Lindsey and Keri Ride Again

Lindsey and I have a wonderful history of spending Valentine's day together. She has flown to see me, I have flown to see her, and Valentine's day has grown to be a holiday where we celebrate our friendship. This year I was able to go see her, although not exactly on V-day but a couple of weeks later.

Look how gorgeous this girl is! (Yes, we were at Victoria Secret bra shopping.)

 This trip was fun because LINDSEY IS PREGNANT!! She is due in July and just barely has a little belly that is oh so beautiful. She found out just before I got there that it's a BOY and his name will be Dean after Adam's grandfather (right?) We talked a lot about Dean. And we bought him the cutest little trendy clothes you've ever seen. BOW TIES! I love bow ties on onesies!
We shopped a little, ate the BEST sushi I've had in a long time [okay I just have to describe one - it was white rice wrapped in rice paper, with salmon, cream cheese, and a tiny piece of lemon peel in the center. Then it was topped with a mango raspberry salsa. Explosion in my mouth.] We went to an amazing BYU-I acapella choir reunion concert, made jewelry, shopped at a huge antique/furniture store, visited Porter's (crafter's heaven!), ate ice cream, went to stake conference, slept in...I made her crepes and muffins and soup...

One super fun thing we did was we went house hunting! Lindsey and Adam are looking for a home in the Rexburg area and so Lindsey had her realtor (realtors in rural Idaho look like good ol' boys in their ropers and ball caps) line up six different homes for us to check out. It was fantastic! Three of the homes were built in the 50-60's and they had more charm and quirks than any modern home. The basements were my favorite. And the authentic, working "bum-shaker" in one of the master bedrooms took the cake. I learned that sheds don't have to go in the corner of the yard, and Canadians make good, efficient, clean "preppers".
And we visited my Grandma Ball and my aunt Nancy and uncle Mike. Grandma is ninety and lately she's been having some physical difficulties - a broken shoulder, carpal tunnel surgery, bruising herself on my dad's truck - but she is so alert and bright and I love hearing her stories. Nancy convinced us to stay for lunch, which was delicious taco soup, and Lindsey fit in like another grandchild/niece. Mike serves on a bishopric for one of the university wards, and he quickly made sure Lindsey knew she could call him if she ever needs anything. Nancy gave Lindsey a referral for an acupuncturist. I love family who takes you in and warms you even if they rarely see you!

We took this picture together at Porter's because it was totally true...

 And we laughed at Lindsey's hand placement...

Most of all we talked. And talked and talked. It was wonderfully soul-soothing to be together, laugh, cry, and laugh some more. I love this gal.
Lindsey, I'd have that day with you again.

Home Sweet Home Chickens!

I realized I hadn't posted an update of our chicken coop in action. 

Our chickens were born on the 25th of January and they arrived at our post office in a little box on January 28th. I got a call from the post office and while the man was telling me that my box had arrived, what I really was listening to was the chirping in the background. When I went to pick up the box I sort of skipped the line and went to the front asking if I could pick up my chicks. He said, "oh, the birds are yours!" and went to get them. He returned with a 8"x12"x12" box that was loudly chirping! I even got an "aw, how cute!" from someone waiting in line!

Twenty four little chicks in a tiny box, all huddled in one corner.

 

Nine of these are ours, the rest were split between Jake and Carla. We put them in a little tote-turned brooder box and let them take over a corner of our lives for about 5 weeks. They chirp all the time and are messy, stinky little animals. 

Rus had a great idea the first week we had them to let them out and hold them so they could "get used to us." He gave one to each of the kids and had them sit on the rug...and in under 5 seconds they had all pooped somewhere. Put them back, put them back!!

We didn't do that again. I know where the phrase "chicken" comes from - it seems completely bred into them to be skittish and, well, chicken, and it didn't seem to matter that we kept them in close proximity for weeks, they still run away when we come close.

And maybe I can understand their fear, after all Marianne is not the gentlest handler... 

 So here they are in their home-sweet-home! The kids are getting used to the added daily chore of opening the coop and feeding/watering the chickens. They should start laying eggs this summer, which will be SUPER exciting!

Miniature Armchair Production Services Inc.

Tell me, honestly, of anyone else you know who will volunteer to make 40 centerpieces for a human resource conference. Not just any centerpieces, but wooden arm chairs! Amy is just such a person, and I think she volunteered her idea and services because she knew she had a crew who could help make it happen. She drove over from Flagstaff a few weeks ago with Luke, Mikey, and Leo and we went to work in my dad's shop cutting and assembling the chairs. We were pretty dang good at it too!

 Why is everything so much cuter in miniature?

 I know they aren't in the picture (why?!) but Luke and Mikey had just enough time at my house to help my kids make this fort. It may lean and look incredibly unstable, but I was nonetheless impressed at their creativity!

It was especially fun to get to hug and play with Leo, he is growing so fast! I love Amy - she always makes life fun with her big ideas and sense of humor.

