Memorial Day Weekend

We were so lucky to have Uncle Jason and Aunt Stacy come with their family to visit us for the weekend. We love to have company and extra help. They arrived Friday night and everyone was excited to see each other but we made it to bed I think by midnight! Saturday was an exciting day! Not only do we have fun cousins to play with, but our good friends the Yeck's came to visit with their children. Jeff and Aunt Stacy had butchered chickens before so we decided to trust their experience and let them help us butcher our two meat chickens. All the children wanted to see so we headed outside. If you click Jason and Stacy's link Stacy caught some great photos of the kids and Jenny's face.



The dates on these pictures are obviously off. This is the default date when I changed my battery. This really was this last weekend May 24, 2008.

Jeff had this great Idea to cut the top and bottom of a milk jug off and stick the head through the hole. This hole wasn't quite big enough so they had to cut a little more of the jug off after I took the picture.

Once in the milk jug a quick cut with the ax and it is all over. The milk jug keeps the wings from flapping and keeps the bird clean. There was quite a bit of blood but as you can see Jeff just held it upside down and the chicken fulfilled the measure of its creation. We are excited to try fresh, home grown meat.

This is Jason skinning it. It wasn't too hard to watch this part but Jason thought we should put it in the freezer with the legs on. That was quickly vetoed so he cut the foot off. The kids had fun making the toes wave by pressing on the fat pads of the "palm". This was very educational as the children learned what the heart, gizzard, intestines, lungs, craw, and a few other things looked like and felt like. I really didn't love these chickens like I do my layers but as they died I felt bad for telling them how bad they stunk and how stupid they were for ALWAYS pooping in their water and tipping their food over. I am grateful they loved to eat and could fatten up so fast (about 6 weeks).

After the butchering we all went to Green Canyon Hot Springs just 20 minutes away to swim. That is 15 children (ranging in age from the oldest almost 11 years to just turning 1) and 6 adults. The water is usually very warm but this time it was quite tepid. The older kids and Landon loved going off the diving board. I only caught a few pictures but here is Landon doing a flip off the diving board! Josh is there to catch him.

This is Seth being "Surfer/Boarder Boy" and really got up quite high! Way to go Seth.

While the kids were having fun and dad's were supervising, we women found a spot where the warm water was coming in and gathered around it like we were tin foil dinners trying to cook in the coals. It was fun talking and just being together.