11 July 2021

And as quickly as it started, summer is starting to wind down.  We began back to school shopping this week since next week is our last week of summer.  Isn't that crazy?

Monday was great, I was off of work for the Independence Day holiday and Phil happened to be home too.  His schedule rotates in such a way that it is set years in advance, so sometimes holidays land when he's off, sometime we're not so lucky; this was one of those rare occasions when we were both off.  How did we spend a whole day off on a Monday together?  We did ranch chores.  The horse corals were in need of cleaning.  Normally I rake out the two horse stalls daily, pushing the manure and old hay out into the turn-out area and then at the end of the week use the tractor to move it to the compost pile. However, I can't get into the turn-out area because that's where we are keeping the donkey.  Phil helped me and we let the horses into the turn-out and all three of the equine were together.  They're so ridiculous, after greeting each other and such they all went into each other's stalls and tried everyone else's food.  Trotter was eating out of the donkey's trough, Hobo was eating Trotter's pellets and Molly was trying Hobo's hay.  They're silly.  We used the tractor to clean out the stalls, the donkey was OK because she was distracted by the horses.  After awhile though, she started being more interested in us and what we were doing, then she tried bullying Hobo and so we had to put a harness on her and tie her to the hitching post while we finished.  She did let me groom her, so she got a much needed de-shedding.

 Jude decided he was ready to start sitting up this week.  We figured since our friend's baby was sitting unassisted, Jude should work on it too.  We started putting him down in a seated position with toys to play with and he took right to it.  So he's been sitting all week.

 We had the missionaries over for dinner on Monday night.  We had a nice visit, although Arlo kept disappearing.  I didn't raise the kids to ask to be excused from the table when they were done with dinner, but I really should have because when we have company they just get up and take off.  It was rather obnoxious to keep calling him back.  He missed out on dessert because he was MIA when it was time to dish it out.

 I had to work on Tuesday, so Phil took Jude to the doctor for me for his six month check up.  He's doing really well.  He weighs fifteen pounds and is 24 inches long.  She suggested that we continue to feed him baby food; she said we should feed him a wide variety of things including eggs, peanut butter, and milk.  There is some research that early exposure could help him avoid food allergies.  She cautioned just to introduce one food at a time so that if he did have a reaction we could narrow down what caused it. 

Arlo had his dentist appointment in the late afternoon to have his cavity filled.  I had an appointment beforehand with the notary.  I'm trying to get all of Felicity's paperwork in line.  She needs a new birth certificate and social security card and we need to apply for a passport.  It's a lot to keep track of!  When we were done we had some time before Arlo's appointment so we went over to Walmart and did some back to school shopping.  He did really well at the dentist when we were done shopping.  We stopped at the post office and picked up Norma's mail and then dropped that off at their house on the way home and visited for awhile.

Jude is now officially six months old.  Wow, that went fast.  As I've mentioned he is rolling all over the place.  We no longer can put him down and expect him to be there when we look again.  He's sitting up pretty well and enjoying his toys.  He loves eating real food and being carried around.  He is still by far my most fussy baby, some days I wonder what I got myself into!

Phil was back at the fire station on Wednesday and in the evening we had our first Relief Society presidency meeting, it went well and I'm excited to get to work with some really awesome ladies.

 I took the day off on Thursday since Phil's sister was coming from Oklahoma to visit and we all went to his brother's house to hang out and swim.  The kids enjoyed spending time with cousins and I enjoyed passing the baby around (who also enjoyed it).  I'm so grateful I have a wonderful group of in-laws, I enjoy spending time with all of them.  

 Phil and I both had to work on Friday and Phil taught on Saturday so it was just the kids and I.  We did chores and in the afternoon I took them to the shoe store to get some new sneakers for school, Phil met us over there when he was done with work.  Arlo wanted to go over to Old Navy to spend the rest of his back to school clothes allowance so Phil took the girls and Jude home.  Arlo and I did a little more shopping and left for home at just the right time because we drove into a massive dust storm on the way home and shortly there after a heck of a monsoon storm came in and blocked the roads; fortunately for us we were safe at home before the rain came down.  The dust storm was pretty impressive, I've never been in a storm like that, cars were starting to pull over to wait it out.

