Leave are Falling All Around

Last week we took our annual trip to the mountains to see the fall leaves in all their glory.
As usual, it was beautiful.
The leaves are so spectacular this time of year, especially the maples.

I have a love/hate relationship with Fall.
I love the chilly evenings and gorgeous foliage.
I love that I can make soup for dinner and not sweat to death while we eat.

I love having a reason to make as many pumpkin recipes as I can think of.
Everything from pumpkins chocolate chip cookies to my newest favorite, pumpkin chili.
I love walking on our favorite pathway and stopping so we can literally watch the leaves fall before our very eyes, and the soft sound they make as they whoosh to the ground.
Really, what's not to love?



The only part of Fall I dread is the end of it.
Because that means it will be winter and that means endless cold and wet and snow.
I am already dreading that.
The California girl in me wishes we could skip the Utah winters all together.

Especially this year, because when Spring comes, so does this baby!

May 10, 1869

According to Mr Bird May 10, 1869 was the best day in the history of the United States.
It was the day the the Golden spike was driven to complete the first transcontinental railroad connecting the Union Pacific Railroad and the Central Pacific Railroad.
For the first time in the history of our young nation there was one continuous rail road connecting the wild west to the rest of the county.
The two rail road companies and the rest of the country had a huge celebration and ceremony for the occasion.
For the last 59 years a cast of citizens and volunteers have recreated that ceremony.
They meet at Promontory Summit, the very place the golden spike was driven 141 years ago, and repeat word for word the things that were expressed more than a life time ago.
Lucky for Mr Bird, Promontory Summit is only about an hour from our home.
Every year since Mr Bird was a tiny kid he has gone to the ceremony.
Now he brings his own family, year after year.
It is the first day he requests off from work every January.

May 10, 2004 Promontory Summit

Although I have come to the ceremony year after year, it always has special meaning to me.
In 1869, just as the golden spike was getting ready to be driven, the rest of the country waited with baited breath for word that it was complete.
Some cities wired the telegraph to the local fire department alarm so that as soon as the signal was emitted the whole town would know and could join in the celebration.
Other towns had huge crowds of people around the telegraph waiting for the pre-assigned signal: D.O.N.E. done!

"Every telegraph in the nation was waiting with baited breath for that one word.
Both the spike and the maul are wired to the transcontinental telegraph wire so that the entire nation can hear the blows as the spike is driven. Now ladies and gentlemen, the time has arrived. As Mr. Shilling, the telegrapher, gives the signal over the wire, that the spike is driven, bells and whistles will sound across the nation."

Before the spike was driven a prayer was offered.
This is the telegraph message sent to the entire country just moments before the spike was driven:

"Bulletin! Almost ready. Hats off! Prayer is being offered."

For a moment the entire nation bowed their heads in prayer, together.
Think of the power of that prayer.
Has our nation before or since been so united and humble and prayerful.
That was an amazing moment, I can still feel the power of an entire continent united in prayer to their God.
How I long for our great nation to be as great as it was in that moment.
The rail road was more than just a highway into the west.
The work of building the railroad united a wounded country which had been badly broken and nearly divided by civil war.
Men form the North as well as the South untied their effort and worked side by side in an effort to rebuild our nation.
Men from all over the world came to help in hopes of bringing the knowledge they'd acquire to their homes across the seas and to replicate our system in their own lands.
The eyes of the whole world were upon The united States of America and this great feat of courage and strength.
Many men gave their lives in the completion of this revolutionary task.

"Ladies and gentlemen, I welcome you. We are gathered here to join the ends of the earth, to join the raw riches of the American West with the finished products of the industrial East. We also meet with mixed feelings; with joy that the work of thousands of men has joined the railroad, and with sorrow we remember the hundreds of men who gave their lives in building the railroad."


This is the heritage I want to pass on to my children.
I want them to see the examples of hard work with the blood and sweat and tears these men gave to build a nation.
I want them to see the value of coming together to build something bigger than themselves.
I want them to learn about these great men and the marvelous things they accomplished with not much more than their bare hands and wagons pulled by horses.
I want them to celebrate their personal victories, big or small.
I want them to love our nation and to stand tall in it, under their God, always giving thanks to Him.

