June

Strawberry Days for real...finally. My dad gets credit for these berries because he ordered the plants a couple years ago and this year we actually had a crop worth the work of growing them. Bennett helped me pick these that day.

Although Jared wasn't up to sitting through the rodeo, I went with the boys and my mom. About 45 minutes into it Bennett wanted to go home, but then the clowns came out in a ridiculous firetruck and he was happy to stay the rest of the night.

Jared's back is feeling better - or at least he's not feeling the injury due to a 2nd cortisone shot done under x-ray to get it right where it was needed. He did spend a night at girls camp and did okay there, and now he plans to go to scout camp. The bishop told him he's required to get a good cot.

The boys both had swim lessons at the beginning of the month.  This was the last day so they get to go down the slide after a little instruction.

Paxton finished up machine pitch baseball and Bennett is also through with t-ball. I was sort of a co-coach for Bennett's team with a lady in our ward who I'd also worked with in Young Women's so it was pretty fun to do together. I'm going to kind of miss baseball!

My ward went to girls camp and had a good time. The first night we went to the Manti Pageant, and then we spent the next night at the Snow College ropes course (I didn't take my camera there...wish I would've).  It was great with both low and high rope challenges. Nearly every girl participated in at least the lower ones so I was happy and leaders had fun too. Our group site worked out well, right next to this little lake where the girls got to ride kayaks and swim a bit. It was actually quite hot the whole time at camp so that helped to have some water activities.

Although it's hard to know for sure, I'd say most of our younger hens have started laying eggs. Yesterday we got 14 eggs. This one below is a Welsummer, the only one we have of this breed because I gave away her rooster brother.

A few of our younger chickens decided to explore beyond their farm fence boundaries one day, and one flew up to the top of the fence and over into a neighbor's yard who has dogs. I got it back onto our property quickly and the next day we clipped 4 of the younger one's wings. We sort of hated to do it but it's much safer for them and it actually doesn't hurt them at all (what a relief). I haven't seen any more out so hopefully it worked. 

May...gone already

I am back dating this post. For whatever reason the end of the month sometimes creeps up and I don't realize it's a new month. Oh well, I suspect it will only get worse.

That said, my mom and I took the boys on a little day trip to the campsite I'm taking the girls in our ward to in about 3 weeks. This pic shows my guys at a historic lab that's up the road from the camp a bit. The inside is a museum with cool old stuff. I admit I need to read up on it.

The main event this month as been at the ball fields. Bennett has had his very first t-ball game. I had already forgotten how comical it can be to watch these cute kiddos. Everything from hitting the ball and then picking it up and running, to wandering the field aimlessly with their helmet on wrong. But Bennett can hit off the tee no problem and already knows his teammates names. Even the ones who weren't there.  He has a definite love of knowing names, and he's good at it.


Paxton is enjoying his machine pitch league and we love to watch him. He is batting left handed, even though he does everything else right. Most of the boys on the team can hit well but most need to work on fielding the ball...especially grounders. So it's good there's a 7 run rule. He has passed 2nd grade and today said he misses school a little bit. Maybe that's because the highlight of the summer so far is going through the car wash.

The "low light" of the month happened while Jared was camping out at Little Sahara with his scouts. He jumped off a sand dune and said he landed on his tailbone. Well, 3 weeks later the pain had gotten worse after a hula hoop incident and then father and sons overnighter. Then it became disabling to the point Jared couldn't sit or sleep! So we begged for a visit to a dr he'd seen about 5 years ago for a similar problem and got in reasonably soon. After an initial visit and then an MRI and follow up this week, we now know it's a re-injury of the same disc previously, and it's a herniation. So the substance inside the disc has pushed out through a crack in the harder outside coating and has been pushing on a nerve. Jared missed some work and still isn't driving because it's too painful to sit.  The boys have helped him get his shoes and socks on. He did get an injection of cortisone and that has things improving some. The plan is to see if time will help him heal, if not Jared has an appointment for another injection done under x-ray to get it exactly where it's most beneficial. But we hope that won't be needed. Surgery is an option but neither we or the doctor wanted to go that route at this point.

This mess you see here is what my dining table looks like lately. I am preparing things for girls camp and find it taking over. I try not to let it, but the crazy, misled, trying to be over achiever in me takes control and I lose ground in the organization battle. That's a war I'll never win.

Here's just some gardening photos. Oriental poppies on the right, and then below are some purple podded peas which I hope to get a good crop from. The photo was taken before the blossoms, which have just started. With all the rain the past couple months I have volunteer starts of our thornless blackberry plants that came from some of the fallen fruit last season. I will be moving them to their own sunny planting bed and try to grow them into strong plants. If anyone wants some maybe by next year they'll be a good size to take home.

April

April is always always fun. I have loved the sunny days and even the rainy spells too.  Since it was a good stretch of weather we had Bennett's birthday party outside. After looking at endless cake ideas, I settled on the campfire theme because it seemed doable. so I learned how to make glass candy for the flame. Bennett's candles kept re-lighting themselves...it was only then I realized what the package meant by "re-lighting".

It was nice to have so many little ones running around when your youngest seems to be growing up too fast. Bennett is one of a kind, so funny and bright. He is, at times, a bit overly sensitive but then again he's only 5.  We moved him out of his toddler bed and into a regular bed Grandpa made and he has enjoyed it. We thought for sure he'd fall out but he hasn't - not that we've heard anyway.

We were especially blessed to have Jaylene and her girls visit for a couple days for Bennett's birthday. Her little ones are as busy as can be and definitely fun to have around. Cami is so sweet and friendly...just can't help adoring her.

This little game Jaylene gave Bennett is a hit. It's a Star Wars game, very simple but a fun concept and great for a lot of ages of kids. We finally moved it off the table last week but have played many rounds.

