Whew !! What a Week !

We have had a beautiful visitor this week.  Love to hear the cries.  I wish he'd stick around, but he is the neighbors down the road.

Thatcher has been quite worried about the turkey in my fridge.  He doesn't like it there.  I think he might have a phobia about my fridge for a long time !  

One day last week, it was "Crazy mixed up mismatched clothes Day"  or something like that at the Elementary.  Tagg was rocking the look really well :)

My sis retired from teaching !  30 years is long enough !  

We watched the kids Friday night...........this is how supper went for this little guy.  Come to think of it, this is what he did on Sunday during Mother's Day dinner too ! 

Mom got a sand burr sticker embedded in her heel.  Witch Doctor CJ is working her magic with a tweezers and her OILS.

This is the 35 pound turkey just before I got him ready to go in the oven.   I was kind of grossed out, and worried that I might not be able to eat the meat.

See that BIG BODY CAVITY?  It took ALOT of stuffing to fill it up, that's for sure.

All wrapped up, ready to go in the oven..........then I remembered I forgot to butter it.................and put extra foil around the wings...........AND put the "rack" under it.  It had only been in 10 minutes when I decided to pull him back out and fix these mistakes.  Got a nice burn on my forearm for my troubles.......

All done !  Ready to carve.  See the legs trussed together?  Yup  I went out in the garage and got a piece of fencing wire, and Roger D's trusty fencing pliars, and proceeded to tie him up !

Master Carver

Master Mom and Master Gravy Maker

Colton and Treyson eating on that BIG BIRD !

Dickson Boys !   Dallin is graduating from MHS soon, and headed to Dixie.  Jaden was just hired on as a Flight Attendant for Sky West airlines, and will be moving, out of state at the end of the month, and Dallin is working and going to school.  Wish we saw them more often, but it's always great when we do. 

Dax and Tagg.  Tagg is PRETTY HAPPY to be sinking his teeth into that BAD OLD TURKEY.  He was asking all week long, how many more days till we EAT HIM ?!?!?

Measuring up!  Dax is 7 and Tagg is 6.  They wanted to see which one was taller. Smart phone cameras are SO HANDY !!

With OUR MOM

Mom Carrie and her boys

Loving Zac.  Can you believe he wouldn't give his Mom a kiss on the cheek?  haha  Missing Landon and Manda on this Mother's Day.....they both called/texted to remember me. LOVE ALL MY KIDS.

Rog and Mom
Love you LuAnn !

Kuk and boys.   They were able to talk with Tiana and Lance on the phone while at our house.  Tiana will be home from her mission at the end of July. I think Lance is staying in San Fran for the summer.  He's going to Stanford University.  Brian will graduate from Cypress this month.  Colton is in ? grade.........He will be 16 in August.

Cam turns 10 TODAY !!!  Happy Birthday Camryn !!  She had a great birthday party on Saturday with some of her friends.  

They did the PEDICURE thing, and had a great time (sleepover).  I can hardly wait to hear all about it this morning when Manda calls.

We finally got to see some pics from the kids, and their adventures this past week while Grandma Carol and Grandpa Gary were visiting.  Here they are in Hong Kong at Disneyland!

Such a cute little family!  They will be home for a visit next MONTH !!  Yeah !!

The Deed is Done

About 3:30 we got to work.  These three didn't have any second thoughts.  Their nemesis in the barnyard was finally getting his comeuppance.   

After a little scuffle, and some excitement.......  the deed was done.

It was very educational.   These boys were troopers.

Now for the dunk in hot water

Good helpers - Thanks to Grandma who helped a TON with the plucking, and to Grandpa (no pics) who took care of the innards in a masterful fashion.   We will be having a feast next Sunday.  A 37 pound feast to be exact !

Odds.....Ends......Kids....... Grandkids........ Lovin' Life

This landmark was torn down this morning

If only I would have had my VIDEO button going.   As they pulled the roof off,, the entire front brick face fell outwards on the lawn, spewing bricks out into and across the road.   It's a good thing cars weren't passing by or they would have been hit for sure.  They hurried and stopped traffic, and grabbed shovels, brooms, etc. and everyone pitched in to clean it up, and there was no problem.  Nothing like adding a little excitement !! 

Next  - a proud shout out to Camryn !!  She took 2nd place out of the ENTIRE 4TH GRADE on her poem entitled,  " I Am A Puddle"   The assignment was to take an inanimate object and make it human.  I think she did an AWESOME JOB !! 

