Author: Emily

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Week Four

Finally seems like we are done with the few pressing all time consuming projects. This week has thankfully been a bit of a breather! 

The final potato details:

52 rows

24 varieties 

Roughly 2,200 pounds

18 pits- these will yield seed potatoes for the next season- to be harvested this fall and kept in the root cellar until next spring. The picture below on the left is all the extra 50 pound potato bags!

Chase got to dig the pits with a mini excavator so the boys had their own private digger show and it was a memory for all! 

There are two asparagus fields. One mature one that we are harvesting now that we got water lines put down and one that we have done a ton of work with but they just get to rest, grow and mature this year. We cut the asparagus every other morning and take it to the restaurant for them to use!

In the green house: 

  • I planted another 100 seeds of 4 different types of tomatoes
  • Almost everything that has been planted has sprouted 🌱
  • Mac has taken to seed planting! He has planted 16 cucumber plants for the bunnies. He is also recovering spilled sunflower seeds that have sprouted and he is putting them in pots and they are now in the “Schneider science experiment garden” aka their own bed in the green house. 

Mer man turned THREE!!!! He choose all the things for the day and that’s what we did!! Pancakes 🥞 cupcakes 🧁 spaghetti 🍝 hiking 🥾 presents🎁 his first ice cream cone 🍦 He wanted nothing more than to make his own green birthday cupcakes with green frosting and sprinkles…..so of course he got to!!!

This little guy is a special one! We love you so much Merrick! So thankful God made you and let us get to be your parents!

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Week Three!

Potatoes 🥔 and asparagus! That’s the theme of the week oh my lanta! 

Sooooo many potatoes. Chase would drive a tiny tractor and make a furrow, the boys and I would load the row with potato seed starters then I’d rake them over. We would set a drip line and move to the next one….so far we’ve done 48 rows and planted about 1,200 pounds of potatoes!!! I’m certain we will run out of land before we run out of potato starts 😬 We had extra help one day with three other people helping and it went so much faster! Right now we have at least 16 more rows to go. Fun fact there are 28 different varieties we are planting, did you even know there were that many different types?!?

The asparagus fields- there are 10 long rows. They have chicken wire under them (so the gophers don’t get the “crowns”….aka roots/seeds….the area where the growth comes from). We were asked to cover the rows with chicken wire and then cover the newly set chicken wire with compost and then put the drip lines on the top. Sounds easy enough right….only took us 1.5 weeks to complete this task! 

Seeds that I started in the green house this week include: 

34- Dinosaur kale 🥬 

25- Banana squash  

25- Eggplant 🍆 

25- Spaghetti squash 

25- Crookneck squash 

25- Purple basil

25- Dill 

25- Cucumbers 🥒 

50- Tomatoes of 3 varieties 🍅 

Some of the seeds that were planted last week are starting to pop up so that is exciting!!

We collected lots of eggs this week. We take the clean ones to the front to be sold and we get to keep the dirty ones! 

We had a special visitor come fill our hearts for a few days!!! Auntie time is the best!! 

Animal highlight of the week: 

BIG HORN SHEEP!!!! There is a sign that says they might be crossing but we never really thought we would see them! And guess what the hummingbirds are finally here!! 

Being less than a half mile from Zion….we went again….and I’m sure we will again and again!! In that last picture of Merrick you can barely see the road and the cars driving on them….but he hiked up that WHOLE thing…(with a parent behind him of course!)…someone must be turning THREE soon!

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Growing Season

In my Bible reading here lately something has just hit me a little differently.

I’ve been doing a lot of seed planting lately and now it’s a waiting game to see if anything will come up. And then it’ll be transplant time, then weeding, pruning and maybe just maybe we’ll get to see some fruit from this whole thing.

In James 1:21 it says….”so get rid of all uncleanness and the rampant outgrowth of wickedness, and in a humble (gentle, modest) spirit receive and welcome the Word which implanted and rooted (in your hearts) contains the power to save your souls.” 

The Word has been implanted in in our hearts! It is rooted in there!! 

