Blessings

During the last little while it seems like everything has broken or worn out around our house. My lawn mower was the first to go this summer. Then, the water heater, and then the microwave that I used to heat water for the 11 days that we had no water heater. Earl and I also talked of adding on to our house which is not going to happen now either. I am now without a camera now as well. This is one of my hardest things to go without. I am a picture freak. My one excuse is that when my kids are grown and gone, I will still have my pictures. When it rains, it most definitely pours! In the midst of all of this, I am not going to complain because I am so truly blessed! I look around the world at all of the disasters and losses and horrible things that people are going through and I acknowledge that I am blessed. I live in a free nation (for now) where I can CHOOSE to do anything that I please. I have a warm home (still small for 6 people), beef to eat at my every convenience, healthy children (for the most part), wonderful friends and family, and I especially appreciate the blessing of raising my children in the gospel. For these things I am completely thankful and I know where these blessings have came from!

Hay hauling "olden day style" (in other words...OUCH)

My husband's uncle hired him to haul 600 little bales of alfalfa to Payson for him. My husband thought that he'd made a pretty good deal. He then asked me, his very out of shape wife, to help him. His pretty good deal went down the drain with that first mistake. The bales are already stacked in the field, we just have to throw them on the trailer, stack, and haul. We were informed that there would be a crew there to unload the trailer when we got there.
Day 1
2:30 pm 95 degrees- long sleeved shirt, allergies, -wimpy sneezing wife helps load about 16 bales to amazing, strong husband's 200 on the trailer. We then load kids up, strap down hay, honk at Hayes on the way through town because he has scouts after school and then head to Payson where the "crew" waits to unload us.
5:30 pm scheduled time to unload. We wait, and wait, call the lady, no answer, drive around to see if we are in the right place and then go back (during rush hour with a loaded trailer) and wait, call the lady, no answer, and wait some more. My husband then makes the comment "What women doesn't have or answer her cell phone"? Then some 80 year olds show up and ask us if this is the girl scout hay. Earl looks at me and rolls his eyes. They get out of the truck with gloves. I put 911 on my speed dial.
6:15 pm "boss lady" shows up and says that we are waiting for the hay elevator.
6:30 pm Hay elevator man shows up with it hanging out of the back of his 4 horse trailer. We unload the elevator to the side of the hay stack, put on our gloves and go to work. Still 95 degrees. 2- 80 year olds, a hip replacement hay elevator man, boss lady, and Earl and I. HMMMMM. I wipe out my head in the rafters while rolling hay bales to the back. I can't see through the sweat running into my eyes which are already so swollen that my head looks like a red rubber ball from elementary school. I am also sneezing so badly that I can't breath in to get any air. Unloading crew my foot!
8:45 pm We pull into the yard exhausted. Lukewarm showers, because the water heater is broke again and fall into bed. I have blisters on my "mommy" hands and just want an allergy pill. Take a couple of Tylonal for my split head.

Day 2
7:30am I take an allergy pill. I put on a cowboy shirt but roll up the sleeves.
8:30 am Get Hayes and Kalon to school. Recruit awesome brother-in-law Jess to help load hay. Loading hay goes a lot faster. Jess and Earl are amazing. I am still pretty wimpy but work up another good sweat. It helps that it is cooler. Strap down hay and decide to just haul it up and unload it ourselves instead of waiting for another "unloading crew".
11:00 am Pull Kalon out of school a couple of minutes early and head north. Jess felt sorry for us and went along for the ride. Lady meets us at the hay shed. Unloading is much faster. I drag a lot more bales today and don't throw nearly as many but the work still gets done. Again, Jess and Earl rock! Wendy's house for lunch on the way through Nephi.
2:00 pm Exhausted! Get home and pretty much die but I can't because I'm a mom and mom's do a million things so I keep doing the million things on my list. My muscles don't hurt. My hips and elbows do. When did I go from muscles to joints??? Maybe I'm not in as bad a shape as I thought?!? Okay, I know wishful thinking! My arms look like a crazy cat got a hold of them but it was a little cooler.
Day 3
7:00 am Take an allergy pill. Coolness over protection today. A t-shirt is so, so, so much cooler. Feed kids and get ready. Call for Aunt Tammy to take Hayes and Kalon to school.
8:00 am Pick up Jess again who is again, so willing to help.
8:45 am Start loading hay. It goes even faster than the day before. Again, I'm hardly any help compared to the boys but I do what I can.
9:20 am Finish loading. NEW RECORD! We don't even call lady today. We drive up, I kind of slide out of the truck and crawl slowly and carefully onto the trailer and again drag bales. We unload in record time and are home by 11:40am. I feel like I have been through the ringer. No naps for mommy though. On to the demands of motherhood.

