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?? :)

Baby Robins - Day 7 - We Learn Something New!

Today I really want to thank everyone for keeping up with us and our little robin family. It makes me feel good to know that I'm not completely crazy for getting so excited about this! Anyway, here's a quick look at how our babies have developed today:

I still can't believe how much they've changed in the last couple of days. We DID learn something new about robins today. Watch closely to the mother after she finishes feeding her babies the food she has brought:



Did you miss it?? I did the first time.... UNTIL I took this video:



My kids thought for SURE that Dallin & Jaden would enjoy this one... Sorry, Heidi! Nevertheless, this pretty much grossed us out. So, I did some google-ing, and learned something. On average, baby birds stay in their nests for 13 days. So, if you multiply 13 days x 3 birds x 356 insects and worms on average each day -- that's A LOT of poop! Obviously, there are no little "birdie diapers" that the mother & father robin can fly over to Wal-mart to get. So, Heavenly Father (in his infinite wisdom) gave them another way to dispose of their baby "poop." Although it LOOKS like mother robin is eating the poop (yuck!) she actually isn't. The babies poop comes out in a strong "bag" so their parents can carry it away. The bag is made of a thick, strong mucus that the parents can pick up with their sharp beaks and carry away without puncturing it. This "fecal sac" (containing the brown fecal matter from the birds intestines, and the white urine) is basically a disposable diaper for birds! Heavenly Father is truly amazing, isn't He?? As we saw, the babies pretty much poop as soon as they eat, which ensures there is a parent there to take the sac away. As the owner of their nest tree, I was also VERY happy to learn that the parent robins generally fly 20-50 yards away before dropping the sac in flight. I wonder if I should apologize to any of my neighbors living 20-50 yards away?! :)


I did get another quick video of feeding time, and thought it would be fun to share. This time, I was able to catch the mother with her beak full, waiting for the babies to notice she was there. I DID try to end the video before the "sac" was obtained, however my trigger finger was just a BIT too slow. Sorry! But, hey... at least we learned something new today, right?? Talk to you again tomorrow!!

Baby Robins - Day 6

Hello again! I just got a comment from Allison... yea, still just 3 babies. I think it might have been yesterday (or maybe 2 days ago), that I mentioned we somehow lost one.... I don't know if it was an egg we lost, or if perhaps something happened to a VERY newborn bird (before we even saw it hatched). Nevertheless, we've had 3 baby birds, and one last egg for the past 6 days now. Lee and I were talking about this yesterday and again today, and we think that the last egg (which the 3 birds are still laying on in the nest) must be a dud. I don't know that much about birds and eggs, but I'm guessing that at this point, it's probably just not ever going to hatch.

BUT, the 3 birds we do have are doing GREAT!! You're not going to believe the pictures I got today! Their little wings are really starting to develop feathers, and they're even getting color!

They had a really nice nap in the afternoon sun today. I'm sure they really enjoyed it after all the rain last night. I was thinking that it would have been nice to take a warm nap in the sun today myself!!

Anyway, I THINK I was thinking that.... maybe the baby robin heard me, and decided to take a quick look???

We were so excited to see them actually open their eyes!! Qiyana just started jumping up and down and giggling SO cute when I showed her the pictures. It's just still so hard to imagine how much they've grown in less than a week. Just the 3 of them fill up the nest so much! I can't imagine how any more could possibly even fit. I guess it's a good think we've only got the 3. They are amazing!

Baby Robins - Day 5

It's really late. We had Kendra & Qiyana's dance recital tonight, and Leandra has just gotten home from her "Dare Lagoon Day." However, we DID hit a major milestone today with our baby robins, so I have to quickly share!! Listen closely when you watch this short video:

Did you hear the baby chirping?? Well, sort of chirping... Anyway, I thought it was AWESOME!! And, even though I've said it before, I LOVE watching the babies develop! I'm not sure what you call them, but their little wings are really starting to get quills (?) now, that will turn into their feathers!

It's hard to believe that only 2 weeks after hatching (approximately), baby robins are able to fly away from their nest, and onto their lives. But, I guess with that in mind, it would make sense for their development to be so amazingly fast!

Well, I'm going to bed! I'm sure there will be more to share tomorrow,... see ya then!

Baby Robins - Day 4

Well, not much to share with you all today. Still only 3 birds have hatched, and there still only appears to be one egg left in the nest. I know... 3 birds + 1 egg = 4. Hmm... I can't even speculate what might have happened to egg #5, I just don't know that much about birds. Nevertheless, one appears to be missing. I'm sure it's just going to be a mystery of the ages. :)

Anyway, our cute little newborns did a lot of sleeping today. I think the reason MUST be that they are exhausted from GROWING so fast! It's really interesting to look at how much they fill up the nest today, compared to the amount of space they took up 4 days ago!

5-17-2010:

And now,... 5-20-2010:

It's also very interesting to see how much they are developing. Not only are they becoming more "feathery", but the darkening areas of their skin are new too. We're also watching everyday for the first baby to open it's eyes. We can see clearly now where the eye will open when it's ready... we just need to keep being patient.

Another thing we're waiting for is... NOISE! :) Actually, Kendra has mentioned that she's not really looking forward to that since their nest is in the tree right outside her window. She is my child who likes to sleep in, and she's afraid that they will not allow her to do that once they become vocal. Leandra, on the other hand (who also has a window next to the nest tree), shouldn't have any trouble being woken up by their sounds, as she has always risen before the sun!

Well, it looks like the babies are hungry again... I can't wait to see how big they are tomorrow!

Baby Robins - Day 3

Well, as of right now (2:40 pm), we still have only 3 babies hatched... and their parents are doing a wonderful job taking care of them.

It's been very cool to see how the parent robins really seem to be getting comfortable with us taking such interest in them. Actually, the mother robin has been pretty OK with us for awhile. This morning, while I was taking the above picture of her babies, she returned and sat patiently on a higher branch of the tree and waited for me to finish. I (of course) took the opportunity to get a quick photo of her as well. She was amazingly calm and collected... even with breakfast waiting in her beak!!

THE FATHER BIRD, on the other hand, has taken a little longer to be OK with us being around. I can't complain... he's doing a great job as a father protecting what is his. If you've seen any of the video's I've posted before, you might have noticed some pretty firm chirping in the background. Those warnings were coming from Dad. :) However, yesterday evening I wanted to check on the nest because we had had some pretty good rain showers. Dad stayed on his usual post on our roof above the tree and simply watched me. Oh, he watched me very closely, no doubt,... but I didn't get the usual warnings I've become used to. I like to think that after watching us for the past 2 weeks, he's seeing that we are posing no threat to his family.

As I said, we had received some pretty good rain showers yesterday, and at least a drizzle most of the day. Mother bird did another amazing job at keeping her newborns dry and warm!

Of course, Mom wasn't able to run around getting food for herself or the babies yesterday with all the rain,... so I was happy to see that Dad REALLY stepped up and made sure they had what they needed. We saw him all day flying back and forth with food. When he was at the nest, I saw him feeding some to Mom, and then she would get up briefly to share some with the babies. It was so awesome to watch!! In this first picture, you can see the back of the mother bird with her head down feeding the babies, and Dad standing watch holding more food in his beak.

In this next picture, the mother has resumed her post and Dad continues to stand guard.

Well, that's pretty much the up-date at this point. I did take a quick video of the babies this morning, but they're not too active. Just one little guy trying to get his head out from being buried in the nest... :)

Keep watching for more updates... we're still anxious for egg #4 to hatch!! :) This has been SO fun to share with all of you!