The Garden

We were a little late in starting this year

because we have so many other house and yard projects

consuming us,

but Eric made time to build our little garden beds. 

It was hard trying to find a spot in our yard

where the garden would get enough sun.

Here's to hoping this spot works out! 

I'm certain our gnomes
will help our garden to flourish though.

The Flock

Oreo and Elvis are a few weeks old now.

They've spent a little time outside with the other chickens already

so they can get used to each other.

They almost got pecked a few times by the original four.

But Eric protected them.

These two chicks are much louder than the others were.

Sometimes when I'm in the house I can hear them from their box in the garage.

If they get any louder,

we may be having a chicken fry sooner rather than later. . .

The boys have taken on many of the responsibilities for the chickens now. They open their coop door in the mornings and clean out their coop on the weekends. They also feed the chickens scraps of food.

On nice days, the chickens are allowed to roam the backyard.

But I dislike the fact that no matter how many times I shoo them off,

the chickens make their way to our deck, which means their droppings do, too. Ick.

Lookin' Sharp

My men were
all style
rockin' the bow ties
on Sunday.

Kacin's Resourcefulness

He came up with this brilliant way 

to display the picture

during his FHE lesson.

Glasses can be quite useful.

He just couldn't move his head.

Two More

Meet the newest chicks to join our flock.

We call them Oreo and Elvis.

When Boys Wake Up First

When I came downstairs in the morning,
I found this scene:

Sword, Dr. P, Bandaids

I daresay,
after too much Dr. Pepper,
there must have been a riveting sword fight
resulting in a flesh wound.

The Rest of April

It seriously can't be May yet!
April went by so fast.
But, then again, when I look back
at all that I took pictures of,
and then think about what I didn't take pictures of,
April was a very, very full month!

We celebrated three years
since our sealing as a family in the Mesa temple.

We ran our first 5K as a family.

We stuck together and finished in 40 min.

With our running buddy, Holly,
(one of my sweet, energetic Beehives)
who stuck with us during the race.

A friendly game of toss the water bottle

while we waited for awards and the raffle.

I'm glad we waited

because we ended up winning

a $10 Safeway giftcard in the raffle.

And we immediately used it for donuts and drinks.

We painted the boys room.
They wanted a blue room.
And they wanted to paint it.
They each ended up painting
the lower half
of one of the walls.

What else happened in April?

Eric and I started girls camp preperations

for the 4th year hike again.

Kyler got serious about the Caldecott challenge

(to read all the Caldecott award winning books

before the end of school).

I started some tutoring again.

Kacin made lots of plans for inventions

and books he wants to write.

Eric and the boys faithfully tended to their chickens.

And Eric ate my easter candy I was saving.

So now I have to label all of my treats with my name

so he will not eat them.

And that's where we leave April.