February 2016

On my extra day of February I will make the most of it by writing our monthly update! On February 6th I saw a sign at the Linden Nursery that "Chicks are Here" and I thought, "today my chicken raising dream will begin." And sure enough it did. I got the brooder ready and the excited girls and I went and picked out 8 pullets (we hope they are all female, one is extra large and extra protective so we wonder if it might be a cock, but still too early to tell). I wanted good layers, so I picked out 4 Red sexed-links and 2 Golden sexed-links and 2 Australorps (similar to Orpingtons), which breeds are known for high egg production. We all picked two names, I named a Golden Lilac and a Red Cleo, Savanna named an Australorp Daisy and a another Red Arrow, Fiora named a Red Pip and a Australorp Suki, and Weston named a Red Copper and a Golden Suzie. Daisy is the big one we wonder if she is a he, as she has no fear and is quite big and protective of the flock. The first week Arrow got sick and we had to isolate her for 24 hours, she recovered but has ever since been the smallest and grew her feathers in very late. They are 4 weeks old tomorrow and in a couple weeks will be old enough to be without the heat lamp and if the weather is ok moved into the Cluckingham palace coop Jared built.

 

 The above pictures were all from the first couple days we got them. They were so cute and fluffy! By week two they transformed into double sized, half feathered chickens so I had to make a larger brooder. Those first two weeks I was a little anxious about them, I reread the chapter in my book about chick care, temperature of brooder and what height to keep their feed/water, and changed their bedding every day. For whatever reason they like to peck each other and I had to swab some wounds, and I diligently kept our cat out of the house and checked their feet and vents for pasting. Otherwise they are relatively easy pets, you don't have to pay any attention to them other than checking water and feed levels and making sure they didn't defecate in their water.

 

I'm quite used to them now and after my chicken class last week feel I have a handle on it. The kids are learning a lot too. The below pictures are of the chicks today, 4 weeks old. They look a little scraggly, going through the adolescent awkward stage.  But they are all healthy and growing. We hope to have eggs by June/July.

February 13th was Fiora's 13th birthday! Weston had a gym meet that morning but she good naturedly got up at 7:00 on a Saturday to have her birthday breakfast of chicken Alfredo, mangoes, and asparagus and open gifts before we left. She loved her gifts and was a good sport about going to the AAG gym meet to support Weston, who scored a 70.5 overall, his highest ever meet score! He did great. We took the family to Sizzler after so Fiora could get ribs and she was a happy girl. She is our smart, crazy, peace maker who is also quite a beauty if she isn't making silly faces at you. Love you Fiora!

 

 We had the Barretts over the next day for Sunday dinner so we could sing to Fiora the birthday Cantata. We had pork salads and there was plenty of food and it turned out great. Love to have the family together. See how well you know the Barretts and try to name all these babies pictured.

 

I had the opportunity to babysit this cutie, Titus, a couple times this month. Heidi's expecting again so I have been trying to help her out by being her "chef Heather" some times. She loves my cooking, which makes me happy, and I love seeing her cute kiddos! The girls make dinner while I am cooking at Heidi's and are learning lots of great things. In fact while we were at this last meet in Colorado they made us some baked sausage and potatoes for when we got home. I was so proud!

That above picture is a selfie I sent to Jared because he asked me to send him a picture, lol. He loves me. :) We took the family to Rumbi's for the fun of it one weekend. It was a nice time.  I caught my boys doing dishes so I captured that awesome moment. Fiora and Savanna and I participated in New Beginnings at their Young Womens and there was this amazing Tree of Life there I had to take a picture of. The leaders went above and beyond!

Then we finally got our turn to go through the Provo temple open house and it was so beautiful. The kids asked me questions about what the rooms were for and I loved being able to tell them about promises and covenants and sealings we do for ourselves and the deceased. There was a wonderful spirit there. We got a picture as a family in front of the Christus statue and I felt so much love for my Savior and my family I though I would burst!

There was this crazy Saturday Jared worked the whole day except one hour where we met up with his friend Ethan Alfrey and Justin and Shawna and all their kids at Wild Zucchini. That was fun. That night I took Fiora to a ballroom dance competition for one of her classes (ballroom) and we saw a lot of snippets of great ballroom dancing. Lots of cultural events since my kids all need to see concerts for class. I took Savanna and her friend Aislyn to the BYU symphony orchestra the next week and was moved to tears from the beautiful concertos. Tomorrow we get to see a musical at Hale Center Theater, but that will be March so I'll tell about it next month.

The last update is about Weston. He performed in his school's Patriotic Sing and I was able to go watch him. He is dead center. What I loved was when he held up a sign honoring his uncle Gabe who served over a year in the military. He made the sign himself and I thought he did great trying to sound out Gabriel Carpenter.

Weston's last meet this month was in Colorado at the olympic training center. Jared and I drove him out there, we stopped at a local eatery in Frisco which was fun, and arrived in Colorado Springs about 4:00 pm. Thankfully he wasn't sick this time (last year at this meet he was way sick and it was so sad.) What a tough meet! He got a 68.7 overall, tough judges out of state, and it was a late session again (6:30 pm to 10:00), but we loved watching him as usual. He did a beautiful high bar routine. I will email the link to his meet as soon as I put together his video clips.
Weston's team mate Zach scored just one tenth higher than he did, but they were both competing against about 37 other level 8's in their division, some of which are from a private school/gym that is known for its amazing athletes, yet they got 14th and 15th place overall. What I thought was amazing was even though there were only 3 of them, AAG (their team) scored enough collective points to get 4th place! Weston got to take home the banner. The boys got to meet a few of the gymnasts competing in the 2016 olympics, and Wes got an autograph from one of them. Weston and Zach somehow convinced us to take them to Denny's after the meet so we were up til midnight have a fun time!