In order for anything to grow it has to be cultivated, it has be watered, it has to placed in the Light. And when it starts to grow it will need to be weeded and pruned. 

Seeing and learning this is like a little weight lifted off my mama shoulders. I can not and will not be able to get my kiddos to love Jesus. But there is hope, because He already implanted His word in their hearts. May my parenting be watering and light giving and able to weed and prune when it needs it! 

🌱🌱🌱 So whatever season you’re in, there is always hope and there is always something that your plants need! 🌱🌱🌱

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Week TWO!!

We are going to garden, like legit garden. This isn’t just oh make it pretty anymore…this is let’s get some produce rolling so the restaurant can use it! Which is all fun….but ummm we have a LOT to learn! 

Seeds started this week: (and I’m sure more to come!)

25- spinach 

50- wild humming bird flower mix

50- lavender 

50- peppermint 

50- tomatoes

25- parsley

Raking fields: upon arrival I thought there was some wasteland near the green house…fun fact that’s the garden/field…

Days off: as long as the work is done we get to pick our days off, we picked Sunday and Friday this week. We haven’t had Sundays off this entire time we’ve been gone, sooo we got to go to church!!! 

Church ⛪️: 

We found a church about 30 mins away, and that town has the biggest/closest grocery store…so we now have a Sunday norm….go to church, get lunch and groceries for the week. The kiddos get to be in the same class for kids church and are enjoying it! 

Zion: 

It’s just a unique area! Red and white mountains with dark evergreens. There are lines and curves that are so soft….yet made of stone. It looks like lava had oozed and then stopped! 100% the best kid hiking we’ve been around. They can go pretty much anywhere just hiking right along!

Perk: 

Free lunches. Everyday there is free lunch for employees!! You go to the back entrance of restaurant and bam free hot meal. We’ve had a couple of different pastas, chicken wrap, Mexican type dishes. It’s been an array but almost always something we’ve never had and it’s been fun to mix up the menu! 

Laundry: 

At our other jobs we’ve always had free laundry, not here. It’s $1.50 to wash and another $1.50 to dry, thankfully some of the cheapest we’ve seen in that regard. Paying for laundry but getting the free lunches is a switch we’re happy to make! 

It’s a small world after all:  🌎 

Soooo the craziest moment thus far with humans goes like this… while we were in Tucson we had neighbors that were there for almost a month. Sweet little family. They went on their way. Last we knew they were in CA. Well….I was out in the field working and Chase is on the little tractor, next thing I know a pick up pulls up and a lady is frantically waving at me. Somehow they saw us and recognized us, and we ended up having a great evening and dinner with them. Soooooo insane! I can’t even imagine what the odds of the timing of this occurring but God is good and it happened! 

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Week one

What are we doing: “just make it beautiful” said the boss soooo we are weeding, cleaning out all the old growth from last year and making it fresh. Killing gophers. Planting onions 🧅 roughly 460 or so. Harvesting and consuming asparagus. Riding horses. Fixing fence. Putting buffalo back where they belong. Collecting chicken and pheasant eggs 🥚—> eating said eggs 🍳 (only the ones that can’t be sold of course!) hiking mountains, finding slot canyons and exploring Zion National park. 

What’s it like here: 

—weather wise it’s always a surprise…. the nearest weather towns (locations known to the weather app) are about 15 miles in either direction down a mountain….so when it says it won’t freeze there that doesn’t mean it won’t freeze here soooo the first 7 days we were here we woke to frozen pipes 4 of those days but hopefully the cold has passed! (After waking to frozen pipes that first time we unhooked our water line thereafter). 

—communication wise….there is zero I repeat ZERO cell phone service unless you climb a mountain…. but at least the mountain does have a decent view 😜 

Thankfully there is WiFi in certain areas so we can make WiFi phone calls and send messages. 

