We’ve had some serious lightning storms in the Wasatch Mountains over the last 10 days, along with some serious hail (Google: hail damage in Heber City; it was nuts). The thunder was rattling our house and probably took years off my dog’s life.

Unfortunately, a 19-year-old was killed at the summit of Timpanogos by a lightning strike when a fast-moving lightning storm moved in. The worst part was that the storm was forecast days before, and weather alerts for high lightning activity had been sent out.

I don’t know the circumstances leading up to this group deciding to summit an 11,500’+ peak during a lightning storm, and it doesn’t change the tragedy of it. There have been several deaths in the past few months on Utah trails, and they have made me think of the importance of preparedness and situational awareness in the mountains.

So with all the bad weather this last week, aside from a short walk through Wasatch Mountain State Park to see the leaves, we didn’t get up into the mountains this week. But we had an awesome back up plan!

If you want an awesome day out with your kids while supporting a local ranching operation, check out Cross E Ranch!

Cross E Ranch is just west of North Salt Lake. They do a spring festival and a fall festival each year, and we usually go to both. They do a tractor ride through their fields to see their cattle, and have a ton of animals you can pet and interact with. This year, Finn was old enough to have fun in the corn maze, and they race pigs around a track. It’s awesome!

Finn spent about an hour playing in the corn pit, which is literally a massive pit filled with corn. He convinced his mom to get in with him, so they were both walking around the rest of the day covered in corn dust.

They also make amazing apple cider donuts. Like, best donut I’ve ever had. These alone are worth the drive and ticket price. We ended up buying about 100 lbs of pumpkins from them as well to decorate our house for fall.

We’ve taken Finn here since he was about 8 months old, and it has become a much-anticipated experience each spring and fall for him. Now that he is getting bigger, there is more and more to do with him here that we haven’t done before, like axe throwing, archery, and a rope jungle gym. He’s already looking forward to the baby animals at the spring festival there!

10/10 would recommend to everyone.

I mentioned last week that I was planning to make some homemade chicken nuggets. Well, I tried, and somehow created the most repulsive food I have ever cooked in my life. They were so bad that I didn’t even let Finn try a bite. I chucked them all.

Every recipe I could find online was basically the same. Ground chicken mixed with seasonings, coated in cornstarch, then either battered or breaded, then fried. So I did that. I tried a normal frying batter and an egg wash with bread crumbs (hence the two different colors in the picture).

When I fried them, the chicken inside turned to rubber. It was tough, chewy, and disgusting. I don’t even know if the flavor was good or not; I just couldn’t get over the texture and chewiness of the chicken.

I’m not sure if I did something wrong, or if that is just the nature of chicken nuggets that don’t consist of mystery meat. Unless someone sends me a recipe they swear by, I don’t think I’ll be trying this again!

I did redeem myself by making some killer grilled chicken thighs, though. That’s a meal for another day!

0/10, don’t do it. Just close your eyes and pretend that your store-bought chicken nuggets aren’t weird in the middle.

I mentioned above that one of my dogs has started to get a little more anxious as he’s gotten older. Fireworks, thunder, stuff like that will probably always give him a good scare, so we’ll give him meds for those instances. I don’t want to give him the drugs every day, so I decided to experiment with a philosophy that Cesar Millan shares.

He suggests that dogs need exercise and discipline first thing in the morning, then food and affection. This aligns more with how canines in nature operate; they wake up, exercise while hunting as a structured pack, then get their food, eat, and are affectionate with each other.

I have always taken my dogs on a daily walk in the late afternoon/evening, thinking I was working off their energy before coming home to chill for the night. For the last week, I’ve gotten up and taken them on a 30-ish minute walk first thing in the morning, practicing heeling, staying, etc. as we walk, as Cesar suggests. In the evenings, I still take them out for about 45 minutes, and we play in the backyard and wrestle several times a day, as we did before.

These are new dogs, people! An incredible difference. They both are so much more tranquil and happy throughout the day, and neither of them is clingy or needy.

Maybe there is a human parallel here. Perhaps sitting inside for 12 hours a day looking at screens with no exercise isn’t the best thing for us. I’ve noticed since Finn was little that when we get outside early in the day and play in the sunshine, he eats better, sleeps better, and generally is in a way better mood.

Do with this anecdotal information as you will!

With Finn in school, tumbling classes twice per week, and work being generally busy, it’s getting a bit trickier to plan my week ahead of time! I’ll keep doing what I can. Next week, Finn and I are going night fishing for some catfish! As the weather cools down, they eat alot to fatten up for winter, so hopefully we’ll snag some monsters. I will not be cooking any of these catfish, but I saw a recipe for a sardine Bolognaise that I’ve been wanting to try, so I’ll let you know how it goes!