Goats, again.

We bought a new goat yesterday. He is a big boy. We won him at an auction in ML. After we finished bidding, we headed out to borrow a horse trailer so we could transport him. We weren't sure where to keep him because we didn't have time to drive him all the way to Basin City that night (okay, it's only 45 minutes from ML, still, we didn't have time) . We decided to at least take him to our house and then we would be part of the way to Basin City and could finish the trip Monday morning. We were just going to keep him in the trailer in the driveway. We bought some hay (almost embarassing) and some goat feed. We gave him a bucket of water when we got home and tucked him in for the night. By morning, he still looked like he wanted out of the trailer. I guess we were hoping he'd just decide to chill while he waited to go home. He was nervous and anxious every time we checked on him. So, when we got home, we let him out into the back yard. The backyard has a wood fence perimeter so we were confident that he couldn't get out and besides, we were just going to leave him there for the afternoon while we could watch him. As soon as Justin opened the trailer door, he pushed past and headed out. Justin managed to grab the chain collar around his neck and steered him into the backyard. The goat (we are guessing he weighs about 400 lbs) paced the yard and checked out the perimeter. He first checked out the 4' chainlink fence that seperates our backyard in half. He tried knocking that down. He rammed it and then tried again with his front hooves. That didn't work so he headed to the other end of the yard where we have a small basketball cement pad. He stood up on his hind legs and rested his front hooves near the top of the fence . He definitely could see out. That's where he wanted to be, out. He trotted around some more and then ran toward the fence and punched it with his front hooves. That's all it took and the fence didn't survive. He wiped out about 7 fence slats. He turned away as they fell off and he circled around Justin who was heading for him and ran to the adjacent side of the fence. Again, he punched at the fence with his front hooves. This time he took out 3 or 4 slats. He turned again to face Justin and let Justin grab his collar again. Justin pushed him up against the fence to sort of tell him who was boss. Then he and Brandon and our friend Keith were able to get him back into the trailer. The kids were totally freaked out and I was not happy that I was still in my dress. I didn't want to be running after an escapee goat all over town in my dress. We were all relieved to have him back in the trailer. We laughed pretty hard over the whole escapade and then decided Sabbath or not, we've got to get him to Basin City and out of this trailer, off of our property, and out of this town before we get a fine for keeping farm animals in our backyard! I did happen to have the camera out. I wish that I'd have had it set on video, but instead I only got a couple of pictures after all the damage had been done. If you double click the picture, I think it will enlarge.

Family Olympics

This video is from our Ward party on Friday night. We had a family olympics theme. We did a torch run, balloon release, and then played nine different games together as family teams. When everyone was finished playing the games, we met back in the gym for a closing ceremony presentation. This video was the closing ceremony. It was the debut as well as the closing tour of the Royal II Ward Syncronized Swimming team. Incidentally, our family did not win a medal. We sure laughed hard all night long though. It was a great activity and we had a great time.

On Thursday, my 8th-grader and I went on a fieldtrip to the amusement park Silverwood in Hayden, ID. We had a fun time even though it rained some. We left the school at 6 am and returned at 9:30 pm. Ugh. That's a long time on the bus, about 3 hours each way. I ended up riding the water ride with the kids at the end of the day even though I hadn't planned on doing that. So, my ride home was a little damp while they all had clothes to change into.

Kai gave a talk in church today. His topic was how the Aaronic priesthood blesses his life. He quoted a story that taught that holders of the Aaronic priesthood have more power than the President of the United States because his power comes from the voters and is limited to a 4-year term. An Aaronic priesthood holder's power comes from God and will be with him a lifetime, as long as he remains worthy. Kai said he feels closer to Heavenly Father and has a greater desire to do good and be good since he received the Aaronic priesthood one year ago.

What? One entire month since a post? That just tells you where I've been: away from the computer! Who's got the time?

We've been to ball games and glad to be done with the middle school season. It's been so fun to watch them improve their game this year. I've even had a request for AAU softball! That's how much they have loved playing ball.

I signed up the oldest three to be on a swim team this summer. We've watched our friends do it the last few summers and we 've never been able to do it but this year worked out. So, we're going to give it a shot! 2 hours of swimming every day.

We went on our annual shrimping trip a couple of weeks ago. We had a great time, again! My parents were able to come with us again. We're always so glad to have grandparents along to share our adventures with us. We went one day earlier than we usually do. That meant that we could go out Thursday morning earlier than we have before. The weather was not so great that morning and I got sick as well as my Dad. My mom was able to fight it off and never did throw up. Our 14-year-old and Justin had to really run the show that morning. Our almost 13-year-old was helping out on our friend's boat. Dad helped out as much as he could but our daughter and Justin had to do it all. I layed in the chair and tried to stay warm. Even with plenty of layers, I just could not get warm and shivered every time I had to move. When I finally was able to get off the boat, I headed up the floating dock to the stationary ground. The first thing that I found were two flat cement rocks. I have never been more happy to see rocks. I was so happy to see rocks that my body just layed right down, stetched out, spread the blanket over me and soaked in the warmth from the sun. I finally felt relief laying on the rock. I didn't think I would ever want to leave those rocks. I loved laying on the rock.The next day Mom and I were talking about it and she pointed out that that was so much like life. We get tossed about from one thing to the next and even at times become unhappy and miserable from the trials and tribulations and storms that life brings. If we can learn to find our Savior, plant our lives firmly in the Gospel, keep our covenants, and endure to the end, He will temper our sorrows and bring peace to our hearts.

More FYI: We bought a few more goats and Justin's looking at buying a few more still. The kids have named them all and are starting to love them. I hope they can part when the time comes.

I can't even think of what else to update on so I'll just have to try to log on every day when I think of things.