We're a Travelin' Fam Part 3

Finally, I will post about our trip to Colorado.  I have 2 siblings who live in Colorado.  My brother and sister-in-law who live in New York decided they were going to make the drive out to Colorado and wanted to see who wanted to have a family reunion there.  As is turns out 6 of the 7 siblings in my family and my mom were able to be there!  It was great!  It has been a really long time since so many of us have been all together.  (I guess last October there were 5 of us together)  The last time we were all together was at my wedding 9 years ago.  The difference with then and this time around was that the wedding was so crazy and busy that we really didn't get to spend much time together.  This time around, thanks to my sister and my niece, we had lots of fun activities planned and created some wonderful memories.  Thank you, thank you Sheri and Ellen!  Kenneth had to stay at home and work and greet the first of his family who arrived at our home.  We wished he could have been with us, too.
Here are some pictures of those few days:

We went on a hike through Castlewood Canyon.  It was a wonderful evening.  My kids even went on the whole hike without complaining!  That's what good influence of cousins does, I guess!

Grant and his COUSIN (he's only, oh, 30 years older)

My brothers- aren't they great!

Gorgeous view during our hike.

Sydney and Arianna- cousins on the hike.

Kate asleep in the carrier on the hike.

 After the hike we cooked 'pudgy pies' and had so much fun just being together.

The next day we went to a very fun indoor pool with water slides and a lazy river and a great kiddie section.  Sorry, no picture of that- I was doing all I could to keep track of all my children!  I could not have done it without help from my mom and sisters and sisters-in-law and nieces, that's for sure!

Field Day!

More field day fun

My nephew and brother-in-law

Cousins having fun with water guns and buckets!

He's sopping wet!

Kate and Holland- second cousins once removed?  I think?

Whose toes are whose?

Emma and Kate and Becky and Holland (cousins)

Crafts with Grandma

The concentration!

Forts!

More forts!  The cousins had so much fun playing together.

We had a beautiful musical evening. There are some very talented people in my family!

S'mores!

I am so glad I was able to spend some time with my family.  It was worth the 7 hour drive to be there with everyone.  So, there you have it.  Hopefully, before too long I will be able to post about Kenneth's side of the family and the reunion we had here at our pad!

I Live in Kansas and I Butcher Chickens.

Two things I never, ever thought I'd say.  The count is 3 now.  Yup.  Three chickens we have butchered.  One was a meat bird, destined to be in our freezer from the start.  Kenneth only bought her because she was such a cute chick (man, she sure did grow up to be an ugly bird!!!!).  The other 2 ended up being roosters.  Let me tell you I am sure getting better sleep the last 2 mornings with those guys gone!  I was starting to get really stressed out.  Not only for my sleep, or lack thereof, but for my neighbors.  Yes, I live in Kansas, but I do not live out in the middle of nowhere.  We live in a regular old neighborhood.  Roosters are not really welcome!!  Luckily, most of our neighbors actually grew up on farms, so it's not like it's a noise they haven't heard before.  Plus, they are are so nice, I don't think anyone would give us a hard time about it, but still, my stress level in the mornings has lowered significantly, for which I am grateful. 
Now, I know you all want the nitty-gritty details, right?  If you don't, skim down a ways and I'll share more fun stuff that's gone on around here. . .

The first chicken to be butchered was "White-ea".  The kids named her, of course.  We butchered this one not too long after we returned from our long trip.  She was getting to be too big to even walk around very well! 
The kids were amazingly okay with us butchering her and witnessed the whole event.  All Arianna could talk about was getting to eat her wing when we cooked her.  (One of Arianna's favorite meals is a whole chicken cooked in the crock-pot)  Now, when I say 'I' butcher chickens, of course I mean 'we' and when I say 'we' butcher chickens, I really mean 'Kenneth' butchers chickens.  I did help with the plucking.  That counts, right?  Plus Kenneth and I are a team, so sure it counts!

