Chick Days...

Every year around this time Cal Ranch has something called Chick Days.
They sell baby chickens, roosters, ducks etc.
They are so adorable!

We ate at a nearby Subway for dinner and then we all walked over to see the Chicks.
They are so cute.
All that chirping. All those huddled masses. All that hopping. All those tiny feathers.

A few years ago we made the mistake of buying some chickens.
One turned out to be a rooster that grew to be 29 pounds.

One morning, after I had worked a 12 hour shift at the hospital, I went to feed the chickens. The rooster was so mean, he came and tried to peck at my legs. I ran a little ways up a little dirt driveway and the rooster followed me squawking the whole time. As he came and tried to peck at my legs again, I screamed and ran back to the same door (at the back of the house) and found out the door was locked.
I had my nightgown on.
So, I had to run around to the front door with the rooster running after me squawking the whole time.
It was a monster.

Needless to say, we gave them all away.
It was an experiment gone awry.
I still think they are cute as babies.
I love to go see them.
Jeff was worried about me. He thought I'd cave and want some cute little chicks.
They look so cute and innocent now.
But don't let that sweet innocence fool you.
They turn into something else when they grow and they are very very messy!
I've learned my lesson: Some people can handle chickens well and some people can't.
I'm not much of a country girl and I know I can't have chickens (or roosters).

The Boxmaker's Son.

I belong to a book club in my community that meets every other month. I meet with them almost each time they meet. I offered to host one of the groups. This Friday is the day I host a book (not necessarily of my choosing because I hadn't read it but I had read another of this authors books and heard that this one is a good book).  I recently just realized that book club was this week and I just started the book yesterday. I read for part of today and finished.
Luckily the book is not big and is easy to read.
It's very good and I cried.
It's about a man that writes about his life in Oregon growing up. It is mostly about the goodness of his father and what an example of life he was to him and to everyone. His father didn't have a college degree and was a boxmaker. He takes his job as a father seriously and works hard to provide for his family. He is a good and kind man.
This author writes so well.
It's magic.
The story is so touching. It reminded me of my own father. Hardworking, kind and willing to do anything for anyone and does. He is a very good man.
It also reminds me of my own husband. He is a good father. A very good man.
A sweet and touching story.
Now I'm ready for book club.
Bring it on.

Good night moon.

Friday night I walked our dog.

The sky was amazing.

All I had was my phone, so I took pictures anyway.

"The night walked down the sky with the moon in her hand"---Frederick L. Knowles

"Moonlight is sculpture"---Nathaniel Hawthorne

"Nothing like a nighttime stroll to give you ideas"---J.K. Rowling

"That orbed maiden, with white fire laden,

Whom mortals call the moon."---Percy Bysshe Shelley

Cute little lamb!

Isn't this one of the cutest pictures, ever?

This is from Cute overload!

Have a great weekend!

Another cute felt i-pod holder.

Ok. I think I'm going to be a little obsessed with felt projects for awhile.
I worked on this last night and finished it this morning as Davis was getting ready to go out the door around 6:30 this morning.
I can't work on anymore today.
I agreed to help with First Aid Merit Badges for Scouts for half the day tomorrow and I only got my book yesterday.
Good thing I worked in an urgent care clinic and a small Emergency Room for awhile.
Too bad I have the early stages of Alzheimer's.
I know it's no laughing matter.
I really do think something is wrong with my brain.
Life. Motherhood. Stress. Insomnia. Not enough exercise.
I know that I can do something about some of those things.

A mind is a terrible thing to waste and I'd like mine back.

I embroidered on top of the cute material.
Notice that I put on a few beads too.

Not perfect, but not bad either. It's even kind of cute!

cute felt i-pod holder.

This cat has a new favorite spot to take a nap, my pile of felted wool.

My first 100% wool felt project finished.
I just placed my i-pod on the material, measured, added some extra, and cut one long piece.
The first piece wasn't big enough.
I cut one more long piece and worked from there.

I've seen these flowers on a few blogs. It's genius really. Not my genius.  I am just copying.
I cut up random circles (not perfect) out of the lining of one of the wool skirts I felted. I used a candle and held the piece of material about 4 inches or so above the flame and gently turned the piece of material as the edges melts a little (this can cause a flame and fire so you must be very careful--fire danger--but it's quite fun and it makes it look kind of like rose petals).

I gave this to Sheyla.
I'm going to make lots as gifts!
Maybe one for myself too!
What fun!

Randomness of Wednesdays.

I am practicing my stitches for upcoming projects (but not everyday).

I am painting some huge walls in my house (but not everyday).

I bought a few 100% Wool items on Friday and felted them in very hot water ( I accidentally put red with a cute grey plaid skirt and made it pink) and have plans for making some cute and amazing felted crafts (but not everyday).

 Purple flowers make me very happy.

Blue skies make me very happy too.

Like I said.
Random.

Flowers....again.

I LOVE flowers!

Being featured and a change of pace (once again).

I have a flickr account in which I have posted a few random pictures that I have taken in the last year (maybe not that long).
A little while back someone asked if they could feature my home on their blog. Go check it out here.
Scary but fun!
Ok. So one of the many silly things about this is that this weekend we made a couple changes in our house because of the family dinner on Saturday.

Here is a before (I love this picture because of the cat ---those animals follow me most anywhere and I like the quirkiness of everything):

After (I had Jeff buy flowers for the party---flowers for an almost soldier and I love flowers!):

Here is another before:

Here is the after:

We changed things around because 1. I wanted to 2. We were going to have 13 people for dinner and the large table could fit only 10. So we switched tables and added one of the long 8 foot tables to form a T and we fit 13 comfortably. 3. The table that was in the eat-in area of the kitchen was big for the smallish area and now with the sides down of the "big" table it fits better. 4. We usually only have 3 or 4 people at most meals (because kids are growing up) and we don't need as big of a table in the kitchen. 5. Oh, about 4 more reasons but mainly because I can and Jeff helped me.

That's the fun of moving things around. Adds spice to life for free!

Family pictures.

Saturday we had a special dinner for Chris.
He checked in (Sunday night) at a Hotel in Salt Lake prior to leaving for bootcamp Monday morning.

We will miss him a ton but I think Amanda will miss him more.

 Britni did a great job with the pictures. Go check out her photography blog here. She is just starting out and is already amazing!

 Addie loves to play in the dirt.

Isn't my family amazing! I sure think so!

Heartbeat

These adorable nearly newlyweds heard the baby's heartbeat for the very first time yesterday.

They were pretty excited!

Just in time for him to leave for bootcamp on Monday.

Signs of Spring.

Look what I found yesterday.

Today, there is a snow storm.

Welcome Home, by phone.

The sky was so beautiful on Monday evening as we left for Family Home Evening.
All I had was my phone.
Like I've said.
Not bad.

California by phone.

My camera on my phone takes surprisingly good pictures.
I originally wrote: my phone on my camera...
Silly.

Ahhh, that California sun.
Which by the way is the same one that shines on us in Utah.

Disneyland and having fun.

It was beautiful in sunny Southern California!

I had so much fun in Disneyland. Yes, fun! We bought two books about the place and one listed over 200 secret Mickey's to find. We didn't find many but it was fun to find the ones that we did.

Ok. I love It's a small World. It's cheesy but how amazing is the outside.

Beautiful color everywhere!

Just two cool chicks having fun or at least trying to have fun.