P.S. Click here to read the reenactment in its entirety. It is truly inspirational.

The Impossible Dream

Another of my dreams is about to come true.
Remember this post about how I want to be in a parade?
Well, it turns out that this just might be my lucky year!
My brother-in-law, Brad Galvez (The Great) is the Republican nominee for The Utah House of Representatives on the November 2010 ballot.
During a dinner with the family he mentioned that as part of his campaign he planned to ride in the local parades this summer.
I about fell out of my chair.
In fact I think I jumped a foot in the air and lost control a little (or a lot) and shrieked something about the fact that I wanted to be in his float (or car or riding a horse).
Everyone looked at me like I was crazy, that's me the family crazy person.
It's OK, cuz every family has one, I'm fine with it being me.
Then I went on and on about how much I've wanted to ride in a parade.
I started to get so excited and could already smell the horse poo in the air!
Then it happened!
Brad, The Great appointed me as the head of the parade committee chair board!
I'm pretty sure he made that up just to make me feel good, let's not fool ourselves, it totally worked!
Now my mind will not stop thinking about it.
I have to come up with ideas now.
Should we do a float with sparkly banners and paper mache mountains?
Or should we go simple and commission some cool antique cars?
Then there's the equestrian route.
The Galvez's are huge horse lovers.
We could decorate the horses and carry banners and throw candy to the crowds?
It's so hard to decide.
Maybe we could do all the above, our family is big enough!
What would you do?

Tutus and Tights

Nothing says Christmas like The Nutcracker Ballet

I remember as a child watching the video over and over again.
I was totally enthralled with the sparkly costumes, the beautiful music and the magic of the hansom prince who was once a mere child's toy.
Our Thanksgiving weekend was the best time I've had in a long time.
We ate way too much Turkey, laughed until I thought I'd puke, attended a wedding (My father-in-law got remarried. Congrats Kent and Kathy, we love you both), had Mr Bird home and slept in 4 glorious days in a row.
Why is it I can never get out of bed in the mornings when Mr Bird is home?
He's just too cute and warm and snugly.
The kids think so too. All 4 of them ended up in our bed by 7am every morning.
It was heaven on earth.
Then Friday we saw Ballet West perform The Nutcracker.
It is the perfect transition from Thanksgiving to the Christmas season.
I did not go Black Friday shopping (although I have years past) and I can't say I really missed it.
Going to see the Ballet was much more fun and got me into the Holiday spirit way more than WalMart at 3:30 am ever could.
I think we have a new tradition!
It was fabulous to see all the little girls all dressed in their best clothes, the little boys wriggling in their collared shirts and ties.
When the music started and the curtain opened I could hardly keep my eyes on the stage. I was too busy watching the sheer wonder in my children's eyes.
They were absolutely mezmorized.
It was truly magical.

The Snow Queen has always been my favorite part.

She did not disappoint. She was perfectly sparkly and as graceful and beautiful as any snow queen I've ever seen. When I was a kid I would watch the ballerinas with sheer wonder at their flowing dance and graceful figures and I wanted to be them, just for a moment.
This production brought me back to those childhood feelings.
I would love to be a ballerina.
I just can't figure out how they bend their legs like that.
This may be one dream of mine that will have to remain a dream.
I don't think I could do splits in mid air if my life depended on it.
Mr Bird and I had fun looking at the men in tights.
We concur that Mr Birds bum is just as tight and that his thighs are even buffer than theirs.
Yup, I got a stud, what can I say!
Happy Christmas everyone! It's a 25 day long party!

Just Horsin Around

We keep having these nice sunny October days.
We keep thinking everyday might be our last good horse riding day of the season, so we keep going on awesomely gorgeous rides.
This week we went out to Antelope Island.

My baby was just too precious on that mare so I just could not stop taking pictures of him.
I took pictures of the rest of us, too, but let's face it, we're just not as cute as the littlest Weaver.

I hope there are many, many more days like this before the snow comes.
Oh, my heart just can't take all this cuteness!

