New School,... New Year,... New Look!!

Next week, Leandra will begin attending West Hills Middle School as a 7th grader. I can't believe how fast times flies!

I have a friend (Heather) who has a daughter who just happens to be Leandra's friend (Hannah). Heather always takes her kids to a Salon to get their hair cut. She says the pressure is just too much for her to try and cut their hair herself. Anyway, over the past little while, she has apparently paid for enough hair cuts to have earned a free one. Awesome, right?

Well, Heather and Hannah decided that it would be really fun to give Leandra the coupon for the free cut and go together to get their hair done so they would feel fresh and spunky to begin the whole Middle School experience. (AMAZING friends, right??) We totally LOVE them.

So, today was the big day. Leandra has been so excited to go! She and I even went to the library yesterday and checked out some magazines with some pictures she thought might look good on her. I have always thought that Leandra was a very beautiful girl, but take a look at this lovely young lady...

Oh, my goodness!! :) OK... but we're not quite done yet. Because Leandra has also been asking for highlights in her hair for months. We made some phone calls and quickly discovered that highlights simply cost WAY too much for us to be able to handle right now. So, I (being the ever thrifty mother that I am) told her that I could do it for her for much less if we just got one of those all-in-one LOREAL highlight kits from the store. I figured I used to put highlights in my hair, why couldn't I do them for my daughter? After all, I still color the gray out of my own hair, right? So, Leandra was brave and agreed to let me do it for her. Are you ready for some more pics??

The only worry we had left was how to put her hair up to play soccer (since Fall season begins tomorrow morning). Because after all, Leandra is ALL ABOUT soccer...

I have to admit,... I think she's going to be just fine! ;)

I'm pretty sure I'm not ready for Leandra to be so grown up,... but I LOVE that she's growing up to be such a beautiful, happy, kind young woman!

Just for Mom... (and anyone else interested!)

OK... I've tried to e-mail a copy of this picture to Mom a couple of times, but for some reason NONE of them have made it through to her!?! So, I got to thinking that since I don't usually have any trouble uploading pictures to my blog, that maybe, (just maybe), everyone else would like to see it too! Right? :)

So, this is a blanket that I made at the end of our school year last year (June) for Qiyana's teacher. She was (and is still) pregnant (due in September) and we wanted to make a present for her new addition. We have been lucky to have had Mrs. Chandler for 3 of my children. She actually was a student teacher Kendra's year. Then, we were thrilled when Hayden Peak Elementary picked her up and Jordan was able to get her his Kindergarten year. We were a little worried that Qiyana might not get her, because we knew she was a newlywed, and was looking forward to starting her family. We TOTALLY lucked out!! :) I got my last kid to be in her class JUST IN TIME!

Anyway, probably more info than you really wanted... here's the cute teddy bear blanket...


Thanks for indulging this blog... :)

Love you all!

GIRLS CAMP!!

I still can't believe I have a daughter in Young Woman's! Actually, I guess there are some days that my body TOTALLY feels like it's old enough for that, but most of the time my mind just doesn't agree! : ) Anyway, this past Monday morning I dropped Leandra off at our church at 7:30am to load the buses for Girls Camp. She's been packed for the past 2 weeks in anticipation, (just leaving out her toothbrush and a few daily used items to pack that last morning). She has been SO excited!

I received this picture (via text) from a friend who is up there with the girls this week... It was captioned "The girls are having a blast!"

Our Stake is holding girls camp at Heber Valley Camp which is owned and operated by the Church. Now, I know I'm getting old, and my memory isn't quite what it used to be... but take a look at these pictures I got from their website and tell me if ANY of you attended a girls camp with facilities like these!!

Picture #1... their CABINS...

Picture #2... Inside their CABINS...

Picture #3... Bathrooms with running water and SHOWERS...

(Leandra had explained to me that they'll ONLY be allowed 1 shower for the entire week... quite the sacrifice!)

Picture #4... Each camp has their OWN Campfire Ring... (with stadium seating!)

And finally,... Picture #5... the Stake Pavilion... (looks more like a cultural hall to me!)



OK,... so here's what I remember about girls camp...




