The Chicks

These are our newest babies. Let me start at the beginning and then you will understand. We went up on Saturday and purchased 3 tiny three day old chicks. The blond is Mrs. Buff, who is a Buff Orpington, Kelly who is the darker Americauna on the left, and Isa the other Americauna. The Americaunas lay blue and green eggs, while the Buff lays brown. I told the kids over and over what to do and what not to do. I specifically told them that if the birds got their wings out of their grip to put them down so that their delicate little wings wouldn't get broken. During lunch, Sarah was holding her chick Kelly and Kelly got her wings out. In her haste to not break Kelly's wings, she dropped her on her neck and broke it instead. However, much to my dismay, the neck broke, but didn't sever and so the chick remained alive and suffering. After severe trauma to all of us, 3.5 hours of hysterics and several calls later, Kelly passed away on the way to be euthanized. It was a small blessing for me. Thursday, we took Sarah up to pick out a new chick and she decided to get a Buff like Mommy. We now own Noodle and she is the cutest little thing! We are excited that they are getting their elder feathers and soon will be able to graduate from the bin in the laundry room to their coop outside. I will post a pic of Noodle soon. We had a funeral for Kelly in the backyard and hope that she is having better days.

Canning

I have been on a canning kick lately. I borrowed my sister-in-law, Sarah's, pressure canner and canned 17 quarts and 27 pints of pinto beans with yummy seasonings. I also helped a friend can beans and another can chicken. It is actually easier than I had thought, but kind of time consuming. For one batch of beans it takes the prep time, about 30-45 minutes, plus heating time which is about 20 minutes, then canning time, 90 minutes and cooling time which is about another hour. So between 3-4 hours depending on how organized and prepared I am. It makes me feel good to know that I have a good protein in my food storage! I also took a small foray into salsa and made 7 pints. There is a lot of vinegar in the recipe in order to make it safe, but both Brady and I like it, so it works. Sarah also will eat it with chips, which is pretty cute to watch.

Pinto Beans

The Pressure Canner

Salsa

Queen Creek High School Cheerleading Performance

The girls got to participate in a cheerleading camp held at a local high school at the beginning of the month. I know, I am just getting pictures up. They had a practice and then the game was the next weekend. They had a blast and were excited to go out and perform.

Catherine and Sarah

Cat and Sarah with Emily, their special helper

Dancing with Emily and Alejandra, a girl from our ward.

Cat and Sarah with Casey, a little friend from our ward.

The girls shaking it out on the field.

Catherine-ism #39

"I love pets!"
"When I grow up, I want to be a vegetarian"

While an appropriate statement, it was not the one she was going for.

Saturday is a special day

The day is ending; there are slowly dying embers in the fire pit. The hot dogs have all been eaten, the marshmellows are put away and sticky faces have been washed. It has been a great day. I am reminded of the words to a primary song, "where love is, there God is also". I can believe that heaven is close right now.

Looking out the Window

I am sitting in front of this computer in my loft with the shades open. I rarely open any of our shades because the burnt retinas aren't worth it. Today though, it is barely over 80 degrees, the sun is shining and I am looking out over our neighborhood to the distant peaks of South Mountain. I had never realized that I could even see them. Everything looks nice and clean from the HUGE hail storm we had the other night. It seems to have even blown away all the dust that has been plauging my allergies with it's 50 mile an hour winds. Thanks monsoon! I have finished my homework for the week and have none to do over the weekend (thanks honey). It is quite relaxing to just sit here with the sounds of Halo Reach in the background and Sarah making some weird noises down below in the living room. Tomorrow brings an 8am call to have the Primary kids clean the church for service...fun. Then, I have decided to begin tackling the project that is this loft. Sanding, staining/painting and all sorts of craftyness will ensue. For now, I am going to enjoy my view and then go get ready for a date with my sweetie.

Sarah-ism #204

Tonight the girls performed with the Queen Creek High School Pom and Cheer squads at halftime. They were very cute, but it was hot and we were all tired by halftime. When we got home, we were saying family prayer and Cat said that she had a headache. Que Sarah:
"Cat needs to go to the hospital, her head hurts."

Me: "No, you don't want to go to the hospital"

Sarah:"Yeah, they will give you shocks!"

Brady: "No Sarah, they give you shots, not shocks."

Surviving

As some of you know, my sister-in-law has had cancer for several years, she is a survivor. My Mom also has cancer as well as my Mother-in-law, more survivors. Now, another one of my sisters-in-law has cancer, she is a survivor as well and hopes to be cancer-free by Christmas. So with all of these bright and shining examples of surviving in my life, why do I feel hopeless sometimes? I don't have cancer; the hardest thing I deal with is what to make for dinner, or which assignment is due. I truly believe that Heavenly Father tests us with what we are able. What does it say about me that those are my biggest trials? First, I am not having a pity party, just wondering. Second, I am so grateful that those are my trials because I KNOW that I couldn't handle being sick. It just makes me stop to think sometimes about perspective. It puts things into perspective for me to STOP for two minutes and think about the blessings that we are each given individually. We are known and loved on an individual level from our Father above. I like that. I hope that all of you beautiful Latter Day Saint women enjoyed the words of advice and comfort from the sweet sisters in the Relief Society General Presidency. I loved seeing our beloved Prophet relaxed and joking while still offering great words of advice. "Judge Not" is my new mantra and goal.

Pickles and the Best Dinner Ever!

So, for one of my personal progress 10-hour values projects I canned and canned and canned pickles. Cucumbers were on sale at the ranch market so I drove up and got two boxes that I cut into circles and spears. I then brined the cucumbers overnight to help them stay crisp. After that, I canned 33 pints and 11 quarts of dill pickles using my Mom's recipe. In two weeks I will let you know how they taste, but until then, this is what I see when I look in my pantry. Yum!



Speaking of yum, Brady decided to make dinner for me tonight since I had been gone all day and was exhausted. He slaved for about and hour and a half over ginger, cornstarch and other tricky kitchen ingredients. We had a pleasant discussion about the garlic mincer. It was fun for me to watch him try so hard(struggle a bit) to make such a delicious dinner.


My adorable Husband

The recipe he found in my Food Network magazine(when he started reading my magazine, I don't know!)

Some funny quips

My children say the funniest things sometimes. I try to remember to write them down, but most the time it doens't happen. Here are some of the things from today that I want to remember.

Catherine: "Can we turn the radio on, it's too quiet"
Me: "Let's leave it off, Heavenly Father has the Holy Ghost speak to us when it is quiet"
Catherine: "I don't hear him"
Me: "Listen with your heart"
Sarah: "My heart can't listen, it doesn't have ears, it just goes bump, bump, bump"

Catherine: "Are we going to the ranch market or the library first?"
Me: "Library, so that our veggies don't die in the car"
Catherine: "If we just bought grapes it would be okay, they would turn into raisins"

Love it!