Phil was back at the fire station for the last shift of his tour on Sunday morning.  I got the kids ready for church, including giving Jude his weekly bath.  He was able to sit up in the sink this week so we did it that way which was a lot easier.  He even got to play with some bath toys.  Church went mostly well, Arlo was a pain, but we suffered through.  I forgot that we had Relief Society this week and had volunteered to sit in on a Primary class.  Relief Society didn't miss me and I enjoyed being in Primary for an hour, I think Jude enjoyed it too.  

 I'm not looking forward to working next week, the monotony is starting to set in and I'm enjoying it less again.  Felicity has band camp and it'll be the final push to make sure we have all our back to school stuff ready to go.  Last week of summer, here we come!

 

04 July 2021

 

Have you ever found that you're totally dependent on something you used to do perfectly well without?  Yeah, me too.  So since I crushed my phone on Saturday I've been without, and I would like to say that its been liberating, but it hasn't been.  I was able to resurrect an old iPhone that we had lying around and after a lot of headache I was able to reinstall my last backup and hook it up to our phone plan and I'm off and running again.  

 Jude was such a pill on Monday.  Nothing seemed to make him happy and on Tuesday morning I realized why.  His very first tooth has poked through his gums.  It's so cute...and sharp!  Believe me, I really had to think twice about whether I wanted to nurse him or not (he's still nursing first thing in the morning and before bed).

 Our last turkey egg hatched on Tuesday night and I tried to video the process as soon as I saw the first little crack.   Alas, the old iPhone I'm using gets hot and the flash shuts off, so the video is not great, but you get the gist.  Of the 20 eggs we collected, we only successfully hatched five turkeys, four of which survived.  I'm irritated we lost the one because he was completely healthy, he just got out of the brooder while we were on vacation, got behind the bed and died of dehydration.  They're really not very bright.  I think the reason we were not more successful is because we didn't put the entire clutch in at the same time; next time we'll know better. The kids had activities on Tuesday night and the girls had volunteered to bring the ice cream machine to mutual so Phil ran that over there as soon as he got home from teaching.  

 Wednesday was busy.  I worked in the morning and around noon I went over to take Norma to a doctor's appointment across town.  If you recall, Norma is my neighbor who was knocked over by her donkey (which is now staying with us) and broke her leg.  Phil and I picked her up from the hospital on last Saturday and brought her home, but she still can't drive so we've been helping out a bit.  Anyway, my mom wanted to take the kids out for the afternoon and showed up just before I left.  I told her I needed the girls to watch Jude for me because I couldn't manage him and the 85 year old woman with the walker at the same time.  So my mom and niece hung around with the kids while I was gone.  My niece is infatuated with Jude and he loves it.  They played, she doted on Jude, and then the kiddos went swimming in the pool.  I haven't mentioned how much the kids have loved having the pool, I really need to get out there and take some pictures.  When I got home, my mom took them out to dinner.

Now that the incubator is empty, I was getting ready to put it away, then Phil brought in half a dozen quail eggs he found when moving the hay pallets.  Since he didn't know if the mama would be able to find them again, he decided to bring them inside and pop in the incubator.  So I guess in 18 days we'll see if we get any Gamble's Quail chicks.  Its a nuthouse around here sometimes!  

 

The girls went thrift store shopping and out to eat with Nana and Grandma Lo this week.  It's so nice to be able to spend time with her again!

