Birdy Bunch News

ROCK WALL and TRAMPOLINE....oh MY!

2009-04-27T10:25:00.000-07:00

So what does a bunch of pearl jewelry buy in todays market?? Turns out a ROCK WALL and A Sunken TRAMPOLINE!! Much to the bird kids happiness! We discovered our house was 'sliding' and we needed to put a REAL retaining wall in (the previous owners were losers and had not done a wall at all) so after realizing there was no way we would have the cash to do it, we found a company that would trade for some pearl jewelry. So we now have a secure home and an awesome sunken tramp! The kids have LOVED playing out on the tramp...brings back the good ole days from our old Lehi house!

THE GREAT DALMUTI

2009-04-27T10:13:00.000-07:00

We have dinner with the Holbrook family once a month. On this particular Sunday we played the Great Dalmuti. This game involves great skill to be able to work your way up the ranks to the leading role of the Great Dalmuti. (Another famous Utah name for this game is 'Scum'). If you are not the Great or Lesser Dalmuti, then you are a merchant (red hats) and if you are not qualified as a merchant, then you are a Great or Lesser Peon. (joker hat and kid on table). THe reason I am posting about this most amazing and fun game is because on this particular day after starting out with Wade and Wyatt as Great Dalmuti, I won like 5 hands in a row and was the Great Dalmuti for the rest of the game!!! It was fantastic phenomenal fun! After the first hand, the Great Dalmuti can request the Great Peon to do a 'favor'. In previous games, People have had to go do snow angels barefoot in the snow, bring food and drinks, do dances and sing. In this photo, Wyatt had to do a solo of Popcorn Popping on the Apricot tree while dancing on the table.

Mckenzie turned 18 and had her favorite Strawberry Cream Supreme cake. She was taken to the Zermatt Resort in Park City and enjoyed a day at the spa getting her nails and toes done. Great introduction into adulthood...hah!

Jenner's First DATE!!

2009-04-27T10:05:00.000-07:00

Jenner was invited to the SweetHearts Dance by Amber. In fact, he was invited by 4 girls total, but Amber got him first! We had a lot of fun responding (getting caught) and 'prepping' for this 'first date'!

Jenner did great with matching his date, and we chose to go with flowers (a dozen roses) rather than a corsage because we weren't sure what the current trend was, turned out we were supposed to do a wrist corsage..sigh.

But they had a fantastic time with lots of fun dancing and some great photos with their group. Jenner is still a picky eater and had to 'hide' half his dinner in his napkin...geesh Jen...get OVER it already, it's JUST CHICKEN!!

Jenner made a purple duct tape coat for Purple Pride week at Lehi High School. It was the hit of the week and started a huge raid on purple duct tape!! Everyone loved his coat, wanted to wear it, and etc. He even duct taped his shoes (background) and that started a trend as well. This crazy kid!!

Catching up With Jenners 16th B-day

2009-04-27T09:57:00.000-07:00

So its been a LONG time since I've posted a blog update. But that doesn't mean stuff hasn't been happening! In February Jenner turned 16, Mckenzie turned 18 and I aged as well!

Jenner invited over a bunch of his friends and they all went Lazer Tagging and came back for food, folks and fun! Mck and her friends all dressed up as Chineese girls and went around the mall acting foreign. (yes, they do this often...sigh!)

Jerica had to do a Science Project for her 5th grade class. She chose to see what would happen if pearls were soaked in various liquids such as bleach (not good) hydrogen peroxide (faded the pearl) and coca cola (disintegrated the pearl). Her report turned out really good and she got an A on her project!

Holy Hannah It's March

2009-02-23T18:04:00.000-08:00

I cannot believe the time and events that have lapsed since my last entry of "if I don't make it on here before the New Year, have a great leap into 2009" !! What was I thinking? I had no idea January could be more busy than all the holidays combined! Whew...bizarre! So here are the highs and lows of everything to date:

Jenner has turned 16! He had a great friend party, a fun family party, and by the end of this week will be legally licensed to drive! He even has a car...he has inherited Jordan's old Toyota Corolla...1988...and with thanks to the Holbrooks...it STILL RUNS!! (But it has a hard time starting in the cold!)

Jordan is still working at TelePerformance and also Best Buy. During the day (6am to 3pm) he troubleshoots Dell issues over the phone for very confused Dell owners. Then, in the evening he sports a lovely blue polo and aids people via the Geek Squad at Best Buy...so pretty much a computer and electronic geek to the nth!! He is enjoying saving money and is looking forward to moving out sometime in the spring to have his own apartment.

Mckenzie has PHENOMENAL NEWS!! She has been accepted to BYU Provo, BYU Hawaii and University of Utah!! And now she is TORN of where to go! So we are all doing our research and pondering trying to help her figure out what to do when she lands on that 18 year old birthday next week (28th). She is loving the fact that she is almost done with her senior year and cannot wait for graduation and her 'real' life to begin.

Zach is simply amazing! He has finally decided to graduate from 7th grade. His grades have reached passing levels in all but one of his classes...mom and dad are so relieved!! He has made several friends and every day after school our house is filled with random groups of the kids friends that are just hanging out and doing homework and eating after school snacks! He is becoming a very proficient drummer and piano player and has really taken to the practicing which has made him advance a lot quicker on the songs and et.

Jerica is so awesome! She is the Straight A Super Star in her class, totally loved by her teacher and classmates, she has auditioned for a talent show which will run this Thursday and she is doing a dance with two other friends, she is still in her dance class and is lovin that and is also doing amazing with her piano...somehow I will figure a way for us to record her playing her songs and then upload them on here!

Me...well...I am aging gracefully (so I hope) and have enjoyed a really amazing birthday day today filled with lots of love. A great lunch with mom, flowers from mom in Cali, cards from family and friends, and calls, lots of phone calls, and then tons of well wishes on my facebook wall!! Thanks to all for making me feel great in 2009!

