Chicken Pot Pie

We slaughtered the roosters yesterday. None of us looked forward to it and it wasn't fun but I think it was a good thing. I wanted the three oldest to kill at least one and sent everyone out to join Paul when they got home from school. Robin went out but cried until Paul sent her into the house. Whew! She was mad at me. Robin calmed down and came back out to help but wouldn’t kill anything. Paul and Dan toughed it out. Paul was happy to see them go. He kept saying as soon as the roosters were gone, his work was going to be cut in half. Dan was sad and didn’t want to do it but he killed one, I was proud of him. I even made myself stay out there and watch. Big Paul of course, was out there the whole time. He didn’t like it but he was much more matter of fact about the whole thing than I was. Sara was the only one who refused. She was not going out, no matter what I threatened her with. We are all so squeamish and wimpy, I could just see out pioneer ancestors, sitting up there making such fun of us.

Even though I like my meat wrapped in plastic in the meat department at the grocery store, I think there is something so important about understanding where our food comes from. I liked how Erin Stanley put it, "I liked that our kids saw the process of something living being cooked and eaten, instead of just coming in a package."

It was also interesting to me how little meat there was on these chickens. I take for granted that I can buy a 2 lb. chicken or a 4 lb. chicken at the grocery store. What if this was our only source of meat? How would I have fed them differently? Would we have slaughtered them so soon? How big would they have grown?

I am happy it is all over and that we have several freezer bags full of chicken in the fridge. It has given me lots to think about.

First Day of School!!

Very funny, now let's try again.


Yesterday was the first day of school and I am feeling great.

Everyone had a good day and came home with exciting, happy stories. Robin gave her day a 7 out of 10, Paul did really well at football practice, Dan made friends and did the most push ups in his PE class, Sara made a friend named Scarlett and Gloria really really loved being in kindergarten. "Mom, I was thinking I wanted you to be at school and see all the fun stuff I got to do."

This is what she looked like about 5 blocks from the school. Kindergarten can really wipe you out I guess.

It was a very good day.

Fill in the Blank

It was Daniel's first day of school in 2nd grade. Sara, Gloria and I were standing outside his classroom door and a little girl and her mother came to stand with us. The little girl said to 4 year old Sara in a rather braggy voice, "I have Bratz shoes and Bratz pants and Bratz tee shirt and a Bratz backpack." She pointed proudly to each Bratz advertisement and then waited for Sara to be impressed. Sara said, "My mom hates Bratz." Both the girls and the girl's mother looked at me .



I have thought about that day many times the last few years and wonder what I should have said. What do you think??


Robin says I should have said, "You must be a real Brat."

Roger

Happy Birthday Roger!

This is an excerpt from a talk I gave on Fathers' Day in June.

"My mother remarried several years ago. She married one of the best men I know and he is very good to her. David O. McKay said, “A father can do no greater thing for his children that to let them feel that he loves their mother.” It was hard to see my mom alone and lonely. I am so thankful that Roger came into our lives. It is a huge blessing to know that my mom is loved and is taken care of. Roger has also been there for my little family (or perhaps not so little anymore) with good council and blessings as well as just kind advice. What a blessing he is."

Thank you for all you do Roger. We love you!

Surf's Up!

Did you know that winter is best time to surf? Well it is. Although the water is cold the surf is bigger and more consistent than in the summer. This is especially true for the Gulf of Mexico. During the summer, on the Texas coast, the Gulf looks like a giant lake. There are hardly any waves and surfing is just impossible. The exception to this rule is when a hurricane is churning everything up. We haven't been surfing since spring break. But we are always looking at surf cams and at the surf forecasts. Hoping for a good forecast, otherwise the five hour drive just isn't worth it.


Enter Hurricane Dean.

The surfing forecast was something like this:
Tuesday AM 2-3 feet
Tuesday PM 2-4 feet
Wednesday AM 4-8 feet
Wednesday PM 9-17 feet

We left Tuesday morning to be in Galveston that afternoon. It was so much fun!! Paul , Robin and Pauly all have their own surfboards.

Dan and Sara have boogie boards, and I have a great chair and a good book.

I went out and tried to surf for the first time and got slammed in the face with the end of Robins surf board. I have a loose tooth and very ugly lip. I'll spare you a photo.

Other than my face this was a great trip. School starts on Monday. This was the perfect way to end our very busy summer.

Shots

When I was five, my mom took me to an old church or school on Crest Street to get my kindergarten immunizations. I am sure Sara and Josh and maybe Jake were in tow as well. I was scared. When it was my turn, and with the panic rising, they took me into a classroom that was empty other than some desks and chairs. I started crying and as they began to give me instructions, I tried to make a break for it. At one point someone was chasing me around the room and I distinctly remember pushing or throwing a chair behind me trying to impede the progress of my pursuer. They caught me, several adults held me down while I screamed in hysterics. Then the nurse gave me the first shot . . . it didn't hurt, I was immediately embarrassed and I think I tried to explain myself. For some reason, that didn't go over well. I wanted to hide. I looked up at my mom and . . . well , let’s just say I didn't get the look of understanding I was hoping for. OOOOOO! She was so mad at me!

Gloria got her shots today and she was scared. I told her the story, as I have told the others. And just like the others, she calmed down quickly. Even a five year old knows lame when they hear it.

Tooth Fairy

Sara lost her tooth yesterday and it has reminded me again that I am the worst tooth fairy on the planet. I always forget. On average the tooth fairy usually comes around breakfast time while my disappointed child sits crying into his Cheerios. "Go check again." I have said more than once, "Maybe she had a lot of houses to go to last night."

