Bird Watching

One hobby that Rusty and I enjoy (but don't get out to do as often as we'd like) is 

Bird Watching.

A couple of weeks ago, after dinner was over & cleaned up, I saw that we a couple of hours before bedtime so I asked Rusty if he wanted to go bird watching.  (Birds in the distance are Great Blue Herons)

Camas Wildlife Refuge is about 20 miles from us, so we (Brienna, Emmalee & Ben) hopped into the van with our binoculars, camera & bird books.

This is the most water Rusty has seen here in years (and for me--ever!).  The herons took off before we could get closer.

 As soon as we get to the dirt road by the water, we unbuckle & let the kids take turns "driving".  Benjamin really had a blast turning the wheel back & forth.  

 Emmalee had a turn, also, but I guess her pictures didn't turn out.

 But this picture of her is adorable!

 We saw about 50 different kinds of birds.  I had to take this picture for my sister, Pamela.

 Some sand hill cranes in the distance.  They are one of my favorite birds.  We saw 3 in the fields before we reached Camas.

 Here is a sand hill crane on a nest--you can see a bit of the red on the head.

 I think these were the grebes we saw.

 Brienna drove quite a ways on the dirt road--but never got above 20 mph.

 Rusty had to be in the front--so I sat in the middle with the kids.  They had fun crawling back and forth.

 This is a curlew in the road.  He flew away before I got a good picture of him.

If you look close, he is flying away on the left of the picture.  And you can see the curved, long beak.

 And as we were leaving, we saw more sand hill cranes just out our window.

 They like the farmer's fields.

At one point, we saw 2 kill deer in the road.  So we tried to show Emmalee.  She was almost in tears because she said she couldn't see it. 

 I told her there were 2 kill deer--one right on the road and one that just was on the side.  She even climbed into the very back so she could try to see it again.

By this time she was in tears.  So I turned around and could still see the bird on the road and pointed it out to her.  "See--there's the bird."

Emmalee said, "But I don't see the dead deer!"

She was looking for a "killed deer" on the road.

(sorry for the "gross" photo)

After I explained it to her, and showed her the picture of the bird out of the book, 

she finally understood what we were talking about.

Pig Weigh-In (June)

 It was pig weigh in to make sure the pigs were growing at a good pace & will be able to make weight by fair time (mid-August).

 So we made a chute with the straw.  And Emmalee climbed up to wait for the trailer to haul the pigs to the scale.

 And of course, Benjamin had to climb up with her. 

 Can you tell he is having fun?  (and don't you love the deceiving sunshine--but we are wearing our winter coats!) 

 The wind was pretty strong, and it was a bit chilly.  Hard to believe it's June 2nd. 

 Ben looking at the pigs basking in the sun (I guess they were trying to warm up).  We haven't had very many days of sunshine!

 Daddy makes a comfortable chair!

 Our pigs cooperate and get into the trailer without any problem (and so quickly I barely get a picture)!

 And they also got off to get weighed.

 Here's Callum's pig (Wilber)

 And we didn't have much of a problem getting them back into the trailer.

 And back into the pig pen at home.

 And the first thing they did was roll in the mud.

 Ah--nice!  

1 month ago Zane's pig=85 pounds.

June=150 pounds.  Only needs 60 pounds to make weight for fair.

1 month ago Callum's pig=135 pounds.

June=218 pounds.  His pig has made weight!  Now he's just growing for added money at the livestock sale.

My 300th Post!

I think it's fitting that my 300th post should be a milestone in our family's history.

Thursday, June 2nd, 2011, our eldest son, Ethan Edward Stewart, received his mission call to serve for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints.  

 Ethan was in Rexburg (at school), and Pamela was in Wyoming (Star Valley).  So Pamela picked Ethan up and drove to Dubois.

 Benjamin was happy to see Ethan!

 Guesses everyone!  We all wrote down where we thought he would go--or in my case:  4 guesses!

 Ethan took time to let Ben play with his iPod (or as Benjamin calls it--"my"Pod.  (Ethan really wasn't taking time out, he was just waiting for Grandma & Grandpa Stewart to come over & Grandma & Grandpa Carter to get to Aunt Laurie's house so we could Skype!)

 Ethan slowly,       slowly, 

 Slowly opened the envelop.

 I guess we waited this long--we can wait a little longer!

 And as he starts to read the letter, Callum sneaks behind him trying to read ahead.  Ethan quickly put a stop to that!

Dear Elder Stewart,

You are hereby called to serve as a missionary of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.  You are assigned to labor in the

 California Ventura Mission!

!

  He will be reporting to the MTC on Aug. 3rd.  Although it looks like Brienna is taking pictures, she is actually holding her iPod so my sister, Janna Lee, and her 3 kids back in Pennsylvania could see us (on Skype).