11 Days Before Christmas

2008-12-14T10:40:00.000-08:00

Here we are with 11 days to go before that amazing day arrives. It's been a whirlwind year. Especially a whirlwind Nov/Dec.
I had a show to do in Boston this past week, which had a layover in Baltimore. So I arranged to meet with Rick at BWI. Unfortunately the plane was delayed from Manchester to BWI, so instead of having 2 hours to hang with dad, I had about 2 minutes! The plane landed at 4:50Pm, and I grabbed my large blue bag of gifts for all the East Coast family and started RUNNING! I made it out to the airport/Southwest entrance by 4:55 and called Dad's cell. We met right in front of the security entrance with a big ole hug. Then he asked the magical question "when is the next flight to SLC" "Five fifteen" I replied! AGH! We talked for 5 minutes and I ran back through security with a large box of Godiva Chocolates courtesy of Grammy Speaks, and I raced over to my gate and ran onto my plane with minutes to spare!
What a life! But oh so worth living!

Rich is home from California for the next two weeks, which will be incredibly nice. We have lots of Christmas 'stuff' to get ready for. My employee is off to Mexico to build houses for 2 weeks, and the kids are out of school this coming Friday, so I think the rest of the year will be a blur of busy-ness!

If I don't make it back onto the blog before the end of the year, may you all have a very wonderful Christmas holiday and a fantastic leap into 2009!

DREAM...a poem by Jenner Bird

2008-12-06T15:11:00.000-08:00

Dreams can Soar
Dreams can fly
Or they can burn up
In the sky
They can be fought for
They can be won
Some people dream
Just for fun
But dreams can burn up
And crash to the ground
It is only your choices
That will keep them around
Dreams can be given
Dreams can be taken
They can also crumple up
Like a burnt piece of bacon.

The End
Jenner Bird
December 2008

PHILIPPINES 2008

2008-12-01T14:47:00.001-08:00

A video flash of our trip!

Dance, Beauty and the Beast, and a Day of Thanks!

2008-11-30T19:30:00.000-08:00

We have just had a run of activities this past week! Jenner has just finished up his play at the school, Beauty and the Beast, wherein he was a villager and mobber. Lots of singing and dancing and MAJOR rehearsals that kept Jenner at the schools till 11pm for about 2 weeks straight. Which was evidenced in 3 non-grades for his classes !! :) But he assures me those are going to be corrected over the next week or so.
Jenner did a fabulous job, and tho they wouldn't let us take photos during the actual performance, towards the end we were able to snatch some while they were bowing!
Meanwhile, Jerica had her dance performance while I was in the Philippines, but the teacher let her class do it again when I returned, so I did get to see her perform her two dances which were amazing! She practiced so long and hard for those numbers. She is darling as a dancer and really has all the moves memorized and down pat.
And then along comes that wonderful day of Thanks...which I have much to be grateful for this year. Not only did I have amazing support while I went on this latest trip to the Philippines, but all year long, with the different show travels, the visits to Maryland to see my family back east, the constant travels back and forth to Primary's, I have had SO MUCH love and support from so many people that have literally made my life possible. My gratitude this year is simply for all the good people that touch and influence my life on a daily basis.
We began our day with our traditional football game against the Holbrooks. I am happy to say that my team won!! (my teammates were Jerica, Mck, Wade, Jenner, Kat, Zach and Wyat) and we played AWESOME! Everyone had a turn being the QB and we had some fun passes and touchdowns. Jordan kept forgetting it was 2-hand touch football, so he snuck in a few tackles that made us catch our breath a few times, but no one got hurt, so it all ended well! We sure missed grampa being there to photograph it all, but Mck bailed out a bout midway through and started to take some photos, so we do have some nice pics of the event. Following that, we had a nice simple traditional turkey day dinner with Gramma C and enjoyed each other's company. Then Mck and I went to see Twilight at the movies (which was great) and Rich and the others watched a movie here at the house. Our night ended without a bang, it was just a nice day with all of us together enjoying each other's company, and being together as a family. Jordan and Mckell spent all morning and most of the day with us, then they went to her families house around 3pm.

ICKY Food!

2008-11-19T01:16:00.001-08:00

So here is the 3rd McDonalds, I even did the McDonalds, McDonalds, Kentucky Fried Chicken and Pizza Hut song, which we all laughed about!
At the temple Shrine area in Narita
Me holding up the world...and part of the shrine...ha ha

TOKOYO JAPAN! Weird food, cool temples/shrines

2008-11-19T01:04:00.000-08:00

and a Day of fun shopping! We are now back at the airport after taking what I will now call a "JORDAN ADVENTURE" which translates into "Hey, we are at the airport and we have 6 hours to kill before our flight, lets go find a McDonalds in downtown Japan!"" (Or Hong Kong as was Jordans case!) and we DID! In fact, we found THREE!!! (in your face Jordan!!! ) We saw the statue of the RAT and couldn't help but think of Jenner, which of course prompted the story of the Secret of Nimh and the origin of Jenner's name! Jacquel and her mom got a laugh out of that!

What a great day! HEre are the photos! I'll type more info when I'm not boarding! I'm so tired I cannot even beleive ti, it is two am in SLC and I have been traveling since 5am Monday the 17th! Crazy crazy trip this is turning into!

ANCHORAGE ALASKA...is FREEZING COLD

2008-11-18T07:38:00.000-08:00

When you're planning to be in 100 degree weather! So we had an amazingly unexpected stop last night (or I should say mid morning) our Pilot became very illand we emergency landed in Anchorage Alaska. They had to rush him to Mayo Clinic. So all 400 of us on the flight were bused over to the Quality Inn for some fine cuisine and a wonderful nights lodging! Here are some photos of the beginning of our trip....Alaska...WHO KNEW!! We are at the airport again right now, about to take back off for Manila. The first photos are at SLC airport, we were showing off how big our plane was in the background, and then the other ones are in Anchorage with a GIANT Polar Bear!! Fun times! The trip is already off to a great start! More from Manila!

HEADING TO THE PHILIPPINES

2008-11-17T11:06:00.000-08:00

Just a quick update. I'm about to board a plane to Philippines...until the 25th! Everyone have a great thanksgiving and I will post either from PH or when I return!

All the other birds are doing great!

5K Run/Walk Video

2008-11-11T07:21:00.001-08:00

Halloween Fun

2008-11-09T16:00:00.000-08:00

We had an amazing Sunday dinner with the Holbrooks, mom, and Wade's mom, Carolyn. The camera wasn't that handy, but we had Cafe Rio dinner, watched Wade cream Zach and Rich in chess (he used to be in CHess club and was a CHAMPION!!), had a FUN halloween SPIDER cake and then talked and talked and talked. IT was really a great evening!