—work wise….laborious…I have never in my life worked a manual labor type job (though there were a few nurse shifts that left like it!!) But it’s nothing like this we are outside 6+ hours a day and most of the time we are using real muscles! 💪🏼 Pulling pushing hauling raking shoveling etc etc and sheesh bed feels so good at the end of the day….and sometimes even after lunch 🙈 it’s called a siesta 😜

—children wise….they love it! We sing home on the range daily. They are learning a TON (and so are we!)They have gotten to do so many firsts. They sleep sooo good! 

—camper wise….our site is the best we’ve ever had. It’s HUGE! We have a “yard”. A hammock cove. Privacy. A treed area the boys can adventure and play. And a mountain on the other side….it’s pretty great…if only it had WiFi or cell service. (Taking any and all suggestions on how to make that occur…we’ve tried a WiFi booster with no luck 😩) 

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While we were in AZ Fun facts

We got new tires for the pick up….because we had one flat….and then learned that all the tires were too little (no wonder we got a great deal when buying it) and they could not legally sell us the same size tire to replace the bolt stricken one. In case anyone is counting… that’s 9 tires we’ve bought while on this adventure 😬😬😬

We’ve eaten and used lemons 🍋 like never before. We’ve made lemon bars, lemon brownies, lemon crinkle cookies, lemon poppy seed bread, coleslaw dressing, marinades, lemonade. We’ve used lemon juice to clean and we’ve made lemon volcanoes (aka lemons cut in half, stabbed and loaded with baking soda!)

We’ve gotten lost on a trail and hiked straight up a mountain to get back to the main part. All  trail and non trail ground looks the same….like  dirt 🙈🙈🙈

We’ve eaten the BEST tortillas!!!! And found the freshest and tastiest salsa! 

We had a moment where we couldn’t find Mac at the camp ground…he dropped a ball while riding his bike and went to go get it. Turned into a very educational experience 😜

We had our first ER visit. It was a perfect situation where we had friends there and they could come stay in the camper while I took Chase to the ER at 2am, which happened to be less than 2 miles away. All is well- just a little intestinal twisting causing severe pain…not his appendix exploding on us 🙌🏼

Mac is 💯 a no training wheels man and graduated to a bigger bike! Mer is getting faster faster on his balance bike! 

The cowboy life has been around since December, the longest thing they’ve ever been “into”….from Mac working his first cattle sale to Tombstone and now to living and working on a real ranch. I think it might stick around a little longer 🤠 

We got to southern Utah this past week. We’ll be here staying and working on a 6,000 acre ranch- full of bison, cabins, horses, chickens, bunnies and green houses. We’ll be doing landscaping, gardening etc. just “making it beautiful” as the boss says! 

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Grand Canyon, Flagstaff and a bit of Sedona

We work a breakfast on Sunday mornings and are off the rest of the day and don’t work again until Wednesday morning. So with these 2.5 days off we left the camper and took a trip and saw some breathtaking and diverse things…..all in Arizona, all within 5 hours of us.

We took off and went north to the Grand Canyon! We checked into our hotel, went and got a pizza, took it to the Grand Canyon to eat it and watch the sunset. Pictures will never do this beauty justice. It is so vast and so BIG. There is a trail on the top that is 16 miles along the rim and at any given point of that trail you could see a new view or a new angle and its just beautiful.

I knew that the Grand Canyon was in Arizona so I expected desert and cactus leading up to the canyon it self. Spoiler alert: wrongo!!! Its like you’re in the Rockies. There are pine trees everywhere, elk running around, and SNOW! I had NO clue it would be like this!

There are a trails that go down into the canyon. We started on one that had a large ice patch on it and after watching a grown man fall on his backside we decided that was not the trail for us. He was fine and in fact encouraged us to try another trail and we were so glad he did.

We hiked down a bit of the South Kaibab trail and it was great. Kid friendly to a degree. Made sure the youngins were on the outside of part trail… no where near the edge. The Grand Canyon was the first time on this whole adventure that we felt limited by the age of our kiddos. We weren’t going to be hiking all the way down and camping at the bottom or riding a mule down to get a better view. There were definitely places along the Grand Canyon that we were shocked to see there was no railing and could see how accidents could happen very easily.