Here she is, and the Evening of Excellence in Education night.  She was able to share it with all of her family.  

Cheeser Rich......all ready to go to Treyson's school program. 

Last week, Tagg had a Pop's night, and had fun singing with the rest of the Kindergarteners to their DADS..  Doesn't he look handsome ??

Zac ran a 30 K (18 miles approx.) last Saturday.  He took 2nd overall in his age/gender category for the Stider's Winter Racing Circuit, which was a 5K (3 miles) 10K (6 miles) 10 miler, Half Marathon (13 miles) and a 30K (18 miles) 

Treyson won his PINEWOOD DERBY !!
He raced multiple times, and never lost a race !
Go Treyson !!

PICS FROM OUR PHILIPPINES GANG  -  

COURTESY OF JORDYN !!

Such beautiful pics !!!

Whoops - this one was at a Catholic Church where they had gone to see one of their employees get married. 

It is so good to see pics - Gary and Carol (Kacey's parents) are over there now, and they are going to have a great two weeks visiting with the gang.  They are planning on visiting Hong Kong, and Disneyland, and Borocay Island Resort.  Hopefully we can get over there this fall.  

And earlier today we went to Treyson's FRIEND program (2nd grade)
It was GREAT.  He asked me about 10 times - Grandma, did you get that? on video ;)  
I told him I would POST IT ON THE BLOG!!!

Treyson's program - 6 different Videos

The Song - I like being me

The Song - Be a Friend

The Song - Choosing Friends

The Recitation - watch for the duet with he and Abby at the end !

The Dance

The end

Oh - and THIS GUY is going to DIE tomorrow !!..............stay tuned..........

No - not the white one..........he died..........by accident or ..............we don't know.  The the BLACK BUGGER has turned MEAN, and the last straw was when he bit little Thatcher THROUGH THE CORRAL FENCE !!!  His hours are numbered............ it should be interesting.

All we need to do is grab, chop, dip, pluck, eviscerate, and eat.........in that order............ since he weighs about 50 pounds........and we have never done anything like this before............   it should be ....interesting?

Be Happy......... and other stuff :)

First - click on the Happy Song on the sidebar to put a smile on your face

then scroll down.....

Now that you are listening to a happy song, we'll give you the sad news about our white turkey :(  Sometime Friday, he either did an accidental head dive into the soft hay in the barn........or fell off the hay bales into the soft hay...... either way his 50 pound body broke his neck (or smothered him - we aren't quite sure).   Rog found him upside down, buried deep in the soft hay.  Dead as a doorknob.

His head is back under his body, and all of that pink skin is just where his featherw were worn off by sitting on the ground.  He wasn't stiff and cold, so it must not have happened too long  before we found him. 

Tagg comparing his hand to the turkey's hand

Saturday morning we took him down by the creek and buried him.

The kids were wishing it would have been the ugly black turkey, because he is the mean one that goes after them ! 

Then we headed over to the property where we tried out the new "toy". 

The RAKER !!

  Rog and Zac tried a new idea this year, and as you can see the "raker" puts the leaves and twigs into rows.  Then they went back over the rows with the lawn mower, and it mulched them up, and into the catch bag.   It worked probably 75% of the way they wanted it too.  It doesn't save alot on time, but it does save on effort.  We got alot done, but there is still  more to do.  Spring clean up is the pits.    Zac is going to modify the raker, and hopefully it will work even better next time. 

Of course we had a weenie roast again :)

Relaxing !

We cleaned out the fire pit which was chuck full, and by the time we were done cleaning up and burning the twigs and leaves around the South end of the Property, we will need to clean it out again before we can have another weenie roast. 

Cementing in the poles

Tagg is always right there helping his Dad !

Then my phone died, so no more pics of the property..........

But Wait !!

Here are some from our family who is far away !!

Jordyn and Kacey took the kids to the Library.  
I guess they were quite the hit !!
Brightyn is at the far left being held.  She's in a turquoise shirt.  Kellen (Jordyn's baby) is next to her.
Payson is in front, but not looking at the camera. 

Jordyn took these beautiful photos of Brightyn to mark her 
2 month status :)
Isn't she a doll?

And Manda is on a weekend get a way with friends, relaxing in Prescott AZ !!
Love you Manda !!