Kids are like sponges

Last night I was giving Cam and Eli a bath before their mom came to pick them up. They were playing with all of Scott's old bathtub boats, one of which has a rope with a water-ski handle (stick) tied to the end of it. We were playing waterskiing and the girl (a mini-barbie - sorry Rich) was trying to get up. I said, "What do I need to do to get up?" Cam replied, "Just push down on that back foot! If you lose the rope, I'll come around and bring it to you." I was amazed that he would remember the very thing that Gordon and the boys tell someone trying to get up on a slalom ski. It will make the Bird Men proud.

As for me, I'm watching what I say!

Two of my favorite boys!

Today I got to spend the afternoon with Cameron and Eli. We played in the backyard and ate lunch. Eli loved poking around in the garden, picking the green cherry tomatoes. I didn't mind, as long as he didn't eat them. He only tried that once. He also loves the "rock garden" unintentionally created just for the boys near the back gate.
Cam loves to play soccer, jump on the trampoline and play two square. They both love to get the nozzles to the hose and play "guns". I am amazed how little boys pick that up. No mother I know ever said to their little boy, "here's a (hose nozzle, bread crust, stick, etc;) now see if you can shoot each other. I know from experience - it just happens, like the truck sound that comes out sometime between a year and a year and a half. In case you can't tell, I just love little boys, especially these two.

Homecoming Dance

Jessica and her date, R.J.


Jessica went to Homecoming, her first formal dance, on Saturday night. She looked like a princess. Saturday was a crazy day, with Jessica's group day activities and of course, the BSU/Oregon game. (BSU 37-Oregon 32) Go Broncos!
Anyway, with the game going on, Ashlee and Lauren over to help with hair, Rich & Jo and the boys & James over for the game and Katrina helping shorten the necklace, it was grand central station around here, for sure. But boy, was it fun.

Our daughter the Linebacker

Last night was the Junior/Senior powder puff football game at Centennial High School. Jessica played linebacker for the Juniors. It brought back a lot of memories sitting in the Patriot stands watching football, although we were cheering for girls instead of guys. It was pretty intense. The Seniors won in overtime, but it was great fun! Rich, Cam & Eli came along for the fun, too.

How about some stirring political debate?

Will no one spar with me on the politics of the day? I even made a comment about a certain party on my "rebuked again" post and commented on it myself and STILL no one will engage me. Come on! What about the economy? What about the government bailing out AIG? What about Sarah Palin's emails being hacked into? What about Barry's hollywood fundraiser? What about John McCain's arms? War service? Do you think pigs look good with lipstick? Do you think the media is biased toward one party or another? How does Sarah Palin do so many things at once? Did anyone see the way the McCains were treated on "The View?" Barry and Michelle? Should there be drilling in Anwar? Is anyone voting absentee? Is everyone VOTING? How about Wall Street???? Whether you bleed red or blue - I want to hear from you! (Hey, that sounds like a campaign slogan.....

Gordon, Jess and Julie hit the hills on the horses!

On Labor Day weekend, Gordon took Jess and I up to Donnelley to ride the horses. We had a wonderful time, riding right over the mountains where we could see a view of the whole Cascade, Donnelley, McCall valley. We had a wonderful time with one little glitch; on the way back, it was pretty much straight downhill. (Yes, when you go up, you must come down). I thought Jess was being a trooper and so I wasn't about to complain either; after all, people pay a lot of money to do what Gordon was taking us to do and many never get to see nature in that way. I almost made it the whole way down without complaining when we came across two logs, which Ginger decided to lunge over (going sharply downhill, mind you); then she abruptly stopped and shook her mane out and I almost went straight over her head. Only my sturdy grip on the saddle horn and superior horsewomanship kept me on. (And also the cool cowboy boots and hat I was wearing...) At this point, out of nowhere, an involuntary word came out of my mouth directed at my husband, the Bishop. He was happily on his way, thinking we were doing great, which we were for the most part. I think he was a little stunned by the outburst. Then he said to Jess (trying to give us a little hope), "look, theres a road". "There's no road ANYWHERE, Dad" (even she was at her limit). Right then we turned the corner and there was the road and the truck and horse trailer. We made it so close! If we only could have held on for another five to ten minutes, Gordon never would have known we were sweating anything! That being said, it was a fantastically wonderful ride, great view, fresh air and quality time together. One of my favorite parts? At the top we stopped and I had my favorite snack:)

