The Chicken Whisperer

Our chicks are now full-fledged little chickens, and they are a lot of fun. With the warmer weather, we have let them roam the yard as the coop gets finished. The girls LOVE them, and although they aren't rubbing up against our legs, they don't seem to mind a little handling. I thought you guys would enjoy seeing Isabel in action. Somehow she always manages to get a hold on a chick.

Sadly, it has become very obvious that we have 2 roosters, so if anybody wants them, they are yours! The one rooster is the friendliest, and was from the beginning, so we hate to part with him, but we and our neighbors are not going to want him around in a few more weeks.

Time flies.....

Wow, so much has happened in the last month and I have not blogged about it at all! Sorry to you faithful blog-checkers.

The most major item would have to be the visit of my mom, aunt and Grandma. They were down for almost a week and we packed every day. We went to Thanksgiving Point Gardens AND Dinosaur museum in one day! We ran some Utah errands and hit the fabric store. My mom wanted a "project" to keep them busy so we decided to do quilts for Abby and Isabel. I have had the pattern since before Christmas but never got around to doing it myself. I got the free pattern here: http://www.byannie.com/free_patterns.html It is called "wickedly easy" although we found it a bit challenging. It was fun and we got both tops almost done before they left. I am getting them machine quilted, but I will post pics when I get them done. I picked a bunch of different fabrics with a butterfly\dragonfly\vine theme, to match their room. Their backs will be different colors so they know which one is their own. (this is off the website, ours are purple, pink, yellow, blue and green)

We also took a ride on the Heber Creeper, which is an old train that goes up and down Provo Canyon. Unfortunately there was a slide and we didn't even go half-way down! We were kinda bummed, but it was fun anyways. Perhaps we'll go back another time.

The girls had a great time being spoiled by all the grandmas, and I think the grandmas liked being adored by three little girls they rarely get to see. My grandma turns 95 in September but has always been a world traveler, so we are so glad she got to come down and see our home and the girls.

Another exciting event was that with the free, live-in babysitters, Scott and i slipped away on a Wednesday night to celebrate our 6th wedding anniversary. We went to the Johnson Mill B&B in Midway. It was amazing. We had a waterfall right outside our room, a fireplace, free cookies, hot chocolate, popcorn, movies. They also have a little lake with a canoe we paddled around in. Everything was so nice and the breakfast was delicious, German pancakes with peaches and cream. Yum! We would love to go there again some time!

Now we are back to normal, working on our yard and other fun stuff like that. Our chickens are getting a coop built as we type. They are now 5 weeks old and have almost all their feathers. We have let them out in the yard on the warm days, but only under supervision cuz the neighbor's cat seems to like them! It is definite that 2 of them turned out to be roosters, so after that first crow I am sorry to say they will disappear. Their name is Dinner already and the girls know all about it and don't seem to concerned. Isabel's fish, "Fisha," died last week and she was pretty excited to flush him. Luckily he was just a $2 Betta, so we might get another one soon.

Otherwise nothing else to report. We are all pretty healthy and happy and hope you all are too!

Abby's First T-Ball Game

The chicks getting big....2weeks old!

Yesterday was Abby's first game. After two short practices it was pretty fun to see a bunch of 4 year olds trying to get the hang of the game. Luckily there were parents everywhere pointing the way. The best was after half the kids hit the ball they would pounce on it themselves! it was nice and non-competitive with everyone batting twice and no one getting out. Abby did really well and liked it a lot, even though it was windy. She needs to work on her swing a little, she steps into it and hits the tee every time (as seen in the video clip) Isabel wanted to play, too. Next year.....


Sara also wanted to play. She is getting a lot better at walking in shoes and on uneven surfaces, so she was all over the place charming the audience and trying to get into trouble.
Check out the pink glove.....






Good times were had by all. We then spent some time with Gma, Gpa, great Gma and Great Gpa. After that we decided to tour some model homes in Saratoga Springs. That is a town a little closer to the valley than we are. It is a really nice area and they are putting in a Wal-Mart so we thought we'd check in to the idea of moving there. Somehow all the homes we saw were about $400,000. Nice, but a little out of our price range. We will keep looking around. We like our house now, just always keeping our options open.
Otherwise we are just dealing with allergies. Abby has a little hay fever, and Scott has it bad. There is a ton of pollen coming out and it has been incredibly windy, not a good combo. Luckily, nobody else seems bothered by it. I just hate the dust that comes through every little crack it can.

Cheep, Cheep!