Due to technical difficulties (we couldn't find the camera) we have NO HALLOWEEN pictures from this year!!! WHHAAAA~ but we did snag one of Mckenzie, who spontaneously dressed up as Belle, by buying her dress at the Goodwill and making a 'Belle' dress because the Disney one was too expensive, and renting one was over $100!! She was such an amazing Belle that when she went to Walmart afterwards, a woman ran up to her and invited her to do her daughers B-day party the following Saturday (and yes, Mck got paid for it and thought that it was pretty cool!) So she was a cute hit all the way around. Jerica went with her gypsy outfit again, Zach did a zombie/car wreck victim, and Jenner did a pirate, Wesly from Princess Bride/Zombie carrying a sword weird thing. They all went Tricker Treating and we had an informal open house here at the house wherein everyone could stop by casually. It went quite well, we started with Zach and his friends, then Jerica nd her friends, then Zach and Jeri left, then Jenner and his friends were here, then they left, and about the time they left, Jordan and his group showed up. The only ones who didnt' have friends dropping by was Rich and I!! But that is no surprise...they were all out taking care of their own tricker treaters.

Jerica and I maintained our tradition of the wonderful story of Jack and the Black bubblegum in her class this year. It was a HUGE hit. I am sad that there is only one more year left to go do that traditional halloween story that I have been giving my kids' classes for going on 10 years now! So sad! But it was fun and the kids were all enthralled with the story and were fascinated with the 'black bubblegum' as it appeared from the witches hand!

Other than that, the Birds are all alive and well here in Utah. Wendy takes off for Philippines on Monday the 17th and returns the night of the 24th. So no blogging till then! It will be Thanksgiving fun catch up at that point!

Family Photos Mckenzie update, and Rich's funky mustache!

2008-10-05T19:41:00.000-07:00

Going through some iPhoto stuff, I found some new pictures of nearly the whole family that my mom had taken a few weeks ago when she came over for the Primary program and Sunday dinner. I also found the photo of the 'proof' of my leg being in a cast which made me unable to run/walk/crawl in the 5k (many people have asked why I didn't do it!)
And, some have asked for an update on Mckenzie. She was home from the hospital Wed and back to school Friday. She has weekly blood draws to check her platelet count for the next several months. Last Friday it was 72,000, this past Friday it was 72,000, so she hasnt' had an increase, OR a decrease. She needs to be up to 150,000 sometime over the course of the next few months, so we are hoping that that will happen sooner rather than later. For now, she is doing well, is back to work and school, and is her spunky ole self!

Also, for those of you who might remember Rich's odd no shave year of this past summer, I found a photo of his very 'Lehi-ish' country mustache. Nearly a handlebar, but much more fun. you may have to zoom in to see all the characteristics it adds to his facial feature. Needless to say, he was not kissed nearly all spring and summer as he went through his 'phase.

5K Run, Purple Pride, Health

2008-09-28T20:58:00.000-07:00

We are slowly getting back into our Sunday update routine! Looking at the past few blogs, I realize I have missed a critical update....JENNER and his PURPLE HAIR! He and Mckenzie got up at 5am to show their purple pride at Lehi High School for a big football game a couple of Friday's ago (Lehi won...HURRAY) so since you are all so used to seeing Jenner with long blonde hair hanging in his face, this photo will come as quite the shock I am sure!!

On the side, this Saturday morning, we arose quite early to participate in a 5k run/walk/crawl/bike that our Stake was sponsoring. Due to my minor incident last week (stretched my tendons in my toes on my left foot, and am now in a surgical boot for the next 4 weeks) I was unable to participate, but that didn't stop me from going and taking some great photos! Way to go Bird Troops!!

Hospital fun...and Nightmares

2008-09-22T22:27:00.000-07:00

Primary's, I must admit, is the most exceptional hospital in the world. We have had wonderful care, concern, and prompt attention from all the staff, nurses, and Dr's over the last 24 hours. We especially had fun with a nice (although delayed due to being lost) visit with Loni, Camber, Tony and 'Smashley', who came to visit Mckenzie in her room tonight. They brought with them one of Mika's favorite desserts...Chocolate Molten Lava cake from Chilis, which, due to Lonis' amazing dancing skills, unfortunately ended up all over my bed/recliner and the floor!!! :) picture of that one later!!) What great friends to take the time on a school night to see their friend!

Ironically, as soon as they walked out the door, the nightmare began. Mck had a 'reaction' to her infusion. She spiked a fever, chilled, couldn't breath, and started to feel 'stabbing' in the back of her head which brought her to tears. Nurses came in (3) and medications were administered while her temp and blood pressure continued to escalate. 4 warm blankets, one cold washcloth, an IV drip, oxygen mask, and heart monitor and several rounds of medicine finally brought things under control by 11:30pm. Nothing sends a mothers mind racing then to see controlled 'panic' by a staff of nurses. No matter how calm the reaction, the eyes tell all. Turns out Mck was the first one to have a reaction like this in a LONG time.
I sat on the edge of her bed and stroked her arms and tried to control her chilling while my mind was racing with fervent prayers that her suffering would be just a short time. Her head pain turned to drilling and throbbing before finally subsiding after 45 minutes. She's an amazing trooper! Here's hoping she will be able to sleep through the night...no doubt that mom won't!
Tomorrow they will run labs to see if this infusion tonight was helpful. If not, then we are here again tomorrow. If it is, then we will continue with the infusions until her platelet level normalizes and stabilizes.

Another Day in the Life of the Birds

2008-09-22T14:55:00.000-07:00

Well, at least this time around there is a reason for my negligence in updating the blog. This past week has found us at Primary's with a different child this time around....Mckenzie! On Thursday afternoon we went to the Dr with some 'spots' and streaking and large amounts of bruising. We were sent to Timpanogos Hospital for labwork and 30 minutes later rushed to Primary's Children hospital with a platelet count of 11,000. (normal range is 30-45,000). After spending 11 hours at the ER and various forms of testing, Leukemia was ruled out and we were told to check in with Oncology in the morning. Oncology couldnt' fit Mckenzie in until today at noon. We arrived not sure what to expect.
Several hours later (it's now 4pm) and Mckenzie's platelets have dropped to 6,000, she sustained a nose bleed that took 45 minutes to clot and an entire pack of Kleenix to prevent from dripping all over the floor and she has now been admitted for some serious platelet work. IVIG is her first option, and if that doesnt' work (or she is RH-) then we move onto Anti-rho D treatment. Her spirits are good (moms are a bit worse...but she's just a little more emotional when it comes to her babies) and we are trying to stay upbeat and positive.

