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!