Chicken Update Photos!

Remember how cute and LITTLE the chicks were in the previous photos?! Well they're nearly full grown now!! We've had them for about 9 weeks and they've grown exponentially since the day we brought them home. They're definitely a part of the family now :)

Benny has learned to pretty much leave them alone now, since the rooster has become more defensive of the hens. They've had some epic face offs from between the fence!

This little lady is one of my favorites! She looked almost identical to a little duckling when we first bought her. Sweet little personality and very curious.



This one has some beautiful markings and colors, but is kind of a naughty!! She is lightning fast and doesn't enjoy being held. When we first moved them into their coop, she jumped out of the indoor enclosure when the lid was opened and I had to chase her around the basement!

Here's Mr. Jaime Lannister, the man of the house. Like I mentioned before he's definitely more aggressive than the others. He doesn't hesitate to puff up his chest, swing his head down and charge Benny at the edge of the coop. Pretty funny! Of course we can't forget Brienne of Tarth (or Phyllis, or little Kramer, she doesn't respond to any of it so it doesn't matter, right?!). I can't imagine she can see really well with all those foofy feathers on her head, so she hangs low for the most part. Pretty kicked back and chill. I wanted to get little self portraits of all of them but this is the best I could do. Excited to start having them lay eggs in the next coming months!

We're Chicken People Now!

A few months back (that's how behind I am on updating this thing!) we bought 8 little chicks from CAL Ranch! We didn't have an outdoor coop or anything built for them at that point, that will come in another post, but we DID have a little enclosure set up for them to live in the basement. Riley had helped his dad build it when he had chickens a few years back, so it worked perfectly that we could just move in on over to our house!

All eight of them are HUGE now (nearly full grown) so I wanted to make sure I had pictures of them from when they were itty bitty. It's hard to remember them being this small but they sure were cute!!

We thought we were buying 7 different kinds, two of them being the same breed. But it turns out that one of those "sisters" is a rooster! We're going to try living with him for awhile and see how it goes. He's very defensive of the brood and will puff himself up at Benny when he tries to harass them through the fence :)

This is Brienne of Tarth, aka Phyllis Diller, aka Cosmo Kramer, aka Crazy Hair. She's got such a funny little personality and adorable head feathers! Cracks me up!!





This one kills me with her fluffy feet! They have just gotten more pronounced as she has aged. Super cute!! I never thought we'd be "THOSE" people with the chicken coop in their backyard, but we've really grown to love them! Riley has spent many, many hours on the construction of their coop and they're now living outside in it full time! It's still interesting to watch them figure out the ramp that he built, and despite the enormous size of the coop all 8 of them insist on sleeping on top of each other in ONE roosting box. When we told our next door neighbors about getting them, they were beyond excited! We promised them fresh eggs once they start laying because I'm sure we'll be getting tons! A few days ago they brought us over a whole huge Ziploc bag full of wheat granules that they grew in their backyard for the chickens to eat! We have some great neighbors!!

Smith & Moorehouse Camping with Jordan, Alyssa, and Jax!!

A few weekends ago we were able to go and use the kayaks for the first time up at Smith & Moorehouse! It's one of our favorite camping spots, and the lake was nearly FULL to capacity making it perfect for kayaking! We drove up on Friday afternoon and got there in time to find a camp spot, make a fire, eat dinner, and head to bed. It was little Jax's first campout and he actually did pretty great! We're all pretty sure he slept better than the rest of us in his little pack and play.

We had this stump on the edge of our campground and he loved standing on it and leaping into Riley's arms!
We woke up bright and early and ate breakfast. The boys spent a few hours chopping wood for our fire and carving wood into "spoons"...



The view from our site!





We spent all afternoon out on the water on the kayaks. My parents came up for a few hours to hang out with us, as well! My dad and I took a turn out on the water and admired all the beautiful surroundings. We really do live in such a beautiful place!!



We packed up later that night and made the drive home. But not before stopping at High Mountain Drug for some delicious food and milkshakes! Jordan ordered a Grasshopper, Alyssa got a caramel shake, my parents got a Raspberry Jello with Pretzel shake, and OURS was the biggest hit! A coconut cream pie shake of pure deliciousness. Here is a picture to prove it!!