Got Peeps?

Okay, so I now realize I should have posted the Yoshi party in my Birthday Party Ideas blog! LOL! I'll do that later. Here are a few things that we've been up to the past month.

Spring Portraits

I NEVER buy these, because in my opinion, they're a waste of money. They want $35 per portrait package, making it over $100 to get all 3 kids' packages. NOPE. But I do always take a picture of the picture. lol.

Brittany

 Koby

Ryan

SCOUTS

This month's pack meeting was on "Compassion". First they played a game. 

...then read a few things

...then they had 3 speakers. Each person talked about their disability and what it is like living with it. I didn't get a picture of the blind woman and the guy with polio, but here's Benji talking about his hearing loss. They were all very interesting!! Each of them had me wanting them to go on forever. As it were, the meeting went an hour over, because the speakers had so much to say! Benji did a GREAT job, and there were many questions from the audience. Listening to him was a great reminder even to me, because I keep forgetting how bad his hearing loss really is. I tend to take it for granted, because he seems so "normal". I think it would be fun if he were able to speak to a bigger audience one of these days. :)

PANGUITCH BIRTHDAY PARTY

Last Friday they held a birthday party for Panguitch. I think it was something like 140 years old. Jordyn, her friend Kylee (in pink), & Brittany have participated in a choir group the past few months, and they got to sing at the party.

L-R: Brenna (Jordyn's other friend from school), Kylee, Jordyn

Pretty Brittany!!

They started by singing, "Do-Re-Mi"

Then Mayor Art Cooper got up and talked about Panguitch's history

Then John Yardley (our Bishop's dad) got up and spoke about the different stores and buildings in Panguitch back in the "Good 'Ole Days"

Then the choir (Star Performers) sang, "You're never fully dressed without a smile" & "Somewhere Over The Rainbow".

Then they served cake and ice cream, but first I forced my children to stand in front of the fish. Lol!

One with Grandma Veater!

Not too many people came, but it was a fun little hour.

COOKIES

That night after the birthday party, Brittany went to spend the night at her friend Lexi's house, and Kylee spent the night at our house. Saturday ended up being bitterly cold, and the girls were bored. Lol. I suggested they make cookies, and they loved the idea! Here they are making sugar cookie dough.

Their cookies turned out DELICIOUS!! They were perfect, and even the cream cheese frosting with coconut flavoring was PERFECT!! I told them they can cook for me anytime they want. :)

A DOLLOP OF DAISY

Just a couple pics of Daisy yesterday while she was cuddling Koby's Yoshi doll.

KOBY

Here's a pic of the "Amazing Koby". See how he has tucked his earlobes into his ears? Magnificent!!! Lol. Yesterday I took Koby to the eye doctor to get his eyes checked. He's been having headaches almost every day for as long as we can remember. First we thought it was his jaw, because that's what Benji had. But after the dentist ruled out any jaw line issues, the next step was the eye doctor. It's a good thing we took him in! I watched while the doctor checked his vision, and couldn't believe just how many times Koby would say the letters wrong. I had no idea it was so bad! Then the doctor put the "funny goggles" (eye machine) up to Koby's eyes, and tried different lenses. Koby even gasped at one point and giggled because he could see the letters!! He's near-sighted and can't read much past a foot from his face. He definately qualified for glasses! The secretary showed Koby a bunch of different frames. It was hard to choose, because he looked good in ALL of them! Some look better in oval/rounded frames, some look better in boxy/square frames. Koby? He looked dashing in EACH one! Lol. So in the end, Koby picked a pair that he liked best. He is SOOO excited to get them!! We're hoping that this will eliminate those pesky, annoying, painful headaches!