There is concern for lupus, and they will be testing for that over the next 24 hours and we are expected to be discharged from hospital within the next 3 days. Hopefully she will respond well to the treatment and her platelet count will increase rapidly. Since we have my laptop, we will take photos and update the blog frequently! Here is our first photo, waiting for results of labwork.

Hiking in Portland to a WATERFALL...UGH

2008-08-31T18:56:00.000-07:00

So then on Saturday, we dropped Rich off at Portland airport and began our journey home. We stopped at Multahomandamht falls (or something like that) and decided since it was only 2 in the afternoon we should stop off and hike to the top of a waterfall...and I hope I never have a thought like that again!! We decided it would be lots of fun to hike to one that was recommended by the ranger, because then we would pass three other falls and could swim at the one at the top. 4 miles and at least 2 hours later, we were hot, sweaty, thirsty (no water bottles) sore (wearing flip flops) and exhausted and wondering if we were EVER going to get where we were supposed to be going. As we came around another switchback, there was a mini falls on the trail, so we doused our heads under the water and cooled off as much as possible and used our hands cupped together to drink some of the water. Man was that a refreshing stop! We reached our falls, took a few photos, then quickly made our way back down so that we could get to Boise before 2am! It took a huge chunk of time out of our day, was a lot of fun, but also a lot of hard work. Jenner was brave enough to swim out to where the waterfall fell, and you can kind of see his head bobbing off behind Jerica as she crouches down!

SWIMMING With J-Man

2008-08-31T18:45:00.000-07:00

After a fun time on the coast, and another quick trip to Portland to drop mom at the airport, we grabbed a hotel that had a pool and Jordan showed up and everyone jumped into swimsuits and had a blast playing chicken, dunking, and other great pool games!

FUN IN THE SAND, DEVILS CHURN and other stops

2008-08-31T18:33:00.000-07:00

Random photos of the kids playing in the sand and on the beach. We did go visit Devils Churn and got some great shots of everyone doing odd things at our different stops!

Family and Friends Visit

2008-08-31T18:12:00.000-07:00

Tuesday found me driving to Portland to pick up my mom from the airport.

This turned out to be an awesome opportunity to hang out with my BFF Terrie from Eugene! (unfortunately no photo of she and I, dangit!) She accompanied me on the 2 hour drive up and back and it was great to catch up on all of our news! While I was doing that, the Holbrooks came to visit and the Bird clan and Holbrook clan all loaded up in the Denali and spent the day doing Tide Pools, Old Town, Wave jumping, sand castle building and a myriad of other activities...they basically crammed a whole week of activities into ONE FULL day! Who knew a Denali could cart around that many people (ten kids, 3 adults) all day long! In this photo, they turned Jerica into a mermaid, in the ones below, they did wave jumping, and then below that, a shot of gramma Champion, who joined us for a few days vacation on the coast!

MY TOWN, MY STREET, Give me peace of mind that can't be beat!

2008-08-31T17:49:00.000-07:00

Monday we finally drove out to the long awaited for coast cabin! After an early morning camp clean up and Jordan drop off, we made our way out to Florence. We arrived by noon and let all the kids out at the sand pit to run out to the waves. It was a glorious day! (let me clarify, it was grey cloudy and misty, but glorious to arrive and get out of the car!!) No matter how many car arguments have been going on, or how annoyed or irritated people might be with each other, it never fails to amaze me how everyone has an attitude shift as we turn down 4th street, see the ocean, and everyone falls under the same spell....THE SAND, THE WATER, THE WAVES, OUR TOWN!!! It is much like the scene in the animation, Bambi, where Bambi has heard all about the amazing 'meadow' and is so excited to go running and playing around in the meadow after a long hard couped up winter and just as he comes around the bend to the open meadow he belts out "THe MEADOW" and goes sprinting across the open area! That is the birdybunch on the Oregon shore..."THE COAST" is what we all belt out and we can't get out of the car fast enough to go run through the sand and out to the water. No matter how cold, no matter how windy, no matter what time of day it is. The feeling is there and is always the same...we are home.

Jenner immediately set out to build an amazing Jenner Castle Resort out of sand, complete
with Palm trees (sea weed) and a great 6 story tower complete with state of the art shell decorations! Jerica thrived on running around in the wind and hanging with family.

THE CAMP-OUT! (Smore's anyone??)

2008-08-31T17:28:00.000-07:00

After rafting, we drove to Portland and grabbed YOU KNOW WHO!!! JORDAN! YEA!!! We took him down to Cedar Creek for an amazing night of camping...ha ha...Rich and I have now vouched to NEVER camp again...without a bed. Our backs were NOT prepared for a night on the hard ground. I ended up in the car at 4am with Mckenzie (who was smart enough to start off there!) Rich stuck it out in the tent...silly man! Before the evening festivities of dinner and fire. We swam around and had a great time in the creek. Rich gave Zach a challenge to jump from this cliff, Zach contemplated for about 20 minutes. We REALLY thought he was going to do it. He had Rich up there with him for support, then Jenner joined in, then they jumped, then he was alone, and still contemplating, then Jenner came back up to offer support, then Jenner jumped again (we got a fantastic shot) then after a few more minutes, he climbed back down! We couldn't believe it! He even had $50 on the line!! But it wasn't enough! So he climbed down and was remorseful the entire rest of the evening, and then a few days later, wanted to go back and try again, but it was too late since we were already at the coast! Cedar Creek was a lot of fun and we really enjoyed cooking hotdogs, smores and swimming in the creek! I especially loved having that Jordan-man there!

OREGON COAST...in COLOR!

2008-08-31T17:18:00.001-07:00

Labor day is tomorrow, its the last day of August, and I HAVE to get my Oregon coast photos up and talked about! It was such a great trip, with many highlights! I'll start at the beginning and just upload each post with it's corresponding photos so it's not so lengthy to read about! First, the beginning, as that is always a GREAT place to start! We began our trip in Washington with a half day river rafting trip down the White Salmon River. This was a very daunting adventure, as when we first launched our boat into the water, we very nearly lost Richard, head first, off the front of the boat and into the river! We hit white water and several rocks right off the bat, which had Zach and Jerica ready at their posts (and clinging to the rope handle inside the raft!) The most exhilierating part of the trip came towards the end. A huge waterfall to plummet down! We lost half our crew (mckenzie, Jerica and Zach) to FEAR, and they climbed out just prior, while Rich Jenner and I took our 'barely-there courage' and rafted through the falls. Of course once we went through, it was like "Well that was easy", but it really was quite intimidating knowing it was coming up! Everyone claimed they would do it for sure "next time"! We all had on wet suits, water jackets, and even helmets, with our life vests. Not many photos of this adventure (no water proof camera) but here is our 'before' shot as we had donned our wet suits!

