Today!

I can hardly believe this is all in my yard, but today it is! It's beautiful! Everyday I think that (and want to share it with you), but then the next day it looks even better (more flowers blooming, over 100 sunflowers!). Yesterday my big excitement was 4 grape tomatoes, or roma tomatoes, on my very own plant! I couldn't believe how happy I felt! And yes, I live in the desert! All that back breaking dirt moving has really paid off! It was worth it! (Still have the sand paper hands, because I can't seem to stop working in the dirt, I'm sure as the heat hits, I'll go back inside more often...but not yet!--Even with the itchy eyes and constantly runny nose. Where did these allergies come from?)

Eli's Party!

Eli celebrated his birthday today with his closest friends from school, church, and home. The party will be remembered for it's "concrete" pinata, far reaching treasure hunt, coconut contest (I did NOT suggest the drinking of the milk!!!), and lots of play "fighting" and playing. It was non-stop from 11:30am to 4pm... Eli has great friends, what a fun day!

Happy Birthday!

Eli is now 11!
He started his birthday morning with a BIG breakfast (bacon, sausage, scrambled eggs with chorizo, orange juice, milk, waffles, and compote). His gifts were small, but he was happy and grateful!

He got to light his own birthday waffle candles, although, only 10 candles went out:( He was definitely disappointed in his blow...

The family was just waking up to a great breakfast.

Notice the slight puffiness and dark color under Eli's right eye...his whole baseball team came over to our home last night for a BBQ (BBQ courtesy of Coach Wood) and Eli sustained an elbow to the face...I guess Hyrum didn't want to leave without giving you a birthday present?

Eli, you are priceless! Your kind and gentle manner endears you to my heart. You are a wonderful big brother! And our family is only complete with you in it! Happy Birthday! I'll always love you!

Happy Easter!

Before 7 am, Savanah and I were heading to the Mesa Temple for a devotional testimony meeting with the youth in our stake. This was our view from the chairs we sat in during the devotional. I loved watching the birds drink from the reflecting pool and glide back into the trees...I enjoyed a wonderfully peaceful Easter morning!

After church we played games and dyed Easter eggs.

Nathaniel built a Lego trailer to hold his hard boiled egg.

Passing Away...

In her New York accent with huge blue eye shadow she was always happy to help, smiley, talkative, and all around wonderful! Today I learned that my old visiting teacher passed away. What a lively spirited woman! I'll miss her!

And one of my chickens. Today one of my hens attacked (pecking order thing?) another one of my chickens, and without shedding a drop of blood the one killed the other, maybe she broke her neck? The saddest part was I saw it all happening. I thought, they'll stop fast, but when they didn't, I ran over throwing whatever I could get my hands on as I went, but my bucket didn't fly far enough to discourage the aggressor. As I picked up the faint bird, her eyes fluttered and her head wobbled in my hands, her breath was rapid and I could see she wasn't going to make it. I didn't want to be the one to end her life, so much for being "used" to butchering, I guess I have to sych myself up for that kind of thing, the adrelaline rush I got from trying to save her, didn't lend itself to taking her life the next minute. I buried her under the mulberry tree later in the afternoon (after she had died of "natural" causes), I hope she'll make a nice green spot of grass to have picnics on. And I hope the violence doesn't continue among the hens!

Everything is Growing...Kind Of!

Above is a shot of one of my flower/veggie gardens and below of my vegetable/flower garden (the lines are blurring betweent the 2), I feel like it's a successful gardening year so far! There are sunflowers, peas, potatoes, corn, cabbage, lettuce, peppers, cucumbers & squash (thanks Marci), garlic (thanks dad), zinnias and sweet potatoes in my veggie garden. I don't know where everything is going to spread to?! (I planted things close together) I was hoping to have it all fill in so I didn't have to weed very much, we'll see if it was a good or bad idea. We have peaches and plums and citrus already set on our trees and many of my flowers are already in bloom (poppies, bachelor buttons, marigolds, allysum, and some others). So lots of our yard is growing, but Mr. Rooster was getting to be a real pest, and eating lots of food and not laying a single egg, and 6 of our hens were thinking they should start sitting on their eggs and stopped laying (hoping to have Mr. Roosters babies), so on Saturday, during the priesthood session, the kids and I did a little chop chop to Mr. Rooster's head and dressed him nicely and put him in the BBQ for dinner. (Little note to anyone else that's as naive as I am...don't BBQ meat that doesn't have an ounce of fat on it...let's just say jerky isn't this tough!) So, on Sunday we made a nice Mr. Rooster soup and it was delightful! (After about 5 hours of simmering) I wasn't sure if I had it in me to take the life of an animal that followed me around the yard, and for the most part was decent, but I did it, and I'm sure next spring I'll do it again. And instead of plucking him, I just skinned him right after butchering...I read about it on-line, it was really quick and much less stinky than plucking after dunking! I wonder how a skinless chicken would freeze, maybe it would freezer burn more easily?

Zach's Baseball

Zach's team uniform normally consists of white pants, but tonight, about an hour before practice I realized his pants hadn't been washed since the last game. So, we looked through the baseball pants box, found a white pair that fit him and started the washer with his normal white pants in it. After getting dressed Zach walked into the office and Eli says, "Zach why are you wearing your football pants?" At which time I realized Eli was right, what I had given Zach to wear were really football pants, but since I had already started the washer, it was black pants for the night. Luckily Zach is a roll with the punches kind of guy. He is my son who brings me duct tape every morning (with a smile on his face) to tape the knees in his pants because torn knees aren't allowed at his school (and his pants only last 3 days before he tears throug the knees) and all his pants have torn knees.

Bob (I mean Zach) is ready here at first (it's the position most of our kids play). (And Zachary and his friends are all self proclaimed "Bob". So, since there's another Zach on the team, his coach actually calls my Zach, "Bob".

Zach is catching the last out of the 1st inning.

Zach is in good company! Half of his team are south paws, can you believe it?

Baseball Tonight

We arrived 30 minutes before Zach's game started, which is typical for minors and majors, but I forgot it really isn't normal for machine pitch, so we had some time to kill, and some photos to take!

Absolutely Classic T-ball Third Baseman Positioning!

If you've ever spent some time watching t-ball, you'll know Andrew's style at 3rd base is nothing original. He is by far one of the best players on his team and normally is wide awake at first, but today for his stint on 3rd he was well...resting his legs.

Andrew "playing" 3rd base.

At the left, Andrew still "covering" 3rd.

Andrew "ready" at third.

Andrew in his normal position playing first.