in a bind

the consequences of clipping on a blanket strap.



humiliating isn't it?
poor kid.

(no children were injured during this stunt. in fact, the child underwent this stunt by them self. i know, surprising, dad didn't do it!)

painted ladies

Last Christmas, Bayli received this cute butterfly cage. She has been driving us crazy for months, awaiting the time when it was safe to order caterpillars. When it was finally warm enough, and we began to see butterflies in our yard, we sent for our order.

She receieved 5 Painted Lady larvae (caterpillars). They came in a jar habitat, complete with food. All she had to do was make sure they were in a safe location and watch them grow. We received updates each morning, so cute.

They are kind of gross. They create a web-like environment and the food that is provided comes out looking the same as it did going in (only in ball form).

Bayli was so excited when they started to enter their pupae stage (chrysalis). We watched as each picked their desired locale and began their transformation.

Bay was pretty nervous as she awaited the day for them to break out and reveal their adult form. She kept saying (with dad's encouragement) "they aren't going to live, they probably all died!"

But, we were pleasantly surprised to see them all unveil themselves as beautiful butterflies. She was a successful butterfly keeper.

We kept them for a few days. Feeding them watermelon, orange slices, and lavender. Then it was time to let them enter the next stage of their short lives. Bitter sweet for Bay.

mime?

No, our new experiment with de-thumbing Bayli.
Crazy California Raisin gloves.
Very stylish.
Effective when left on.
Additional bribing is necessary.
Initially, money (dimes, nickels, quarters).
Then, "I have enough money, I want to earn prizes!"
Gloves remain on for 5 nights straight, winner takes home the prize.
And, oh yes, we do check in the night.
Cheaper than a pair of dikes? Probably not, well...maybe.

our fun with pops & sparklers

This year for the 4th of July, we were pretty laid back.
No parades, no getaways.
But, we had a fun time as a family.

We barbecued. Then we did some fireworks before heading off to see the big show at the park. The kids were super excited!

Bayli never settled down. She talked about doing fireworks all day long. She pretty much drove us a little crazy with, "is it time to do fireworks yet?"
She was a little nervous when she held a sparkler. But, she overcame her nerves and was a little more daring with them as the night grew.



We wondered what kind of reaction Chase would have. He loved doing pops. Avoided the sparklers, although he did call them pretty. And hovered behind mom during the fountains, all the while shouting "wow." He just didn't like the loud screaming ones. He loved picking one and handing it to dad to light though.



The kids had so much energy/craziness when it was time to head to West Jordan Park. It's holidays like these that I wish we could turn the sun off early. It is awful when the show doesn't start until 10:45. Nearly 30 minutes past the tentative time.
Darn Rodeo! If it weren't for you, things would be a bit easier.


We pretty much got the kids more hopped up on candy while we waited. Thank goodness we had brought extra sparklers to keep them a little more entertained.
They loved watching the show though. Chase yelled "wow" and made his banging noises all while clapping through the show. He was pretty interruptive for those around us, we didn't mind. Halfway through Bayli was ready to go home. No way girl, you are going to watch these fireworks and enjoy them!!! Her little body does not do well with staying up late. She was a trooper and toughed it out.

They both fell asleep on the ride home.

blooming, an unexpected gift

Jed and I both have a love for the desert and the beautiful plants that you find therein. When we were planning our yard and on the hunt for plants to nurture and enjoy, we knew that we had to have Yuccas.

Who would've thought that there are around 40 varieties throughout the US and Mexico? I always thought that a Yucca was a Yucca.

Some varieties were easy for us to find at the local nurseries.
(ie the Ivory Tower Yucca, Harriman Yucca, and the Navajo Yucca). I honestly do not know for sure if these are the varieties in our yard, but they look like them.

The one variety that stumped us in our search, and of course was Jed's top pick, was the
Banana Yucca. Or for those that care about the scientific name, Yucca Baccata.

For being a native variety, we could not find it anywhere.
It has a much more stately appearance than most Yuccas that you see locally. It has broader leaves that are more firm and pointy. It also has a more gray/blue-green color. It supposedly gets its name from the banana like fruit that it can develop which apparently tastes like sweet potatoes-hmmm.

Anyways, we were finally able to find our treasured Yucca in our favorite little Southern Utah nursery, a few years back. Jed payed a pretty penny for that plant!

We have watched it slowly grow. It hasn't taken off as fast as our other varieties, but we knew that it would one day.
This year, we again thought, is it going to do anything? We wanted to see more growth and maybe a bloom. But as spring began to close, no such luck.
Then, we noticed something fantastic occurring. It was growing a bloom!!!

You never saw a family so excited about a plant in your life, at least we'd like to think so. And it delivered, what a beauty!

It fascinates me how the blooms are more nestled into the base of the plant. Other varieties let them shoot up and tower above the plant. This variety reminds me of a wall of spikes surrounding an army, defending it from the unknown.

I love how it's leaves have a hairy-like curling on them. It makes them seem a little more delicate but also more threatening, like barbed wire on a fence.

And the blooms, of course, are gorgeous. As all Yucca blooms are.