LA FAMILIA LOERA y Los Pajaros en Mexico!

2008-08-10T09:51:00.000-07:00

Hoy es un grande dia! Pues, ayer fue un grand dia! Yo recibe una 'email' de la familia Loeras! Para el primero tiempo de QUARTO ANOS!! We have been very worried and wondering much about our Loera family (Jerica's namesake). The last we had heard from them was 4 years ago in Lehi when they were coming to SLC for Angel to go on his mission to California! Angel is long back and getting married on September 12th. SO it looks like the LOS FAMILIA PAJAROS SON DEVOLVI a MEXICO EN SEPTIEMBRE!! We are frantically trying to work out how we can get to Juarez to be part of Angels wedding! It has been 4 long years since we have had communication and we are anxious to visit Mexico and see our long time family/friends and take part in this great celebration!

AUGUST 10th and the OREGON TERRITORY

2008-08-10T09:36:00.000-07:00

I have been remiss in my writings...missed one week and its going to turn into two! We are in Oregon for the next ten days. Early planning on our part (booked in January) but poor planning as well because it turns out school starts WAY early this year (August 18th-Monday) and we are therefore returning on the 17th...LATE!
We left Friday after Zach finished his basketball camp with the Jazz player Ronnie Price. He had a blast at such a level that his basketball came in the car with us to Oregon and he is right at this moment playing basketball with his dad down at the Jefferson courts where Rich used to play (here in Eugene) when he was just a teen! Every few hours in the car Zach would yell out "Lets stop" and we'd reply "do you need to use the bathroom?" and he would say "no, I want to play ball, stop at a place where I can shoot some hoops!!" Those type of roadside services are near impossible to find by the way!
Our first stop was outside of Portland at the Columbia River. We went white water rafting with the RIVER DRIFTERS expedition! It was a HOOT! We had our six people, and it was a six man raft, (plus our guide) so our raft was somewhat small, but our Guide, Maggie, was AMAZING. We put in the water and within 10 feet about had Rich out of the boat already! (Pitching forward in some rapids). The ultimate coolest part of the ride was the falls, and learning the definition of "HIGHSIDE" as it is screamed loudly prior to a boat nearly tipping. The falls is about a 15 foot high waterfall that Rich, myself, and Jenner all decided to go over in the raft. Well, I say go over, but I really mean go under, hold your breath, have water shoved up your nose during the entire descent, hold on for your life dearly and nearly drown for about 10 seconds and then pop back out from under the falls again. All the while wondering if your raft mates are still in the boat with you. We would have photos, but we didn't have a waterproof camera, so you'll have to visit www.riverdrifters.com to see their photos of their level 5-6 water experiences to know exactly what I'm talking about. But it was a BLAST! Definitely a grand experience!
Today we are off to church at 1pm, then over to the Cedar Creek area to set up camp and enjoy the great outdoors. We picked up Jordan late last night from the Salem area and so we get to enjoy the day with him today and then we will drop him off at work tomorrow on our way out to the coast. More details on the coast next week! No phones, no laptops, no tv, MAN I am looking forward to the next 5 days!

DRUMS, DRUMS, and SNAIL MAIL

2008-07-27T20:55:00.000-07:00

What a week at the Bird house! We are fast becoming famous! Zach received a letter in the mail from the Boys Life Magazine that had $2 enclosed in it. For Why? Because they published HIS JOKE!! He was so pumped! In fact, he is so excited that we have posted his photo of him holding the magazine and the joke page, but you'll have to hold it up to a mirror to read it! It's backwards! That was a huge highlight for him! It's the "Daffynition" one, his finger is pointing to it.

Jenner and Zach both began their drum lessons this week from Danny Huntsman at the Piano Gallery in Orem. And they did FANTASTIC! He said they did more in this first week then most kids come away with in several! Jerica and Zach are still pursuing piano talents as well, so within a short time we could well be on our way to a BIRD ROCK BAND! If only we could convince Jordan to come home and be the guitarist!

Check This OUT!

2008-07-22T12:38:00.001-07:00

I've recently joined this organization which is a great compliment to Facebook and My Space for WOMEN!

View my page on Our Ladies Room

ZACH'S WIPE-OUT!!

2008-07-21T18:17:00.000-07:00

You'll have to close your eyes for the graphic photos that will be posted on this blog! Zach did a major tackle on Ben (the triplets) during a game of football this afternoon, and in grabbing Ben by the back of the shoulders, was not prepared for him to keep running....right across the side walk and through the garden rail...dragging Zach's kneecap through it and ripping it wide open!! 3 hours later, Zach and I are finally home from the Dr's! 17 stitches...Zach wants that really pronounced....SEVENTEEN STITCHES!!! No crying, no screaming, no running away, and no needles (he went for the numbing cream!) What a trooper this guy was. He attributes it to me letting him use my cell phone to play brickbreaker, but I think he's just at that point in life where he is an absolute STUD!!! Way to be brave Zach!

Slide Rock, Lava Tubes and Arm Wrestling

2008-07-20T17:48:00.000-07:00

I learned a lot about blogging from Tiffany this past week. She claims she doesn't know that much about blogging, but she knows quite a bit more than me, so that makes her an expert in my opinion. She had a cool way of putting the captions with the photos they belonged to, rather than just having a row of photos and line after line of text, as with mine! But I wasn't paying close enough attention, as I forgot how she did it! So you get to keep repeating my same old format till I get in touch with her again!

Our family has incredible gratitude for Blaine and Tiff and all the effort they put into making Flagstaff an incredibly fun place to visit. We went to places unbeforeheardof (my new word) and discovered the amazing territory that the Grand Canyon and Flagstaff have to offer. Truly beautiful country!

