because all I have to do is sit on a soft chair and I fall asleep!

Anyway, I called the doctor's office back to see if I could just get a blood test without having to see the doc again and pay another copay. They let me come in and they tested my hormones and my thyroid. Well, guess what-it's my thyroid's fault!! I knew it!! I actually had read an article in Prevention Magazine that said it's easy to misdiagnose certain things that may actually be a symptom of something else. One of the things it listed was depression and that it could be more than just that. It could be a thyroid problem or even sleep apnea. That's what made me just buck up and call back. I was to the point that I was checking out Fibromyalgia because I felt so awful! I am so glad to know what's up and that is isn't Fibromyalgia!! I still need more information and I will be going into the doctor soon to see how the medication is working and hopefully get some more answers.

It's always weird when you get tested to see if something is wrong and you are excited to know that there is something! I think it's just because it means you aren't crazy, well unless that's what you were getting tested then you're just screwed but you get some awesome meds and maybe even some "quiet time" in a nice, soft padded room....aaaahhhhhh.....! ;)

I am thinking that sugar might have an adverse effect on either the condition or the medication to correct it-which really goes against my lifestyle!! I've just noticed that on days where I have more sugar than I should I feel even more awful then ever! I just can't seem to kick that habit! I think I will abstain and then 20 minutes later I've eaten 7 cookies and seeing spots! Not good!!

So if any of you have any suggestions on how to abstain from sugar or any good info on hypothyroidism, things I should be doing, etc. It would be appreciated! As I said, I don't have a whole lot of info since it was the medical assistant who called me with the result and she didn't seem to know much about it at all!

Mindi's BFF: Fact or Fiction??

I have mentioned my BFF in numerous posts and I thought you may be wondering-is this an imaginary friend?? Is there anyone out there that would really want to be Mindi's friend FOREVER??? Does such a person exist?? Luckily for me, she does! She gave me this idea as a joke and since she has YET to do a tribute to me on her blog (what's up with that???), I figured I would be the one to do a tribute to her.....MWAHAHAHAHHA

So, this is Amber:

This is me after she wrote "I am a ho bag on my arm" once:

This was Amber's wicked awesome Tracker we cruised the streets in. I almost died in that thing once!! That is one hot model with that sweet ride!! :

And this...well that is A LOT of toilet paper and I won't tell you what we did with that...there may be warrants out for our arrests still.......

The first time I met Amber was in a class in high school called "Figure Control" (I am so not kidding). It was an exercise/nutrition class. The first time I saw her, I was hiding behind a door with a friend and she was hiding behind the heater with her friend while we all waited for our teacher to leave with the class on their walk so we could take off for a drink run or something much more important than attending class. I knew at that moment we were destined to be BFF!!

We went on a Spring Break trip to St. George with her boyfriend at the time, Mark, Andrew, Dan, and Steve. We stayed in Drew's parents condo and the first night we had the place to ourselves. The condo had a room not attached to the house with it's own bathroom. Yeah, I took the whole thing to myself and I apparently took a long time getting ready and I was really concerned about my bangs at that time of my life. I am amazed Amber still wanted to be my friend after that trip. I think she thought I was pretty vain. But in my defense I was invited on that trip by the boy I liked at the time, Steve. Obviously, I wanted to impress!

We've seen it through many mistakes, boyfriends (some good, some just down right weird!!!), sad times, husbands (1 each, thank you!), children, mice, laundry and some possible felonies. Through it all we've met up at Training Table for cheese fries and Diet Coke. And even though she and her cute family have moved to California for a little while, we still start our day off on the phone with each other. She is the sister I never had! I don't know how to start my day without her voice in the morning!! Everyone needs an Amber and luckily, I have mine!! So here's to the past 15+ years and to an eternity more!! Amber, you are wicked awesome!!

FO SHIZ and WHOOMP THERE IT IS!!!!

BTW: When I spellchecked this, there was an actual correct spelling for ho bag!! awesome.

Fantastic Ideas by Mindi

Some of you may have heard me say some of these but I just wanted to get this in writing so if they do come to pass, you all know where they started.

* When women have babies we get rewarded for doing our part to "multiply and replenish the earth" with smaller waistlines and perkier boobs and nice trim hips(definitely NO stretch marks!!!). If we are REALLY obedient we end up with a nice Double D rack and a 20 inch waistline! Little top heavy but we would look AWESOME, right?!?!?

* Vending machines in the foyer at Church!!!! All the proceeds would go to fast offerings and/or missionary fund!! That would make for some very animated Gospel Doctrine and RS/Priesthood lessons wouldn't you think?!?! It would also have things like Valium and ether laced snacks for the primary kids....I really think I am on to something here!!!!

* There should be a kiosk by the bishop's office where you either type in your member number or slide your temple recommend like a credit card and it gives you a print off of your afterlife standing. For example: "You are of Celestial Material". It could even list the sins or vices you needed to work on and maybe list some people you would be most comfortable with in the after life so here's another example:

You are of Celestial Material

What you need to work on:

~Make bread more often

~Instead of just being on time to church, be 10 minutes early

~Smile all the time, not just most the time

You would be most comfortable with:

~Pres. Gordon B. Hinckley

~Joseph Smith

~Mother Teresa

~Enoch

Mine would probably be more like:

You are of Telestial Material

What you need to work on:

(this list would go on for pages so I won't bore you!!)

You would be most comfortable with:

~Chris Farley

~Elvis Presley

~Laman

~Jezebel

So, there you have it! If I have anymore genius ideas I will gladly pass them on! If any of you know some 'higher-ups' tell them to check this out!! These ideas can't be wasted!!!