Derek is 4!

I can hardly believe our little Derek boy is 4 years old. He received most of his presents before his birthday, while we were in Snowflake. When we arrived at the resort in Pinetop he was surprised with a big bag of goodies from Grandma Brimhall...crayons, colored pencils, markers, coloring books, a dinosaur book, glow sticks, candy, funny glass, and a few other goodies. The next day Darrell and I gave him a pair of binoculars...he had asked for them a few weeks earlier. He also received bubbles. On his birthday he received a star wars shirt and 2 books from Aunt Katie and Uncle Matt.

On Sunday, Katie, Matt and Jayden came over for french toast (Derek's choice) and cake. This was my first attempt at a shaped cake. I was highly disappointed with my work and wanted to give Derek the credit, but it was all me. It tasted good at least:) Derek is a wonderful little boy and is already looking forward to his cake for next year...a little less fancy:) I almost forgot...he also received some hot wheels cars from his Sunday school teacher and little goodies from the primary presidency. He loved getting so many surprises. This coming Saturday Grandpa and Grandma Lamb are taking him to the zoo also.

Spring Break 2009

Darrell and I planned to have a nice week long vacation without the kids. This is how it turned out...We started first in Snowflake with all the family visiting for Jeannie's play, which was very fun to watch. Jeannie was so into her part and I could tell she was enjoying it! On Monday morning we went with Scott & Leslie's family to Silver Creek.

Yes...Derek is holding a very real snake. It turned my stomach a little! Darrell attempted some fly fishing with no luck...and unfortunately he maintained that luck the rest of the week:( The kids had fun throwing rocks and sticks in the water and just enjoying the beautiful outdoor Snowflake weather.

Monday afternoon Darrell and I left without the kids to Heber. We stayed at the Bison Ranch for 2 nights. We spent the days eating, hiking, trying to fish and talking. By the 2nd night we missed our kids and wanted them back...they are so much apart of us now and we knew we would enjoy watching them have fun. So Wednesday, after visiting some ruins near Fort Apache we went back to Snowflake. We stayed there that night and then headed for Pinetop in the morning. We went to Greer, and on the way there stopped to play in some snow.

Near Greer there were a few reservoirs that we tried to fish in most of the day. Derek learned very quickly how to cast a fishing pole. Emily mostly wanted to eat trail mix and was VERY possessive of the trail mix bag.

By Friday afternoon we were completely vacationed out! Saturday Darrell, along with Derek, went and did his favorite thing...helping his dad work. Emily and I stayed at the hotel. She napped and played while I relaxed and read books. Saturday evening we drove again to Snowflake to enjoy dinner at Trapper's with Gary, Sarah, and Jeannie. All in all it was a fun vacation. Darrell and I learned a few things, like we don't enjoy too much leisure time, we enjoy getting things done. So a shorter vacation next time. Plus we like our kids:) Not that we didn't know it, we were just reminded of it:)

One other high light from the trip was eating dinner at the Red Onion Tuesday night. Darrell and I always drive by it on the way to Snowflake and this trip we ate there. The food was very good! Lots of oil! The wait was a little long, but the food was worth it:)

Daily Fun

For joy school today Derek and Emily got to blow bubbles in a cup and let them run over the top...that was the special part:) I sometimes let Derek blow in his milk but he can't make a mess, so this was a time he could make a mess. Emily tried but mostly succeeded in sucking up yummy soap water.


Derek has been becoming more creative as the days go by. One day during quiet time, (the 1 hour in the day that is mine to read what I want) Derek came in from outside wanting me to tie this piece of watering hose around his waste so he could be a jaguar. He was outside being a jaguar for almost 30 minutes...when this picture was taken he actually told me he was no longer a jaguar but a dragon:)

My First Fancy Pie

So, two years ago Darrell and I canned 2 huge boxes of cherries and we have hardly used them. After doing my jam and chicken I realized I needed to start using those cherries. I was going to make a simple cherry crisp, but Darrell REALLY wanted a pie with good crust. He said if I learned how to make a good crust he would love it because is opinion is that the crust makes or breaks a pie. Well this was my first attempt at a fancy looking crust. I was quite pleased with myself, and it did actually taste good. I got a huge thumbs up from Darrell and so it was worth the effort...and boy was it effort:)

Canning

My past canning experiences have included peaches (fair success), cherries (fair success), and grape jam (tastes like grape jam sort of but is brown...doesn't look appealing). So today I tried my hand at canning strawberry jam as strawberries were on sale at Bashas. It turned out pretty good. I spent $12 on strawberries and made 8 pint jars, so that is $1.50 per jar, which is pretty good. Plus the pectin and sugar so probably closer to $2.00, but for fresh tasting jam I'd say that is pretty good.


My second canning expedition was chicken. My friend Pate came over and taught me how to do chicken. I only did 4 pint size jars because another sister in the ward came to learn too and we each did 4 jars. The chicken was canned using a pressure cooker/canner. Darrell and I are making that our next purchase for our food storage supplies. It looks funny in the jar but I tasted some of hers that looks just as funny and it tasted far superior to canned chicken you buy at the store. So after a long day we have a few yummy things to add to our storage...actually one jar of chicken will probably be used in the next two day because it didn't seal:)

Sweet 16

So...Darrell just had to have some Rhode Island Reds. They are the classic chicken and when he bought our first batch of chickens they were all sold out. People snatch them up quickly when they are in stock. So now we have 16 chickens! Of course 1 or 2 of our previous batch we may be selling back because they are roosters. When you buy baby chicks you have a chance of getting a rooster. We won't know for sure for a couple more months if they are roosters but Darrell and John have seen 2 of them fighting and trying to crow.


Derek and Emily absolutely LOVE the baby chicks. Derek will spend hours in the garage holding them if we let them. They are living separately from the rest of the hens until they are big enough.

The Completed Chicken Mansion

It is finished! This is the completed chicken house with doors and windows. You can't tell from the picture, but it is a very ingenious contraption designed and built by Darrell, with tons of help from his brother John. The top of the roof can be lifted up and held open by a couple pieces of wood that swing down automatically. The Whole front then swings open on hinges giving him easy access for cleaning out the house when needed. The top 3 windows open up to the nests where the eggs will be collected. The bottom 2 windows open up to the feeders, and the door opens to the watering container.



The side of the house has an opening leading out into the chicken run. The chickens would devour our garden if allowed to roam free so they have a little outside lounge area all to themselves...of course in the last week they have gotten big enough to fly/jump out and so this weekend Darrell will have to clip their wings or put a top on the run. Of course the house and run are very pleasing to the eye as Darrell would not allow something to disrupt the eye appeal of our yard...I have definitely come to appreciate that. I love going outside on nice days and it looks wonderful.

Here is another picture of the chickens enjoying the outdoors.