April

Life is so busy that these moments are some of my favorites.  Sitting on the front porch on a sunny day watching Ivy blow bubbles.  I hope I soak these moments up enough because they are fleeting and have gone by so fast.

 

The kids had the first Friday of April off of school.  Another teacher work day, I guess.  I taught one piano lesson in the morning but then we drove down to meet my family in Salt Lake.  They were beginning their Spring Break and also had the day off so we decided to hike Ensign Peak.  I had never done it and neither had my mom and we had been wanting to try it for a while.  It seemed like the perfect day for a hike and it was.  It was short hike, kind of steep but all the kids did great and made it to the top with no problems.  They love being together.

Ivy, Brynn, Grace

Bryce, Erin, Spencer, Grandma, Grace, Brynn, Grandpa, Molly, Abby, Gavin, me, Ivy, Stockton, Grant

Grant, Stockton

Gavin, Molly, Abby

Bryce got the kids involved in some silly antics at the bottom of the trail before we crossed the street to a park for our picnic lunches and some playing.  We had kites and spikeball and there was a playground at the bottom that we visited as well.  In the absence of real baseball gear, Stockton and Spencer used their imaginations and played a game of imaginary baseball on the diamond.  It made my day to watch them making all those throwing, catching, and hitting motions and see them run the bases.

Ivy, Abby, Bryce, Brynn, Grace

 

When we got home, the kids dove into their just-delivered Kiwi Co boxes for the month.  Stockton was a good brother and helped Ivy with hers before starting his own.

 

Cash was getting smelly enough that he was needing a bath.  It's not his favorite thing but he is mellow about the whole ordeal. 

Ivy and I made a "days until school is out" chain one afternoon.  I had forgotten that we have done this a couple of times during Spring Break or I would have done it sooner.  Better late than never!  Let the count-down begin!  Our early Spring Break made the rest of the year drag on forever.

My family had their Spring Break the first week of April and my mom had booked a couple of condos in St. George for the week for anyone who wanted or was able to go.  I thought maybe I'd take my kids out of school for a couple of days and join them for part of the week but I quickly saw that that was not going to work out with Molly and Stockton starting their soccer and baseball seasons that week.  Not to mention that it is hard for them to make-up work when they miss days.  But there was no reason I could see not to let Brynn go down with them.  She was able to drive down with my parents (who also took Harper) and stay Tuesday-Saturday with them and all the aunts, uncles, and cousins.  She was a lucky and spoiled girl to get to do that.  They did a lot of swimming, hiking, and playing and I was happy she got to go.

Josie, Tessa, Brynn, Harper, Chloe, Abby, Grace

Brynn, Grant, Harper

Grandpa, Grandma, Brynn

haha

Harper, Tessa, Brynn, Grace

Ben, Grace, Harper, Abby, Brynn, Spencer

Josie and Brynn

Abby, Harper, Brynn, Seth, Josie, Lucy, Tessa, Grant, Chloe, Gavin, Spencer, Ben, Grace

Gavin, Chloe, Brynn, Abby, Tessa, Seth, Ali, Grant, Grace

Ali, Gavin, Chloe, Harper, Erin W., Grant, Grandma, Seth, Harper, Brynn, Josie, Lucy, Jeff, Grandpa

Chloe, Seth, Gavin, Josie, Tessa, Lucy, Brynn, Harper, Grant

Ali, Jeff, Brynn

Harper, Grandpa, Brynn

Grant, Lucy, Harper, Brynn

I got a fancy manicure from Ivy.  Each nail a different color + glitter on top!  And then I did hers to match mine. 

We got baby lambs!  We were hoping for them and then Justin was pretty sure at least one of our ewes was pregnant so then we were waiting for them.  One Saturday morning, Justin went out to give them some hay and there were two babies in the barn.  They were so cute and we had so much fun watching them start to walk and then bound around the pasture.