OK,.. so this obviously isn't me, but just picture this scene in the total dark (around 2am) with rain falling by the bucket-full. Yea,... that's pretty close to how I remember it. :)

Truly, I LOVED girls camp (even digging trenches in the rain), and I am SO excited that Leandra is old enough to go. Even if she's staying at the "Shang-ra-la" of campsites... I'm glad she's having a good time. Let's just hope next year she's not too disappointed with wherever they end up staying!!

Family Fun Day - Making Memories

Yesterday was Lee's day off so we planned a family day. It began a little later than we had hoped when the van nearly overheated half-way up Big Cottonwood Canyon. Fortunately, we were able to make it back down the mountain in "neutral" while trying not to burn up the brakes. We made it to a gas station where the engine was able to cool down and we could replace the water that had boiled out. After that we made it back home pretty easily without destroying the van's engine. Definitely a good thing! We took everything we had packed out of the van and moved them to the rental car we have (since the Taurus is still being repaired from the accident on the 3rd), packed all 4 kids in the back seat... very cozy,... and then headed back up the mountain for our hike.

We finally got to the trail head for Doughnut Falls around 12:30 and began our hike. The kids had an AWESOME time. We had hoped that we could get out of the 100 degree day by spending time in the canyon, and it worked! It was absolutely beautiful!

We took our time and stopped to play around several of the little rivers along the way...

Jordan, as always, made sure to find a "walking stick" for the hike (we left our walking sticks at the trail entrance on our way out for future hikers to use), and there are NO cooler rocks around than those found in mountain streams!!

And then there's Qiyana,... always our poser!!

When we got to the falls, we had some tuna sandwiches and whale crackers we'd packed up and then Dad took the older 3 kids up to the top of the falls!! They even went into the cave behind the falls! Those pictures are on Lee's phone though,... so maybe I could get him to send them to my e-mail and add them later!

Qiyana was pretty upset because she wanted to go, but she relaxed when I stayed with her to explore the lower area.

On our way back down, the kids found a really cool tree stump that they thought looked like an old cow skull...and when we made it back to the cars, we found the local chipmunks had definitely found the place to eat!! Just follow those humans! :)

We even decided to add a few whale crackers to their meal!

We ended up getting home a little after 4pm. We had a light dinner, and then headed to the Magna outdoor pool (it's MUCH less busy than the West Jordan pool,... plus they have the "night swim" available on wednesday evenings). We swam from til they closed at 9pm and then headed home to shampoo all that chlorine out of our hair. Leandra has been to different pools with her friends several times this summer, and has decided that she really like jumping off the diving board. Kendra worked with Lee last night for quite awhile learning how to dive. First she started off the side in the deep end, and then eventually got up the courage to try it off the actual board. She was SO excited! Jordan made a new friend and played catch with pool toys, and Qiyana jumped around and played "Koala" with me as we played in the 4ft area most of the time.

To say the least, everyone slept pretty well last night! I'm going to be spending some time on-line looking for some more local hikes we can take the kids on (after we replace the water pump... :) It was a very good day.

Girls A-Sewin!

A few weeks ago, Nana shared with us a GREAT gift. While doing some "cleaning-out" of Grandma & Grandpa Taylor's house, she obtained Grandma's old sewing machine. It just so happened that not long after that, I was talking to Mom about getting an old sewing machine to start teaching Leandra & Kendra. It was such a surprise when she told me about Grandma's machine! She thought it would be perfect for my girls to learn on!! Yesterday we finally got around to getting the girls started....

How about these new pajama shorts?? :)


Or these??


I'm so proud of my girls! They've done an excellent job on their first real project on a real machine. Hopefully, they'll want to continue learning! :)

A Robin's Story...

Sorry it's been a couple of days. I've been trying to figure out how to write this next post. Tuesday turned out to be a very hard day for our family. It began as the days usually begin... Quick shower, get kids ready for school, quick peak at the nest and take a few pictures...




Their feathers are really starting to develop!