Thursday was an answer to prayer.  Our Tucson temple has moved into what the church is calling phase three re-opening.  This means that patrons can make appointments for all the services available in the temple.  We grabbed the first available slot open when we were both going to be available, so Phil and I went and did sealings on Thursday evening.  It was so wonderful.  The last time we were able to be in the temple together was the day we were there for our own sealing.  We had such a great time and after went out to dinner to really make it a date.  It was perfect.  I can't wait until the temple isn't limiting the number of patrons and we can go back to going once a week.  

 On Friday morning, the AC company called and asked if they could move the installation of our new Air Conditioner to that afternoon.  I told them that would be fine as I was going to be home.  They showed up around noon and cut the power to the old unit and got to work.  Since it started to get hot pretty quickly we retreated to the two rooms that still have window units in them.  At some point I came out to work on my computer and when I went back in the bedroom I found that Felicity had painted eyebrows on Jude with makeup.  It was hilarious, I couldn't even be upset.  

They didn't finish the installation until about 8PM and I told them to crank it down to 74 degrees!  I'm so looking forward to having a much more efficient AC and hopefully a smaller electric bill, what I'm not looking forward to is paying it off!

Phil was home on Saturday and Sunday this week which was really nice.  We did chores and worked on some projects.  They have finally installed our roll-up doors for the shop so the electrician started working on getting the lights, outlets, and motors for the doors hooked up.  We are getting so close to having this project behind us.  We are still waiting on them to come and put up the mezzanine and stairs and so we're kind of stuck until they get that done.  We were homebodies Saturday night and didn't go see any fireworks or anything. We enjoyed church on Sunday and after church we were invited to go over and hang out with my new friend Melissa and her friends and family.  Do you remember me telling you about the gal I met at Tractor Supply?  Yeah, her.  It was drizzling rain when we got there, but had such a nice time meeting all her friends, everyone was very nice.  The highlight was introducing her baby to ours.  They are about three weeks apart in age and they seemed to get a kick out of each other; they played on the floor together for awhile.  It was so nice to meet some new people, we stayed pretty late before heading home, never seeing any fireworks, but it was still a pretty good Independence Day if I do say so myself!

27 June 2021

We got home in the wee hours of Monday morning from our Oklahoma trip.  I'm grateful we were able to drive through night on our out there, sparing the baby a bit of monotony since he slept through most of the drive.  We did most of our driving Sunday afternoon and evening on the way back, but Jude did surprisingly well.  He was, however, really excited to stop in New Mexico for dinner.  Lucky for us, the house was no longer 99 degrees when we finally got home.  The AC company was able to put a band-aid on our unit so it will continue to limp along while we wait for a new one to be installed.   I slept for a little while after we got home Monday morning and then I hopped on to the computer and went to work.  In the afternoon I got a package from Raytheon, it had my 10 year certificate and plaque.  I've been with them since January of 2010, but wasn't hired as a full time employee until July of 2011, so this coming month is my technical 10 year anniversary and as such they sent me a plaque and certificate along with a credit to pick a gift from a catalog that includes a wide variety of items.  I chose a Dewalt reciprocating saw.

 Helen came home from visiting her dad on Tuesday and she and Felicity got ready to go to girls camp.  The baby has continued to enjoy eating baby food here and there, preferring the fruit over the veggies, naturally.

We were up fairly early on Wednesday and I took the girls to the church building where they were carpooling to Camp Zion on Mt. Lemon.  I'm glad Helen gets to go this year, I knew they'd have a great time.  It's funny, I had a girls camp calling for several years before the girls were old enough to go, and I haven't been since they started going.  It was quite strange, on Wednesday Phil was at work, the girls at camp, and Arlo with the Davidsons; I was almost all alone in the house (with the exception of Jude of course)!  Too bad I had work and chores to occupy my time.  The girls came home on Saturday and had had such a great time.  They were dirty and tired, but regaled us with plenty of tales of all they did and experienced.  They had a lot of fun.  Arlo came home as well and it was good to have everyone where they belong.