Gramma B actually allowed us to drag her into the water at slide rock. This was an accomplishment in and of itself as she barely learned how to swim within the last decade! Also because she was fully dressed! She actually got to her neck in the water and swam around, all the time wearing a shocked expression on her face! WAY TO GO GRAMMA!

The kids all jumped off the cliff. My favorite is Jerica doing her buff girl pose just prior to jumping! TOO CUTE! We got all the boy cousins together for some posing. It was funny to see Jake force Dan-Dan to put his muscles up the right way!

I couldn't go into the water because of the high bacteria levels and my majorly infected burn and healing scar on my legs, but I came along and played photographer and was insanely jealous of how cooled off everyone got to get (it was HOT HOT HOT!) they were all more than willing to throw cold bottles of water on me at random moments, so I did get to get a little wet!

We did the Observatory on Thursday night, which was fascinating to see the planets and stars so close up. We played games, went on walks, shared stories and pulled together as a family. It was GREAT. Grampa B handed out amazing Bird Family Reunion T-Shirts with all the families names on the back. All the kids loved that feeling of being a part of a large group of people that 'belonged'! Everyone wore their t-shirts and made comments on everyones photos on the back. When we got home, Zach and Jerica wore theirs again when they went to play with friends and I overheard them explaining to their friends, "...and this is my Uncle Dan and these are all his kids but not all of them were there...and Jake is really funny and cool and is a goofball and Dan Dan is really smart and Mathew he's really nice but kinda quiet, but this is all my family and we got to meet them and it was SO COOL." (jerica)

You Don't Even Know!

2008-07-20T16:46:00.000-07:00

This phrase was uttered so often thoughout the family reunion, Jenner and I (kenzie) bagan karate chopping people who said it hm hm (jake!)
Aside from the many bruises I collected from falling multiple times (apparently the Richard Bird genes make you a klutz lacking in balance skills) the family reunion was tons of fun!! We learned how to play pool, went in the hot tub every night, went to an old car show, had an arm wrestling contest (I TOTALLY WON!!), played games, went to the grand canyon, sliding rock, lava caves (ow) and star gazing! My dad challenged Jake and me to an arm wrestling contest, he is left handed and I'm right. It was 2 out of 3, right then left, then whoever lost the 2nd one got to choose the hand for the third. I won. He won. I won! it was epic... You don't even know!

ZACHS REUNION MEMORIES

2008-07-20T10:33:00.000-07:00

me and jenner went to slide rock with the rest of the family it was fun and my dad found a dollar bill under a rock he let me have it we got in a water bottle fight
with him which was fun because we won and slide
rock actually made u slide which was
cool and very fun I bought
a cookies and
cream
bar

BIRD FAMILY REUNION 2008

2008-07-17T07:24:00.000-07:00

Grand Can yon, Slide Rock, Lava Tubes and 16 people....what a BLAST! The past 4 days have been SO MUCH fun, exploring the Flagstaff area, building family relationships, and enjoying each other's company. We have gone where no other Bird's have gone before! By far the greatest adventure was Lava Tubes, which are not tubes at all, but actually about a mile of sharp, uneven jutting rocks, boulders and ravines and crevices that everyone thought would be fun to climb through....NOT. We even got Gramma to go part way down! Add to the adventure pure blackness, and 3 flashlights for 14 people, and you have a wild combination for casualties. We will have 'wound' photos later which will prove to the world that the Richard Bird family should never venture into the spelunking business. I slid my burned leg against a sharp rock, slammed my surgical scar on my other leg against another one. Mckenzie was eye level one minute, and talking to me from below my waist the next (she had fallen in a hole!) and Zach took a nose dive face forward into a bunch of boulders, and in trying to save the 3 treasures (rocks) he was clutching mangled his knee and hand and arm. Jerica had a 'minor' fall wherein she got a couple of scrapes. Rich, Thank Heavens, wasn't with us. He had stayed home with grampa. Otherwise our injuries would have gone off the charts! Trish and I clutched each other's hands, then arms, then waists while she persistently gave her husband (Dan) wedgies trying to keep her balance (she had a hold of the waistband of his pants!) Matthew and I only banged our heads against low hanging rocks twice, and all in all, it was a grand adventure!

AN AMAZING SURPRISE REUNION

2008-07-14T18:07:00.000-07:00

WOW! What a crazy week this was! And it only got better on the weekend! Everything started on Wednesday when Rich flew in to go to Scout Camp EARLY Thursday morning with Zach, up in the Uintas.

Here's how it all played out...
Tuesday night we had court of honor for Zach wherein he received an advancement to 2nd Class and all the kids got to swim at the Lindstroms canyon yard creek/pool. We returned home in time for me to race to the office and pack for Mckenzie and Raimana who were flying to St Louis Missouri at 6am. Packing took till 1130pm and then home to a house full of kids which lasted till 1am. (welcome to the world of teenagers!)
Wednesday~awoke at 4am, raced down and got Mck and Rai to the airport, got home by 530 which was just in time to wake up Jenner and get him ready for his bus that was taking him to St George (Dixie College) for a Leadership Training course for his Sophomore class presidency. Got home at 730am and ran down to the office to pack for MY show. Picked up Rich from the airport at 730pm and helped he and Zach get ready for their scout trip which was at 630am the next morning. Bedtime-2am
Thursday~up at 4am yet again. Zach and Rich were leaving at 630am, Zach's pack was so heavy he had to roll around on the floor to hoist it up! I took myself to the airport at 430 for my 6am flight to Dallas. Arrived in Dallas at 10am and found a shuttle to the hotel. Met Gail, we set up the booth and began to vend our wares! Met about 500 amazing business women who were all amazing and wonderful. Was 1 of 7 finalists for the FEMTOR awards (www.ewomennetwork.com) out of about 1900 applications. Did NOT win (can't remember who did) but loved how everyone responded at my table when they read my name and bio!! Everyone turned and looked at me and said, "Hey! That's YOU on the screen...we're sitting with royalty!" ha ha! It was funny! Many commented on the picture, to which I responded, "yeah, photoshop is just a modern day miracle!" We were up till 1am selling and talking and went to bed BEYOND exhausted!
Friday~up at 630am to be at our table by 730am. Another blur of a day! Met more amazing people, sold lots of pearls. Bedtime-1am.
Saturday~up at 630am to be at table by 730am. Feel like a MAC truck has run me over...4 days and about 10 hours of sleep does not a pretty Wendy make! Made it through the day and frantically packed up at 4pm, (just myself, not the whole table!) caught the shuttle at 417, got dropped at the airport at 520pm which is when the amazing surprise happened! Jordan called. He was on his way home from work and wondered if I could book him a ticket to SLC for the weekend! I pulled up my laptop, searched, and found him a pretty reasonable flight and then I booked it, was the last one on the plane, sat next to an amazing guy named Jared from Ogden who had just retired from the Army (GREAT STORIES!!) and landed at 830pm. Waited till 915pm for Mck and Rai, then we all waited till 1015pm for Jordan to land! We raced to give him hugs (Kenzie won) and then drove home in a flurry of chatter!
Arrived at home around 1130pm and spent the next several hours with all SEVEN BIRDS under the same roof for the first time in 3 months! It was SO AWESOME!!! I didn't know how much I had missed Jordan until I didn't have to miss him anymore.
Rich and Zach regaled us with camp tales, Jenner with "the food was gross" tales and Jerica with "I had SO MUCH fun with Gramma" tales and Jordan with "door to door selling sucks" tales and me and Mck with "Selling pearls is rockin awesome" tales!!! It was SO GREAT!!
Bedtime-130am.
Sunday-up at 9am....HEAVEN!!! Finally a good nights sleep! Went to church with Jordan and then went and taught Sunday School and then came home and had a great dinner with everyone, even Gramma! We all talked and played games till about 930pm, then gramma left and we talked and played more games. The only photo we got of Jordan was his standard one...SLEEPING! Bedtime-midnight.
Monday (today!) up at 7am and off to process the two shows. Rich got up at 6 and ran Jordan to the airport to return to Portland...we all miss him already! But what a great amazing surprise reunion!!

