Ducklings!!!

We have had several sets of ducks through the years and some of them have laid eggs.  However, nothing has ever happened with the eggs and so we would just get rid of them.  This spring we noticed our lone female duck had made a nest in our bushes and there were some eggs in it.  She took to sitting on the nest all day, every day.  We didn't really think anything would come of it so we told the kids not to get their hopes up.  We weren't sure when they would hatch so we just kept watching them.  One day, Mama duck pushed a couple of the eggs out of the nest.  We thought for sure that meant the eggs were bad.   Then one morning (July 18) the kids came running inside saying there was a baby duck outside!  I came out to see this...

at the bottom of our basement stairs was a baby duck and a partially hatched egg.  The duck in the egg was pecking away at it's shell!  They had fallen out of the nest, but were okay!  Then I looked over and saw this...

A freshly hatched duckling halfway down the wall!  It was such an exciting morning as we watched the miracle of life take place in our back yard.  We were so worried about the little ducks we finally ended up putting them back in the nest with Mama and the egg hatched the rest of the way with her help and the others fluffed up nicely!  We ended up with five ducklings!

They were so cute!  We all especially fell in love with "Sunny", the one with the bright yellow chest.

We put them in a Rubbermaid tote, inside a dog kennel to keep them safe outside. The kids were in heaven taking care of the babies.

Our other two ducks were males and did not like the baby ducks at all.  We had to lock them up when the babies were out or they would try to kill the babies!

Is there anything cuter than a baby duck?  I think not!

We loved letting them out to play in the water.

This is how we had to get them back in the cage.  They would only follow Mama duck.

They grew up SO fast!!!

We decided we couldn't keep eight ducks so we took the babies (except Sunny) to our friend's pond.

This was the day we took them to their new home.  The male ducks never would accept Sunny and kept trying to hurt her, so when one of the males died (the white one-Clover) we took the other male (who was the super mean one) to the pond, too.  So now we just have Mama Duck and Sunny.

The kids each got to let one of the ducklings go.

 

Jensen's smile.  It never gets old.

We even let Holden let one go.

They flew right to the water and gathered up in a little huddle.

Another one being let go.

I love this picture of Josh and Holden saying goodbye to the ducks.  We checked on them a month later and they were still doing great.  I hope they are happy in their new home.

 

The Fourth of July

We love our little town's celebration and were up bright and early ready for the parade.  I was the photographer again this year so I wasn't in the parade.

Holden was SUPER excited to ride his bike in the parade with the Primary.  "I'm gonna win, Mom" he told me.  Ha, ha!  We had to remind him that it wasn't a race!  I was a little nervous to leave him with the Primary leaders, but he made it back in one piece. 

I just love this picture of Ally and Grandma!  We love Grandma's happy attitude towards life.  She always has a smile or laugh for any situation.

Jensen rode with his team on the fire truck.

There's Holden racing by the other kids!

Holden was the only one to ride the rocket ride this year.  My kids are growing up.

*sad sigh*

Holden really enjoyed the water slide and I thought this picture was fun.  I'm loving my "real" camera that I saved up the money for.  It's a lot of fun and it feels nice to have a camera that works! 

Ally, Logan and Jensen spent most of the time off with their friends so I didn't get many pictures of them.  In fact, the Kotters even came to enjoy the morning with us!  It was nice to share our traditions with them.

There's Jensen, Katelyn and Ally playing some games.

We didn't sign up for it, but Josh and I ended up helping with the home run derby.  Then it was time for the pick up game where Logan and Jensen made some fun family memories!  (Ha, ha-see next post)

Jensen caught one of the parachutes. 

We had pirate stories with Dusty again.

We also snuck in a trip for patriotic snow cones in there somehow!

It was such a busy, fun, exhausting day!

We love celebrating America!

T-Ball, Baseball and Other Summer Activities

From March until August there is one main word that rules our house: Baseball (or T-Ball or Softball).  I tried to add up all the games we went to this year, but I couldn't count that high!  Ha, ha, just kidding.  But it was a lot!

Logan was on the Orioles again this year.  He turned into quite the little ball player this year and made the All-Stars team at the end of the season. 