After picking up the girls I was having a hard time finding my phone.  I even tried the Find My Phone feature from the computer and it said it was offline.  I could not for the life of me remember where I had left it.  Then a flashback came to my mind.  I put it on top of the car while I was putting the baby in the car seat.  Did I remember to grab it?  I hopped in the car, after searching the shop floor to no avail and drove down the dirt road.  I found it...about 1/2 a mile from the house.  I will say this, the Otterbox it was in performed beautifully, it didn't crack or break and the screen cover wasn't terribly scratched.  The phone inside the case, well that's a different story, it was shattered into 1,000 pieces.  You could literally shake the completely intact Otterbox and hear the glass rattle around inside.  Sad day.  It's ridiculous how dependent we've become on our devices, I felt like I had an appendage missing the rest of the week.

While we were traveling home last Sunday I got a call from a member or our Bishopric letting me know I had been released as our Relief Society secretary, which is a calling in the women's organization of the church.  I was then extended the opportunity to serve as the first counselor in the newly reorganized Relief Society presidency which I accepted.  As such, on Sunday I was sustained and set apart to serve in that capacity.  Phil, coincidentally, was also speaking that day in Sacrament meeting and he did a great job.  The topic was on the anniversary of the martyrdom of Joseph and Hyrum Smith.  It was actually the first time he's been able to give a talk since joining our ward when we got married.  His work schedule prevented him from speaking on a few occasions when he was asked previously and then of course COVID meant we just had church from home for several months.  He even invited a coworker to come hear him speak.  Since my phone was broken, I didn't see the text message about our Relief Society teacher not being able to teach and asking me to fill in.  So, I ended up teaching Relief Society on the fly.  We talked about the conference address God Loves His Children by Elder Taniela B. Wakolo, it went fairly well all things considered.

Since we were on the road for Father's Day last week, and because we weren't all together, we waited to celebrate Father's Day until today.  When we got home from church we had some cake and Phil opened his gifts.  I got him and Jude matching tees, Phil's says Taco and Jude's says Taquito.  Jude got daddy a personalized book for them to read together, and the kids got him a truck detailing package.  We sure do love him around here.  In addition to the tee shirts, I also made Phil a video to celebrate him and the wonderful father that he is.  The video was actually my favorite gift, it still makes me tear up a bit when I watch it. 

20 June 2021

 

I saw a picture floating around Facebook that said "Adulthood is saying 'but after this week things will slow down' over and over until you die" and I related, to an incredible degree I related!  It was another busy week for us.  Helen continued with summer school and Phil was able to finish putting up the shade structure in our horse's turn-out area for the neighbor's donkey.  

In the evening we went over there to get Molly.  We debated quite a bit as to whether we should transport her in the horse trailer, tie her to our horse Hobo and have him walk her home, or just put a lead on her and walk her home ourselves.  Phil decided walking her would be the easiest and safest.  It took some doing to get the harness on her and then she bolted for the gate knocking over Ruth, who luckily wasn't hurt or she would have ended up in the hospital alongside her mother.  Molly is an ornery, spoiled donkey!  For the last couple of weeks I've been going over there three times a day to help Ruth feed Molly since it isn't safe for her to do it alone. While helping Ruth to feed her she (the donkey) backed me away from the gate nipping at me with her teeth and then turning around and trying to kick me.  After several tense minutes of this, Ruth was able to distract her long enough that I could climb the fence and escape the coral.  I would have loved to have been a fly on the wall, I don't think anyone has ever seen an obese middle-age woman in a dress climb a fence faster!  Anyway, the donkey is mean.  

 So she tried to drag Phil around the yard a bit after he got her out and then she really put up a fight when he tried to get her to walk across the sidewalk.  Once he got her out on the driveway and started down the road, she seemed to mind OK.  Phil walked her the two miles home, having to stop and pull her off the road every time a car drove by because they were making her nervous.  She seems to be adjusting to the ranch now and I can tell that she enjoys being near the other animals, especially the horses who she can visit with over the corral panels.  I don't know how long we'll be holding on to Molly, but we're happy to have her...even though I will NOT be going in the pen with her. 