FOURTH OF JULY FUN!!!

2008-07-06T16:08:00.001-07:00

WOW! What a great weekend we have had! Rich got to fly home on Thursday night and so we took the day Friday to play some basketball (Rich can now attest that setting up a basketball hoop from 1-4pm is WAY more fun than weeding!) do some weeding (unfortunately the weeding only ranked about 15 min. vs. the 3 hours of ball!) and rummage around the house for food for a BBQ, which turned out to be NONE, so we had pasta and salad and a yummy creek chilled watermelon for dessert. But wait ! The fun was just beginning! Zach and I got to go hunt for fireworks, which we found B1G1F, my kind of deal, and so we got some fun Killer Bees, Smoke Bombs, Snakes, and Panda Climb and Skyline. Zach is a good little firework shopper! Then we came back and went to the creek for our 'picnic' and got to eat a yum yum dinner with gramma, swing on swings, and then it just wouldn't have been complete without a huge LUNGE into the creek (mom and gramma exempt of course!) The kids, and Rich had a great time hauling rocks and building the dam up and swimming around. But WAIT! There's More! After the fun play, we did our sparkly firework show in the street and then we SNUCK back to the park and camped out in a tent for the night!! But shhh..don't tell the neighbors! There were no signs that it was 'illegal' but we weren't sure! We found a great cove, set up the tent and told stories till about 1am. It was quite fun. Then about 4am us girls needed a bathroom, so we walked up to the house and Mck and I decided we had roughed it enough so we stayed home and finished sleeping in our beds! Then we made a nice yummy puffy oven pancake and sausage breakfast and spent the day doing chores and playing games. All in all a really fun 4th!

Back from California :P

2008-07-06T09:42:00.000-07:00

I flew to Maryland on May 28th on the last day of school, and started the week long summer seminar that Saturday, I was at The USNA until that Thursday. It was hard but a lot of fun, everyday we woke up at 5 and ran out to do PT (Physical Training) (They love acronyms :P)
we had morning PEP where in we got motivated by doing push ups, sit ups, running, crunches, tabletops and more oh joy! Throughout the week we ran at least 15 miles, jogged/staggered up 5 flights of stairs 3 times a day (lucky me, my dorm was on the very top), did over 300 push-ups, 500 sit-ups, 6 hours of drill, and wrote one essay. We completed 4 trials, the PRT, Drill competition, the CFA, and Sea Trials. The Sea Trials was on Wednesday, it consisted of Four 2 hour areas, the first was running around/through the entire campus with some breaks, while running we were wearing, our issued t-shirt, their shorts and on top of the shorts heavy grey sweatpants. It was hot and gross!! After all that running most of the guys shirts were soaked all the way through yuck... Then we got in formation and marched across the bridge to hospital point. At hospital point (lovely name) there were 4 areas, lucky us we got to go to wet and sandy first! In wet and sandy we got completely soaked and then did push ups and more with our company. it sucked. The worst part was having the sand all over for the rest of it. Then we played soccer for 30 min if you didn't run after the ball you had to do push ups and the team that lost had to do.... yea push ups. Then we did a bunch of relays up a hill, like fireman carries, lunges, and sprinting. Then for the final area we had to jump in a boat and paddle out to a certain point and then come back oh and if you lost you did PUSH UPS!
After that we ran back around the point to get to our buses while it rained on us. There weren't enough seats on the bus so I was on the floor and I was literally shaking sitting there. Right before the buses pulled out to take us to the endurance course they announced a tornado warning (my thoughts were God really answers my prayers ;) ) so we waited in the bus for 15 min and then ran inside alumni hall, everyone was soaked thats how hard it was raining!
We missed out on the endurance course and the pool section which I was kinda sad about.
So there you have it just one week of my summer and its already forever long!
On Thurs my mom and Jerica were there and came to pick me up! We went to My Fair Lady and went to visit my cousins and uncle, we also went to Wegman's YAY!! On Monday Jerica and my mom went back to Utah and on Tuesday I went to California!!
CALIFORNIA
I got to hang out with everyone in Newbury Park and go to their graduation that Friday I can't believe Dillon and Victor are all grown up. While there I pretty much lived at the Green's house! THANK YOU SO MUCH!! The only price I paid was being woken up by Brother green and his toy motorcycle "What time is it??" "Ninja Wheelie Time!! (followed by tire screeching and loud music)" ah yes I had tons of fun there ;) watching Camp Rock about ten times was the best! We went to the beach a bunch (I'm now kinda tan) and to Universal Studios, we also went to a movie screening and got free tickets to Janss... oh yeah I went to youth conference and hung out with Sarah a lot, swam in Anna's pool and addicted Kirsten to Facebook! I stayed in California for about a month and flew back on July 1st, even though I love cali and had tons of fun there its good to be back with my family!
So there aren't any pictures for this yet because I'm waiting for Kirsten to email them, but I'll have them soon.
Peace out
Kenzie

End of JUNE!