Science 101

Did you know that if you put a Skittle in a glass of water the 'S' will float off all in one piece?
Tonight we saw it with our own two eyes!
And it was fabulous!
About a month ago I saw an article in Family Fun magazine about a family that does fun experiments with their Halloween candy.
I have been patiently waiting all month long to try it myself.
Oh ya, and I let the kids watch, too.
Let's not kid ourselves here, we all know I home school my kids and do these fun things for myself.
Sure, they can come along for the ride, but I am the one who wants to do these crazy things.
I really wanted to know what would happen if we filled a tray with candy and put them in the oven.
I'm the one that wanted to watch two atomic war heads bubble over when we dissolved them in water and added baking Soda to the mixture.

I wanted to see the rainbow colors melt away and leave fantastic colors in cups and bowl and dishes.
This activity did not disappoint.
The magazine listed a website with many different activities to try with different candies.

Baby watched and ate chocolate covered raisins as Lemon heads and suckers were being smashed to smithereens and sprayed my newly cleaned kitchen floor with tiny shards of sticky candy goodness.

We were not surprised to see that the Atomic War Heads and the Sweet Tarts were the most acidic candies in the mix.

I loved watching the cool patterns and shapes the molten candy made on the cookie sheet.
We loved watching them harden into cool shapes.
It was really cool to see what oozes out of those sugary treats.
For example, Air Heads and StarBursts had pools of oil floating on top of the candy puddle. We touched it with our fingers (once it had cooled of course) and our fingers were totally oily, way worse than eating a basket of french fries.
That really surprised me.
But I think the most surprising thing was that the Twizzlers did not change its shape in any way.
What is that made of?!?!
It did get tiny little blisters on the bottom, but it would not melt, even in a 350 degree oven.
Weirdo Billy!

My favorite part was those sexy hands wielding a hammer.
Yup, that's my man.

This photo cracks me up. Who needs a television when you have a bucket full of candy and an oven? I love my cute fun loving family!

Boots and Chaps and Cowboy Hats

Look what we did yesterday.
We had the best fall horse ride ever.
Our dead Aunt Lisa, who's not really dead, called about 1:00 in the afternoon and said, "Meet us on the mountain for a horse ride."
So by jingo, we loaded all 4 of my heathens in the car and headed for the mountains.

By 3:30 we were saddled and ready to ride.
Most of the bright orange and red leaves are already gone. The trees are all ready for winter.
*Sigh*
I wish I could hold on to fall just a bit longer,
but the ever greens are always beautiful.
Since Doodle is riding on her own we threw the little boys on horses with the grown ups and we were off.
The canyon was chilly, but as charming as ever.

I treasure these times with my family. We all love dead aunt Lisa and Grandpa. And sweet Jess, too.

It struck me during our ride home how awesome it is that we live so close to all the awesomeness.
We were home in time to make dinner and have the kids in bed before 8:00.
Talk about fun, spontaneous days.
I love these days with my kids, I hope they'll never end.

Speaking of the end, here's mine!
Yup, I just posted a photo of my rear end on my blog.
Is that tacky?