Jude is doing a pretty good job of sitting with support and he is rolling from his tummy to his back and from his back to his tummy with purpose and ease.  Since he's made such progress with his mobility, I decided to introduce him to his first solid foods.  We tried rice cereal this week, along with pears and yams mixed with rice cereal.  As expected it was a big mess, but Jude enjoyed it a lot.

 

On Tuesday morning we woke up to a much warmer than usual house.  The AC had died in the night and the temperature in the house was rising pretty quickly.  Phil got a new fuse and it worked for about 15 minutes before it went out again.  We got some calls into some AC companies, but its hard to get anyone out quickly this time of year. The dogs had an appointment at the vet mid day.  Maggie to get her vaccines updated and to do some blood work to see how her valley fever medication is working, and Chief to have his first exam and get his first round of shots.  Maggie is doing well and her titer numbers look good, she's responding to treatment so we're going to continue her medication twice a day for six months and then go to once a day for six months and then hopefully come off of medication altogether.  By the time we got home it was over 90 in the house and we didn't have a technician coming any sooner than the following day.  Phil and I went to Walmart and bought two window units and installed those in our bedroom and Arlo's bedroom.  By the time we were ready to go to bed, those two rooms were livable.

 Phil worked on Wednesday teaching at Pima and I ran around getting ready for our trip in between working and taking kids all over.  I did manage a short nap before the AC company showed up.  I basically told him we weren't interested in fixing it, we wanted a new one.  I sank like $1600 into it two summers ago and was told then it was time to replace it.  Anyway we went over our options and purchased a new AC, but were told it couldn't be installed until July 2nd; however, they would come out and fix the old one to get us by until then.  This was probably the worse week for the AC to go out because it was in the 115 degree range most of the week.  When Phil got home we picked up our rental car and got all packed up to go to Oklahoma.  Phil's nephew got married and we were planning to attend the reception.  Helen and Arlo decided to go see their dad and Felicity and the baby and Phil and I left around 10PM for Edmond.

 I drove the first leg of the trip and Phil and I switched off a few times before we got to Alyssa's house in the late afternoon.  His brother and other sister joined us Friday morning and we enjoyed a really fun reception on Friday evening.  It was pretty hot and humid, but a good time.  Jude enjoyed all the people!

 On Saturday we went to Frontier City, a western-themed, six flags-owned theme park.  The kids seemed to have a good time, at least I know Felicity did.  It was nice to spend time with family.  On Sunday morning Kirby and Salina flew home and we stayed to attend church with Alyssa and her family.  After church we packed up and started for home. It was a long drive home, but we made it, we got in early Monday morning.  

 

  

13 June 2021

 Yeah summer, we love you.  Felicity went to hang out with friends on Monday while Helen started her first day of summer school.  She was pretty disgruntled when she got home, but we reminded her that its the consequence of her rocky first semester.  

 Our second turkey chick hatched on Tuesday and joined the other chicks in the brooder.  We took a trip into Green Valley in the evening in search of an additional gate for the kennels we have.  At this point we have two full, covered dog kennels and had a couple of extra panels so we wanted to add the extra panels between the kennels and attach a gate for an additional animal enclosure. While we were there I got to talking with the cashier and we surprisingly had a lot in common.  We are both around the same age, have kids the same age (including a baby who is only three weeks older than Jude), and both are living the crazy hobby farm/homestead lifestyle.  So naturally we're friends on Facebook now!  My sweet husband is so patient with my ranch plans!  Turkey eggs on the counter, chicks in the bathtub, pullets in the shop, hens in the yard, and he builds me space for more critters.  He's the best and I love him.