 Zane videoed it for us.

 And here is my dad, mom, and sister, Laurie.

 Here is the letter from our prophet, Pres. Thomas S. Monson.

 He was so excited--he is texting, talking on the phone, and had just turned from the computer after posting it on Facebook.

Almost all of my family heard it first hand, except for my sister, Sherrie.  She lives in Colorado, but was actually in Wyoming.  

My sister, Laurie, turned 50 on June 3rd and was having a fun birthday party.  As far as she knew, none of her sisters could make it to Wyoming for her celebration.  But my sister, Pamela, planned otherwise.  She helped us get to Wyoming!  She "kidnapped" me right after Ethan got his call, and after we dropped him back in Rexburg, we drove all the way to Lander, Wyoming!  Crazy us!

We told Sherrie she could have went to Laurie's and Skyped with everyone else, but she said she couldn't have kept the rest of the surprise a secret.  Laurie was adamant that we call Sherrie to let her know, so Dad said he would take care of it.  As soon as they got home, they "called" Sherrie & let her know!

Pamela and I talked the whole trip--and we arrived at my parents about 11:30 pm.

I guess it was the right time, because we saw hundreds of elk and bison, 2 moose, a fox, and probably a wolf (I didn't have Pamela turn around because I wasn't sure what it was).  I've never seen that many elk between Jackson and Togwotee Lodge!

May 25th--Emmalee's 6th Birthday

WARNING:  VERY LONG POST WITH LOTS OF PICTURES!

(I was hoping that I could finish posting this before midnight so it would actually have the date of her birthday at the top, but I was about 10 minutes too late.)  

Zane needed to bring brownies to school for their end-of-the-year barbecue.  He was going to make the brownies last night after Young Mens, but I know how long it takes him to make things--and then clean it all up.  And I didn't want him up for another hour and a half last night, so I told him I'd just make them this morning.

 So after I got them out to cool, I decided I'd better go take a quick shower.  I don't know what I was thinking (I guess I wasn't thinking), but I left the brownies within Benjamin's reach (which is almost everywhere he can climb or push a chair over to & climb).  And 6 minutes later (yes, I shower really quickly when Benjamin is roaming free), this is what I found.  Thankfully he was kind enough to just poke the one corner.  I was able to salvage most of it and cut 20 pieces for the bbq.  

After lunch I baked Emmalee's cake, but thankfully there were plenty of "big" people around to supervise the cooling time for that cake.  

I had the kids cleaning the house and getting the bedroom ready for Grandma & Grandpa.  Plus, they had to really clean their bathroom, since it is the one that Grandma & Grandpa would have to use.  We were almost done with the bathroom and I just needed to vacuum when my parents drove up.  So we all went out to give them hugs.  And then I ducked back inside and did a quick vacuum of the living room floor.  

 Benjamin had to show Grandpa all of his Toy Story toys.

 Brienna decorated the cake for Emmalee.  Without any decorating tips. (I have some but couldn't find them anywhere!)

 Emmalee is so happy with her cake!!! (She wanted a "doll" cake at first--where the cake is the skirt for the doll, but Aunt Pamela has that cake pan at her house.  So she said it would be okay to have that kind of cake some other time).

 For dinner she chose chili dogs.  And she got to sit at the "special" table with Grandma & Grandpa.

 After Rusty, Callum & I got back from pack meeting, Emmalee opened her presents & we ate cake & ice cream.

 She is wearing her tie-dyed shirt that she helped make in kindergarten.

 Benjamin was the helper--handing her the present.  And then carefully looking on.

 He was really good--he only tried to open one present!   This morning when I asked Emmalee if she felt any different since it was her birthday, she said, "I feel a lot older--like a 6 year old!"

 Grandpa and Grandma Stewart

 Grandpa and  Grandma Carter--and Zane

 Emmalee said she had a great birthday (and there's Ben carefully watching her open those presents).

 She loved the dress that Aunt Pamela got her.

 Emmalee thought it was funny that Grandpa Carter wanted to hold her birthday money--in his pocket!

 Shortly after that comment, she opened another card and as she passed the card to Grandpa Stewart (so he could read it), he snatched some of her money away.  She looked down at the money and realized that is was gone.

 And so she tried to get it from him.  You gotta be careful of those grandpas! He gave it back to her and also gave her some $ from them.  She was quite happy.

 I wonder what she wished for?

And this is how she decided to eat the cake--lovely!  Silly girl!

She was actually a little hard to buy presents for this year because whenever we asked her what she wanted, she said she didn't know.  Even when we were at the stores--she isn't a "gimme & greedy" girl.  So she ended up getting clothes (pants, shirts & a dress), Barbie movies, candy, and books--ones that she can read on her own.