We have exciting news, we have added 6 little ones to our family! They are fuzzy but not very cuddly.



The girls love them and constantly beg to see them. We have them in the garage, but in a few weeks we will build them a coop outside. We are hoping they will give us eggs. It takes about 22 weeks for them to start laying. They are called Barred Rock hens. We don't have a rooster (hopefully), so the neighbors won't hate us. There are actually a few families around here who have chickens. Why did we get them, you might ask? Well, we had thought of it before and it seemed fun and pretty easy. We want to be a little more self-sufficient and also closer to where our food comes from. We have 6 chicks and are hoping to raise 3 or 4 to adulthood. You never know with chickens but they all seem healthy now. You can check out www.backyardchickens.com if this sounds fun to you!
Other than the chickens, not much is going on. Scott's 31st birthday passed on March 26th. He had to work, but we celebrated that weekend. We went to a restaurant called The Mayan Adventure with Scott's parents, Mark and his kids, and it was fun. They took a picture in a cool head dress and gave him a little sundae.












This a little picture of Sara's first ice cream cone all by herself. She loved it! She is now walking everywhere, although she has trouble on grass and slopes. She has realized that walking is much more effective than crawling. She also is really starting to talk. She can say a lot and copies. it is cute to see what she says new every day.


Today is finally warm and we are so excited for spring! The girls already have dandelions to pick...and tulips :( we are working on the rules for flowers.

So that's our news for now! We are gearing up for my mom, aunt and grandma to come visit and doing a lot of spring cleaning in the house and yard.

J\K....Sara is Walking!

Yes, after I wrote my last post Sunday moring, Sara decided to start moseying around while we were at church. Now she still hangs on a lot but if you put her down in the middle of the room she will walk.

Happy Easter...

Another holiday full of SUGAR! We have kept things pretty low-key this year. We have some books about the actual Easter involving Jesus and have been reading those for about a month. And yesterday we just went to the little egg hunt the city does. Basically big flat rectangles on a field, covered with eggs. Then the horn blows and 36 seconds later it's all over. This year they were very strict about the NO PARENTS inside the rectangle. Still it was crazy. Abby has moved up to the 4-6 year old ring, while Isabel stayed in the 0-3. She got a lot more eggs. I think they had fun, although it was chilly. Isabel got two prizes-magnetic fridge numbers and a big bubble wand, which I can foresee dumping all over her in the near future. i haven't let her open it yet.

Today the Easter Bunny came with a few treats and toys, and we are just hanging out until our church at 1:00.

Sara is now almost walking. She still lacks some desire, but she's got the skillz. She likes to stand by herself and squat and stand again. it is getting warmer so I want her to walk since she refuses to sit or crawl on the ground outside. She did get her top teeth and is seeming to work on another top tooth. I thought I would get a break from this! She got nasty ear infections with the last combo of teeth and a cold. After a LONG time and two rounds of antibiotics she seems better.

The big girls got two very cool things- bunk beds and a trip to Disney Princesses on Ice. They spend hours draping blankets off the top bunk and making their house. Sara often pulls them down, but they are pretty good about letting her play. Abby sleeps on the top and they both like it. It makes a lot more space in their already tiny room.

Princesses on ice was pretty exciting. We had decent seats and went with Abby's friend Emma and her mom. It was a suprise for them all. The best part was the incredibly expensive souveneirs, but what can ya do. Abby chose a spinning light wand thing. Isabel wanted an Ariel doll. I tried to talk her out of it, since you can get a better one for half the price at Wal-Mart, but that's what she wanted. Sigh.

I can't forget the last first for Sara...a pony ride at the Farm at Thanksgiving Point. We went on Friday. It was kinda cold, but Scott had been away at a course for 2 weeks so we needed to do something fun. I was betting Sara would like the pony ride, Scott bet she'd freak....he won.

One year olds....

This past week Sara turned one! the girls have all been sick so we just celebrated yesterday, but it was fun. I made a cake and Scott picked up some balloons. Sara enjoyed ripping her presents a bit and the general attention she got. It was pretty low-key with just us and Grandma and Grandpa.

Sara also has gotten her first tooth on top and is working on the second. She got her bottom two together as well. She is pretty close to walking, just needs some practice, but I am predicting she will be running around in a month or less. I still don't know why I am encouraging this, but it will be fun to have her wandering around.

Looking at Sara's obligatory cake picture made me think of the other girls', so here they are!

So there they are, my three little one-year-olds. If\when we have another baby, I am getting a new high chair! We got this one at a garage sale in California. Rock on People!