Fresh Produce, Home Projects &Taking a Break

These past two weeks my life has been threatened to be overcome by a multitude of fresh produce. I, however, have not been easily subdued.

All that fresh produce has led to things such as this:
As well as this:

Craig has spend his last two weeks working on projects around the house like this:

Painting our bathroom a new shade of green (and I finally framed the photos Jessie took last summer!)

Also, this...

Tearing down our old metal patio cover and bulding this new white, light, and beautiful one with his own two hands.

And (not pictured) taking EVERYTHING out of our shop/ laundry room, painting the whole area, including the cabinets, building new shelving, and finally, re-organizing everything!

So, Saturday we took a break from our projects and hit the beach with one of our favorite families.

It was fun making time for things like this:

And, of course, this.

Then coming home for this:

And all this, cuteness....

A little bit of this

And (what else???) more of this.

So, after a much needed break, I'm now planning on tackling this

And these.

Wish me luck!

Our Favorite Spot

We can't go to Grants Pass in August without a river day at our favorite "secret" spot. I think the first time we went (and I have pictures to prove it) was when Wyatt was about 4 months old, which would be 6 years ago! We have kept up the tradition every year. Being on the river is so beautiful and it always amazes me how peaceful and calm the world feels here.

.

My cutie! I love the reflections in his sunglasses.

Getting geared up for some rock jumpin'

Will in the water after a jump to Papa. I love this photo.

Wyatt was brave enough to jump this year! He and Will jumped together.

Wyatt, our photographer, snapped this one of the 2 of us.

Me and my boys, I sat in this spot for awhile and marveled and God's beautiful creation.

After we'd had enough sun and water for one day we headed home, and stopped off for pizza. It was a yummy way to end a perfect day.

By the way, our chickens are getting quite good at doing what they do best. While we were away they layed 7 eggs!

A few things we love about Ama & Papa's

This past week was spent in Grants Pass at Craig's parents house. Craig helped his mom paint the exterior of their home and it turned out so beautiful! The kids and I got a chance to do a little exploring, relax, and just play! Here are a few things we love about Ama & Papa's:

Swimming in the hot tub....the kids got in nearly every evening

Playing on the swings and feeling like a little kid again

Spotting this pretty mama and her babies in the yard

Playing barefoot in the grass

Swinging on swings some more, this one's a cute little antique swing, just Anna's size

Beautiful flowers in the garden

We also love:

Yummy meals fixed by Ama

Playing restaurant

Spending quality time with those we love!

Up next: The Illinois River

Egg #2

Egg #2 just arrived this morning. As I was sitting at my computer this morning I heard quite the ruckus coming from the hen house. They were squawking like I'd never heard before. I headed out and saw two of the hens down below, but April, our Rhode Island Red was up in the nesting boxes. I waited for her to come down. Then I peeked in, and low and behold, egg #2.

It looked a little funky and it was way in back, so I was kinda scared to reach in a grab it. (Maybe I'm not as "farm girl" as I thought). "Gloves" I thought! I ran to get my garden gloves and then very bravely reached my hand back and grabbed it. Sure enough, it was a mushy shell egg. It actually made me gag a little, but I kept praising April, saying things like, "Good girl! Did YOU lay that egg? I am so proud of you!"

I'm not even posting a picture of this one. We will continue to wait for a taste of egg #3.

Egg-citing news

Our chickens are now 4 months old and we had read they would start laying their first eggs at about 5-6 months. Still, I had been peeking in their nesting boxes every fews days, and was so excited to find our very first egg on friday morning!

It was small, but perfect and brown with a nice looking yolk and everything!

I know, because I saw it crack as it fell from the refrigerator later that day. We are still waiting to sample egg #2 when it arrives.