18 years ago...

Today is our 18th anniversary! It seems like we have been together always. What a grand adventure our life has been so far! I so look forward to the years ahead that we are blessed with. Happy Anniversary to my husband and very best friend. I am so thankful for the wonderful years, the awesome family, the incredible adventures that Ted and I have shared. I love you Ted!

Some "eggciting" news

My surrogate hen

trying to get out....

We have new chicks! I planted some fertilized eggs in my chicken coop and a hen decided to hatch them out! Twenty one days after sitting on them she now is the proud mama hen on 5 chicks. She hatched out 8 but unfortunately three of them died, one had a birth defect and the other two I believe were attacked by the bigger hens. I had tried moving her and the chicks to another pen but she was so upset I put her back in her nesting box. It was bad decision on my part to not try harder to move her. I finally decided I had to do something so she is now in a dog kennel with her chicks and is content in her new home!
Watching her sit on these eggs that weren't even hers was so amazing. She sat on the eggs for 21 days! During this time she plucked feathers from her breasts to keep good skin to egg contact. I am assuming that this not only helped keep the eggs at the right temperature but also the humidity levels correct. In the 3 weeks I saw her off the nest maybe 3 times. On Sunday afternoon (Mother's day-how appropriate) a chick started to peck out of its shell. You could feel it moving and hear it peeping! It finally came out sometime in the night as when I went out Monday morning there were 3 new chicks and more trying to hatch out. When I offered her water and feed she was extremely noisy while eating and drinking but I think she was trying to get her chicks attention so they could learn how to eat and drink. Since the breed of these chicks are Red Sexlink (aka Red Stars) you can tell the males apart from the females by the colors (the boys are yellow and the girls are more red). I think the count is 2 males and 3 females. The mama hen is still sitting on 3 more eggs but I think don't think they are going to hatch...she is still hoping. I suspect she will loose interest in them in a few days, if not I will have to toss them out. She is very protective of her chicks and most the time the chicks are underneath her or tucked under her wings staying nice and warm. Normally I would have a heat lamp on baby chicks but not this time. I have been constantly amazed during this whole process and am absolutely amazed at how perfectly God created chickens! Absolutely awesome! What an incredible world we live in!

Spring Break~Mammoth Cave Kentucky

For spring break we spent a few days down at Mammoth Cave National Park in Kentucky. I had never visited this park before but Ted had as a child. I have to admit I was pretty nervous about going in a cave hundreds of feet deep for a 2 mile walk. I really thought I would feel very claustrophobic, I guess I did from time to time but I just had to stop thinking about where we were! It was an incredible experience and I am so grateful we had the chance to experience it! It was a rather rainy day on day one but it didn't matter once we were in the cave, it stays a constant temperature and was dry. The first tour we took was a historic 2 mile, 2 hour tour. This tour offered a glimpse of salt petre artifacts (I believe this was used to make gunpowder). We walked over the bottomless pit, squeezed through Fat Man's Misery and squatted through Tall Man's Misery ( not me so much!). I tried hard to take photos but it was simply too dark most of the time as I didn't have much time to stop and and adjust my shutter speed. The next day we took the New Entrance tour which allowed us to go in the entrance found in the 1920's. This 2 hour tour was only 3/4 mile long with lots of steep stairs allowed us to view beautiful stalactites and stalagmites and the famous Frozen Niagara Falls formation. We also hiked above ground and saw wild turkey and lots of deer. In the park we even took a ferry across the Green River, it was really neat! One day after hiking we took a short drive down to Nashville Tennessee and visited the Grand Ole Opryland Conservatory and Music Row. We finished up the trip to Nashville by eating at the Wild Horse Saloon. We all enjoyed the meal and listened to the live music. Emily even took a turn learning how to do some line dancing! I have made a slideshow as there are lots of photos!

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A new decade

I just recently celebrated (three times!) entering a new decade...gulp. I thought it would hit me hard but I have decided that it is only a number. What a great time I had, not only once but three times. A few friends had talked with Ted about planning a surprise party for me, but he was worried about keeping it from me. So they planned it and then he told me about it. Quite a few of us celebrated at Alexander's Steakhouse (yummy) for a great dinner with fine food and wonderful conversation. Then on my actual birthday I thought I was just meeting a couple of girls for lunch and a few more surprised me! How fun! Then for my birthday Ted baked me a delicious German chocolate cake and we grilled out. Ted and the kids gave me a Wii for my birthday, what a fun gift for someone turning 40! I guess I am embracing my youth:)

Happy 14th Birthday Mason

Today Mason turned 14 years old (March 10). I can't believe that he is 14 years old. We are so proud to have him as our son and so thankful that God placed him in our care. He is really growing into quite a nice young man! It seems hard to believe how quickly the years have went by. It is as if just yesterday we were reading to him about Thomas the train or Wiggly Pig. Now he is into reading about technology and computers! He had a great day yesterday, even if he had to go to school. One of his birthday presents was a new skateboard which he was able to use after school since we had a beautiful day! Happy Birthday Mason!

Mason's Quilt

Mason's Quilt is finally finished thanks to the Heavenly Quilters at St. Mary's Catholic Church in Princeville who did a beautiful job hand quilting it for us (to read about the history behind this quilt just click on Mason's Quilt). Mason is thrilled to have this quilt finally done and loves sleeping under it at night! I think it is probably my favorite quilt I have done! The quilting group quilted moons and stars through out the quilt. Very cool!

An eagle

It appears that a Bald Eagle has moved into the neighborhood~wow! Ted said he saw one last week after a big snow storm had moved through. Yesterday on my way to photography class I saw it in a field eating something. I was thrilled that I had my camera and my zoom lens. I quickly pulled over to the side of the road and started shooting him (with my camera of course). I was amazed at how huge this giant bird was. I was able to see him carry the carcass of the animal with his powerful talons. He then got spooked and flew off into a nearby tree. I was thrilled to be able to get photos of him the bad news is that they aren't very good. Because I was fully zoomed out I really needed a tripod to stabilize the lens. Today I headed down the road with camera and tripod and he was in the tree! The minute I got out and started setting up my tripod he flew to another group of trees. I am hoping he'll be hanging around for a while so I can attempt to get some better photos.