Myrtle Beach, SC

So this is how farmers take a vacation.

Two weeks before scheduled vacation: everyone is stoked, Sam's going to mom's, Griffen's getting toys ready to bring, Andy is getting his stuff done and people lined up to take care of one chicken farm, and I'm getting a pedicure.

One week before scheduled vacation: Tyson catches chickens at one farm, Andy so excited that he can actually go to the beach with Griffen for the first time, Griffen starts having a runny nose, I'm not looking forward to putting on a swimsuit, and then mom calls and says she has a highly contagious summer cold.

Two days before scheduled vacation: Andy finds out that we are getting chickens back on the farm that just left on Tuesday which is four days from now and doesn't have enough time to go to the beach just for the weekend and still get the chicken houses ready, Griffen is blowing snot everywhere, Sam goes to Mom's house while I pray that he doesn't get too bad sick.

The week of the scheduled vacation: Tuesday comes around and theres a problem with the chickens we were getting so they've been put off till Friday, Griffen cares nothing about the beach or the 5 swimming pools that are at our disposal, I forgot my razor so after about 3 days I look like a monkey, and Sam has rolled over by him self for the first time.

Actually Griffen and I had a great time with Dad, Robin, and the girls. I really needed to spend some quality time with Griff. He was such a good boy and very fun to watch do new things. We ate a lot of really good food including a Brazilian grill where they bring around big haunches of meat that they carve off for you (yummy) and some really good seafood and grits. We were also able to drive down to Charleston and tour around on horse and buggy. We had excellent weather and no mishaps. So other than Andy not being able to join us but then turns out he could have and then Griffen not really caring about swimming, we had a great vacation. The weekend after the Fourth we are actually planning on going to Pigeon Forge, TN to go to Dollywood. This time Andy is going but again Sam is not.

The Joys of Border Collies

Thanks to my cousin Hayley I now have new material to write about.

Last Father's Day I wanted to get Andy something really special. So I did some research, a lot of research, and finally found a Border Collie breeder in Alabama. We already have a female named Baby that Andy has had since before we got married so she is probably 10 yrs. She is a real working collie and helps us with our cows. Unfortunately, Baby is pretty deaf now so is not quite as much help as she used to be. So my thinking was, lets get a puppy for her to help us train in the art of herding cows. I contacted this breeder and he had 3 puppies left. I looked at pictures on line and found one that I thought was really sweet and had the markings I wanted. He told me that she knew basic commands already and had already been around cows so she shouldn't be afraid of them. She sounded perfect so she was delivered to me on Father's Day. Andy had no idea I was doing this. When he saw her he was soooo excited! I think it was the best day of his life. The puppy had already been named Happy because of her personality and we couldn't think of anything that suited her more.

A day in the life of Happy begins like this. Wake up after a not so good night sleep, wait she didn't sleep at all, she barked all night long. For those of you that have had or will have a Border Collie, they have a very unique bark or at least both of ours do. They kinda sound like they are being strangled as they are barking (I wish). Anyway, so she wakes up and proceeds to go hunting for trash wherever that may be. She then will bring it up into the yard and shred it into pieces making our yard look like white trash heaven. I have found, just to name a few, pink insulation, pieces of water hose, beer bottles, McDonald's wrapers, feed sacks, dead animals, ect. Continuing on with her day, she then proceeds to follow Griffen around like a shadow (her only saving grace) or actually herds him around. They absolutley love each other. Then she finds my bulbs in the garage that I was going to plant last fall. She eats them. She then finds a brand new bag of potting soil. Oh how she loves to play in the dirt.....all over the garage. My favorite is when earlier this year I just got back from the grocery store and had popped the trunk on the van. I had to run inside to do something and it took me a couple of minutes to get back outside to unload the van. When I came outside there was Loafer and Happy out in the grass drinking a gallon of milk. Of course Happy would not be strong enough to lift a gallon of milk up and out of the van like a Great Dane would be able too, but I know she was brains of the operation. So as her day winds down, she finds it necessary to kill a chicken that has gotten out of the coop, chase a baby bunny until it gives up and dies and then proceeds to bark all night long, again.

By the way, did I mention how much Andy loves this dog? He sleeps with her in the hammock. She rides in the truck with him (after she finally quit throwing up), she goes with him to the chicken houses, and she plays fetch with him. She is mans best friend. (not womans) Not once has this dog herded cows. She is the most useless animal ever. I will never get him anything alive for Father's Day again. This year he is getting a coffee cup.

