Lambs!

They are back by popular demand! We keep in it perspective at our house by calling the lambs BBQ. The kids have been working hard getting them ready for fair.

They walk them twice a day all the way up to the canal and down a ways then back home. At first they were very stubborn but now they just go along like dogs on a leash.

This is the day we took them to a farmer to have their wool sheered. It is too hot for the lambs to have so much wool and they don't eat as well when they are exhausted from trying to stay cool.

This is Susan's lamb "Dandy".
Before:

After:

Peter's lamb "Frog"
Before:

After:
Lucy's lamb "Freckles" before:

The lamb being sheered, it doesn't hurt it is just a little buzz cut.

after:


They practice setting them up and bracing the lamb as the Farmer pretends to be the judge. They look great! All the lambs weigh in above 100 pounds. Now to just keep building muscle. This has been a fun project this summer.


Of course the best part is the play structures!

Pioneer Day Celebrations!

Utah celebrates a special holiday in memory of the first settlers that came to this state to get away from religious persecution. They endured many trials and persevered as they put their faith to the test every step of the way. The Mormon Pioneers walked over 1,300 miles to reach the Salt Lake Valley.


Grandma Carol helped the girls make pioneer bonnets and skirts. Our primary is in the Hyde Park parade this year!

The Boy Scouts carried the flags in the front. The Skyview band played and many families and businesses in the community put together floats for the celebration!

This is our primary's float. It had bees and Mormon crickets to remember the pioneers that prayed for help when the crickets attacked their crops. The bees are for industry and hard work, the Utah motto.

The Seagull is the state bird. Each of the children is holding a flying seagull. When the pioneers prayed for help the Lord sent seagulls to eat the crickets and save enough of the crops for the Saints to make it through the winter.
I also rode on the float. I got to lead the children in singing 3 pioneer songs. It was really fun and we threw candy to the crowd!

The next week we got to watch a parade in North Logan with our cousins.

We got there early and near the front at a perfect spot on someones nice grass.


The kids each got a large amount of candy. The people at the beginning of the parade dont realize that if they throw out too much right at the beginning they will run out fast. They get caught up in the moment so this is the best spot for the most candy.

A pioneer band was in this group. They sounded pretty good!

This was a cool float with kids doing flips on the trampoline as it drove slowly by.

These are our friends from 4-H on their horses. They were in the parade for Helping Hands an organization that helps cats and dogs without homes.

Later we had a BBQ in the backyard. This was the chef for the day!

It was so good and lots of fun! The kids played all day in the backyard.

Later at night we did fireworks.

Bad-guy?

Edmund is starting to talk with so much expression. He likes to call people "Bad-guys". He is suspicious of everyone. We can't tell how he puts them in a category of bad or good. Maybe he just means stranger. This is his new cap gun. He can really draw fast. He definitely has a trigger finger.

Edmund is almost weaned. So to encourage him to sleep in his own bed we brought Jill's tiny bed upstairs. This is the before picture. As you can see it isn't encouraging enough for a little boy so we had to make some modifications.
Before:

After:

We made slip covers for the ends to cover the cute hearts. I found some Cars material. He is so excited to sleep in his car bed.

The other side has the checkered flag material. Sometimes he just gets right in the bed all by himself. The first few nights he actually rolled out onto the floor. I had placed a bunch of pillows down there but he rolled off the pillows and ended up under the bed. He fell back asleep and woke up later stuck under the bed. Usually we have to put him in the bed after he falls asleep somewhere else. I think it is working!


Where did he go? Check the peas patch in the garden. He loves to eat these green little pods and peas.


The other day Edmund was very quiet and I decided to go find him. He was in my room and had got the lid off the large container of lotion. His hair was plastered and my mirror was covered. What a silly little sneaky thing to do.

