Sister Rietz

Tomorrow is the big day.  Amber leaves the security of the MTC and heads out to the mission field bright and early!!  She will be able to give us a quick call before she boards the plane.  She is excited and ready to serve.  Today she had me post to her blog, Adventures of Sister Rietz.  She also got to send us pictures of her time learning how to be a missionary.  

I wasn't sure how the MTC would be for her.  A person hears so many different things - some missionaries cry themselves to sleep for the first while, some feel overwhelmed, some love the MTC and don't want to leave.  I think I have heard the full gamut.  From what we can glean, via a couple of emails and one snail mail letter home, she has loved her time there, even the long days in the classroom, but is ready to start sharing the Gospel.  Her letters sound upbeat, and you can see from the pictures that she looks pretty happy.

I include a few pictures from her emails.  Enjoy!

With one of her first investigators, Kitty.

I can't be sure, but I would guess this is in front of the Provo Temple.

I love this double greeting to little Carter from his Aunt Amber and Uncle Johnny who happened to be in the MTC at the same time!

Apparently everyone was on the same page for their color scheme that day.  These are the sister missionaries in Amber's district.

Sister Rietz with her companion, Sister Prows.

 We are super excited for Amber as she starts the next part of her mission.  I can't tell you how many times I checked my email today.  Last week her email came in the morning, so I figured that would be the same today.  Nope, not until mid afternoon today.  I had to be a patient Mama.  It was worth the wait, I assure you!  These pictures are worth a thousand words.

Want to follow me?

It's late.  It was Fast Sunday.  I am in that state of stuffedness that comes after a day of fasting.  I have minimum energy to blog tonight, but I set a little goal to blog every day since I have been behind.  So, here is my feeble contribution tonight.

See my gadgets on the side?  Notice anything new?  I added a "follow by email" gadget.

I realize that there are probably a handful of my people who actually check this blog, but since I have been posting more regularly, well at least I was posting more regularly until lately, I didn't know if  maybe someone out there might be interested in receiving an email when I do post something.

So there it is.  Do with it what you will.  I am not sure I can tell who is or isn't following me, so if you choose not to, I'm pretty sure I won't know unless you tell me.

I think I look at this blog as a way to keep my girls near and far updated on what's up around here, but I suppose I can also look at it as a way to keep a family history.  So its a two-fer!  A win-win.

Now, off to bed.  This is the last week of school.  Lots of good stuff, and lots of not so good stuff (finals) ahead.

BTW - I found a Life is Good tote bag, light orange no less, and a copy of Middlemarch (brand new) at a friend's garage sale this weekend.  Two favorite things for $1.50!  That is also a win-win!!

Water, water everywhere, but not a drop to drink, or water with, or (insert use)

Well, not "not a drop" but "not enough".  You would think living in a town bordered by two rivers, and not small ones at that, a well would last long enough to fill a family's needs, but alas, it is not so.  Our faithful well, that has served us for 22+ years is diminishing, and there's nothing we can do to save it.  Well, that isn't entirely accurate either.  We could spend an incredibly large amount of money to deepen it, but of course, as with all well-drilling operations, there is no guarantee.  So our solution is to join the local irrigation district and start paying for our water!  Gulp!!  That will be a hard pill for us, who are very spoiled, to swallow!!  Made even harder by the quantities we use during the summer to keep our yard looking so nice.  (Big round of applause to John who works hard to make and keep it looking that way!)  

So, that brings us to today's project - Dig a hole around the area where our well connects to our house and get it ready for the water people to connect us.  The area is in a flower bed at the side of our house, so there was a little plant rescue involved, but not too much, as most of the plants affected by the digging were plants that had spread a little (or a lot) farther than I wanted them to, so they were easily disposed of.  Trevor and John did the lion's share of the work, while I mainly took a turn here or there, and Kristin spent more time than me helping.  It took a large part of the day, and Trev and John are both spent.  Kristin and I recovered pretty quickly!  :)  

We are ready for the next step which involves a trencher, some plumbing knowledge and several valves, etc.  We called in a professional to take it from here.  (We know when to hold 'em and when to fold 'em!)

John and I both thought this part of the day looked like a little "government work"!

Rarely does Trev turn down a chance to run the tractor.

Sadly, this blurry picture is the only one I took of Kristin doing her part.  (It does show her very cool bun, though.)

You can't see it in this picture, but along with the dirt on his face and neck creases, he also had dirt in his "belly button crease".  He deserved every drop of the precious water he used for his shower!

Release the birds!

Trev's Eagle Scout project is drawing to a close.  He will release his remaining birds tomorrow morning on our property.  Here is the final outcome for the 100 chicks he started with.  (Click here for  the beginning of the project if you have no idea what I am talking about.)  FYI - the survival rate is about 30%.  Of course, we have no way to know how these birds will fare, but we are hoping to be on the high end of things. 

2 chicks died within the first two days. One of those wasn't well from the start

1 chick met an unfortunate demise when its head was snapped off by a critter (probably a fox) in the night.

