Thursday, April 4, 2013

Why Did The Chicken Cross The Road?

If one wanted to cause more stress in one's life...how would one go about doing that?  Get chickens, of course!
I have been thinking about getting a few chickens for our backyard for a couple of years now and when Colin got home--he was all about getting chickens.  Now we just had to convince the rest of the family.  


We bought a book on chickens and Colin and I read it, then presented our plan to the family.  I would like to say that it was our skilled arguments that convinced everyone but it was the sentence:  "Everyone gets to pick out his own chicken" that actually got the family on board.


ENTER SIX CHICKS!


 Four different breeds and six aptly named chickens later...

  • 2 Golden Sex Links (Paul's is Goldie Hawn and Mitch's is Ino)
  • 2 Ameraucanas (Seth's is Michon and mine is Biddie Davis)
    • 1 Rhode Island Red (Colin's is River)
    • 1 Barred Plymouth Rock (Hudson's is Xavier)


We made a little brooder box in the laundry room and became instantly attached!




UH....THEY'RE GETTING BIGGER...NOW WHAT?

Time to build a coop!  I found a website that I absolutely love!  
http://www.backyardchickens.com/
I studied a lot of plans on this site and landed on one I really liked.  After showing it to Paul, Colin and Seth, they seemed to think it was a fairly simple enough plan.  And we were really going to get started but...the septic tank broke and we lost two weeks while Paul and the boys worked on that project.  

Meanwhile, the chickens were growing like weeds.  They seem pretty human friendly.  
When the weather got warmer, we would take them out in the front yard to peck and scratch around.  They seemed to really like that.  





My nephew Royal enjoys the chickens

So does his brother, Atticus.



HOW'S THAT COOP COMING?

Nag, nag nag.  That's what I've done this past week to my poor hen-pecked husband (did you catch that clever word play?)  When is the coop going to be built?  The chickens have almost outgrown the brooder box.  Well, the nagging has paid off.
Foundation going in....




And this is where we are to date.  Hopefully the actually coop and nesting boxes will be framed in tomorrow...weather permitting.  

Saturday, February 16, 2013

Another Clown Has Returned!

Our Oldest son, Colin Monte McGuire came home after serving a two year mission in the Frankfurt, Germany Mission.  
WELCOME HOME COLIN!!!


Sunday, January 6, 2013

Bring On 2013!!!


Starting the New Year off right with another Polar Bear Plunge.  Talked Hudson into doing with me too.  He made KSL news.
http://www.ksl.com/?nid=148&sid=23584740

New Year...New Commitment

So...it's been awhile.  And the debate is do I catch up?  Or do I just move forward?  We catch up of course.    This IS supposed to be a journal of sorts.  I'll just hit the highlights though.

SEPTEMBER



September was boring.  I did turn 45 and treated myself to a new hairdo.

OCTOBER
This was a pretty big month.



  • I hiked to the summit of Mount Timpanogos for my first time ever with Randi Nuila
  • Seth took out his endowments at Provo Temple
  • And of course, HALLOWEEN.  Took the costume thing to the next level by making all my Zumba ladies dress up.

NOVEMBER

(Thank heavens for Facebook.  How else would I know what happened?)

  • A Freakishly heavy snow fall
  • Presidential Election...all over...thank goodness!
  • Thanksgiving
  • Seth's Farewell
  • And the worst news of all...Hostess went out of business!






DECEMBER

Okay.  This is a hard month.  We put Seth in the MTC (which was extremely difficult for me to do) but a couple days later he had to come home on a medical release.  We have him working with doctors/therapists and hopefully he can go back in a few months.  I was happy to have him home for Christmas though.  Other highlights...


  • Mormon Tabernacle Choir Christmas performance with Alfie Boe and Tom Brokaw....AMAZING
  • Paul and my 25th wedding anniversary
  • Skyping with Colin



OTHER IMPORTANT THINGS FOR THE REMAINING PART OF 2012...

Paige met Corey Furr at a Snow choir reunion (or I should say "re-met") and would you believe that they have set a wedding date for May 10.  He is a great addition to our family.  We may scare him a little but he is taking it like a trooper.





Zumba is going really well for me.  I teach at Curves and at the church.  I had a big "Black Saturday" Zumba class and it was packed and super fun!  I did another certification at the end of October (not nearly as scary) and am really enjoying this new little "hobby".


And that's it for the end of the year.  I'm resolving to be more on top of this and to be funnier.