Here are the pictures of that:

Saying goodbye to the old girl

Then.  See? Wasn't she an adorable chick?

Now.  White-ea in all her glory.  To my friends in Liverpool:  Yes, this is the very same chicken I impersonated.

Daddy stringing her up.  We couldn't do it on a block- couldn't have a headless chicken running around our fenceless yard!

 

Relaxed and ready to go.

 

I spared you the picture of the deheading.  After that step you dip her in 180 degree water to loosen the feathers.

All plucked.  It actually wasn't nearly as hard as I thought it would have been.

We turned it into a science lesson and showed the kids all the insides.  They were intruiged.

Once she was all cleaned up, she was still over 7 pounds!  Big girl! (After I wrote this whole thing Kenneth tells me he thinks she was a he.  Oh well.)

The roosters we just butchered 2 nights ago.  I didn't take nearly as many pictures, but here are a few: 

Here's one handsome rooster.  Zebree is was his name.

One last picture all together.

Grant saying goodbye.

Arianna had to say one last goodbye.  They were a little sad to see this guy go.  He was so pretty, after all.

 

This is Tiny.  He really was a little guy.  But, he was starting to be a feisty little bugger.  Kate likes him, don't you think?

Grant helped to keep Kate happy while I helped pluck.

Out with the old in with the new.  Here are some baby birds living in our hanging flower basket on the front porch:

 

Here is the first baby hatched.

Mom!  Dad!  I'm starving!  Please feed me!

Here they are just this evening.  They are getting bigger!  They were all sleeping, sorry.

After we returned home form our trip, I had 2 weeks to get the house ready for a housefull of visitors.  I definitely wanted to change the paint color in the dining room since I knew with that many people here we would be spending a fair amount of time in there eating.  I am pleased with the color I chose. 

Before

After

Now, I just need to find the right pictures, curtains, centerpiece, etc.  I really love the Black-eyed Susans from my yard for now, though.

Alright!  I am catching up!  I will post more soon on my visit to Colorado and Kenneth's whole family's visit here to our home!

We're a traveling fam part 2

 

 After a week and a half on the farm, we said to good bye and traveled one hour to Syracuse, our old stomping grounds.  We took Kenneth straight to the airport to catch his flight to Brazil for work.  Then the kids and I went to Kenneth's sister Diane's house to spend a couple of days with them.  They have an awesome backyard and the kids had so much fun playing there.  Then it rained some more, but they still had fun playing inside with cousins and toys. 

Diane with Kate

Diane's kids and our kids watching Gilligan's Island in the basement of Diane's home

Arianna zonked out during the show after playing so hard.

After staying with Diane and her family, we went just 20 minutes away to my brother's house.  He is actually in the same ward we used to be in when we lived in the Syracuse area!   It's too bad we weren't there at the same time.  We had so much fun staying with them!  We were there for my sister-in-law's birthday.  I watched their kids so they could have a well-deserved night out.  (I felt like the traveling babysitter on this trip!  I watched kids for 3 different families as I traveled around.  I was so glad I could.  Sometimes I feel like I am so involved in the daily care of my own family, I don't serve others very often.  So, it felt good to do something for someone else.  Although, they were all such good hosts to us, we are still so indebted to them for their kindness!)

While visiting with my brother, we were able to go to a horse farm for a special open house, where they had horse rides for the kids. We also were able to go to church in Liverpool, our old ward.  That evening, my brother and sister-in-law hosted an open house for us to be able to hang out with our old friends there.  It felt like the goood old days, even though we've been gone from there for four years!  It was so much fun to see everyone!  We all agreed we wish Kenneth had been with us.  I did not do a good job taking any pictures of my brother and sister-in-law or any of our old friends. 

Emma on the horse

Arianna's turn

Arianna snuggling Kate on the couch at my brother, Karl's house

Dressing up the dog, Baxter

The cousins all together

After a few days in Liverpool, we started the trek back to Kansas.  Because we were on our own, without Kenneth at this point, we took it very slow.  We drove just over an hour to Ithaca and made our first stop.

