In the Olympic mood

The next bobsled women's team...starring Jamie, Emily and Melissa.



Dave's brother got married this past week in Utah. With some last minute arrangements, we were able to go out to Utah while leaving Ashlyn and Sadie with a babysitter. Emily got a great deal for us to have some fun at Olympic park. The ziplines were super fun (the picture below is the only one I had of the zipline), and the alpine slide was a fun little rush...but we had no clue how wild the bobsled ride would be. If you wanted to scream, you couldn't - because you were going too fast for air to come out. We went 68 miles per hour, and I swear we went even faster on the turns. It was far more intense than any roller coaster I've ever been on. I sat behind the driver, and it was a little scary to hear the rules: don't squeeze the driver's legs because he drives with is knees, and don't let your helmet bonk into the driver's head. Well, that was all fine and good while we were sitting still...but once you're going 68 mph, you can't even think straight. Hold on to your head and neck if you ever try this (and by the way, you can't hold on because your hands are holding on to straps for dear life).

Dave's brother Scott and our nephew Gibson getting ready for the door to open and the zipline to start movin!





No picture of the next event:



On the way to the wedding, a lovely HUGE piece of metal (someone's guess was 5 x 3 feet??) decided to fly up and slam into our windshield (or should I say, Emily's windshield...it's always a nice feeling ruining someone else's car). Thankfully it didn't come through the windshiled and slice me up...but it did shatter glass all over mostly me. Dave got a bit of glass in his mouth, and there were a few pieces around Nate's carseat. Other than that, all of the glass landed on my lap, in my arms, mouth, hair, and all over my feet. I was glad I was wearing my sunglasses. Too bad I didn't know that I had glass all over the bottom of my feet (how did it get under my feet anyway?) when I slowly stepped out of the car to get the glass off. Ouch! So Dave carried me to another car (Dave's 2 brothers were in cars ahead of us) to pick out the pieces of glass from my feet. I was amazed and so grateful that I didn't even have one big cut. I didn't even need a band-aid. I was a bit shaken up, but it all happened so fast that I never had time to be scared. I just had time once it happened to be glad it wasn't worse. And I'm so glad that Dave was able to keep driving safely through it all.





Sadie sending "Strawberry Shortcake" down for a ride on the slide. You think the chickens like living on our farm?
Ashlyn letting "Bombaya" having a turn.


Mr. Tough-guy Dave didn't know I was taking this picture. He's spending some time with his chicken "Ned-featherhead". Isn't his head cool looking?

Dave made us a milking stand for Buttercup. This way, if necessary, it can be a one-man job. We just started up milking on a regular schedule. Our milk is slowly accumulating in our fridge and as soon as we get a gallon, we'll be on our way to making our first batch of chevre. Can't wait!

Nate thought it was soooooooooo funny to eat the goat's food while we were all busy milking. He even got it in his mouth once or twice...and with all of the things that Nate spits out of his mouth, I would think goat food would be in that category. Maybe it's because I kept trying to get it out.

Sweaty, scabby, blue-eyed Nate - enjoying some goat pellets. If you're wondering about Nate's nose...we're not quite sure either. He had some sort of bug bite or poison ivy...that healed nicely 2 days before getting a sunburn at Olympic park (I'm the queen of putting sunscreen on, but I had no idea we were going to be at the park all day long - but I still take credit. Sorry Nate!) The next morning Nate's sunburn was blisters along the exact spots of the previous bites. So our guess is that the skin was fresh and easily burned.