My Favorite Snack

My very favorite snack in the whole world is "Cracker Jacks".  It's the perfect snack; it satisfies the desire for something a little sugar-y, the nuts are great protein and the popcorn gives immediate energy.  Combine it with a diet coke and you have the perfect afternoon pick-me-up.  Or, it's good at 10:00 a.m. like this morning.  However, it is getting harder to find Cracker Jacks at my favorite gas stations.  Some carry them and some don't.  When I ask if they carry them, or why they don't, I always get, "we have "Fiddle Faddle".  Like there is ANY comparison at all between the two. I usually buy the little snack size, but was pleasantly surprised to find cartons (three little boxes bound together)at Harpos in Cascade.  I usually don't like the cartons because they aren't very fresh, but these had little liners inside and were so fresh! The boxes are just the right size to carry in your purse, your car, your desk, the cupboard, the boat, or anywhere.
Don't the small things in life just really make your day?

Rebuked (yet again) by the Recycle Man!

I had a wonderful idea on Monday to recycle all of the cardboard cartons that were filling up the garbage can. I also had a large brown box and so I decided to recycle that too. I carefully put them all together, segregated them, as seems to be the appropriate thing to for the recycle man. Hey, I'm no dummy - I learned from the first rebuke I got: everything MUST be segregated. So, imagine my surprise when I find that they have left the brown box with all the cartons in it with a big old note stapled on it: Must FLATTEN boxes. Some day I'll learn....Or maybe, if the green democrats get elected, there will be a special tax credit for "flattening cardboard boxes" for recycling. Hey, I'm all for a social program to deal with that. It would keep all of us low-lifes who don't know the proper ettiquitte of recycling from making such faus-pax. Proper motivation from my government will make all the difference, I'm sure!

Jesssica's First Day of School - Junior Year (where has the time gone???)

It is hard to believe that we will have only one more "first day of school" at the Bird household. It is a always a special day, isn't it? But Jess reminds me that it is all very exciting until the end of that first week when "you realize you have a full 9 months of this". But it is a fun time of year with new schedules, friends, football seasons, classes, dance routines......I just hope it doesn't go by too fast. Is there a slow-mo button I can push?

Laura graduated from BYU with a degree in Public Relations/Communications. Congratulations Laura!
She has a job in Salt Lake working for a company that does restoration for insurance companies. She only has to go in to the office a couple of times a week; the rest of the time she travels around the area visiting various insurance agents doing marketing/public relations work.

Laura Graduates from BYU!

Some Memories Never Die

Imagine our surprise to open the sports page and see James and Andrew from their Senior year (six years ago!). It makes you wonder what those statesman photographers do all day if they have to use six year old pictures for their current features. We're anxious to see if this picture apppears weekly with the "Varsity Extra". What a blast from the past!

Life After (or with?) Gophers!

In spite of the gopher-diggin' night life going on, this rose bush and many of my sunflowers are thriving. Every year I plant sunflowers and every year I am disappointed when they only bloom facing East. What is the deal with that? Every sunflower in my backyard faces away.
But they are still beautiful and cheerful:)

Life After Spider Mite!

I am happy to report that after clipping my pots down to almost nothing and treating the spider mite, there is life again! Although I am down about three pots, the ones I have left are giving one last bloom before fall.

Suzanne's birthday

Isn't she cute? We just love having her in our family and she is so perfect for James.

Suzanne turns 21 today! We had a steak dinner on Sunday to celebrate and Cam was right on hand to help her blow out the candles. Happy Birthday Suzanne!

Easy Rider

My brother Greg stopped over to stay on his road trip to see his daughter, Kristy in Vancouver, WA. He took me for a spin on his harley and I loved it! A part of me wanted to join him on his trip, it was so comfortable riding back there. We took a sunset tour of Eagle and West Boise; I had an unterior motive: to get him to fall in love with the area and move here when he retires! He would be right between both of his kids. I wish they made "mini-harleys", kind of like "mini-me's". If they did - I would have one!