Hoverboards and Pet Experimentation

Jacob lucked out this year finding a science project that really interested him - HOVERBOARDS! Well maybe it is technically a little outside the definition of a true hoverboard, but still...

For his experiment he made three different sized boards - 16", 20", and 24". He put a hole in each board for the shop vac to attach, and attached a shower curtain with staples to create an air chamber when inflated. Then he tested each board with buckets full of rocks to see how much weight each could hold and still hover. His largest board held 113 pounds! He could even ride on it!

 Here he is cutting out one of his boards (with a little help).

 Beau decided to involve Cheeky in his science project. He fed him food in three colors - green, red, and orange, and then observed to see which color he preferred. He did this over a week and found that Cheeky really liked green food the best! And whatever food was placed on the left. But still he ate the most green no matter where it was.

 I really have grown to love the science fair, despite the tediousness of putting together boards and assimilating results...It is fun to work on projects like this with my kids and see them gain an elementary understanding of big concepts. (I learn a lot too!)

Petroglyph National Monument

In February my kids had an extra day off after President's day, so we decided to go for a hike! In our 4.5 years living in Albuquerque we have never been to see the Petroglyphs, which are a short 25 minute drive from home on Albuquerque's west mesa. The area is reputedly scorching hot in the summer, but it was perfect weather for us in February!

Bekah wasn't feeling well that morning so she stayed home, and the Bug was at preschool, so just the boys and I headed out. 

We decided to do Rinconada canyon, which was a 2 mile loop with over a hundred petroglyphs. The boys were naturally super hikers; it is so fun to hike with older kids! 

Jacob and Beau love each other. Jacob said once, "Beau was made just for me. He's the best brother." He expresses things like that all the time. They are both really good at being sensitive and supportive of each other. Unless they're wrestling. Then Beau always hurts Jacob.

 This was their favorite petroglyph. They really liked any that looked like people.

 The trail was marked at every tenth of a mile, and when we were 3/4 of a mile away from the end Jacob decided that he wanted to run the rest of the way back. I inwardly cheer anytime any of my kids express a desire to run - I would love for them to be runners in high school like I was!

I love Beau's cheesy face here. I LOVE these boys!

Valentine's Day

Valentine's Day was a wonderful family celebration with my parents, Jake, DeAnn, Carla, Doug, and all the kids. A couple of weeks before, I sat down with the kids and we made plans:

* Mystery Menu dinner - all of the foods have code names and everyone got to pick what they wanted for each course. So some people wound up with a soda and ice cream sundae for the first course, which my kids thought was awesome.

(can you tell my kids came up with the menu?)

* Prize for the "Most Festively Dressed." We had to come up with an extra prize because Emma and Zaya were both very festively dressed!

* Coloring contest with prize (I don't remember who won!!)

* Candy bar name riddles - Bekah did this one at school and brought home the worksheet for us to use. It was genius because it occupied all of the dads while they had to wait for each course.

* Valentine Exchange - of course!

* Treasure Hunt - Rus hid all of the clues and at the end of the hunt were bags of goodies (mostly cheap oriental trading company toys)

I was too busy serving the different courses to get any good pictures, so this one is an afterthought:

 I am grateful for my family, and so grateful for every opportunity I get to do something fun with and for them!

Poulialler

"Poulailler" (poo-lie-ye) is French for "chicken coop"
It's only fitting that our chicken coop have a fancy name. It does, after all, have a stained glass window in it. A stained glass chicken. Ahh..After the thought came to me that I could put a simple stained glass chicken window in the coop, I just couldn't shake it. I knew, and know, that it is pretentious and extravagant (what regular house has a stained glass window?!) but there was just this blank spot, and something had to go there...and surely it couldn't hurt to indulge a bit in my newfound skill! So I drew up a plan...and then tossed it because it was way too complicated...and then drew up a much simpler plan with under 20 pieces.

Bekah and Marianne hung out with me in the shed and we cranked that happy chicken out in a morning, and a little of the afternoon. I was polishing the glass as I walked to the garage and then Rus helped me install it behind a vibrant red frame. Rus took a break from doing the wiring for a heat lamp and switch for the coop, and as we installed the window we both had a good laugh at the kind of chicken coop that an artist and an engineer could create.

Rus actually made the coop while I was out of town with Bekah and Beau. We were in Arizona watching my niece Sarah rock climb her way to sixth place at divisionals (qualifying her for a bigger competition in Wisconsin next month!). We also watched my other niece Emma climb and do a fantastic job - she is not as old or as experienced as Sarah, but she has the determination and strength to do just as well given a little more time and practice!

 Here is Sarah on one of her climbs...they call them "problems."

 Beau snagged a picture with both of his grandmas, right as he asked them, "which one of you is older?"

Jacob helped Rus build the coop. They spent a whole Saturday on it (what did Marianne do? Rus says she just played by herself most of the day), and when we were back in town we helped them paint it brown for our family night. I added the blue and red accents to "cute it up," but really the majority of credit goes to Rus on this one.

We ordered our chicks last week and they should be here the end of this week! Yay! I'm excited for the learning experience this will be for our family!