In Which I'm Totally Busted

Mr Bird had a conference in Sacramento, Ca last month.
Since I grew up 30 miles south of there and my mom and other family is still there we used that as a great excuse to have a road trip.
We loaded all the kids in the car and 12 solid hours of driving later we were in my home town.
We had a fabulous visit with my family.
(I use the word fabulous very loosely)
But this post is not about my family. I really just can't even go there.
We left my home town and spent a few days on the beach before we had to be back in Sacramento for Mr Bird's conference. Now that truly was fabulous. Sometimes my soul aches for the coast. I can still feel the salty breeze and see the fog on the horizon. I can hear the crash of the waves on the sand and I long to be back there.
My spectacular cousin, Laurel lives in Monterrey so of course we had to meet up for an amazing dinner with her and her cute hubby right on the pier. It was a truly magical night. My kids loved her. I can't wait until we all go to Disney Land together. What a blast that will be!
When it came time for Mr Bird's conference we high tailed it back to Sacramento.
We stayed in the Hyatt Regency, right behind the California State Capitol Building.
It was very posh.
We felt a little like fish out of water though.
The whole entire hotel was filled with very dignified men and women undoubtedly in town on business for the Governator himself. Then here comes our family with 4 little ones in toe who were so excited to see and touch everything.
*Double Yikes*
Anyway, none of this is the point of my post. Here is the real point.
As a home school mom I am always on the look out for fun and educational activities for the kids, even on vacation.
Being within a block of the California State Capitol the choice was obvious.
So, while Mr Bird was in his boring conference I loaded the stroller and we strolled our way over to the magnificent building for a peek see.
I hoped to get a little California history in them and I secretly wanted to see the Governator.
As we entered the huge doors I saw myself run smack dab into a very hairy situation.
As the huge doors opened for my little clan I found myself staring an armed guard right in the face. My stomach dropped as I looked dumbly at the huge metal detector behind his shoulder, which seemed to be laughing at me. At that moment I wondered what they would do with 4 children if they, for some reason, needed to arrest their mother.
You see, as I met eyes with the taunting metal detector I remembered the huge, claw ended, stainless steel knife in the bottom of the stroller.
I had made home made bread for our trip and earlier in the day we went to the park and had sandwiches. I packed my vicious looking knife to cut the bread and IT WAS STILL THERE.
I knew it was only moments before they would find it.
Should I just drop everything, kids and all and just run away?
I could make it to our hotel, get the car then drive 30 miles to my mom's house and hide there forever. No one would ever know.
Then I heard Beano say at the top of his little lungs in the huge, echo-y marble hall,
"Look mom! He has a real life gun!"
Ya, I was not running anywhere.
I decided to just come clean on my own, maybe they'd give me a reduced sentence.
I said something that I'm sure was utter nonsense. Something to the effect of: I had to feed my kids and I was cutting bread and I really did not bring it here on purpose.
I think they believed me because of the panic in my voice and the huge drops of sweet forming on my brow.
They confiscated my favorite bread knife and made me sign papers.
Papers saying I had brought a 12 inch knife into the capitol building.
They even let us in, after they had my knife of course.
As I was trying my hardest to turn back to a nice shade of pink from the chrimson I had just been, the nice guard says with a sly grin, "If you come back out this door we'll give your machete back to you!"
I think he was trying to be funny.
So NOT funny!
As I pushed the stroller around the corner I was shocked to see nothing less than the Governators office less than 100 yards from the door I had just tried to smuggle my machete through.
Outside his door was yet another armed guard. Just as we were passing, a woman in a suit came out of his office. The door opened just enough for me to see that his office was full of business looking men and women.
I'm sure they were all from out of town and were staying in the Hyatt.
I assume the Governator was in there, although I did not have time to make any sort of visual confirmation.
Ya, I got busted for bringing a machete into the California State Capital, not 100 yard form the Governator himself.
Oh Dear, not my brightest moment!

Family Fall Fun

Welcome October!

Yesterday we just could not stand being cooped up in these 4 walls any longer. We just had to go on an adventure.

Mr Bird took us on our favorite family drive.
Every time we have had a new baby we have come here.
When the new baby is about 2 weeks old I get restless.
I know the baby's too small to take in public, yet still I need to get out and see the sky and breath the fresh air.

Mr bird sees the restlessness in my eyes and loads me and the baby and any other children in the car and in a few short minutes we are in wonderland.
Weather it's Spring and the hill is covered in wildflowers or Summer and our toes feel wet and cool in the running stream or Autumn with the beautiful leaves changing and falling or Winter with pristine white and sliver covering the ground and sparkling in the trees, this is one of the most magical places I know.
It is one of my favorite parts of having a new baby.

This time there was no new baby, however, we were all feeling very restless.
We loaded all the kids in the car and in a few short minutes we were enjoying the wondrous colors of the fall trees.
A storm had come through a few day earlier and some of the snow mingled with the fall leaves was breathtaking.

The kids had fun eating the snow and making the first snow man of the year.
I had fun collecting unique leaves and dreaming of the fun fall crafts in my future.
We looked at the beautiful sky and soaked up the sunshine and breathed lots of fresh mountain air. When we were all frozen popsicles we all loaded back in the car and headed home.
It was such a nice distraction from our sickness.

Don't you just love this time of year!