At the pick-up game on the 4th of July, Logan and Jensen ended up being on opposite teams.  Yup, you guessed it...Logan ended up getting Jensen out.  It didn't go over very well at home later, but I'm pretty sure they will always remember it!

Logan and Jensen always played their games at the same time.  I ran back and forth when I could sneak away from score-keeping.  Sometimes it's as exhausting to play first base as it is to run up and down the hill to see my boys play!

This was Holden's first year playing and he knew exactly what was going on.  He knows more terminology than your average four year old!  He was awesome at hitting!

He also knew how to play first base.

But his favorite thing is the free snow cone after the game!!

Here's Holden at the end of season party.  He LOVES his medal!

Ally reluctantly signed up for softball this year.  She likes it, but has so many other things going on, we weren't sure how it would work out.  Well, after dragging her to her first game, she was hooked!  I think the coach judged her unfairly at the beginning because he knew she was a ballerina, piano playing actress, but she ended up being one of the most important players on the team.  She couldn't make it to the practices, but she made every game and worked hard!  She ended up playing second base.  Her team (the A's) ended up playing in the championship game, but lost by one point. 

Way to go, Ally!

Holden:  Going slow makes me angry!

Grandma and Grandpa brought everyone hats back from Oregon!

Swimming Lessons!  I put the kids in private swim lessons this year with Miss Bonnie and they loved it!  They made so much more progress than they ever have before.

Well, that sums up a little more of our summer.  The way I'm going on this blog, I might get caught up with summer...by Christmas!!!



Fishing Day!!

In June we always have our annual fishing trip to the Uintahs.  The weather was beautiful and we enjoyed our day at Trial Lake.

Things got off to a pretty slow start.  We were wondering if we were going to catch any fish at all.

I love this picture because it has the five most important men (boys) in my life in it.

We were still waiting...

Finally!  Holden reeled in our first fish of the day!  He was way excited to catch a fish.

This is Logan holding Josh's catch of the day.  Impressive, right?

Jensen caught a nice one!

Logan and his catch.

Holden got another one!  This one was huge!  He got the $2 from Grandpa this year.  One dollar for the first fish and one dollar for the biggest.

Ally finally caught one.

As soon as she and Katelyn caught their fish, they headed back to the trailer for treats.

S'mores anyone?

The keepers.  We had a wonderful day and were glad the Kotters came to join us once again.  I love this tradition!

Willard Bees

Jensen's baseball coach decided to put together a competition team for the 2013 season.  Jensen was asked to be a part of the team! 

They named themselves the Willard Bees. This was right before his first game.  Unfortunately, it got rained out!  He was able to play his second game later in the day, though.

The Team

Jensen was one of the youngest players on the team.  He was playing up a year.

Jensen was sort of a ball magnet.  He got hit a lot.  In the very first practice game, he even got hit right in the eye.  He was a little nervous to get back out there, but the coach started giving out candy bars to the kids when they got hit by the pitcher, so he was okay with getting hit after that!

This was his last game where he got hit, by really hard pitches, each time he was up to bat.  He had bruises the whole season!

Jensen has never been a fast runner, but he definitely improved during the season.  He got the award of "Smiles" at the end of the year.  He did not like striking out or making mistakes and got emotional when he did. But he always went back out with a smile the next time.

I didn't volunteer to scorekeep for the Willard Little League, but I got volunteered to be in charge of it anyway!  When Jens' team heard I knew how to keep score, I got volunteered for that job, too.  Needless to say Ally and I spent almost every game score keeping.  It's the best seat in the house, but stressful at times.  Especially because I don't know all the rules!!!

Anyway, we had so much fun watching his team play this year.  They might not have had a winning season (they lost every game), but it takes a lot of guts to keep getting out there even when you know you probably won't win.  Can't wait for next season!

Ballerina

Ally's ballet this year was Paquita.  Ally and Breonna were Jr. Royal Dancers.  I don't think Ally knows exactly what a Jr. Royal Dancer was for sure, but she did beautifully as usual.

She got to dance with Breonna again.

This was her ending pose for one of her dances.

Picture day!

Ally and Breonna

After the ballet.  She looked gorgeous!