MY PEEPS

Yes, it was a last-minute thing. I was on Facebook (of course!) and my friend Brooke was giving away her 3 chicks she had purchased last weekend. I thought, "why not?". Being able to have animals like chickens is a perk living in a small hick town, lol, so let's do it! I called Benji first to make sure he was on board, then called Brooke to claim our chicks. I ran to Orton farm store to grab a feeder, wood shavings, and chick food (LOL!), then decided while I was there, I might as well purchase a fourth chick so each of my kids could have one. Then I went over to Brooke's to adopt our 3 new chickies! They were so adorable! The kids came home and fell in LOVE with them! After about an hour, I felt like we "needed" 2 more- so Benji and I could each have one, too! Lol. Jordyn ran over with me and we got 2 more.

Top row, L-R: "Britney" (Brittany's) & "Snowball" (mine)

Middle, L-R: "Max" (Ryan's) & "Prospector" (Benji's)

Bottom row, L-R: "Meeps" (Jordyn's) & "Peanut" (Koby's)

Don't let the names fool you- they're all female, lol! At least, they *should* be! I asked the guys at the store how we would know if we accidentally got a rooster. They said that the "crow" will form on the top of their head pretty soon, and they'll actually start crowing in the morning, lol! But, we don't WANT a rooster- we want all hens! Crossing our fingers!

Here's "Britney"

"Peanut"

Jordyn & "Meeps"

Ryan & "Max"

Brittany & "Britney"

Koby & "Peanut"

Awwww. Wook at that cute wittow face!

I could seriously just sit and watch these chicks for hours. It was so cute when they bundled up together to sleep. It reminded me of that part on "Lady & The Tramp" when the tramp walked into the hen house with Lady and said, "Look at those fat, lazy bitties"!! Lol.

The chicks' "incubator" for the next 6 weeks. We have to keep them at @ 90 degrees. Once they start flying out of the bin, we know they're old enough to get put outside in a coop!

I think it's going to be so fun to raise chickens! That means we'll get to have farm-fresh eggs all the time, too. :)

Let's see.... what else? The weather has SUCKED lately, but this week it's supposed to be in the high 50's and low 60's, so we're totally ready for the "warmth" and sunshine!! We bought a new trampoline with some of our tax money, so the kids have been having a blast outside. Benji is still SUPER busy, but if you think that means we're rolling in the dough? That's a laugh!! A rule of thumb- any job he does, 2/3 of the money goes right back into the business to pay for the tile and material. 1/3 (if we're lucky), becomes our "gross" profit. Then, after THAT, we get our "net" profit from that to pay the bills.So- still scraping by? Yes!

*~*~*~*

So those who haven't heard already-- Benji & I have been chosen (or, asked, rather) to be a "Ma & Pa" on the YW/YM Pioneer Trek this August! In lieu of Girl's Camp, the YM & YW are attending a week-long pioneer trek in Montana, where they have to walk and pull carts and all that fun stuff, wearing "authentic" pioneer clothing (can you say SWELTERING??). The area we're going is sort of desert-like, and the temps get up to 110!! I'm scared crapless of how the heat will affect me, but I'm also looking forward to being humbled by what our ancestors (The Martin/Willie Handcart Companies) went through!! (By the way, if your ancestors were part of the company, let us know and we'll walk proxy for them!) The first day is like 5 miles, the next day is something like 6 miles, and the 3rd day is 15 miles- most of it over "Rocky Ridge", and only pulled by the WOMEN! (google it and read the story- it's a tear-jerker!). Anyway. Benji and I get to do this with Jordyn this year, and it's a privilege. A LOT of adults want to go, but we only had a certain number of spots available. I think they do this every 6 years, which means that in 6 years, all 4 of our kids will be able to go together! Anyway. They have stressed to us that we start NOW to train for the trek by walking, Walking, WALKING!! And to do it in the heat of the day fully dressed. Lovely. Lol. 

So, that's a major "happening" this year with us.

*~*~*~*

Let's see. Baseball & T-ball start in a couple of weeks for the boys, cheer try-outs should start soon for Jordyn (plug for Jordyn- still on the honor roll!!), and Brittany (who has straight-A's since the beginning of the year!!) is just counting down the days until school's out, lol!

*~*~*~*

Well, now that I've spent hours on this post, I'm gonna go and do something productive. Lol!