Weekend Update

Our weekend was nowhere near as entertaining as a good "Weekend Update" bit on SNL, but that's fine with me. Saturday was blissfully relaxed, like all-day-in-pajamas relaxed. Yum! Sunday was marked with church and naps. Holdyn didn't feel very well on Saturday or Sunday, but it's just a summer cold and he's better today.
Each entry I make in this journal reinforces how thankful and blessed I feel this wonderful summer! Pure bliss!

Much Love,
J

Days 4 - 5 -- The Weekend

Fruit salad with lime dressing. 
I pinned this on Pinterest from Dena at Oh! You Cook!

Saturday and Sunday were busy because of our church's stake conference, but it was a good kind of busy. We were spiritually fed. Saturday also included a visit to the grocery store and Sunday a trip to the library.
Speaking of fed, I've been cooking up a storm from recipes on Pinterest and have found several to add to our regular rotation. Yummy! This summer is shaping up quite nicely indeed!

Much Love,
J 

My Baby Boy

We lead them and give instructions...

We walk beside them as they begin...

We follow as they grow...

Then we let them go.

PS Yipee! This is my 100th post!

Pioneer Spirit

There's an old saying most of us have heard before. It goes something like this, "Use it up, wear it out, make it do, or do without!" It's a great motto to live by always but especially in these more difficult times. As I've said before, we're striving for a simpler life here on Vaughn Farm. That means lots of repurposing - especially where animals are involved. Here's what I mean...

This is our scrap wood bin. K made it last year after we were nearly all killed by a scrap wood avalanche when we opened the barn doors. We've been living here for 4 years and remodeling just as long. Needless to say, we've collected a lot of wood. We try to use it as much as possible. For example...
Casa de la Goaties was built by K for the 3 Billy Goats Vaughn to live in. Although, they don't really sleep in it (they're somewhat intelligence challenged). All this leads up to yesterday. It's cold here in AL (by our standards at least); it was 33 degrees last night. We were worried that the chickens might get too cold over night so we worked for about 3 hours and built this...
Well, it ended up looking like this...

A cozy home for our 8 girls and 1 guy. We added a light and the place was perfect. Except, the ding-a-lings did not use it! Well, I guess they DID use it. They spent all night on the roof! All that work to keep them toasty and they sleep OUTSIDE anyway. The more I deal with chickens the more I understand the term "Bird Brained"!

Dr. Horrible and his two-headed monster

As I mentioned in the last post, Saturday was also the school's Fall Fest. Last year, I was PTO Mom and worked the entire festival while K and the kids toured the booths and played. I missed it and was excited to be free of PTO responsibilities so that I could participate this year. It was a good time. This year K and I brought along Dr. Horrible and his two-headed monster, just look!

Although we took only the children with us to the Fall Fest we returned home with a new member of the family, Goldy the fish.
Holdyn won Goldy at the bean bag toss. So far, he/she/it has lived since Saturday. We have been sure to explain to Holdyn that gold fish don't necessarily live long lives. On Sunday morning Holdyn woke up and ran to the kitchen where Goldy was living in a Mason Jar until I could dig up a fish bowl. He peered into the jar and let out a sigh of relief. He came over to K and me and said, "I knew Goldy would still be alive. I said two prayers last night to Heavenly Father that she wouldn't die." Such sweet, pure faith.

Homecoming

This weekend was Homecoming at my and K's alma mater Jacksonville State University. Most of you know that's also the Ford family hometown. K and I also lived there for the first few years of our marriage until just before the girls were born. So, it really was coming home for us. We went to the parade and to the bookstore and then to the place that NO ONE in the family can resist whenever we're in town....
That's right, eat your hearts out! J/K we really missed everyone and wished the whole family could have been with us. (Maybe at Christmas?) Anyway, here's what we ate....
However, after our feeding frenzy (all this was gone in about 5 minutes) we were heartbroken to find that they were OUT OF PEANUT BUTTER!!!!! No PB milkshakes for us :( boo!
After eating we went outside and enjoyed the parade. It's been at least two or three years since we've been to the parade and we had a lot of fun.

Evie shakin' her stuff as the bands march by.
Pretty colors...

Marching Ballerinas....


And none other than the JSU Marching Southerners, Blow Southerners!!!But these guys are my #1 favorite of the entire parade


They were walking, shaking shakers and yelling "Go Gamecocks!" They even tried to get K to join them!What good sports! And, BTW that's the most backhair I've seen in awhile. We had so much fun! Later we went to the school fall festival more on that next time. Love ya!