Another variety that we purchased at the same fave nursery was our Red Yucca (not technically a Yucca). We never thought it would do well. Even now the base looks so limp and delicate, but it decided to bloom as well!

a paved space

Every year we add a pretty large project to the completion of our yard and home. This year the task has been to place pavers to our walk out/dug out area in the backyard. This has actually been a project that has taken multiple preceding projects to get to the end result.

1. remove the dirt from the entire back of the house (this was mostly done when we were building, but Jed had a lot a finite tuning to get it right).
2. place rock retaining walls-2006 (Only a small section was done when we first built. Jed's work looks way better than the excavators, but it did take a VERY long time).
3. plant the hillside and rock walls to prevent erosion-2006/2007 (We cannot count how many Vinca plugs we stuck in that hill).
4. build the deck-2007 (we love it!)
5. plant trees, shrubs, and a bit more ground cover on the hillside-2008 (We enjoyed this year immensely. Chase was coming. We had our basketball court installed. Jed completed the lawn area. The kids enjoyed the addition of the playground Jed built.)
6. 2009 More excavation to the walk out area. The sprinkling system to the hillside was completed. Also, Jed placed a drainage system with a 10 foot deep water runoff container. (The kids loved throwing dirt back in the hole on dad.)
   

You can just imagine our excitement after so many years in getting to the point to have a completed backyard. Placing the pavers is like icing on the cake.

As with all of Jed's projects, it was done with complete meticulousness. He preps and preps and preps. And then he preps more, getting the layout just perfect. It was so fun watching it come together.
Being that I am growing a little person, I was no good for the type of work that was needed. I got to sit back and occasionally tell him where to put the next paver, yeah pretty much the foreman-haha.

In the end, it turned out just as we have imagined over the last few years. We love it! And, as with all projects, you hope that you don't look in the back of your mind to the next addition, but you always do. Nothing is ever completed.

pretty fancy

Chase frequently comes to us with two little hands full of barrettes.
He proclaims, "ON PRETTY!!!" (ie. I want pretty).

For a few moments in time, he transforms from the rambunctious little guy that we know into a still soldier. It is literally the one moment where you can get him to willingly stay in one place and not move a bit.

When the 'prettying' is done, he shouts "FANCY!!!"
He then begins to look for the camera while shouting "cheese!" I think that is what he thinks a camera is called.

iris of my eye

In case you didn't know, I LOVE Iris'. They are definitely one of my top favorites. I guess that I will claim them as my favorite rhizome.
Interesting fact, the Greek translation for Iris is rainbow. I would guess that it is because there is such a variety of colors to pick from.
If I had the space, and the plants didn't have to be split so often, I would want one of each.

This was our plants second spring after being last split and transplanted. The flowers have been abundant. We have loved watching them stretch upward and unveil their beauty.
They have thrived in our yard (minus the yellow that never made it). They have thrived so well, that some plants have nearly doubled in size since last spring. They are due for some splitting later this season. Always a sad thing to take away their perfection and scar them until they fill back in the following year. But, I want them to remain in a clump formation, not spread as they would like. They would surely take over the rest of our plants if we would let them.

If you want to add one of these beauties to your yard, let us know.

shake it dancing queen

Bayli had her year end showcase for dance. It was long, hot, and surprisingly entertaining. Thank goodness the boys were well cared for. Chase got to visit Aunt Sheri. Jed got to play video games on his phone in between her performances, "man that went by faster than I thought!" Well duh, you were completely entertained for the 2 hour event.

Her dance studio had a Disney themed recital. All of the songs were from Disney movies.
She danced to Wish Upon a Star from Pinocchio and I Just Can't Wait to be King from The Lion King. Bayli had been practicing so hard for her 2 dances.

This age is so funny when they start trying to move more gracefully, but don't quite have the strength in their little bodies to hold a position. Leg wobbles and funny angles are what we enjoyed, especially with her first number. It was based more on basic ballet movements.
Her other was more fun and she got to shake it. Which she is pretty talented at doing. She loves to say, "Look at me shake my big back porch!" And no that is not a statement that we taught her, although it wouldn't be surprising if we had. In her defense, she heard it on a movie, specifically The Princess and the Frog.

We love our little dancing star. She gets so excited about being on stage and performing. Even if she forgets what she is doing, or twirls 3 more times than she should have (who wouldn't get caught up in a series of twirls if they looked down and saw a pretty tutu extending out from them). She is learning how to move her body. Although skipping and leaping have been very hard fetes for our little gal. As long as she enjoys herself, we don't mind.

praying for peace the southern way

One morning Bayli told Jed that she had a bad dream the night before.
She then told him(in her southern accent), "so I got down on my knees and said a prayer."
I would like to take this time to thank her wonderful Primary teachers-thanks!
Jed said, "did you feel better after that?"
Bay responded, "No." And abruptly walked away.

She later told me about the bad dream and praying, although I didn't receive the information via her southern impression. (Jed hadn't shared the earlier encounter with me).
When I asked her if it made her feel better, the response I received was much different.
Bay, "Oh, yes!"

Funny girl! We are still perplexed as to what she really felt about the end result.