That night as I ran over to my friends house, she commented that I looked skinnier. Okay, I'm getting on a hay crew full time! I may not be able to walk for a few days though.

(The first days unloading crew were very, very, very nice people and we never did use the hay elevator. They chained it to the hay shed and when we needed it on day 3, we couldn't use it.)

Hay camp, cow camp, we camp, and camp and camp and camp....

Happy kids (for the moment).

Chansy absolutely adores Hayes. He is so good with her! They are playing in the sheep camp.

Sorry, I couldn't turn the picture. Dally and Choc dog.

This is an I-spy picture. Who can find the bluegill?

Okay, August for the Bailey's was pretty much a blur. We hayed, hauled hay, and then hayed some more. Our hay fields are about 17 miles away. To solve the problem of so much running around, we hauled the sheep camp to Chester and spent a lot of late nights in the fields and a little bit of time sleeping. The kids had a BALL for the most part. They got pretty sick of the hay hauling part. 4 kids and mommy in the 2 ton with no air. Not the best situation for sibling bonding. We DID survive though and hopefully created lasting memories. There is a circle pond with a flowing well where we camped that is full of 3-5" blue gills. The kids fished and fished and fished some more. Kalon fell out of the trees a couple of times but survived as well (it was pretty scary for mom and dad though). All of the kids ended up wet from the well but we just counted it as baths.

Earl and Kalon

We also spent a week herding cows on the Skyline permit. It started out pretty good. The fences suck so it is a full time herding job. Earl took Hayes and Kalon and did some good riding but it is almost useless with the fence situations. Plus a trough wasn't working so the cows wouldn't and couldn't stay where they were supposed to. Earl was pretty frustrated but it was beautiful up there! Again, the kids had a ball. Hayes and Kalon stayed in the tent while Earl and I listened for bears all night every night. It turned out that all we really had to worry about was cows. This is one of our pairs. It was funny that they are the only ones that dared come in this close- and it was definitely close. The boys were still asleep.

Earl hurt his back pretty bad a few days after we got up there and it pretty much put him out of commission. We had to lead all of the horses to a trough a little bit down the mountain twice a day. The kids thought that it was pretty cool to ride bareback and I must admit so did I. They did awesome.

I got a couple of chances to go for some great walks. Can I just say that I LOVE MY ATS (all terrain stroller). I LOVE MY STROLLER!

Kalon and Dally in the "fort" that they helped Hayes build.

Chansy also started crawling. I know that it's late but it's pretty good for a baby that has spent most of her life in a car seat. It was really nice for me because I never had to worry about her getting into anything out of reach. That has now changed!! Immensely! She is into everything now. She had her 1st birthday on the 28th and now we are working on walking. Hayes and Kalon started school on the 27th. Hayes is in 3rd grade and Kalon started kindergarten and so far, they love it. Hayes started reading Harry Potter books and made it through the first 3 books in August. (That's how the younger siblings survived the hay hauling-older brother was reading). Kalon is starting to read as well and doing awesome. Wow, our kids are growing fast! What a great month August turned out to be! Now for cow hauling season.

More Lamb Day Pics

Lamb Day

Why does this scare me? She has no fear!

Red River Valley and Home on the Range, these songs are western to me....

Grandma Rainy on the float (in white)

Susan a.k.a Tia and Prospector a.k.a Fits

Little sheepmen... (just for the day though)

