We've been home for just a week now from a two-week vacation. We spent 8 days in St. George, UT (that's a post of its own) and then the kids and I drove over to Taylor, AZ to visit our good friends, the Shumways, on their farm. We've visited them once before and it is small town America at its best. It's an opportunity for us to get away from our crazy, skewed, OC life and enjoy the great outdoors. We get to do things we don't do at home like:
Big Country Breakfasts
Jenny makes a big breakfast for the family almost every morning. Things like pancakes, eggs, biscuits and gravy, muffins, hot cereal, and fruit. What a great way to start the day: family, prayers and a full belly!
Slop the pigs
No need for a garbage disposal on the farm. The Shumways keep a bucket under the sink and all table scraps get scraped off into the bucket. Watching the pigs go after those scraps makes you realize where the expression "don't be such a pig" comes from.
Bucket bathe a pig
Yes, it's true, pigs really do wallow in the mud!
Collect your own eggs
My kids thought it was great to hunt for eggs out in the barn. Maren and Camille found this one in the middle of the barn floor. Of course, you have to watch out for Elvis, the small, black, mean rooster, who doesn't like anyone messing with his women and children!
Swing from the barn rafters on the rope swing
A few blisters and rope burns were a small price to pay for the hours of fun spent in the barn.
Ride horses bareback
Talia was great to help everyone ride the horses. No saddles necessary, just a bridle.
Sit on a bull
Or is it a steer? And what is the difference anyway? (FYI - A bull has all its male parts in tact!) Don insisted that we get a picture of me sitting on a bull, so the last night of the trip we all tromped out to the barn. Don told me all I needed to do was keep scratching the bull on the top of the head and I
should be all right. What?! So up I got on that bull and frantically scratched his head and nervously laughed while they got some pictures of me. I was even more nervous when Don put Maren up behind me for a picture. He got her down and the bull decided the photo op was over and started to briskly walk away. Don grabbed my one hand and with the other I grabbed a pole and did a perfect spin around the pole. Give me a prairie skirt and sign me up for the next production of Oklahoma! Nathan, unfortunately, did not fare as well. He got up on the bull, but when I went to snap the picture, my memory card was full. By the time I'd deleted a couple of pictures, Nate's bull was on the move. I got one picture of him before he lost his grip and fell off against the barn wall. Only minor injuries, a few scrapes and a hurt finger, but to add insult to injury, he was covered in manure. Nothing a bath and some rope swinging didn't fix right up though.
Sell bunnies out front of the local market
PJ and his cousin, Mary, raise rabbits and took some down to the grocery store to sell them out front. Some of my kids tagged along and thought this was great fun. I don't think they're going to settle for a lemondade stand out front of the house anymore! I didn't go along, so have no pictures of them, but did snap a few of the kids with the bunnies the night before they were sold.
Swim in a creek
The Shumways have a creek running through their property. The kids had a blast playing in the water and mud, making mudslides, and looking for frogs.
Play capture the flag in the corn field
Again, I missed the photo op of the kids running through the corn fields, trying to capture the other team's flag (which was one of Talia's pink t-shirts). Lauren lost a pair of shoes which she'd left "at the end of a row". Yeah, all the rows look the same, honey. The kids went for a hunt for them the next day and recovered them. But Ashley lost a flip flop in the mud down one of the muddy rows. We left its mate, just in case the Shumways come across it later. They should fit one of their kids. Here's a picture of Don and his brother irrigating the fields a couple days before the kids were playing there.
My kids are already asking to head back to farm. We all enjoyed the slower pace of life that comes with living in a small town. We sure love the Shumways! What a great family! It's reassuring to know there are good parents raising righteous families all across America. I hope we can get a few more trips to their place to enjoy their good life in the coming years.
And now, sing along with me:
I wanna live where the green grass grows,
Watch my corn pop up in rows,
Every night be tucked in close to you.
Raise our kids where the good Lord's blessed,
Point our rocking chairs towards the west,
And plant our dreams where the peaceful river flows.
Where the green grass grows.
