BRING ON SUMMER VACATION

A few years back our family started making a summer bucket list. As a family, we sat together and wrote down all the things we wanted to do that summer. Anything and everything made it on the list. It always feels good to check the box.

This year our list includes some of the activities from previous years, but lots of new ones too.

1. Fly in an airplane
2. Go crab hunting
3. Cousin sleepover
4. Camping
5. Fishing
6. Swimming in the ocean
7. Make a huge sand castle
8. Go to the Drive in movie
9. Splash pad
10. Zoo
11. Waikiki Aquarium
12. Eat shave ice (Davis wrote this five times)
13. Farmer's market
14. Eat popsicles
15. Snorkeling
16. Shopping
17. Bowling (Have your signed up for free bowling this summer?)
18. A walk
19. A hike
20. Eat from a food truck
21. Swap meet

Making a bucket list is a great way to keep busy and track all your adventures. Happy Family Movement blog is hosting a Summer Bucket List Challenge. Sign up on their site for weekly giveaways, resources and list ideas. Click here for a mini e-book of bucket list ideas. Share pictures on Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook with the hashtag #happyfamilysummer

One week and we are officially on summer vacation. Summer we are ready!

ANOTHER YEAR WISER

I know that half of the family looks less than thrilled in this picture, but I'm smiling. And on Mother's day that what counts.

On Saturday, May 11, Mike and I celebrated our eleventh wedding anniversary. It's hard to believe that we have been married that long. It seems like life goes by faster and faster every year. Last year, on our anniversary, Mike and I were putting an offer on this house in North Dakota. Now here we are all settled in and making North Dakota our home.

I truly feel blessed to call Mike my husband, and share these three beautiful kids with him. Being a  wife and mother can be demanding, but so fulfilling. These four people mean the world to me, and I'm grateful I get to travel this life journey with them by my side.

Anniversary 8, 9, 10

CHIRP CHIRP

While I was away in Disneyland, Mike and the kids bought chicks. Kind of a pet/family project, plus there's the whole fresh egg thing.

The tractor supply store suggested we buy a few more than we think we want because a couple might die, and one of them might turn out to be a rooster. In the end we ended up with 20 chicks. I'm happy to say all of our chicks lived and one is a rooster.

At first I thought one chick was just "developing" faster than the other girls. I was never the early bloomer, but we all know one. Turns out the early bird to maturity is actually that rooster. Now we are trying to figure out what to do with him. I'm not about to pluck the bird for dinner. I can barely handle eating chicken thighs, and forget about offering me wings. You may call me prissy, but I don't care.

A few weeks back, I was sad that like my children, all our chickens did not look like me. So Collin and I bought a different kind of chick. One that was going to have all black feathers. Victory! Meet Coco.

Did I mention we bought a single chick. There was a six chick minimum purchase. Another chicken shopping couple saw my disappointment, and let me buy one of their three dozen. 

These photos were taken the day we brought her home, and Coco is now a month old.

Our other chickens, Mike's babies, are about a month and a half older than Coco. They are lots bigger, and not interested in having her around. To protect my little beauty, I've kept her sleeping in the garage. Integration is not going so well, and actually cried about it last night.

We are leaving in two and a half weeks, and Coco isn't big enough to stay with the other birds. I think once she is full grown they won't peck her to death. The reds will probably still be mean, the whole pecking order thing, but I don't think they will kill her if she is the same size.

So, I cried because she's a part of the family. Coco runs to us when we are outside. If I am sitting down while the kids are playing she is usually by my side. I know as she gets older the more independent she will be. I just need her to grow in to the beautiful chicken I know she will become sooner than later.

You are now thinking I am crazy talking about a chicken like she is my child. Well, let's not forget I talk about passing kidney stones like I'm having a baby.

DEVIL'S TOWER WYOMING

With the warmer weather, Mike was itching to get on his mountain bike, and we were game for a little adventuring. This weekend was spent exploring another small town, Spearfish, South Dakota.

A couple of hours away from Spearfish is America's first National Monument, Devil's Tower. It really is amazing in person. There is a trail around the base of the tower that you can walk along. We had a great time scrambling on the fallen boulders, watching eagles, and feeling the warm breeze in the pine trees.

CAN'T BELIEVE IT'S ALREADY MAY

This is our most recent Sunday family photo, and I love how it really captures how things are. Let's break it down. Mike is being a goofball, and I am totally in love with him. Davis is analyzing the situation, Tess is having her own dance party, and Collin is going in for the tackle. Yup. That about sums us up.

I wanted to make a note of a few things I have learned recently...

Being positive takes effort, but no more than being negative. The more I practice being positive, the better I get at it. Positivity isn't always contagious, but don't let that stop you from trying.

I am stronger and more courageous than I thought. Give yourself more credit. You can do hard things.

There is such a thing as "only a mother could love that face." Mike thinks his chickens are the cutest birds out there, and I'm not convinced. But my little Coco could do no wrong. There is something about little chick legs that I cannot resist. Kind of like baby fat rolls, but in a poultry kind of way.

We don't have to be the best at everything. Each of us has different talents. Singing, athletics, and best d.i.y.er will never be one of mine, and that is okay.

If the juice is sugar free, cavities will still eat away at your teeth. It's sweetened with something. That something will suck the life out of your children's teeth, and force you to spend outrageous amounts of money and time at the dentist's office. Just saying.