Day to Day

At the request of a certain Jessica, I'm going to try to post at least something everyday. The last few days have been kinda hectic. As some of you know my dad lives in Oklahoma City. They have come home for the summer to enjoy our wonderful wet heat instead of their dry heat. Anyway, a couple days ago my dad started to not feel well so Robin took him to the doctor and they ran some tests. Of course because this is Jasper they didn't want to do anything further with him because they are not equipped both mentally and with equipment. So Robin took him down to Canton where he has been admitted and we found out this morning that he has viral meningitis.........again. About two years ago he went thru this same exact thing. You would think they would vaccinate him or something.

Samuel had his 2 month check up today. He is right at 12lbs and 24in. He is doing so well and is just flying off the growth charts. I had them check him out real well since he had been around dad too.

Griffen is currently staying a few days at Grandmommy's house. (my mom) Every so often he'll get to go there and be spoiled just a little bit more and when he comes back it will take me 2 weeks to retrain him. Oh well. It's been a much welcome break.

If you follow me on FB then you know that I have been working out. I go to Bodyplex here in Jasper and they offer all kinds of classes. I am taking a strengthening and toning class called BodyPump. It is really fun. I have gone twice and this morning I felt like I knew what I was doing better. It is really hard for me to mimic what someone else is doing and keep up with music but today was much easier since I kinda knew what to expect. Tomorrow morning I am going to try BodyFlow which is a mix of Yoga and Pilates. So Saturday I will probably be put in traction because I've worked myself too hard and have torn every muscle in my body. Maybe I'll get a bed beside dad.

An admendment to Post "1 year ago"

I forgot to mention that on March of this year, Andy and I were sealed in the Atlanta Temple. Griffen was also sealed to us that day. It was a perfect day. Perfect weather, perfect landscaping, and perfect Griffen (he did so good!). Oh, and Andy was on his best behavior also. :)

So this is my Life.......

Hi, I'm Lacey. And I'm an alchoholic. Just kidding, I'm a Dr. Pepper-aholic. So this is the first time I've ever done any blogging. I'm still not sure what to do so I'll just talk about what I think ya'll will think is interesting. For those that don't know me well I will start out with a short summary of me today and then you can scroll down and read about the last several years.

I am married to a wonderful man named Andy. He is 12yrs. older than me so our maturity levels are pretty up to par. Okay thats not the only reason I married him. We are farmers so we grow corn for feed and hay, we contract grow chickens for Tyson, we have about 100 head of cattle, 2 horses, a handful of dogs, cats, kids...........the list just goes on. I also drive a school bus for middle and high school. No, it is definitely not my dream job. I hate it actually. But insurance is such a blessing to have. I'm only gone for about 4 hours a day total so I'm pretty much a stay at home mom.

We have two boys, Griffen is almost 22 months and Samuel is 8 weeks. Griffen is like a "high", you just can't get enough of him. Sometimes he is wild and crazy and sometimes he is, wait, nope there is no in between, just wild and crazy is my Griffen. He has blond hair and hazel eyes and looks just like his daddy except Andy has really dark hair. Not sure where the blond is coming from. Griffen is not talking yet but communicates very well. He loves to give hugs and open mouth kisses which are just the best! He is a very big helper to mama now that little brother is here. His absolute favorite thing to do is go with daddy on the tractor or the truck or the Ranger or anywhere daddy goes Griffen wants to go too. We can't wait to go out on Grandpa Hank's boat this summer and learn how to swim in the lake. Griffen will be starting preschool in the fall and will be in the same class as some of his church friends.

Samuel just arrived but it seems like he has been here forever. He is the easiest baby ever! He is very mellow and laid back and will smile all day long. He has a lot of dark hair and will probably have hazel eyes also. Some say he looks like Griffen but I don't see it. Sam's features are closer together than Griffen's are. Sam loves to eat every two hours on the dot until bedtime. He almost sleeps the night thru.

We are very proud of our two boys. They were a long time coming.

I'd like to give a shout out to my cuz Hayley and my aunt Sharen. They got me started doin' this. Hope ya'll enjoy!!