All in all we loved the whole experience and definitely think its a must see and something we’d like to go back to with older kiddos!

We stayed one night at the Grand Canyon and then headed to Flagstaff. Flagstaff is home to Mt. Humphrey, Arizona’s highest point. And in fact a ski resort. We drove an hour on a scenic byway and reached the ski resort. We walked out to the patio had a snack and watched the skiers do their thing. The boys could have watched all day, they loved it. There was a walking trail near by and we hiked a snow packed trail in the middle of aspens and pine trees. Sooooo sooooo pretty!

We stayed one night in Flagstaff. In the morning we walked around the down town area full of restaurants, book shops, cafes, and coffee shops. Had lunch at an old lumber yard turned restaurant. Then we hit the road back home but took the scenic route and boy are we soooo glad we did.

Leaving Flagstaff you can get on Highway 89-A aka Old Creek Canyon Highway. IT IS BEAUTIFUL!!!!! It is full of switch backs and slow driving. But you are going along the creek and there are red cliffs and mountains with pine trees everywhere. It is just pretty and again, another spot where a picture can not capture the beauty you’re surrounded in. Had we known how pretty this was going to be we would have packed a picnic lunch and stopped along the creek and ate.

This highway led us to and through Sedona. Sedona reminded me of Estes Park or some other touristy mountain spot. Tons of shops along the main drag, everyone was there for the view sort of a thing. We got some ice cream and took in the views. And then trekked on back to Tucson.

Arizona has had the most diverse geographical difference all within a few hours making it a real treasure in our eyes. The desert feel, to the red rocks and creeks and canyons to the mountains with pines and aspen to the Grand Canyon. It’s been a grand experience that’s for sure.

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Renovations 2.0

When you buy a gallon of paint and your living quarters are roughly 320 square feet, that one gallon of paint can go a loooooong way! I’ve used it here and there to spruce up this space and that space. Moved a decoration here and swapped it there and its been great!

In the hallway area

In the bathroom a touch of paint and a few little extras added. Hanging baskets above the toilet…..that I got from the Dollar Tree and used to be hot pink….and the little towel rack inside the shower. Now all the wet swim suits have a place to go woot woot!

Some paint in the kitchen too. We got a little weather station that tells us the temp inside and outside, the wind and the rain amounts. Really like it up and off the counter top!

We splurged a bit and got some peel and stick wall paper! This is in our bedroom (and a tiny left over piece is in the bathroom if you noticed it!). We got two rolls and got the two walls done and then did it over one door. Now we are on the fence about doing the other door. What do you think, should we get another roll and have a whole wall of this? (seriously we would love to know what you think). It was fairly easy to put up and has held up great! We’ve really liked how much it added to the space.

I used the same paint and painted the wall behind the bed. Then on the lower half of the wall I used the left over peel and stick white brick to update it a little bit. We moved a few decorations here and there. We had the “never stop exploring” sign in our Air BNB at the house and I love it here now!

I used the left over peel and stick white brick to put around the TV area, just brightened it up a little bit!

Cost:

$2 hanging baskets

$3 spray paint

$2 towel rack in shower

$2 shelf for weather station

$46 wall paper

Total: $56 dollar to spruce up every* room in this tiny space!

*more still to come on the boys room. I haven’t touched it yet but I’m thinking we will soon….?!?!?!

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How we got here….

Not to this literal location but to this point in our lives. 

Practically:

When I was in nursing school they gave examples of allllll the different types of nursing jobs there were and I remember being in awe of two of them. A travel nurse and a cruise ship nurse. Like it is part of your job to go see the world! I was supposed to get married 2 months after getting done with nursing school and there really wasn’t an option to do the travel nurse life. In my irrational fearful brain I told myself if Chase died before we got married I would be travel nurse. Thankful Chase didn’t die… But there’s still alway been a desire to be a travel nurse. 