 

**These two were from Luna...a boy and a girl.  Molly named them Lucy and Ricky.  Both of our other ewes had babies as well.  Darla gave birth to three babies which is bad news for lambs since they only have two teats to feed from and the third will be neglected or will need to be bottle fed.  One of the babies died during birth or shortly after...it was already dead when we found it.  The second two seemed to be doing well but one of them got stepped on and its leg was shattered.  Justin and I did what we could to splint it but it wasn't going to put any weight on its leg to eat so we had to put it down.  After that, Darla rejected the third baby.  Poor mama, I think she was in shock and I read that that can happen with ewes.  We tried our best to bottle feed that one (he was so cute, we named him Speckles because he had white spots all over him) but he didn't make it through the night.  So that was a bit traumatic.  We won't breed Darla again.  Lola also had one baby, a boy that we named Joey.  So three ewes and three babies.  And some more "farming" lessons learned.

The Brown's had come to Utah for their Spring Break.  They spent the entire week in Moab so we didn't get to see them but on their last evening, they had decided to drive up to Sandy and have Grayson baptized in Utah where family could attend.  They have been out-of-state for so many years that we haven't been able to see any of their kids get baptized so this was a treat for us.  We were able to attend the baptism and gather for dinner at Gene and April's after.  These cousins only see each other once a year (twice if they are lucky) but they pick up right where they left off and that is wonderful to see.  We had such a fun night and it was hard to drag them away when it was time to go home.

Andrew, Ivy, Brynn, Lizzy, Grayson, Molly, Stockton, Sam

 

I thought Justin looked pretty funny wearing his suit and baseball cap.

 

Justin and Molly made up a new game: soccer tennis over the island.  I don't love balls in the house but no one ever listens.  They got pretty good at this game.

Less than a week after the baby lambs were born, surprise!, a litter of kittens.  Justin got suspicious at some point that Mango was going to be having some kittens and a few days later, there they were.  Usually our cats go find a secret spot to have their kittens and bring them out a few weeks later when they are a little older but Mango had her kittens right there in the cat house so we discovered them right away.  They looked like little rats and didn't even have their eyes open yet.  I definitely didn't think they were at the "cute kitty" stage but I had some girls who were pretty excited about it!

Justin spent one Saturday cleaning out his shop and enlisted the kids to help.  He was doing a woodshop activity for the deacons and so that was a good excuse to go out there and clean it up.  Stockton helped him a lot and Ivy was a pretty great helper as well.  It was a dusty job!

 

The little girls and I decided to take a walk down to the creek to see if there was any water running through it.  There wasn't.  We walked a little in it but not far.

 

Normally, Ivy and and I have a quiet few hours until the kids get home but we had one afternoon that was full.  I needed to go to the store, drop books at the library, and grab Molly during her lunch period for a rapid Covid test (for soccer, not because she was sick).  I told Ivy for our activity that day I would take her to the park when everything was done.  We went to the "grass park" (what Ivy calls it-it's really just turf) and she couldn't stop smiling.  I guess I need to do that more, I just figure our yard is just as good as a park.

 

We got chicks!  Justin has been waiting forever to do this and this is the year!  He got 12 specially-bred chicks that lay eggs of all different colors from a friend and 4 regular chicks from Tractor Supply.  So 16 chicks!  Not sure why we need that many but it's Justin's thing so whatever.  Besides, the kids were super excited.

**At this point, our animal count was up to the following: 3 mama lambs, one boy lamb (Rambo) on loan, three baby lambs, 5 brand-new kittens, 2 grow-up cats, one dog, and 16 chicks.  That equals 31 animals total that we were taking care of! It has been so very fun and, luckily, mostly easy since mama animals take care of their young so instinctively that we haven't really needed to step in and help.

 Brynn was excited when one of her friends, Audrey Stout, came back in town for a visit and had a few girls go bowling for her 10th birthday.  Audrey moved in November 2019 so it was a fun reunion for Brynn.

Addy Starks, ?, Ariah Speredon, Brynn, Audrey

And sometime in April, Brynn got her date with Justin.  She wanted breakfast for dinner so they went to Chick's Cafe.  They didn't have pancakes but she did get bacon, eggs, hashbrowns, and a scone the size of her face.  She brought a lot of it home.