Embarassing Moment #61

So it's probably not surprising that I like to listen to my Ipod while I bike. I even have this handy-dandy arm band thing so I don't have to hold it.

Last week I was doing just that, ripping down Becker Lake Rd. singing at the top of my lungs. Now most of you know I am pretty much tone deaf, but that doesn't stop my from trying to sing. Anyway, there I was belting out Christina Aguilera, while coasting by the Peterson's. I was already past their house when I look over, and there's Gerald, not 10 feet away, grinning. Needless to say he thinks I'm crazy.

What makes it even better is that my t-shirt sleeve slid down and covered the Ipod on my arm, so I'm sure he just thinks I was singing to my own tune in my head.....Good Times.

The Rooster

So some of our neighbors happened to go out of town this last week, and they asked me to keep an eye on a couple of things at their house. While I was over there yesterday morning I happened to walk by their chicken coop and noticed that there was one rooster standing outside of it. I couldn't figure out how he had "flown the coop," no pun intended, since it has chicken wire over the top of it too, and after spending quite a bit of time decided that maybe he was just out for reasons unknown to me. So I turned and walked away.

As I rounded the corner he started in with the Cockle- Doodle-Dooing, as loud as he could. So I turned around and went back, and he stopped. So I finally figured out how to open the coop, but now I had to catch the rooster. So I chased him around the chicken yard a couple of times ( I might also add that I am dripping wet and wearing my swimsuit and flapping robe since I just finished my morning swim) before I decided that this was not going to work. I couldn't leave the door open and chase him in because I was afraid that all the others would get out too.

So after my third circuit around the coop I noticed several fruit rinds laying around on the ground and it occurred to me that perhaps they feed him outside. So I found a little bowl to fill with water, and got a handful of grain out of the coop, and called it good.

This time when I rounded the corner, the rooster was happily munching his feed and didn't make a peep. Just call me the Chicken Whisperer.

Crown King

One of the days of our trip we decided to do a little exploring and wound up in Crown King, Arizona. This little town is far off the beaten track and a little ghost town leftover from the Gold Rush days. We drove for 25 miles on a narrow dirt road that seemed to lead nowhere, but we eventually made it. The General Store was very cute, and had delicious homemade butter fudge. We also had lunch in the Saloon, which is apparently the oldest operational Saloon in Arizona. Before we left we found a scenic waterfall at the end of the road and stopped to take quite a few pictures.

Waiting for our food

The Saloon

Dean, pretending to be shy

Tyler and Dean, hmmm maybe he's not pretending

View from the waterfall

Spring Break - Woo Hoo

We spent the last week in the valley for our Spring Break. One of the perks of homeschooling is that it's Spring Break whenever you say it is. Our niece and nephew were coming to visit so we decided to just stay in the valley for the whole week and enjoy the beautiful weather.

We found our hotel online, and Rodger didn't think it was a good idea, but it was a suite how bad could it be, right? WRONG!!!!! Seeing as how I'm the one that insisted it was all my fault, and it was non-refundable. So we stuck it out for a week, and we weren't there very much anyway.

The boys had an amazing time with their cousins, and Rodger and I had lots of fun too. I like any time that he is off work for a week.

More posts of our adventures to follow.

The Hike That Turned Into A Marathon....

So, some of you will find this shocking.....we ditched Church last weekend. I know, you would never expect that of us, LOL. We decided we were in need of some family time and decided to go and hike around in Water Canyon since we hadn't spent much quality time together lately. So we piled in Rodger's wood truck aka The Beast. We had to rechristen in when he chopped down a tree that fell on it and dented the hood and shattered the windshield, but that's another story. So we headed up Water Canyon with the dog in the back as well.

We reached our destination and had lots of fun hiking around and seeing all the signs of spring. The boys built a dam in the stream and Queso, the dog, had way too much fun rolling in the snow and swimming in the small pools. We even discovered that he will play fetch with pine cones when we don't have a ball handy, despite getting the burrs stuck in his tongue. Anyway after a couple of hours we decided to head for home.

This is where it gets interesting....

So after we finally get Queso loaded unhappily back in the truck we try to leave and the truck won't start. Now I am not a big fan of this truck in the first place, but I like that Rodger always wants me to scoot close to him on the bench seat and puts his arm around me, so I tolerate it. So I am more than a little annoyed with this new development. Rodger tries for quite some time to get it started with no luck and we decide that it's not going to happen. I suggest that we try to coast down the mountain in neutral so that we won't have quite so far to walk. Rodger thinks this is a great idea, but Alec is terrified and thinks that we are going to fall off the edge of the road down into the canyon. So 30 minutes later we finally coast to a stop amid continued whimpers of terror at the old mill. From there we decide to walk.

So we walk for about 2 miles before the kids start complaining that they are dying of thirst. Now to be fair we didn't bring water, and we had already been hiking around for a couple of hours, and it was 80 degrees that day. So Rodger convinces me to stop at Short Stop for drinks. Now I'm more annoyed because I had already convinced Rodger not to go to the store earlier that morning because we have been doing really well at keeping the Sabbath Day, except for the minor indiscretion of skipping Church Lol. So we get drinks and are off again, except that I don't want to parade down main street with our drinks showing the whole world that we have been to the store. So we detour over to a residential street where my shame will be lessened. A couple of miles later we are passed by our friend and neighbor who also happens to be our Stake President's wife. She waved very brightly as she drove past, and I almost flagged her down to ask for a ride, but I was stifled by the huge Big Gulp in my hand. So we finally made it home and got my car and headed back up the hill.

Rodger tinkered around for a bit more and we discovered the truck was out of gas. So a second trip to the store was made. At this point I remarked that we were being punished for skipping our meetings and that this was an ill fated trip from the beginning. Alec and Dean both said that they were sure that was right and we better just go to Church from now on while Rodger laughed in the background.

Needless to say, I don't think we will be ditching again...at least for a few months.

Digital Madness

Ok, I'm an addict. My friend Ginger has been showing me how to scrapbook digitally and I am hooked now. It's so amazing to get six pages done in two hours and not have a huge mess to clean up. I also completely love summertime designs, Summer creates such great stuff that I decided to try my hand at making my own blog design too. What do you think? This is all from her "One Year Older" kit.

The Arabian Horse Show

As part of our school unit on horses the boys and I attended the Scottsdale Arabian Horse Show last Thursday. We should have gone a little earlier in the day because we didn't get to see that many events, but what we did see was fabulous.

I loved the junior division, which I thought might be young riders, but was actually young horses. They pranced around the arena so gracefully with their tails held high in the air, and their riders wore top hats and tails. LOVED IT! The boys liked the costume division where the horses and riders came out dressed up like something out of Arabian nights. I can't believe the horses tolerated all the bells, tassels, and sequins. We also really liked the liberty division where the horses run around wild to loud music and then their handlers have to catch them within a time limit when the music stops. It was fun to see them leap and jump and whirl all on their own.

I've decided I love field trips even if we have to drive down to the valley and back in one day. I even remembered to bring my camera with me, but then I forgot to take any pictures so I copied these from my google search. Photos from Scottsdale.com