1 chick was scared by something (probably the same critter) and tried to fly while it was in the run and crashed into a board, most likely breaking its neck.  This would be the chick Trevor stuck in the freezer in a ziploc bag and let me discover when he asked me for an ice cube!  Gross!!

1 chick made it through 2 nights on its own but died after Trev brought it back home because it had an injured foot.

2 chicks escaped and have stayed around the yard.  One got out while John was changing the water, or something like that, the other when they were being caught to transport for release.  They can often be found just pecking around the run.  Hanging out (on the outside) with their buddies.

The remaining 93 have been set free or will be tomorrow.  Trev let the first two batches go at a walking path on the edge of town.  There is a lot of bushes and ground cover for them to live in.  We have been out to check on the first batch, and found game trails they had made in just a day.  We also spied several of the birds and were happy to see they were still around.

Trev and John have both enjoyed the project, and it looks like there is another batch of chicks in our near future.  Trev has committed to raising another group and should get the chicks sometime in the second week of June.

Dick and Lorraine Hallisey with Trevor.  Dick has generously provided feed and wood chips for the chicks.  Lorraine collected roly-poleys (sp?) and took many pictures.  They came with us on both releases.  

This is John's favorite picture.  He loves how Trev got into the spirit of things and tried to model how to fly.

This is my favorite picture.  We spied this chick when we were on a walk Sunday to check on the birds.  They are pretty good at keeping themselves hidden already.

Trev only had to coax a few out of the cage the second release.  The birds just kind of moseyed out of the cage the first time.  Here is a good shot of Trev encouraging one of the lingerers on its way.

Most of the second group took off like this bird.  It was exciting to see them take off through the sky.

A Springtime Tragedy

A few weeks ago, on a beautiful Saturday, I spent most of the day weeding around our house.  At the back of the house, in one of the bushes, I spotted this nest.  4 sweet little eggs cozy and safe.  As I showed everyone else the eggs, I would occasionally scare the mama out of the nest, but couldn't figure out what bird would lay such tiny eggs.  Hummingbird was my best guess.  Fast forward about a week ago.  I quietly approached the nest, and there was the mama, sitting on her eggs.  It was a goldfinch.  I was happy to have the mystery solved.                                                    

Fast forward to today.  Another check on the nest brought unhappy news.  There was a hole in the side of it, and on the ground I found 2 eggs that were broken.  As you can see from the picture, they weren't remnants of a hatching.  Something got to the nest, and it didn't end well.  There is still at least one egg in the nest, but I can't imagine Mama coming back to it.  So not only are there at least two destroyed eggs, there is at least one that will languish because of neglect.  So Sad!!!

This reminds me of another Spring tragedy, about 12 years ago, give or take a year.  I discovered a bird's nest with bright blue eggs inside, they were robin's eggs, I was certain.  A few days later, Kristin and her friend, Cassidy were playing outside.  I don't remember how I discovered it, but sometime during their play date, they had found the nest and "moved" the eggs, and in the process broke at least one.  I was heart-broken!!  Of course, they were only about 3 or 4 years old, and in all their innocence told me what they had done.  I'm afraid I got more upset than I should have with them.  As I said, they were just little girls, and didn't mean to be malicious.  I think my sadness was for the mama.  My mother heart broke for the loss of her babies, because that is what would happen to my heart should I lose one of mine.

Of course, this is the way nature works, and there are little tragedies like this all the time.  I just don't like being reminded of that fact.

Home and 32 and counting (down)

The other night I was coming down the hill and caught a glimpse of our house.  Amber's shade was up and I could see her California State flag lit up by the twinkle lights she hung around it.  I smiled when I saw it.  The mission countdown is dwindling and just hovering over 30 days.  She got her itinerary to fly to Salt Lake this week!  So exciting!!  We started making skirts, and haven't had great success yet, but it is close.  Hopefully today there will be two finished and hanging in her closet.  And she got her booster Tdap so she is protected should she encounter a rusty nail or myriad other things that could give her tetanus, or be exposed to the rapidly returning Whooping Cough!  Immunize your kids for heaven's sake, and the rest of us, as well. (Stepping off soapbox now)

Its getting exciting, and scary and somedays I'm sure it can't get here fast enough.  So, so exciting!!!

But that is not what I sat down to blog about.

It's home that I want to wax poetic about.  When I came down the hill and saw the house with lit windows, I was glad to be heading there.  Not because I was eager to leave our RS Activity, where I had been.  It was a great evening where about 15 of us spent an hour and a half sewing comfort bags for elderly people.  I love getting together with my friends from church.  Laughing, sewing, eating, sharing - its all good.  So that wasn't why I was glad to see those windows iilluminated from inside.  It was knowing my family was inside that house, and although they don't come running to the door to greet me anymore (they are teenagers), I knew they wouldn't be sorry I was home, and thus in a roundabout way, I knew they were glad I was home.

I am not a homebody.  I love to travel.  In fact, John is in Utah right now to celebrate his mom's birthday, and I am very sad I couldn't go.  He gets to spend time with Alli and Ryan, his sisters and their families, and also he's done a little exploring of the art museum at BYU.  I would love to be there.