Uninvited Guests

Can anyone guess what can wreck this kind of havoc in a flower bed? In May, this Phlox was about 2 feet wide by 1 foot long and was full of bright pink blossoms. Also, on either side of it were two rose bushes, both registered tea roses. One day I went back to check it out because the two rose bushes looked a little dry. When I grabbed each bush, they came right up in my hand with absolutely no root system. It had been chewed away by....you guessed it, rodents. Groundhogs, specifically and some Voles, they say. We have had this problem before, but Scott had always kept it under control with the skills he learned in Hunter's Ed. You can be safe in assuming that I am murderously furious at these little pests invading my yard. The film "Caddyshack" comes to mind, where Bill Murray filled the holes with gasoline and lit them on fire. In response, we called Gemtek (whom James sells for) and they came out and "set some bait". Next, we had a ten year old boy in our ward, Nick, come over and set some traps. We told him there was a bounty of $5.00 a head and there was a lot of money to earn. He caught a couple but, unfortunately, has been on vacation. I am thinking of investing in Night Vision goggles and camping out there with my pellet gun to take care of the situation.

The next thing that invaded my yard, specifically the flower pots, is a pesky little bug called a spider mite. The first thing to go (at the end of July) was the Lobelia. All of a sudden, it looked like it was drying up, but was getting plenty of water. Within a week to 10 days, it was all gone and so I pulled it out of the pots. The next thing to look sick were the two beautiful pots of marigolds. Finally, I had to pull them out too. Next came the Petunias. Then I was talking with someone who has their own greenhouse and grows a lot from seed and start and he told me it sounded like spider mites. He said to check the underside of the petunias and look for little black dots. As you can see in the picture, they had made a home with my petunias. So, I cut the petunia pots down and treated them with aphid spray (it's also good to pour it into the soil). I am hoping to salvage one more nice bloom out of the Petunias before the fall.

In going with the "green thing", an organic way to treat Aphids, mites, or any garden bugs is to pour dishsoap/water mixture (10 to one water to soap) into the soil.

To all the gardeners out there, here's to fighting the "unseen enemies" and coming out on top!
(My pellet gun is available and I have an arsenal of chemical treatments in the garage). I also have some sweet mouth/nose guards I got at the dollar store so you don't breathe all the fumes. Then again...the soap and water are a lot safer. It just depends on your level of craziness with your enemies. I am pretty far gone at this point, so I'm willing to try anything! I'd love any helpful hints, suggestions and stories. So I don't end on a negative note, below is the garden report of everything that has made it through the enemy attacks this summer.

The Garden Report

After much dead-heading and TLC, the front roses are on their third bloom of the summer, although nothing matches that first bloom in June. Morning is the best time to catch the fragrance of the roses; their oils are fresh from the night and it smells wonderful.

The front pots are just happy to be there and have a little attention sometimes. Here it is August and they are still going strong. This is how our veggie garden looks today; it has survived the heat, bugs and a few uninvited friends to produce fantastically. As a matter of fact, if you find a cucumber magically appear in your car or on your doorstep, it was probably us trying to get rid of them. As you can see from these pictures, it was a very good year for the yard & garden. The grass, the flower beds, the flower pots....they all peaked at the same time and I felt pretty darn proud of all of our hard work. These pictures were taken around the end of June.

Haven't blogged for a while....

It's been a while since I posted; a lot has happened. My brother, Todd went in for triple by-pass heart surgery a week ago. He is recovering very slowly, due to some other issues he has and is still in ICU. If you are the praying kind, please remember him.

Since I last posted, Laura graduated from BYU with a degree in Communications/Public Relations. She received a job offer in Salt Lake and will most likely work there for the next year while Ben finishes and takes the CPA exam. Yeah Laura! Way to go.

Going Commando!

James and Suzanne have been "car challenged" all summer and were trying to come up with a quick fix that would get them through the next three weeks of their jobs. Long story short, they ended up buying this sweet 1984 Bronco II for the grand price of $5.00; that's five dollars. I guess it pays to have "connections".

It had been sitting in someone's field for a while, but has brand new tires, runs well and gets them where they want to be. Suzanne drove it to work the first day because James had to take the Honda out of town. To her surprise and shock, she found a hornet's nest in the back on the way to work. Once at work (Gemtek Pest Control), the technicians took a look at it for her and discovered 17 more hornets nests! Now they are in the process of going through it with a fine toothed comb and cleaning it up.

Isn't it true that something free (or close to it) becomes a cherished thing?