Relief

Justin has always been an animal lover.

Even back when he was two and we had a few Reds, his favorite thing to do was chase them around the back yard.

Nothing has changed.

Justin {2}

When we got our most recent set of chickens, he picked out the Red he is holding in the picture below and has been in love with her since. The only problem came when one day we saw "her" joining in on the fights the bigger roosters were starting to have, even at a much younger age.

The thought of his "Little Red Hen" actually turning into a "Big Red Rooster" has been looming in our minds. Then, this last week while Justin was completing his morning task of checking to see that the chickens were fed and watered, he noticed Little Red in a nesting box. With sweet relief in his voice and a huge smile on his face he handed me her first warm egg. 

Contentment reigns...and fresh chicken eggs are delicious.

Justin {7.9}

Check!

I am not sure how it got there, but one of the things on my kids list of things that should happen since they moved to a forested city was that it should snow. 

Earlier that week, we checked the forecast and sure enough, there was 4 days of foretasted snow! 

It took a while for the weather to catch on with the memo, but it eventually snowed enough to stick and the kids were able to wake up on Jan. 18th to a blanket of white, fluffy slushy snow! 

 

Patrick had an added challenge riding to work on muddy snow dusted paths.

 The kids all got dressed in their snowsuits, even Devon.

It was not all that cold so it only lasted a day, but it was surely enough to bring heaps of joy to my kids!!!

It was wet, especially when it started sprinkling, but there was surely enough to call it snow and cross it off of the list!

 

Wanna be sledding.

In honor of keeping things real, I enjoyed the whole event while still in my robe.....and snow boots of course!!!

Want to guess who was the first to come back inside?

ode to patrick

 The other day I was at the chiropractor whom happens to be the Elder's Quorum President in our ward.

Towards the end of my adjustment, he mentioned to me how thankful he was to have Patrick as a teacher and that he is thankful that he is so well grounded and that he can tell that he is rock solid and has a strong testimony of the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

Interview ready.

As he spoke, I shook my head in agreement.

I am so thankful that he is so good at teaching our children the Gospel

He is a rock solid man.

{We were out and about one Saturday and he wanted to go play by the river while I stayed in the warm car and nursed Devon.}

I knew that already, of course, but it is always nice to be reminded of that fact, because frankly, there are times when things aren't always picture perfect and I can forget how thankful I am to have him!

I am soooooo thankful. 

 Tonight as I looked through my pictures of Patrick, I found so many that  I love on so many levels, so I thought I would share them.
I realized that many of the pictures seen of him here on this blog show the stoic side of him and at times the

quirky side.
(there are still plenty by the way.)

I wanted to share the other sides too!

 Shy.....Serious....Studly

and

So adorable too.

 Just one of their many wrestling matches.

 

 Just home from work, he concocted a hair-brained idea. The kids loved it. 

I just enjoyed the show...
and crossed my fingers that he had picked a strong rope.

{bike rides galore}

{stories every night}

{silly man....wonderful provider}

{he was working in the same room as all of these rascals. his focus amazes me}

These are from the day we moved into the place we live now. 

He's a crazy adventurous sort, but all I know is that I love him, 

even on the days that his feet are not necessarily firmly planted on the ground!!! 

 

Can you believe that we have never made a visit to the emergency room?

 

Neither can I!!!

Just last week and out of the blue Anna announced to me, 

"You picked a good dad!"

I know Anna, I know.

Chicken

Back in November, we saw an ad from a lady whom was selling chickens. I spoke to her with excitement about eating fresh eggs and had the kids pick out their favorite chicken! I went home with what I thought were 5 "hens" in hopes that when spring came, we would get lots of eggs.  Lucy was white, Little Red is, well, red of course and the other three were big black ones which looked nearly identical so we just referred to them as the trio. We put them in an existing shed that had previously been used as a coop and set up a run.

Then we waited. And waited. And waited.....For eggs of course.

There were none, but we had fun watching our funny new creatures. 

Then, one morning while laying in bed I heard a strange crowing noise outside, coming from our coop!
It didn't take long until I was convinced that we had some ROOSTERS on our hands!

5

 Patrick, however, was in denial that their immature crows were the real thing.

When he got to work, he did his own research and e-mailed some links. See for yourself:

Patrick	Jan 5
It seems that sometimes hens can crow.

Julie	Jan 5

Really? Who says? :)

Patrick	Jan 5

Some say one way and other say the opposite.
The sound does not sound like a standard rooster noise so that also makes a difference.
do dominant hens crow? - Cornucopia Forum - GardenWeb

Urban Chickens Network blog: odd sounds from the coop: can hens crow?

It was only a short time before their crows matured and we both were certain we had 2 roosters!

Lucy had to be renamed Lucky (ironically.)

The big black rooster just stayed part of his trio.....
When asked, our neighbors hadn't even realized we had chickens to begin with and hadn't heard crowing, but over a week ago, when they both started fighting and crowing frequently, we  made the decision that something would have to be done since we live within city limits. We are also hoping that the Little Red Hen doesn't also turn out to be The Big Red Rooster!

We could give them back to the lady we got them from and possibly change them out for hens or give them away, but we decided to do something we have never done before.

We would butcher them, just like we had read about in a Mother Earth News magazine. It was something I had always considered being willing to do, but it was really personal now. Lucky's lucky streak was about to end, and that was very hard for us to admit. It would have been much easier to find another home for them, but we wanted the experience.....AND I had paid good money for their organic soy and corn free feed!

When we finally stopped being so chicken and got up the nerve to do it, I did what any modern-day city girl would do:

 I did a Google search....
And we got a You Tube education!

Our family Friday night videos were all about how to slaughter and butcher a chicken!?!

It was fascinating to us and the kids, whom were surprisingly comfortable with what would soon happen...

Then, early Saturday afternoon, we set everything up, said thank you and goodbye to the chickens,  said a prayer and got to work.

We soon realized it was harder then they made it look on the video (duh), but we worked together and figured things out.

It was a very spiritual experience to take the life of another creature. I have a more profound appreciation for the food, particularly chicken, that we eat on a regular basis without even having a passing thought about where it came from.  I feel like I have been changed for the better.
 

We all now know for ourselves that plucking a chicken IS a tedious job!

Once the animals were "gone" and my tears were dried, we processed, dissected and studied the chickens and learned an incredible amount!

I hadn't really given enough thought about what a fascinating creature a chicken is!!!

AND we had some amazing FRESH, yummy chicken tacos for dinner tonight.

We feel so lucky to have had such a wonderful experience with the big black rooster and Lucky.