Pioneer Dam and Memorial Day

Jason has been wanting to take us out to see the "Pioneer Dam" so we headed early in the morning on Memorial Day. It took us a little bit of driving around in the mud out by the river to find it, and made me grateful to have a truck now, but the boys absolutely LOVED it! It was overcast and muddy, which was absolutely beautiful and the boys were definitely in their element climbing on all the rocks, jumping over puddles, and learning about how the pioneers redirected the water to make life sustainable in Joseph City. We will definitely need to go back when it warms up a bit more so the boys can play in the water, sand and mud. It's an awesome little oasis and only 10 minutes from our house! It has me super excited for summer weather so we can take the boys more!

What I've learned this week
May 17th-23rd 2015

You can grind wheat in a regular vitamix blender :) Yay! I was in the middle of making a bunch of bread and realized I was out of whole wheat! Logan was down for his nap and I didn't want to leave him to go get Jane's wheat grinder so I gave it a shot and it worked! I didn't want to leave it on for too long since the vitamix probably on its last leg, so the flour was a little course but the bread still turned out delicious and none of my boys noticed a difference. My mixer was unimpressed with the texture though so I ended up kneading it by hand which is surprisingly a great arm workout! (good thing I learned how to knead in my pottery class, though clay is admittedly a bit smoother to work with)

Old food storage is an excellent option for making homemade bread. I've been using some 30 year old wheat and honey and the bread has been absolutely delicious. Using food today that was stored before I was born makes me incredibly grateful for the decision my parents made to invest in long term food storage. They probably never thought that their daughter would be happily using it to feed her own family someday.

The chickens loved the ones that didn't survive the trip...

Aunt Sondra's apricots are a wonderful replacement for my poor little apricots that froze at the end of April. Mom brought a bunch to Sara's last weekend, and on Monday I finally got around to washing, pitting and freezing what was left of them (we ate over 100 of them over the weekend...they were delicious!)  Justin was a great little helper. He didn't appreciate how they kind of squished when you pull them apart, but helped me fill up the freezer bags and was pretty proud of himself. 

When your plastic swimming pool mysteriously disappears from the back porch and Jason says it probably blew away...believe him. (I thought he had thrown it away during his "cleaning" while we were in Mesa) We found it clear across the street, in the empty lot, caught on the fence that separates civilization from the never-ending dessert. If that fence wasn't there it would have blown clear to Utah by now. ;)

A "Pocket Hole drill kit" takes a bit of practice but once you figure it out it's a game changer! I've been wanting a kreg jig forever thanks to anawhite.com  (my favorite woodworking website!) but the one I want is $100 and I finally decided to just buy a cheaper brand and give it a shot. I've been dreaming about building a sand and water table and decided Logan's birthday was the perfect excuse to do it (yes, his birthday was last month, but the plans have been on hold with all the sickness and traveling) The boys were actually super helpful and filled all the holes with screws for me to set and helped me hold the wood while I was screwing everything together.

Things I've learned lately (July 25, 2015)

Kayden has no qualms about kissing frogs. We've had some really good rain/thunder storms the last few nights so when the rain ended our soccer game on the back lawn, we talked Dad into taking us frog hunting. We found two giant toads and a cute little frog. Kayden kept wanting to hold them, but every time he tried he'd say "the jumping legs fweak me out!" I told him he could just kiss it instead of holding it, thinking he'd think that was gross, but he thought that was a great idea. I stopped him right before his lips touched it, cause that's gross, but he still snuck in a kiss right before we released them. Justin wasn't interested in touching them, but loved running around after them and putting buckets on them to catch them. We've been loving this rain and hope it keeps up so we can do more frog hunting. The boys really loved it (and so did their momma!)

I didn't get a picture with the frog, but this kid is TOO cute!

Camera fun and trip to Mesa

What I Learned this Week

May 10th-16th 2015

My husband is a genius. Ok, I already knew this one too, but seriously, genius solution to keep me from having to lug water to the chickens ever couple of days. All it took was leaving him in charge of the chickens for 4 days.

Having a live camera on ground level in our chicken coop is more entertaining than Netflix. I couldn't stop watching, or laughing at the little chicken eyeballs checking out the camera and trying to figure out if it was edible. (again, thank you Jason, haha.) He must have been really bored while we were gone!!! Actually a few of our chickens keep escaping and he decided to set up a surveillance to see how they're getting out. :)

Logan doesn't sleep nearly as much as I thought he was sleeping at nap times. Jason also set up a camera on his crib so I can pull up the feed on my computer. I seriously could not believe what was going on in his crib when I thought he was sleeping. I just watched him and laughed for the better part of an hour as he walked back and forth, layed on his back and did some crazy baby aerobics, repeatedly threw his bottle back and forth and in the air WITH HIS FEET, made faces and talked to the wall and his mobile, did a few more baby aerobics on his tummy, then finally curled up in the corner and fell asleep. This kid seriously cracks me up. How is he so content and happy all the time.

Mesa is beautiful when it rains! We stayed in Mesa with Sara's kids for a few days while they went on an anniversary trip to San Francisco. I pulled our summer clothes out of storage to take with us (because Mesa is hot in May, right?) but that was definitely unnecessary.  My kids were begging for their rain jackets and rain boots to go play in the rain. It was cold enough that they probably needed them too. I never would have thought to bring them to Mesa in the middle of May though. We did however pack our swim suits which it was way too cold to use. Seriously, what's up with the mild temperature winter followed by a cold rainy spring? I think Arizona  has been a tad bit confused the last few years.

Logan does not appreciate other toddlers in his space. He's always loved looking at or talking to other babies and kids but really never shared his space (or mom and grandma) with them very much. When we were at Sara's he did NOT get along with Shawn as well as I expected. I didn't actually expect them to play together, but I guess I really didn't expect the screaming that would happen anytime Shawn came near him. When we first got there Shawn was trying to figure Logan out and may have shoved him off of the sidewalk a couple times, you know just to see if he bounced. But after a few toy skirmishes Logan officially decided he needed to cry for help anytime Shawn came close. It was kind of entertaining actually, he even threw himself on the floor a couple times before Shawn even touched him, which just confused Shawn even more.

I'm definitely not ready to have seven kids! I'm so glad my Mom felt the same way and came to Mesa to help me stay with Sara's kids. It was fun, but a little crazy!!! We did have lots of fun going to the parks and hitting up story time at the Mesa Visitors Center. What a blessing that we unknowingly got there 5 minutes before they started. It was a nice walk from Sara's house and the kids were a little tired, but they really enjoyed the stories and songs with the sister missionaries and walking around the temple so it was definitely worth the effort! Next time we'll bring more snacks for the walk home to keep everyone happy though! :)