No Tax Deduction for these babies...

My friend, Robin, has lots of chickens and a rooster. She hatched some eggs for me in her incubator. It was pretty cool to see them right after they were born. She got some pretty amazing videos of them hatching. 

Now they are at my house in their new home.

We found this pen in the back lot of an antique store. It is perfect. It was actually a dove cote.

All nice and cozy. They actually live in the basement bathroom right now because I can run a small heater in there and with the lightbulb they stay very warm and cozy. 

This tiny little one is the bravest of all. She seems to like being held. So tiny.

I did have to dip their beaks in water to show them how to drink. It only took two times for them to get it.

There are 8 of them. A mixture of breeds. I am hoping that most of them are female. But only time will tell as I do not have the skills to tell at this point. Some of the breeds lay a blue or green egg so that would be fun if they are hens.

Pink Princess Bed

Poppy was ready to move out of a crib but a big bed seemed too high so Jayme started searching for a toddler bed. She found one on Craig's list so we went together to pick it up on Thursday afternoon. As I was putting it together for them yesterday Poppy kept running in and saying, "Grandma!! MY PINK PRINCESS BED!!" Then she wasn't so sure she wanted to get on it until Jayme got on it with her. We got it all made and she lined her Mickey, Minnie, Goofy and Winnie the Pooh (All are required for sleep) up on her pillow. Then proceeded to jump on the bed. She loves it. Jayme sent a text this morning and said she slept from 8:30 p.m. until 9:06 this morning. She's usually an early riser. 

She has on a gold lion necklace of Jayme's that she LOVES. Then she puts on a stocking hat of Trey's and looks a little thug! It makes me laugh, and I think she knows it!

To Walk Where Jesus Walked...

What an opportunity for Bryan. He has always wanted to go to Israel and experience all the places where Jesus spent his life on earth.

This is on the Mt. of Beatitudes with the Sea of Galilee in the background. He has several teaching times on the trip.

On a boat ride on the Sea of Galilee.

Sunset over the Sea of Galilee

At the palace of Herod Agrippa II. 

Monday, March 20, I got a text from Bryan and he had the opportunity to baptize 41 people in the Jordan River. What an amazing time that must have been.

Then Dan Moeller and Brian Vranicar baptized Bryan in the Jordan River.

Swimming or rather bobbing in the Dead Sea.

At Masada. I can't remember where they were but at one point they could hear the shelling and bombing going on. What a sober reminder that this is not a peaceful easy existence for the chosen people.

Also at Masada.

Teaching in the Garden of Gethsemane.

I love the shaft of light coming down beside him in this picture.

They all went off on their own in the Gardento just have a time of prayer and contemplation. Dan snapped this very emotive picture of Bryan.

This is the view of the Gethsemane with Gate Beautiful in the background.

Teaching at Shepherd's Field.

At the Garden Tomb.

Teaching at the Garden Tomb

And Last the view from their hotel room.

One of the first days there, about 20 of them got food poisoning and spent a miserable time of trying to find decent restrooms in Nazerath. Bryan was one of the unfortunate ones... enough said.

Dan sent me this one day and said, "We are currently trying to walk in this in Tel Aviv." I got claustrophobic just looking at the picture.

These two views are from Joppa.

The last day was a free day to roam around so several of them rented these and saw the sights.

I don't know the exact order of all of this but he had a wonderful, meaningful time. It is so good to have him home but I am so glad he got the opportunity to go and walk and teach where Jesus walked and taught.

"I've got pieces of April..."

On April 1 Trey and I took Poppy and Boden to Antelope Park to play. They loved it. Poppy was much more adventurous on the slides than Boden. But it was a beautiful day and they ran all over the place. Then we all went to lunch at Runza.

April 2 the kids and I decorated Easter Egg Sugar Cookies. It was a fun time. Sticky but fun. They used some corn syrup paint that I had made. 

April 3 - Bryan had been making a street lamp for a friend of ours. Some other friends found the top at a flea market and Bryan created the pole and base for it. 

He finished it all and repainted it black. Tim sent a picture of himself by it tonight after he and Bryan got it in at his house.

I think it looks amazing.

April 5: Easter Sunday

I took a picture of the desserts we had for supper but none of all the actvity...Jon and Alicia and their kids joined us, Ashley, Bobbi and Travis and Jayme and Trey. It was actually nice to do an evening meal because Bryan had a chance to rest before it. 

April 9: I had to work, it was Hudson's 8th birthday. He was so excited!