Buttermilk Falls in Ithaca, NY. a.k.a. The Center of the Universe

 
Oh how I miss this place!  When I lived in Ithaca before Kenneth and I were married, I worked at a Bed and Breakfast at the base of these falls. My boss, who had lived there most of her life, considered it the Center of the Universe. Good times.   Unfortunately, she was out of town, so I didn't get to see her, but I did get to see. . .

Holly!!!  We met Holly at the falls. She drove up from northern Pennsylvania to see us. She was a BYU roommate of mine. It was so good to see you, Holly!

It was raining for a good portion of the time we were at the falls, so we spent some time under umbrellas and in our separate vans with the doors open so we could still chat.  Even so, I am so glad we both put forth the effort to stay connected. 


My children to the left (minus Kate) and Holly's children to the right. What a crew!

Here is another shot. They were told they must not touch one another (hence the separation of children). Holly's son threw up in the car on the way up to meet us.

We said goodbye and drove 5 1/2 more hours to the Cleveland area.  Our last stop before we got to Cleveland was at Krispy Kreme doughnuts.  I had promised the kids a treat earlier that day and I needed a place to nurse Kate, so we went there.  I could not have made a better choice!  This particular Krispy Kreme had leather couches in a nice sitting area where I could nurse and still see the kids watching the doughnuts being made.  It was a nice break in our trip that day.  We stayed near Cleveland, actually in Kirtland, that night with my sister-in-law's sister.  She was kind enough to let us stay on the way to New York as well.  We were so thankful for her hospitality!  The kids had fun playing with her kids for the short time we were there. 
The next morning, we packed into the van again and made the drive from Cleveland to Cinncinati.  It's only four hours, so that was a nice easy day.  We stayed there with Kenneth's cousin, Phil and his family.  When Kenneth and I were dating and engaged, they lived in Ithaca as well and Kenneth would always stay with them when he came up to see me.  They are so wonderful! 

At a park with a water feature in Cincinnati with the Baldauf family. The kids had so much fun!

After a week and a half without Kenneth, we were ready to be reunited.  From Cincinnati, the Indianapolis airport is only 2 1/2 hours away.  So, we had a short drive to make to go pick Kenneth up.  It was so good to see him!


Horses and girls romping in the fields.

The above picture cracks me up! The girls were given those humongous horses by the Baldauf girls in Cincinnati. The girls were so delighted. So, we piled them in to our already overfilled vehicle and traveled the rest of the way home. This shot was actually taken right near the cell phone lot at the Indianapolis Airport. We were waiting to pick Kenneth up from his business trip to Brazil. The girls were playing in the grass while I nursed Kate and took care of a diaper blow-out.

After we picked Kenneth up, we drove a few hours to St. Louis and stayed there overnight so we could take turns going to the temple. It was so nice. The kids had a ball eating pizza (except that Daddy ordered 2 pizzas BOTH with anchovies on them. Who does that?!?!), jumping on the beds, watching a movie and swimming in both the indoor and outdoor pools.



Jumping on hotel beds. Hooray!

Swimming time with Dad



Gorgeous St. Louis Temple



Swimming in the indoor pool the following morning.

Grant was having a rough morning.  Lack of sleep?  Too many anchovies on his pizza?  Who knows.

At least he cheered up enough to cooperate for a picture:


Our whole family in front of the temple on our way out of town



Sweet sisters

Sweet sisters times 3!

Mom and the girls



Flowers on the temple grounds.

Arianna asleep with her new horse on the last leg of our journey.

During our drive home from St. Louis to home, we ran into a bad storm. At one point I was nervous it was a tornado. Pretty wild. It soon passed and we had beautiful sunny skies as we arrived home. We even had a little while when all 4 children were asleep at the same time. Amazing! It was fun to see the wheat fields all ready for harvest.