5 years ago

Andy and I had been married for about a year. That was the toughest year of my life. I was very independant and was not used to someone always being there. I had to cook and clean and actually take care of someone other than myself. I was working at a vet clinic and was really enjoying it. I bought a female Great Dane cause I had always wanted one and then the next year I bought a male. I bred them and sold the puppies keeping the best looking male for myself. It was my little hobby. My female's name was Timpanogas or Timpy for short. My male's name was Nebo and their son's name was Loafer. Only my peeps in Utah will understand the names. I loved those dogs. Timpy was my pride and joy. I felt like we were sisters almost. We just had an understanding. After she had her second litter and the pups were about 5 weeks old, someone stole my Timpy and to this day I don't know what happened to her. I have never had closure and I dream about her all the time. Nebo passed away last summer. We think he bloated. Big dogs are bad about doing that and it's so quick there's really no time to help them. It was a very sad day. We had a little memorial service for him in the back yard. Loafer was my stubborn boy. He was so sweet but just a complete butt head. He also grew to be much bigger than his father and was somewhere in the vicinity of 200lbs. Nebo had been around 170. This past February, Loafer went missing. He was fixed so I know he wasn't looking for any female companions. Someone stole him too. That has become a problem in our area and not just with my dogs though it's usually much smaller dogs people are snatching. Anyway, somedays I miss Loafer and some days I don't. Remember I said he was a complete butt head.

3 years ago

Let's see. It is very hard to remember what happened when. Okay, we were trying really hard to get pregnant. I had been diagnosed with Polycystic Ovary Syndrome or PCOS and had a lot of cysts on my ovaries and I wasn't ovulating. So anyway, after a year of the fertility medicine Clomid I still wasn't pregnant. I had also had a laparoscopy to bust the cysts on my ovaries to help get everything moving. Finally the doctor told me that I just wasn't going to get pregnant on my own. So at that point our options were IVF or adopt. Either way we needed to start saving money. I stopped all the drugs and we just didn't try anymore. The next month I was pregnant. I miscarried at 10 weeks. A couple months later I was pregnant again. I miscarried at 8 weeks on the Fourth of July. That next fall I trained to be a school bus driver and got my CDL license. In November I got pregnant again (with Griffen) and was sooooooooooo sick. I never actually threw up but I was queasy all the time. I lost a lot of weight really fast. Only to gain it back as the pregnancy progressed and then some. I had to quit driving the following May right before school let out cause I was having complications with Griffen. I was on partial bedrest for the rest of my pregnancy. Griffen was born, after a horrendous labor, on Aug.24, 2007.

1 year ago

A lot has happened in a year. This time last year I was getting ready to go to girl's camp. I was 1st counselor in Young Women's. That was a long week for me. I left Griffen ( then 10 months) with my mom and that was the longest I had ever been away from him. When I came back and picked him up it took a while for him to get used to me again. It just broke my heart.

I had started Weight Watchers and was very successful at losing 12 lbs. I had had some blood work done that February and it was not good. I had borderline high cholesterol and my insulin was very high. So I lost the 12lbs and had my blood work redone in June. My cholesterol was excellent and my insulin was right where it should be which led to me ovulating really well I guess because the next month I was pregnant again. Of course we didn't know we were pregnant until the week before Griffen's 1st birthday. I felt queasy one day but nothing came of it ( like I was getting a bug) so I thought maybe just maybe I might be. So I took a test and sure enough. I was only like 5 weeks so it was really early. Anyway, that was the easiest and fastest pregnancy. I didn't gain very much weight. I had no complications. Meanwhile, I'm still driving a bus. One day in October it had started to rain. Just a misty rain. Just enough to wet the road. But it hadn't rained for a long time so there was a lot of oil build up on the roads. I was driving the bus and had only made a couple of stops so far. I was coming up on a road that T'd into mine from the left and on the right was a pastue. I just happened to look to the left and saw this truck come barreling at me with tires squealing. My first thought was "Oh shit" and I gunned it trying to get out of the way. I was too late and he was too fast. He T-boned me right in the middle of the bus. Bent the frame on the bus and totaled his truck. No injuries on the bus but I was sent to the hospital to get a drug test (mandatory- and yes I passed) and an ultrasound cause they knew I was pregnant. So that was scary but exciting at the same time.

In December my brother Bret got out of the Navy. He had just toured in Afghanistan for 8 months and was glad to be home. He finally got to see me pregnant. When I was pregnant with Griffen he was going thru his boot camp and all and actually didn't get to come home and see Griff until he was 4 months. Anyway, in March I took my maternity leave so I could get ready for Samuel's arrival. April finally came and so did Sam on Earth Day. I have started Weight Watchers again to lose my baby fat and have also joined the gym to get into shape and tone up. I want to be an active mom for my boys.