Then I hurried home from work because our friends, Prince and Pilar Amukamara, were in town and were coming out to dinner. It was so fun to see them. They are expecting their first baby in June. I am so glad it worked out for us to see them. Bryan invited Jeff Petersen and two of his boys come out.

I just love these kids! (I look like I worked all day and forgot to fix myself up at all before anyone came...OH wait that is what happened...)

Jeff's son, Danny, was pretty thrilled to get to try on Prince's Super Bowl ring. Not something a kid gets to do every day. 

This sweet girl. I made her some cookies. Little girl baby themed.

April 13: I had mentioned to Bryan that Jayme wanted a swingset for Poppy. He got on Craigslist and found a LIttle Tykes one for $40 in Eagle just down the road. So off we went and got that for her.

Driving down "O" street with a swingset in the pickup.

Ashley came over and helped us with it.

Poppy thought Grandpa was going to be "youd" with the tools. So she kept plugging her ears.

But we got it up and together and she was thrilled!

She wanted me to use the slide.

My legs are as long as the slide...

So much fun for $40.

Jayme sent me this later that evening. Worn out from playing on the swingset. 

Today I kept hearing our air handler outside running and knew I had turned off the furnace. So I called and finally the poor guy got here at 6 something, fixed the handler and went on his way. So glad I called before something worse happened. 

Bryan leaves on Thursday morning for a 10 day trip to Israel. He will be one of the teachers on the trip. I chose not to go. They are traveling with 70 people on this tour. It will be his first time there. I'm glad he gets to go. I will tell you more about that and have pictures later.

In other news...March

March 10: babysat Poppy. She found a rock outside and when it was time for her nap she cried when I took it away and when I gave it back she smiled and cuddled up with it and went to sleep. What a kid!

We went to Shopko on a walk and found a little slide on sale so...now she has a slide.

March 11 & 12: 

The kids spent a couple days over Spring Break week out here. 

They made casts of their footprints with Bryan. 

They loved it. Boden was not interested though.

Amiah and I made a "Hamburger" fake out cake. She was looking at a cookbook Bryan had gotten me and I told her I hadn't made anything out of it yet so she picked this to make with me.

Delicious.

We enjoyed having that for dessert. 

As they were heading up to bed Hudson did his classic "Old Man" act and pulled his pants up really high and walked bowlegged and talked funny. So Bryan said he could do that too so they posed for me. A picture is worth a thousand words...

Need I say any more...?

The next day after lunch we went on a forced march around the development. Boden ran most of the first half and was so worn out for the second half he had to be carried. NAP TIME!! 

As I was loading them in the car to take them home, I set my phone down on the trunk of the car and forgot. I got into their house and just thought I must have left it at home. Bryan got a call from some guy saying he had found my phone in the middle of the road. Amazing though it may seem it was unscratched and only a tiny chip out of the case. It fell off when I was going 55. I was grateful to the honest farmer who found it and called.

March 21 and to forever, it seemed like, but actually March 24: I started cleaning out the storeroom in our basement. We had just dumped stuff in there when Ferne came to live here and before Bobbi and Travis had their wedding here and before Jayme and Trey got married and even before that. Suffice it to say it was an unqualified DISASTER. But I found a box of the girls old Polly Pocket toys and spent an entire afternoon sorting them into sets...so the process took a bit longer, like days longer, because I found things that took me back to the girls being little and it just takes time to clean a storeroom while you are meandering down memory lane and at times it is hard to see what you are doing through the tears. Good memories.

Now I shall swallow my pride and post the before pictures...

this is actually after I have removed all this...

these pictures horrify me...

I hear the gasps...and the "are you kidding me!" Yes it was all crammed in there. Believe me the Goodwill and the garbage and the recycle all got a lot of that. Now it looks like this.

I still have containers to go through but at least it is in there in some sort of order. More tossing and sorting but I can actually do it in that room now. Honestly the catalyst for the purge was having the task of sorting out Ferne's life and house. It was a full time job for Bryan and I and I felt like I needed to sort my own out. I had been meaning to do it since before last summer. I promised myself I would sort a container a week until it is all throughly sorted.

March 31: Travis turned 30. I took a cake to his work. But I took a disclaimer with it that the sign "Sid Villain Car Sales" on the cake was in no way a comment on the business practices of the car dealership where he works, Sid Dillon. So far no law suits. Travis loves the Avengers so I found all the MatchBox cars of the Avengers and used them as the cars on the lot. They loved it. 

 I'm just sad that I forgot to take a picture of Travis with the cake.

So that was March more or less.