While they were at school, I ran a couple of errands, and then returned to pick up Qiyana from kindergarten. We did laundry and her homework... pretty much just stayed inside that day. Later, Qiyana and I decided it would be fun to roller blade to the school to pick up the kids, rather than drive. (We spent Sunday afternoon teaching Jordan on Kendra's old blades, and now that's all he wants to do!) So, I got out the stroller, loaded it with the kids blades, helmets, pads, etc., sat Qiyana in it and we left to pick up the kids. While we were gone, Lee returned home from work and called me on my cell asking me where the baby birds were. I had no idea what he was talking about! He said the nest was just... empty.

Qiyana and I picked up the kids and returned home. Still no baby birds. It was really strange... there was absolutely no sign of them. No sign of an attack. Nothing. My kids were all very upset, and Kendra cried and cried. She was very worried that the parent birds would think they couldn't trust us anymore. We'd like to think that they maybe just flew away and all was well, but they were only 8 days old, and while their feathers were becoming quite developed, it just didn't seem like they were developed enough. The really sad thing for me was to watch the mother bird return to the nest several times that afternoon and evening, with worms. She'd sit on the edge of the nest for a few minutes with the worms in her beak.... and then eventually just eat them herself.

The girls mentioned to Lee that they had seen a couple of large black birds flying around in the past week while they were outside on the trampoline. Lee has talked to some neighbors and learned that we do indeed have some ravens in the area. Perhaps they are the culprits. But there is no way to know. We simply cannot see anything around the nest or tree to give us any clues.


Although this entire experience did not turn out the way we had hoped, I have to say how blessed our family has been to be able to share the last 3 weeks with this robin family. In the last 8 days, we have come to love and appreciate those little babies more than any other wild robins have probably ever been. We will treasure our pictures and memories forever, and we thank Heavenly Father for blessing us with the opportunity we have had - it has very much enriched our lives. We hope our Mom and Dad robins will continue on well, and we hope to be able to see them again.

Baby Robins - Day 8 - Not Really Babies Anymore!

OK, so I know it's spring,... and spring weather is... well, crazy... but COME ON! We woke up this morning to a pretty heavy snow storm. And it was HEAVY snow, too! All of my trees had branches nearly touching the ground from the weight it! Of course after seeing my trees, I became concerned for our robin family. Just look at this AMAZING mother:



I mean,... REALLY! I know, as a mother, I often take off my jacket to give to one of my children when they're cold because they forgot to bring theirs... it's was parents do. But my heart seriously went out to this mother robin this morning.

I went outside with a broom to try and get some of the snow off of the branches of my other trees, and contemplated whether I should also try to clear some snow off the nest tree. After a couple thoughts, I decided that she had been watching me with the other trees, so I gave it a careful shot. I was again, so impressed at her trust in me! I brushed the snow off of the branches of the tree and she didn't even flinch. After that, I went back into the house to make sure the kids were still on task, getting ready for school. I took a second to take another peak at the nest from Leandra's room, and saw her still sitting in that nest COVERED with snow.


I had another thought. She was extremely trusting in me to let me brush snow off those branches around her.... hmmm... I wonder....

So, I grabbed an umbrella and went outside. I thought it wouldn't hurt anything to try. I approached the nest with the umbrella already open, and tried to put it up in the tree above the nest to minimize the amount of snow that was reaching the birds. To my amazement, the mother robin simply watched me. I realized that if the umbrella was going to do any good, it was going to have to be a bit lower than I had originally thought it would have to be. So, I worked on it a little more, and when I was finished the mother robin flew away. I thought it was odd, that she would leave AFTER I was done, and I worried for a second that I might have made a mistake. However, she turned around and flew right back to the nest. Then I realized that she was simply trying to shake all that snow off of her back and wings!

Ahh,.... MUCH better!


It was thrilling to see that she trusted me so much. I can still hardly believe it! Later today, when there was no trace of snow left, and the sun was shining (crazy spring weather!) I caught a quick look at the babies while the mother was off finding food. I almost dropped my camera! They looked SO MUCH DIFFERENT to me than they did yesterday.


These aren't babies... These are BIRDS! I was also able to get a picture closer up.... look at those feathers coming right out of the quills!

I am so glad this family decided to put it's nest where we could see this whole amazing process! What am I going to do with my time next week when these birds have all grown up and move out?? :)