The pot in front is one Paxton should be proud of. He made it by himself, with very little help from Jared (mostly verbal). Jared had to tell him a couple times to quit while he's ahead. And he did, resulting in his tallest, most centered pot so far. These are the kinds of every day things I have neglected to take enough photos of this month. Like Paxton at baseball practice or the boys playing catch in the backyard. I'll do better next month, no more classes to teach and more of camp planning out of the way. I hope.


Speaking of girls camp, I couldn't help but recruit Jared to do something our girls could personalize at camp. So, bowls it is. He has thrown around 35 give or take and probably has about that many left. He can do about 5 in an hour or less so he does them in batches. These particular bowls on the rack have little holes punched in them by the girls who want it for a jewelry bowl, in particular to hang earrings off the rim. None of these are fired or decorated yet, which will come later.

Just a photo I took today puttering around the backyard. It's lucky it turned out because the sun was blinding. At least it's not chickens.

March

Early this month we pulled out this great little out door fireplace that was given to us by some dear friends. We did the usual hot dog and marshmallow roasting.  It was fun to have the camp fire experience in our own back yard.

Our Easter egg hunt was small this year but nice. This little guy in front of Paxton is our adorable nephew Jack. He is a joy to be around, and his crazy little personality is hilarious.

Wish that I could be like the cool kids.

My brother here seeing how sky high he can bounce Zoe. Pretty good eh? I think Paxton in the background was impressed.

Happy birthday to Grandpa. I think Grandma forgot a few candles.

Here is Bennett with one of his best little pals. She's a cute girl who'd rather play pirates than play house.  I heard her say to Bennett that she " has to be a boy" when they were pretend playing. They get along amazingly well.

Bennett is growing more comfortable with the chickens, as you can see, almost to a fault. The one he is holding is over a year old, the 9 youngest are still harder to catch.

Here are a few of the younger chickens venturing out of the coop for the first time. They had to be in there for a few days to establish it as their home so they'd return there at night. Now they are fully integrated with the older hens. There has been some sharp pecks and definitely jockeying for placement on the higher roost.  I had to give away our rooster today, I was sad but felt it needed to be done. Eggs will be in abundance by midsummer.

The tan colored hen at the bottom of the photo is older, the other two are about 9 weeks old. In the last few days they've learned to come toward us - it's kinda charming.

February

I asked the boys to help with this month's blog. Bennett says he loved going to preschool this month and he likes to watch Nature Cat because it tells him important things about nature. You can see him here wearing paper glasses he got in his Primary class.  We continue to be astounded at his reading ability, which is a blessing that will serve him well.

This selfie pic was one of several nostril views. I'm sure he got the idea from me and Jared using our selfie sticks all the time.

Here is Jared after a busy day at work dealing with people problems. He loves his job, but at times he finds it hard to understand why people do what they do.

When I turned the camera over to Paxton he decided to take pictures of his brother throwing a ball up the stairs.  In response to my question of what Paxton enjoyed doing this month, he said he liked learning about Origami with his Grandma. She made a pyramid and a heart out of $1 bills. Since then, Paxton checked out a library book about it and has made Darth Paper, a basketball hoop, and an air shark. He's actually enjoyed making things out of paper since he was really little.

Paxton took this photo of our female kitty Chica. She is sweet but a bit too shy most of the time. 

I took this photo today of the chicks which are quickly becoming mini chickens. They are supposed to be fully feathered around 6 weeks; they are approaching 5 weeks old now. I suspect we have one rooster, which is a Welsummer breed. The chicken on the corn flakes box is based on this type. So he could be quite showy to look at but time will tell if the he IS a he and is as noisy as some roos can be. Ending up with 11 hens out of 12 baby chicks is very reasonable.

With the help of a handy neighbor, we managed to roll the new coop out of the garage on Saturday. We probably had less than a half inch clearance, and I'm glad we didn't have to saw off any of the roof. We still need to put singles on and possibly insulate it but we could be ready to move it to our empty lot in a couple weeks. 

January

We had a fun, quick trip to Grace, Idaho thanks to our neighbor. Their family owns many acres and we were invited to come snowmobiling and play in the snow. It was COLD, a degree or two below zero in the mornings but amazingly we were usually warm enough when the sun was shining. This sledding hill was serious and the boys loved getting rides back up the hill via snowmobile.

 The area has a lot of pheasant (a relative of our neighbor actually raises them there) and wild turkeys. We saw a big group just off the side of the road. There was also a large herd of elk that regularly moves through the area which we were able to see one night.

There is a woman called the Chicken Chick who has a blog about raising backyard chickens and she tells of "chicken math". What she means is that chicken keeping is addictive. This is my explanation for the "need" of a new, larger coop. Jared's parents, always so generous to give of their time, gasoline, and expertise, came to help us make this bigger, better hen home.
Most of the build went smoothly and quickly and I was totally impressed.  How we get it out of the garage may be tricky. The coop is more complete than this last picture shows, and we've primed it. Tomorrow - the first coat of paint - a bit of a mystery color due to the discount store I bought it from and the fact that I'll be mixing three cans. Right now it makes a great playhouse.

Bennett strikes a pose for most photos these days. Paxton was proud of his Lincoln log building...I especially like the suspended corners. If I could I'd build a house like that.

Here are the puffballs that will occupy the coop along with our current flock. Four of the 12 are breeds we have but the rest are new. They do lay eggs but not as many as "standard" breeds.





Jared is holding an Americauna, left, and Speckled Sussex on the right. Our other newest are Silver Laced Wyandotte and Cuckoo Marans. Bennett laughs at that last name. We're already figuring out which Star Wars characters will be their namesakes.