. . . childhood must seem so magical in my home.

Happy Birthday Aunt Robin

It is my Aunt Robin Stanley's birthday today. Robin is one of my favorite people in the whole world. She is smart and interesting and always in the middle of a project or a class or an article she is writing and she always sounds happy to hear my voice on the phone. I love being with her. A few things you may not know about Robin:

Her name is Robin, her brother's name is Rob and her maiden name is Robinson.

She is a master gardener. If she doesn't know the answer about a plant, she knows someone who does.

She volunteers and works hard at her church.

She is a graduate of Northwestern University.

She misses her mom.

She went to high school with DEVO.

She loves to read the newspaper. She is also very busy, consequently, she always has a pile of them that she is working through.

She loves nature. Whether she is working, playing or reading she loves to be outside.

When I lived there, her dog was named Fauna and her cat was named Flora

She isn't happy unless she is doing something that makes the world a better place.

Happy Birthday Robin! I love you and I am so thankful you were born.

I've always wanted to run up those steps . .

Did you know we love to watch movies? Well, we do. When we lived in Germany we didn’t have T.V. half the time so we started watching lots of movies.

It is so great when the kids get old enough to move from Angles in the Outfield to more grown up stuff. This week we are watching all the Rocky movies. We are on Rocky III.


Dan is probably a little young but he liked them. Whenever we would get to a part with dialog that has entrenched itself in popular culture (lines like "yo Adrian", or "cut me Mick"), the kids would say, "hey I never knew that was from these movies!" It has been fun. They really are great (the kids, not necessarily the movies)!

Chickens

Did I mention we have chickens? Well, we do. When Paul was a little boy, his parents had some land in Sandy, Utah, when it was a small community far away from the Salt Lake City. They had chickens and cows and horses, and he has happy memories of working with the animals and having lots of space for little boy adventures. Rob and Paul still talk and laugh about the mean rooster that would attack them when they would go in and get the eggs in the morning.

Paul has been researching chickens ever since we thought we might be leaving the army. He was able to find everything we needed to get started online. Although he was able to find several different coop and run designs, he couldn't find exactly what he wanted; so he designed one himself. We all helped to build it and it was finished in about a week.

The best part of the design is the outside access to the nest boxes. The kids can gather the eggs by lifting the lid and reaching into

the nests instead of fighting protective roosters or upset hens. (His experiences with the afore mentioned rooster, I am guessing, was more traumatic than he and Rob let on.)

The chickens arrived about 6 weeks ago; did you know they are delivered through the US Post Office? All 27 of them fit into a little tiny package, about the size of a shoe box. They grow really fast this is what they look like now.

The chickens we have are Rhode Island Reds. They are the reddish brown chickens that come to mind when I think of barnyard chickens and they lay brown eggs. We will slaughter all but one rooster in a couple of weeks. The hens and the pardoned rooster will stay with us for about 2 years then we start all over again with new chicks. I can’t wait to see how this all works once they start laying, which will be around Thanksgiving.

An Investment in Family Unity

The Christmas I was in 8th grade, Santa brought every family in St. George an Atari Game System. Every family that is, except the Stanley Family. Instead of the much anticipated and talked about new game system, the Stanleys received the second installment of Stanley Striders tee shirts.

I remember the first day back at school after Christmas break, decked in my fabulous new red and white baseball shirt, trying to explain to this kid in my Spanish class how much better the shirts were than an Atari.

He was unconvinced . . .

maybe if I had un-tucked my shirt . . .

Cousins

It was such fun to be in the Bay Area this weekend. Just being there brings back a million memories and makes me miss my dad. More about that later.

The reunion was on Saturday. Robin, Wendy and Kathy did a fabulous job. The food was great, the park was beautiful and it was a perfect atmosphere to just visit and mingle with all these wonderful relatives. I loved everything. I loved that Mark and Robin and Aaron were there. I loved the game we played. I loved Ben Stanley playing in the grass. I loved all the old photographs. I loved Salem’s MC job. I loved hearing about all the interesting things my relatives do, Universities, Hong Kong, art, Jewish Society, genealogy, photography, horses. It made me so proud to be a part of such an amazing group of people.

Afterward we went back to Robin Kendall’s house and just hung out. We watched Barry Bonds tie the home run record and ate pizza. It was a perfect end to a memorable day.

Thank you so much Robin. What would we do without you?

Our New House

This is a picture of the house when we first looked at it in March. I thought it looked like a barracks. . . fitting. we were actually really happy to have such a blank slate to work with. The family who had lived here before us painted over the brick. This gave us a VERY blank slate.

We did not think there was a lawn to revive so we had actually planned quite a bit of money in our budget for the broken sprinkler system and grass. The sprinkler system ended up needing very little repair and the lawn came back quickly. We still can't believe it. Then we hung shutters, painted the front door red and hung a flag.

Here is another angle. We got one big tree out of our deal. This is it. There are a few trees on the perimeter of the property but they aren't in great shape and they are pretty small. I feel pretty insecure about picking plants but I think we made some good choices. I am anxious to see what it will look like when things grow in.

This is from the road in front of our house. I think Paul is still a little disappointed that is is paved. If we are here long enough we plan to do some major landscaping out in front. Right now it is one big square. Any suggestions? We are also going to move the walk to the front door so it isn't so narrow and so close to the house.