Speaking of my amazing husband, he had his 43rd birthday on Wednesday.  In the morning the kids had dentist appointments for their biannual cleanings.  Felicity was cavity free, Helen had a baby tooth that needed to be extracted because it's not coming out on its own and its causing a problem with her adult tooth, and Arlo on the other hand had cavities.  Ugh!  Here's where I repent and vow that I'm going to brush and floss his teeth for him because he clearly isn't doing it himself when I send him in the bathroom!  The girls got their second COVID vaccine in the afternoon and after we got everybody home and situated Phil and I went out to dinner to celebrate his birthday.  We went to Churrasco de Brazil near the Tucson mall and it was excellent.  It's an all you can eat Brazilian steak house where they come around with different types of meat that they cut off for you.  It was delicious and we had a great time.  

 When we got home Phil opened his gifts and we enjoyed some birthday cake.  We got Phil some airpods and a set of yoga wheels for him to use to roll out his back.  He also got a Groupon for a one-hour message.  He was pretty excited about the wheels and tried them out immediately.  You know you're old when you get muscle relaxing, back pain relieving, stretching toys and a message for your birthday!  We love Phil.  He's kind and funny and such a hard worker, we sure our lucky he's ours.

Felicity told us last summer that she wanted to have her last name legally changed.  We put it off because of COVID; a few weeks ago, after much reminding from her, we filed the appropriate paperwork.  Last week we had a telephonic court date and the judge approved her request and Felicity's name legally became Felicity Grace Comaduran.  We got the court judgment in the mail this week and now I have to undertake the arduous task of getting new documents and changing things around.  Maybe I'll finish before she gets married and changes it again!  Phil was at the fire station Thursday and taught Fire Academy on Friday.  The dentist had an opening for Helen and so I took her in for her tooth extraction.  They took care of it pretty quickly.  Boy, kids are expensive!

 Saturday we worked on chores pretty much all day.  Cleaning stalls, taking care of animals and house cleaning and laundry.  There's always something to do!  The kids begrudgingly helped, although getting to use the tractor makes it a little better.  I even let Felicity pull the truck forward for me.  She's going to have some good driving time under her belt before she actually gets her permit.

 On Sunday Felicity was asked to speak during Sacrament meeting.  She addressed the whole congregation about her experience on the youth trek and how doing hard things can increase our faith.  She wrote her talk the day before and had it typed out on a sheet of paper. When she stood up to speak, I fully expected her to just read from her paper, but she surprised the heck out of me.  She was animated and engaging and gave a great talk, only glancing at her paper occasionally; we were so proud of her.  

Sunday evening after the sun went down our good friend Randy came over and helped us build a shade for the neighbor's donkey.  We were going to eventually put up a shade in our turn-out area anyway, so we just expedited that project a little so that we will be able to move the donkey to the ranch so we can take care of her while her owner heals from her fall.  Normally we wouldn't work on a project like that on Sunday, but Phil has to work next week and we need to get the donkey moved so that we don't have to continue to go over there three times a day to help them feed her.  We got the poles set and we are going to let them set up over night.  

06 June 2021

 First week of summer is in the books.  We had a lot of firsts this week.  On Monday we celebrated Memorial day with the Comadurans and had a great time.  Jude took his first dip in the pool and he loved it.  He also loved all of the cousin attention!

When we got home from Brook and Kirby's in the evening we found that our first turkey chick had hatched.  It was chirping away and looked very content in the incubator.  We let him dry off and fluff-up before we transferred him to the brooder, aka my garden tub.  Last week I bought five additional bourbon red turkey chicks from a gal on Craigslist (and it actually worked out).  I wanted to add to our breeding stock, so I got some chicks with different genetics.  So now we have some pullets in the shop in a water trough (the chicks I bought), our new chick in the bathtub brooder in my bathroom, and an incubator full of fertilized eggs.  Its going to be an interesting summer!