I love to go see our kids and their families, I love to go new places, I really hope the Australia trip comes to pass (Ashley says we just have to rip off the band-aid and go for it. :) I did fill out my passport application on-line and print it out.  John's is next.)  I have a list of places I would love to see - Italy, not only the picture from the puzzle, but maybe the area where my relatives come from; the French provincial countryside, and Paris of course; Arches and Zions National Parks - I have seen some incredible pictures; I'm told Mt. Ranier shouldn't be missed; and did I mention Australia??

I loved the historic sights, and pretzels, in Philly; could go back to New York in a heartbeat and see everything I missed the first time; and have fallen in love with downtown Seattle.  Portland is still one of my favorite places to go, as well as the Oregon Coast.

But at the end of it all, there is always home.  The place where our family story has taken place for the past 22+ years.  Three of our children were brought home as newborns to this house.  We have held two wedding celebrations, 6 baptism celebrations, 4 graduation parties, 22 Christmases, and I'm not sure how many Thanksgivings and hosted 3 General Authorities.  Again at the end of it all, there is home.

Home is where you hang your hat.
Home is where your story begins.
Home is where your heart is.
Home sweet home.

So no matter if I'm coming home from a trip or coming home from the grocery store, like Dorothy, I'm always glad to get back home, because there truly is no place like home.

A Springtime Post

 Spring has finally sprung, and that means a few things.  

 1 - It means Amber is done with her Freshman year.  I headed to Rexburg to pick her up on Thursday.  It was a pretty uneventful drive and I made it there safely and in good time.  One thing I was looking forward to was stopping at Lolo Pass.  Several years back when Chelsie was in High School, I took her to Idaho Falls to play in a soccer tournament.  I remember we stopped at the summit and there was stuff about Lewis and Clark and a monument to Stephen E. Ambrose, who wrote "Undaunted Courage" about the Corps of Discovery.  When I got there Tuesday, I was disappointed to find so much snow (see below), that I just used the bathroom and headed on my way.  No pausing to look at anything.  (Not that I could have found it in the snow anyway!!)

My courage was "daunted" and I didn't stay long.

One great thing about going to Rexburg is getting to visit with Dick and Lynnette.  They used to live here, and have relocated so they can live closer to family.  I can totally understand why they would want to live closer, especially after having just driven 1055 miles in two days, but I would be lying if I said I didn't miss them.  They are wonderful people, the kind who make you feel like you are their favorite person out of all the people they know.  (Of course, they make all their friends feel that way!  :)  but that's just the kind of people they are!  Rexburg won big when they moved down there.  They hosted me for the night, and I repaid their hospitality by making them pose with me for a selfie!!

I had Amber give me some pointers on taking selfies after I saw this!  Clearly I need some coaching!!

Although the drive from Lolo to Lewiston seems like it will take forever - probably due to the 50 mph speed limit for much of it - a view like this is worth the trip!  The bugs on the windshield detract from the river and canyon.  You'll just have to take my word that it is truly beautiful.  There are signs all along the road for hiking trailheads.  I'm going to do a little investigating and see about getting out there this summer for a family hike.

2 - Spring also means its time for prom, tonight!  There was a near Prom Dress Disaster (well not really a disaster, more like a snafoo, but disaster sounds better).  We ordered Kristin's dress from a website based in China.  The delivery date was anywhere from the 8th to the 14th of April.  I told Kristin she needed to come up with a Plan B if the dress didn't come.  Yesterday, we checked the tracking and it was still in Federal Way, Washington. I thought there was a chance it could come today, but when I checked tracking again this morning, it still showed the same status.  Time for Plan B.  She found a dress among our dresses from dances past, and all was well.  Fast forward to this afternoon when I checked the mail.  I couldn't believe it, but there was the dress, just as pretty as you please.  And it it VERY pretty.  After she saw it, she kept saying it was so much prettier than she expected.  YES!!  There was a little modification needed to spiff up the modesty, but I finished it by 5:00.  No worries, Cody wasn't coming until 5:15!! :)  The modification was one of those things I prayed would work out, not knowing exactly what I was doing until I was done!  Whew!! It worked out!!

Kristin and Cody posing for the requisite pictures.

The prom group, a very nice group, if I may say.

3- Spring also means yardwork. We spent most of today doing just that.  I was clearing out leaves from under a bush, when I saw something that looked like a hornet's nest.  I'm so glad I looked again, because look what I found!!!  The smallest nest with the smallest eggs.  (They are about the size of small malted milk Easter eggs.) So tiny and sweet.  The mama bird did not take kindly to me peeking at her soon-to-be-babies and showing everyone else my find.  She swooped out several times while we were walking by her nest.  Sorry, mama!!

And speaking of birds, here is a shot of one of the baby pheasants.  It is less than a week old in this picture and already its are feathers growing.  The past few days, the feathers have grown more, and the chicks try jumping and flying, especially if the door to the brooder is open.  Soon they will be put outdoors and able to use the caged run.  They are growing very fast.