Nate's first field trip

Nate got to go on his first field trip to the Folsom Zoo.

I don't remember ever being there before, so it was new to me also.

Here he is on his first bus ride.

His teachers said as they were going along Folsom Blvd,

he started yelling, "Look! There's Dos Coyotes!

I've been there before! Can we stop & make the head rock?"

Apparently it was pretty funny since he was so excited about the restaurant.

Some cool tigers. The meanest tour guide ever is off to the right.
A massive bear.
My own family of bears.
You can get ruh-eeely close to the deer.

I'm surprised none of my kids got their fingers bitten off.

It was fun to see the kids get excited about the animals.

Tip for anyone else. Do not take a stroller here. Carry your kids.

There are crazy uneven hills throughout the whole park.

My arms are more sore from pushing a double stroller

than one of Jared's workouts.

What I've been up to.......

The last few weeks I've been collecting compost waste from

our kitchen & burying it in the garden to prep the dirt.

But I've seen somewhere in blog land about a rolling compost pile.

One you don't have to turn with a shovel.

Wanting to be better for the environment,

& have compost for this winter, I started a legit compost pile.

WalMart had these huge garbage cans for $9.97. Awesome price.

I had Jared drill some holes along the sides & top. For air flow & leakage.

Then I was going to mow the lawn for grass clippings.

But the lawn mower was out of gas.

So my loving hubbs dug some months old grass clippings

from the green waste container. Gross.

Leaves would have been ideal also. But no leaves around this time of year.

Here is my bag of scraps & stuff from just a couple days.

Did you know you can put paper towels & napkins in there!

No more guilt for using paper products.

Anything can be put in there except meats & waxy materials.

I gave Jared a hair cut & put the hair in there.

Then I had Jared take a tinkle in it. Good moisture & nitrogen.

And no, I did not take a picture of that.

Then all I have to do is roll it around every few days.

Or have the boys do it. Be sure to use bungee cords to keep the lid on tight.

Compost in just a couple weeks.

So when Charly was born, Jared's cousin made us some super cute, big hair bows.

But Little Elles has such a small bald head, the big bows look a little silly.

So I made some small ones for her.

(I know these pics are horrible. But I'm too lazy to wait for good lighting)

You can't quite see how detailed they are. But they are really adorable.

I made them entirely from things on hand. Except the box of clips from Sally's.

$5 for 100. Can't beat it.

My house may be a mess. But I'm getting some fun stuff done instead.

Shout out Friday

You know growing up when your Mom always said, "when you have kids of your own, they'll act just like you are. You'll get your payback then." I wished I had believed it back then. I would have behaved A LOT better. Cause now I know it's true.

My sweet Grant

On FHE the other night, I was reading a story

from "The Friend." It was about Joseph Taylor,

son of John Taylor. They were packing to head West

& could not take Joseph's play riding horse

with them because it was big.

Joseph was so sad to leave it behind.

As I was reading about how sad he was,

I looked up at Grant & saw tears streaming

down the poor boy's face. I asked what was the matter?

He said he didn't know & started crying even harder.

How sweet is that? Grant was upset because

the horse had to be left behind. Of course the story ended

with Joseph's Dad going back to get the horse.

There was even a picture of it somewhere in SLC I'm sure.

I have a tender hearted boy.

Shout out Friday

You know you're lazy when......

You spend more than 26 seconds trying to crush a Cheerio

with the wheel of the vacuum so it will get sucked up.

Instead of, ya know, just 2 seconds bending over to pick it up.