Sunday, May 31, 2009

Caterpillers have a new home

Our cute little BIG caterpillars have all attached themselves to the top of their little home and made their Chrysalis'. WOW...so very cool and miraculous to watch them in this process. What a great journey they go through!

It is time to take them from their little home and transport them into their bigger home.

We always hire Geoff for these more delicate operations!

How often do you see this???? Amazing or what?

New spacious home for the soon to be painted butterflies!

Friday, May 29, 2009

Fathers and Sons Outing

These are pictures from the much anticipated Fathers and Sons outing this weekend.
Oh yea, Geoff forgot to take his camera!!!! Never mind. You and I must use our imaginations!

The boys loved being with their dad, and camping and mom loved a little time to herself! I went to a 6 hour conference on Friday night, and to the temple for Stake temple days on Saturday morning...a great retreat for me.

Thursday, May 28, 2009

Mischievous Max

Max is such a fun child...and very mischievous by nature! He is big enough to get pretty much what he wants out of the pantry and fridge and is often seen running to either saying, "Hmm, I want something!"

He can also find his way outside by himself, all especially loves to ring the door bell and watch us come running, only to peek around the door and say, "Hello, anyone home?" I guess I am grateful he stays near the porch....for now!

My boys make my life SO EXCITING...truly I love it!

Ooblick!

OOBLICK...a mixture of cornstarch and water is TOO FUN! This would be fun for Max as well, but he is in the "eating everything you shouldn't" stage of life so Justin had a blast with the Ooblick after Max went to bed. I have to admit, it is fun to play with!!!

Max...just today I found him out back behind a bush eating dirt! His favorites lately seem to be chalk and plain butter....OHHHHHHHHH Max!

Wednesday, May 27, 2009

Our Caterpillars are getting SO BIG!!

It has been AMAZING to watch these little guys grow! We are able to see so much more detail now and it has been SO FUN! We are very anxious to see the Chrysalis stage!

Tuesday, May 26, 2009

Justin attends his first Cub meeting

Justin will officially begin cub scouts in June, but the cub leader brought in a Falconer tonight and knew Justin would really enjoy the presentation, so invited him. We all Loved seeing these incredible birds...AMAZING!

We're all excited about Justin joining cub scouts. His has one enthusiastic mentor in his dad! I already REALLY LOVE the scouting program. It's been fun to go through the wolf book with Justin. He's going to be a great scout!

Monday, May 25, 2009

Memorial Day Celebrations

We had a great Memorial Day Celebration today. The day began with thoughts of Jacob and Oakley...can't wait to see them again!

After some work at home, we went to Merrill Park where the city puts up an exhibit of flags in honor of those from Eagle who have died in battle--it's a very beautiful site.


Then we played in the sand and had some jumping competitions... I passed.



We then went on a hike from the Park to Rock Island...which is almost nonexistent due to the high flow of the river...but still OH SO WONDERFUL!!!!

Making lizard traps


A very cool Swiss Family Robinson like arbor!!

We Stopped at the banks of Rock Island for a picnic and some rock skipping.

A hike back, some time on the playground, and home for a little work. For Family Night we ate pizza and made chocolate milkshakes that were DELICIOUS (rice milk, bananas, carob powder, and coconut milk icecream sweetened with agave)!
Justin, Geoff and I played Zarehemla and are still speaking to each other...ha ha!

A VERY FUN DAY!

Max

Justin

Geoff and JaNae

Sunday, May 24, 2009

Checking out the baby Chick

Max--checking on the birds

Down from 5 chicks to one!

Mom and Dad make a BIG FUSS when we near the nest!

Max...headin for cover from the sqwaking parents.

Saturday, May 23, 2009

A Visit From Dustin

Geoff's High School and College friend--Dustin Palmer-- spent Saturday & Sunday with our Family. Dusty is a very fun person and his stay was very enjoyable! The boys always wanted to be where he was!
A Picture of Dustin & his wife Danette

Justin joined them in the morning for a little shooting in the hills.

When they arrived home we tried out our Volcano Stove (a little addition to our emergency preparedness collection) and cooked a little Dutch oven dinner.
Justin loved it so much, he suggested we use the stove every night! It did taste good!

Friday, May 22, 2009

Little Larvae have arrived!

Today a very exciting package arrived from the UPS truck...a little container containing 5 little larvae...soon to be 5 beautiful Painted Lady butterflies. Over the next 3 week we will watch the larvae grow, spin their cocoons (become chrysalis'), and make the amazing transformation into beautiful butterflies.

The 5 little caterpillars (you can only see one of them in the picture) are very cute!

Our little chicks are hatching!

Can you believe this? Right in the little bush in our own back yard we get to observe the day by day growth of these little chicks...How very cool it has been to watch them grow! Three of the chicks have hatched and are cute little "pink puff balls". We're waiting for the other two to make their appearance.

This is the anxious Father, a red-winged Black bird, watching us from above. He always twitters and tweets and squeaks when we get close to his nest.

Thursday, May 21, 2009

Finished Quilts

Here are the the quilts. The top is finished and ready to be donated. The bottom one still needs to be tied. (Next Enrichment!)

I have really gained an appreciation for the number of quilts the church donates to needy people all around the world...after all the labor Justin and I put into ONE quilt, I marvel that SO MANY are donated and distributed. A wonderful thing!

Wednesday, May 20, 2009

Quilting Madness

I am the Humanitarian specialist in our ward. When I returned from our UT trip I discovered that the quilts that were suppose to be pieced and sewn together were still completely undone. So starting on Tuesday Night, Justin and I Quilted our eyeballs out.

By Thursday morning at 10:00 am (when we met at the church to set the quilts up to tie), we had managed to finish two entire quilts. It was a miracle to me! Justin was an amazing helper. He beautifully arranged most of the squares, and then brought them to me at the sewing machine in perfect order. We had an amazing system going. Being so pregnant, I couldn't have been more grateful for his help. In fact, I can't imagine such a project without his help!

Of course Max had his hand in the project too. He loved sitting on my lap while I sewed. He was completely fascinated with the sewing machine. Not quite as much help as Justin :) but oh so much fun!


Justin also enjoyed a little sewing of his own. I love that I can let him do projects like this with such confidence. He is careful and so responsible.

I love my boys!

Tuesday, May 19, 2009

Temple Tuesdays

Every Tuesday morning Holly Scott and I take turns watching each others kids while the other goes to the Temple. It's been a GREAT arrangement, and especially nice to have a consistent schedule. AND the kids LOVE to play with each other...an added bonus!