Hiking the Y

Ok so the last time I hiked the Y I was 19 and since then I've added 4 kids and 14 years to my life.  I didn't remember it being so far up and definetly not a hard hike...let's just say when we were driving to the Y to head up as a family during spring break I thought it would be fun to hike it once a week for the whole summer...what a stupid idea...I value my life way too much for that :)  And obviously the trail has increased in difficulty...over the years I guess they had to change the switchbacks due to fire damage or something...that's what I heard anyway it was nothing to do with me being older and more out of shape.

proof I actually made it to the Y with the family...a few times I thought I'd just wait on the trail for them to go up and come back.

View of BYU from the trail heading down from the Y. It was a beautiful view from up there.

Crocheted doll dresses

I signed up for a class to learn how to crochet a doll dress...our ward is working on outfitting 250 dolls to give to girls that are taken from their homes and placed in foster care, or sick in the hospital, or whatever tramatic circumstances may arise...so I went one night to the church and figured out how to follow a crochet pattern...I went home and stayed up till midnight that night finishing my first dress...then Emma wanted one...so I made one for her doll, but it wasn't "right" she had a fit...so I put it on another doll for the church and made her a new one of her own design...it's really fun...then I got an idea to try a few hats...I have a neighbor that makes them and they are cute so I thought I'd make some for me and the girls.

This is the first doll I outfitted

This is the dress I made for Emma at first...so it ended up a little big for this doll but turned out okay...the had ended up really cute and I really liked it.

This was the dress for Emma's baby, but the arms and legs showed and so she had a royal fit...I ended up making bloomers for hers and longer sleeves and a had for the hairless head :)

This is the dress Emma designed for her doll...I drew a dress on a piece of paper and had her color the design she wanted.

The hat I made for Emma

whipped this one out in 1 1/2 hours before we took the kids out to get their free Del Taco kid meals...it was raining and I was cold...I made a flower for it tonight, but didn't get a picture of it.

I made this one for Hannah, but she decided she's not a hat wearer.  And I should have had Hannah model the picture...close up my face is way too scary

Easter Eggs

Easter was ...well, there's not much to say about it this year...I'm just glad it's over...it was a really bad 2 days...needless to say the bad moods and fighting ended up with me not caring to take pictures...so I only took a few pictures of the end product of dying our brown eggs fresh from our own chickens...I loved how they turned out...the speckled ones were my favorite.

Spring in the yard

I just love spring...here are a few pictures of the yard a few weeks ago...I'm slow at getting things uploaded.  I've been too into my reading and crocheting :)

Flowering Plum

A vine out front that will hopefully spread and be a ground cover

Front flower bed

Grape Hyacinth starting to bud out

Peach tree

Growing chicks

The chicks are growing like weeds...everyday they look different. Here's a few pictures of the last few weeks.

Cloud and Cinnamon 1 week old

2 week old chicks out in the yard with Emma

Cinnamon (Ameracauna) 3 weeks old

Still got those adorable cheeks...I'm a little partial to Cinnamon and Sugar

Sugar (Ameracauna) 3 weeks old

Are you lookin' at me?

Cloud (Rhode Island Red) wondering if she is a partial frizzle...her feathers on her shoulders and tail curl up instead of lay down...that's what a frizzle is. 3 weeks old

Milkshake (Silverlaced Wyondotte) 3 weeks old

Brandon's latest creations

Brandon has really enjoyed trying his hand at turning wood over the last few years...now a guy has him making really high-end Pens for him and he sells them for$110 to $150 per pen...if only we knew the right people to sell them to and make all the profit...as beautiful as they are I'd have a hard time spending that on one, but we are glad some people are willing to :)

From sprinklers to this?

So on March 31, it was so warm the kids wanted to run through the sprinklers after school...Hannah informed me that it was 75...I informed her that 75 wasn't all that warm especially with the wind.  But she was hard to convince...so I said ok, if you all do your homework, pick up the dog poop, and pick up the house...and in a flash it was all done...so out to the sprinklers they went...........................................then I went down to the computer to check the weather...it actuall read 57...that's close to 75 it was actually 64 but it "felt like" 57....Then we woke up on April 3 to 7 inches of snow then it just kept coming down...it was 8 or 9  inches when all was said and done...but luckily it warmed up and melted several inches off by the next day...now it's nice again and today (April 13) I mowed the lawn.

Yep, these are my chives before the snow...I can't believe how great they've come up.

Our poor flowering plumb was almost bent in half from the heavy snow...it stands taller than the deck normally.

Our New Addition

Spring is in the air, and I was sad we didn't get to share in the first few weeks of our chickens last year cuz we didn't decide to get them till they were about 4 weeks old so I couldn't resist when I saw they were selling them at the farm and ranch store.  I was excited to add some variety to our little flock.  So when these get big enough to move out to the other coop we'll have fresh chicken...I guess the time has come to eat a few of the other birds...we have 3 Barred Rock so we'll eat a few of those and maybe Millie the Pecker.

Valentine's

I was asked to help with Asher's class Valentine party...so we made cupcakes for a cake walk. It was fun.

This was the one Asher decorated...I did the frosting and he sprinkled the colored sugar on them all.

We decided to do a fun family Valentine celebration...so we ate heart-shaped pizza for dinner with sparkling beverage by candlelight...all the kids thought it was so fun...then we had leftover cupcakes for dessert.  Then topped it off with a family home evening lesson on Love.  It was a fun night.