 Felicity and I started working on her outfit for our stake's upcoming youth trek.  In June the 14-18 year youth in our stake (several congregations of our church) are going to do a pioneer reenactment.  They're going to pull handcarts across the desert for three days, camp under the stars, and gain a greater appreciation of early members of the church who crossed the plains to Utah.  Part of the expectation for the trek is for the kids to dress in pioneer garb.  Felicity wanted to take the opportunity to learn to sew from a pattern, so she and I picked a patter and I showed her how to find how much fabric to buy and she worked along side me as we cut out the pattern.  She sewed the bonnet as I worked on the dress.  It was a lot of fun to work on that together.  

 Phil was working on Tuesday and the kids didn't have youth activities because of the upcoming trek;, I took advantage of the free babysitting and took myself to the movies.  Since I missed most of Cruella last week when we went as a family, I wanted to see it again. It was divine, I had my own popcorn and soda and enjoyed the movie distraction free.  It was a great movie.  The kids went with Nana out to dinner and to see the movie again too this week.

 On Wednesday I got a 5AM call from the post office telling me that my chicks had come in.  I wonder what they think about me at the post office, I'm always getting weird shipments!  Anyway, last week I ordered some chicken chicks from my favorite hatchery hoping they would arrive just before the turkey chicks started to hatch.  Turkeys are not very bright and do better if put in the brooder with chicken chicks who will show them how to eat and drink and not drown in their water.  I got 10 olive eggers which should lay lovely green eggs, and five Ameraucanas which lay blue eggs.  The turkey chick was right in the mix with the chicken chicks immediately and my bathroom is a chirping, happy mess.

 Wednesday evening Felicity and I worked on her outfit.  Around 9PM Felicity went to bed and I kept working.  I always, always, always, underestimate how long a sewing project is going to take me and this one was no different.  I worked through the night and I was sewing the last button on when 5AM rolled around and it was time for Felicity to pack up.  I drove a group of kids and gear up to the Smith ranch in the Dragoons. I went home and took a nap before starting work for the day!

 On Friday morning I got a call from a friend letting me know that our neighbor was being transported to the hospital via ambulance and could I check in on her adult daughter who depends on her elderly mother for care.  As it turned out, the elderly neighbor was knocked over by their donkey and broke her upper leg.  I went to check in on her daughter and our friend and Phil met me over there as well.  We made some quick arrangements for meals and to organize a schedule to help the daughter feed the donkey three times a day.  It looks like its going to be a long-term arrangement.

 I picked up kids from trek on Saturday afternoon and we stopped at Wendy's in Benson for frosties on the way home.  Felicity was tired, dirty, but said she had a great time.  

Our next door (or next property) neighbor asked if we would feed his horses for him while he was gone this weekend.  I agreed, so on top of feeding the spoiled donkey three times a day, I needed to feed the neighbor's horse too on Sunday morning.  I decided to take the side by side instead of the truck to feed the animals.  I made it next door, fed their horses, and then headed down the road.  Less than a 1/4 mile down the road I met Phil coming home from work.  I returned home so that he could go with me to feed the donkey.  We took the Rhino back down the road and the tire seized up after a mile and a half and we couldn't drive it any further.  Ugh!  Phil ran home (if you haven't seen him run, its really a sight to see, that man is FAST) and came to save me with the tractor.  Our trailer has a bunch of stuff on it that needs to go to the dump, so Phil got a little creative and brought the tractor.  He tied the front bumper of the Rhino to the box blade and then hoisted it up and we towed the Rhino home with the tractor.  There's only one seat on the tractor, so we shared.  We were quite the spectacle to see driving down the road cheek to cheek at 10 miles an hour on a tractor pulling a side by side.  I sometimes joke that we try to do at least one really red-neck thing a week.

 We enjoyed church together on Sunday and had a relaxing day.  Jude turned five months on Sunday.  He's not rolling over yet or sitting up.  He's even more interactive now and recognizes familiar faces.  He started to have formula in a bottle this week a few times after nursing.  We are hoping that giving him some extra will help him to be a little less cranky.  We'll see if it helps.