The Mage's Daughter (Nine King... The Mage's Daughter (Nine Kingdoms, #2) by Lynn Kurland

This is the second in the series and a good thing I had it handy right after finishing the first book because you are totally left hanging but this book picks right up in the quest.
Whole Book

Star of the Morning (Nine Kingdoms, #1) by Lynn Kurland

My friend has the this series and thought I might like them. They are great! I can't stop reading them. I love fiction/fantasy books and this one is well written. It is kind of a love story too but a funny one with all the innocent stuff like hand holding and a few kisses.
There is a quest of course and lots of sword fighting.

Whole Book

Freedom Fire!

Freedom Fire, Logan City’s annual celebration and firework display, opens with a bang, presenting Cache Valley’s largest Independence Day show at Utah State University’s Romney Stadium July 1, 2011.

Here she is, the star of the show! (That is a funny joke because she is one blue spot in 500.) We had no idea if joining this performance was a good idea or not. Two of her best friends signed up too but then one drop out because it was the same week as YW girls camp. That just left the two of them. Craig Jessop was the director of the American Festival Chorus, a new 270-member choir headquartered at Utah State University. John Jacobson was choreographing the production so we thought, well why not?!! It might be a fun experience. It was!

First they had an all morning Sat. rehearsal with the dance team. They also had three songs to memorize (singing), so they practiced with one of the moms for an afternoon earlier in the week.

This was the day before the performance, a mandatory practice all day Thursday. Luckily they fed them lunch and they were able to send them home for dinner. They returned for a dress rehearsal that evening in the stadium until 9pm. It was a very very hot day but luckily Utah State University has this handy indoor football practice field so they spend the hottest parts of the day here.

So are you wondering who John Jacobson is? Does the phrase "Double Dream Hands" ring a bell?

"John Jacobson is the author and composer of many musicals and choral works that have been performed by millions of children worldwide, as well as educational videos and tapes that have helped music educators excel in their individual teaching arenas."


This is really him! He was a super nice guy, humorous and proficient. If anyone could pull something like this off he could, and he did! Yes, they even did the double dream hands dance as they warmed up for the performance. It was really silly.


The whole thing has a marching band feel to it. They just had to be in the right place at the right time for different parts of the songs and throughout the performance. It was really neat to watch it come together in such a short time.

Here we are waiting backstage to go on! First they had the 300 Boy Scouts carrying American Flags. Backstage they had 4 fire-engines and lots of firefighters on call in case the fireworks set a building on fire. I was there because I was one of the lucky parents to volunteer! That means I got in free for standing around with the kids for a couple of hours making sure none of them were chewing gum! I had sprained my ankle earlier in the week but it was well enough by Friday night. I didn't want to miss this!

A Flyover by some cool military airplane. Anyone know which one this is? I missed that small detail when they announced it because we were backstage trying to be quiet but we couldn't really see or hear anything useful.


The performance was very impressive! The Choir was amazing. Craig Jessop was the director of the Mormon Tabernacle Choir for many years. All the kids had a great time! I got to sit in the best seats in the house on the West side without the sun in my eyes. Later I joined the kids on the field to see the fireworks.




Diamond Rio did a concert. 70 minutes of the whole stadium and the kids really getting into it. I actually had never heard of this country band but a few of the songs I recognized. They were really good. I especially liked the songs they played that were bluegrass. The banjo really livened things up. They also added the orchestra to a few of their songs. That was impressive. I forgot to mention the orchestra! They probably had the hardest part of the evening. They played all the music and it was a couple of hours of patriotic songs and then playing with the band! I found this about them, "The professional American Festival Orchestra is composed of USU music faculty, outstanding musicians in the community and the Northern Utah region and top select senior USU students. Principal strings are the Fry String Quartet."

At first they were shy then they started getting up and dancing all over the field. The one instruction they had been given was to stay on their line so we could do the grand finale after the concert without being out of place.





The kids eventually ended up in one big clump dancing and having fun. They all found their line again at the end. Susan and her friend though, did not move from their line despite the chaos. I thought that was very obedient of them.

The lights went out and the Fireworks were immediately after the grand finale. I love to see a really good firework show timed just right to patriotic music. This one was really spectacular! Loved it!



Happy 4th of JULY! We really enjoyed participating and it was worth it 100%!!!