In the fall of 2019 Chase and I chatted and really felt like God was leading us to travel nursing. We had a year before Mac would be starting school and 2020 could be our travel year. Well that spring the world changed (as you may remember) and all the post-partum (mom baby, the type of nursing job I LOVE) travel nurse jobs were gone. But we still left like God was pushing us towards travel. We were talking to friends and one mentioned that when they retired they would want to do “work camping”. What’s that you say….you go work at a camp ground, get to stay there for free and get paid to do so…. and that’s when the seed was planted and the rest is history! 

We still might try to do a travel nurse stent while we are out and about. When the time comes for us to head to a new spot, we look through nursing jobs and camp ground jobs and pray over it all, trusting God will show us the way. 

Financially: 

On Valentine’s Day of 2016 we had a very romantic evening sorting through our bank statements and credit card statements for the previous three years and seeing where we spent money. We had a wakeup call and changed some things. One of us stopped spending 100s of dollars a month on eating out. And one of us stopped spending 100s of dollars a month on things that we “needed” or got ” just incase” but justified it because it was a great deal in the clearance section or at the thrift store. We began being intentional with each dollar we spent and ended up saving a lot of them. 

Fast forward a bit in 2018 we bought two rental properties, a town home and a house. In 2019 we bought a duplex and went in on flip with a partner. And in January of 2020 we bought another rental house. To date we have four roofs and five tenants. Our business partner for the flip has turned into our property manager while we’ve been on the road and it’s going well!

We can’t live off of our rental properties income, but it does allow us a safety net as we do this travel thing. With our camp ground jobs we are not saving for college but we are not going into debt. We are making the money that we need today, making enough for our food and gas and insurance. The rentals give us the peace of mind that if something “came up” it would be okay.

Relationally: 

We 100% miss our humans. Our family and friends. It’s like when you’re on vacation and you want your people to be there with you to see the things and share the experiences….but you don’t want to leave the vacation….that’s what we’re living in. The time we are getting with our boys is a treasure and only here for a season so we are soaking it up.

I never thought we’d get community out on the road. But we’ve connected with a couple of families and it’s been really sweet. We sang worship songs and watched a bible study and had fellowship…in a camper and it was beautiful. We have two families that we met in the Outer Banks of North Carolina that have traveled here to do camper life with us for a bit. And we’ve met a couple more families here and it’s just amazing how God orchestrates it all. It has been beautiful to see and a loud reminder of how He provides. We can look back and see how He has brought this whole journey together and know He has the future covered as well!

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Tombstone and Bisbee

You’ve probably heard of one and not the other.

Tombstone, AZ historically speaking is the town where the OK Corral Gunfight occurred between the good guys: Wyatt Earp and Doc Holiday vs the bad guys: the Clanton brothers and other “cowboys.” And if you go there today they have it looking like you’re about to witness what happened then and there in 1881. Its a bit tourist-y but its a fun spot. You can watch a reenactment of the gunfight, ride in a horse drawn stage coach and walk down the dusty streets of the old west. You can find anything you need to be a cowboy there….and boy did we come away with one.

When you live with a 5 year old cowboy Tombstone is the best thing ever, it is where “real cowboys live” and where “I want to work when I’m a cowboy” but only after “roping all of my own horses.” So you know we’ve been living in a cowboy world even when we are not in Tombstone. He’s “roping” outside almost daily. And when the campground you work at has a rodeo weekend with pony rides…we get to see the perfect all nature smile. And yes we went back and he got to wear his full get up in Tombstone!

Bisbee is about 30 miles further south of Tombstone. It is an old mining town turned into a posh little European metropolis you would never ever expect to be in the middle of the Arizona desert mountains. It is chock-full of cafes, shops, art studios etc. It a fun little spot to grab a drink and walk around. There are string lights over the street, flowers and planters all around, murals here and there. It is neat. The downtown part is in the valley and the homes are all up the mountainsides, so they compare themselves to Italy or Greece as it kind of has that landscape and vibe. You can do a tour of the old mine and you can look down into the pit from the road. We didn’t do the tour with the littles but we’ve heard its good. We enjoyed ourselves without just as well!