Whew! The crazy weekend is over. Lamb Day is a VERY big deal in Fountain Green. This is the first year that we did the lamb show and sale and the kids and I loved it! Earl was okay with it as long as he didn't have to be involved. Hayes raked in $410 though. WOOOHOOO! The idea of school shopping just got a lot better! Anyway, here is a rundown of the events. Lauree, Mom, and Dad came down on Friday for the lamb show. The boys and I got up early and washed and trimmed lambs. Weigh-ins were at noon. Hayes lamb weighed in at 110 lbs and Kalons at 100. They actually gained really well! On May 12th they weighed 65 and 57 lbs. We got these lambs from Dad (thanks Dad). Anyway, the show was great. Kalon showed in the pewee division and Hayes showed his with 9 other 8 year olds. Both got first place ribbons in the showmanship and $10 each. That night, Hayes, Kalon, and Dally sang in the talent show. SO CUTE! Then the boys came home and spent the night in the tent on the back lawn. Saturday morning started off with the town fire trucks making the rounds at 6am with the sirens blaring loudly (yes, very irritating). Earl ended up riding in the flag ceremony at the park with his dad and brother and then hit the breakfast. We went to the parade at 10am will as many people as I have ever seen in town EVER. It was unbelievable. Fountain Green Lamb Day is a GOOD parade. Lauree met Maureen in SLC on Friday night and went to see George Strait (I know-not fair). They made it back for the parade though. After, we came home and ate lunch in a very, very hot house and then hit the park again. There are sheepcamps from every manufacter (old ones and new) on display, quite a few craft booths, and tons of games and rides for the kids. Dally and Kalon ended up riding the bucking machine and had a blast. FINALLY, Hayes got to sell his lamb. Actually, it ended up being Kalon's lamb but it worked out great. Kalon can't sell one until he is 8 and his was a wether. We are giving the ewe back to Dad and we will be lamb-free again. So, by this time, kids are exhausted, I am exhausted, onrey, and need a Pepsi. We ran home so kids could nap, and then Earl and I had to go up to the raffle. You had to be present to win. We have been present every year and never won....hmmm. Earl ended up talking forever and I walked home in 100 degree heat. We stayed up and set off our own fireworks until the town did theirs and then FELL into bed. TOTAL EXHAUSTION! Sunday's after Lamb Day are the best. EVERYONE walks around church in a daze! It was a good weekend!

Bear Country

Warren's herder, Ed, has had bear trouble lately and lost a lot of lambs and ewes to a hungry bear. He finally got even. I knew that this was bear country but this is the first one I've seen. Earl's brother was going to try and save the hide (that white stuff all over it is salt) but the DWR wouldn't let them keep it. They had already had us cut the ears off but after they saw how big ti was they changed their minds. I guess that the skull is pretty valuable. It was pretty cool to see though. It was 7 1/2 feet long from nose to hind paw.

Downgraded

Hmmmm. Well, I had an interesting Sunday. I had an appointment to meet with the bishopric right before church and they informed me that they were releasing me from my job as primary secretary. BIG SURPRISE. Okay, I GUESS I can do that. Then the told me that they wanted to keep me as a primary worker. Back to the hmmmmm. I have Chansy (10 months). My secretary job has not been so bad to do with a baby. As soon as I finish, I can take care of her. She plays by my feet as I take roll. Not a bad thing. As I was training the new secretary the counseler came up and told me that they were putting me in nursery. Now, normally, that would not be a bad thing. I LOVE THE KIDS IN THE NURSERY! Every week when I go in to take the roll I always hang out for a while. Our nursery is really young though. All day, I pictured 1 and 2 year olds mauling Chansy, crying, and then Chansy crying because they were crying, and fighting over toys. Yeah. Not a good day. I also have the lesson next Sunday. I am not complaining about teaching a lesson to little kids. Heck, I might even learn something since I am right on their level but-THIS WEEKEND IS LAMB DAY!!! Let's just say, completely over-scheduled and crazy. We are getting lambs ready this week and praying that they don't die before we get to sell them. Anyway, I guess that stress is a big deal in how I feel about the new calling and I really really hope that it will be better than I think. I don't like how I found out about it though. Is it normal to just be kicked out of a calling without any warning and just thrown into a corner. I JUST DON'T KNOW. So, if I ever quit murmering, I might get a few very needed blessings from this new experience to serve. Cowboy up to the nursery table. The snacks will help. Think that the kids will like chocolate and pepsi?!?

I really need a new lawn mower. The one that I have now was supposed to last forever when we bought it 8 years ago. It has been slowly dying a horrible death for the last year or two. I have tried everything. I've changed the oil yearly (or not) or at least fill it up when it runs out-which should count because at least it's new oil (right?). I have even had it to the local repair shop. Anyway, as of today, my yard looks like it grew dreadlocks and then I turned Dally loose with a pair of electric clippers. I decided to get creative today and mow it on a "diagonal". It would look soooo professional. Well, I started in the middle and started cutting it like you would plow a field in kind of a circle, working your way around. The mower got really sick. Just to get it to start the first time, I have to pull the spark plug and clean it. I did it 3 different times just to keep it running. Alas, failure, and then DEATH. My lawn is in mourning over it's ugliness which is not going to change in the near future. So, when you drive by my yard, it's the white trash one with the lawn mower up on blocks. Oh, wait, you won't be able to see it because the grass will be so tall!