2008-06-30T19:23:00.000-07:00

That's it, I need to resign from summer...this has to be the most bizarre summer we have ever had! I am down to basically 2 kids! WEIRD! Going from 5-2 is no easy task! Especially when the two are as busy as Zach and Jerica are! Now I'm thinking I need a chauffer, a cook, and a personal trainer. Mck is STILL in California...and she has had a blast being there for essentially a month! She interviewed at UCLA today and is going to report her findings when I pick her up from the airport tomorrow. I am so excited to see my DD! (Darling Daughter).
Rich went to Oregon this past weekend and hung with Jordan at CEDAR CREEK...yep, camping was the name of the game, no broken down car, no asthma, no respiratory virus, no job was going to stand in their way of enjoying a night under the stars! Word is that they got out there Saturday night after seeing WALL*E and got back late Sunday night, so it must have been fun. Jenner returned from EFY on Saturday and spent the day hanging with friends, going to Kung Foo Panda (hilarious BTW) and then back to the Le Mis play that evening.
Jerica and Zach are pretty much hanging with mom...a LOT! We spent Saturday at the Childrens Museum in SLC at the Gateway mall, now called Discovery GateWay. It was a blast! We had lunch at Subway (yes, Zach can officially down a foot long...watch out Jordan...them skills!!) and then we came home exhausted and ran Jenner to his play. Jerica's favorite part was the kid sized grocery store, and Zachs was the water station. Sunday Jerica and I went on a bike ride to the creek with the dogs and ended up visiting with Bridgly (her BFF) and her mom for several hours. Zach and Jenner were at a youth Bishop night having fun with the youth, so it all worked out. We want to wish everyone an AMAZING 4th of July! We don't have plans yet, but Rich does get to fly home Thursday, and we are all excited to have the weekend together! Now look at this good lookin young man down here! Cool hair, cool new black shirt...what an amazing 15 year old Jenner is! No wonder all the girls hit on him at EFY!!

Jenner At EFY

2008-06-29T20:26:00.000-07:00

This week I went to EFY at The U of U ( BYU is still way better just not for EFY) and had the most Tubeular (My new word) time EVER!!! In my group there was Alec, Chandler, Collin, Carson, Corbin, Cole, and Me!!! The girls in our group were Bryn, Kim, Kimberly, Josee, Jasmine, Ashley, Haylie, and Niki!!! The Girl leader was Nicole (AKA Mama Bear!!!!) and the guy leader was Tyler!!! Our name was Glory of the Moon!!! Our cheer was *Boom snap clap snap boom snap clap snap* etc and then you said “Aint no party like a moon light party UH Uh Uh Say what! Like five times then you said “and we say!!!! We got the Glory and we come from the west! *Clap Clap Clap Clap* We’re from the moon and we know we’re the best!!!!*Clap Clap Clap Clap* Bat man superman!! *Clap Clap Clap Clap*Can’t do what we all can!!! We’re Glory of the MOON!!!” Yeah it was way fun!!! We got second in the cheer and fourth in the flag which was of lthe batman symbol on the moon! The dances on Tuesday and Friday were a blast!!!! Friday night we sang a song we wrote in like an hour to the girls and mama bear started to cry!!! It goes like this…
I only remember the Chorus so later when I get the verses I’ll post them too!!!

EFY Girls are the girls I’m talkin’ about!
They’re the most beautiful girls no doubt!
And I love to escort them down the street!
Talking with them is really neat...

Thursday was the best day! You felt the spirit so strong all day and especially during testimony meeting and the EFY Medley!!! I love that song!!!
And … um… yeah I think that’s it… Oh yea!!! I got a cool friendship bracelet with this awesome girl named Chelsea!!! It is sweet!!! EFY Was GREAT!!!

Ice Cream, Le Miserables and Summer Fun!

2008-06-22T16:24:00.000-07:00

What a fantistically fast paced summer we are having already! I can't believe it is nearly the 4th of July! We spent this weekend reaping the benefits of Jenner (and all the other cast mates) hard work in their diligence as aspiring actors/actresses...yes, we attended the debut of Le Miserables!! And it was PHENOMENAL! What a strong cast! Jenner was superb as a revolutionary and Joley. He had several small singing parts "....You look as though you've seen a ghost..some wine and say, what's going on?" among others. It was great to see him all miked up and running on stage and performing. He has some talent! His voice is strong and his acting is real (he makes a great drunkard!!~Master of the House song). The performances are every Friday, Saturday and Monday from 7p,-11pm until July 17th. I would recommend anyone heading to Utah to have us reserve your seats! Really worth the drive (yes, even from Maryland...but I would fly!) He heads off tomorrow morning for EFY, so he will miss the the next two performances, but will be back on stage on Saturday night.
I have always loved the message behind Le Mis, and really enjoy the 'fun' behind the Ternaridie's who portray the Inn Keeper couple. Their performance is exceptionally strong in this production, but my all time favorite seen is the end when Jean ValJean is dying and Fonteine comes forward to escort him to heaven and there are 3 actors on stage who sing a song that has the line in it of "To love another person is to see the face of God" and then the back curtains open and the entire cast walks slowly forward and they are all dressed in white (and these are all the people that have been killed) so it just hits you...mortality. Life after death. It is just done so well. They are all continuing to sing and it causes one to ponder, shed some tears, but more importantly, truly appreciate the time we have while here on the earth to be an impact for good in the life of another. Truly an amazing production.

ICE SCREAM YOU SCREAM WE ALL SCREAM FOR ICE CREAM! Would you believe that the Bird family has won a neighborhood ice cream party sponsored by Dreher's Slow Churned Ice Cream!?! I entered a contest recommended by my friend Terrie in Oregon several months ago. I had to write an essay on why we needed to have a neighborhood block party. So I did. And we WON! I am not entirely sure of all the details, but I know it involves Dreher's Ice Cream and our neighbors, so it is bound to be a GREAT time. I just went to the website and found this news release which gives all the critical information...

PRNewswire/ -- Dreyer's Grand Ice Cream is dishing
up a sweet opportunity to be the coolest house on the block this summer.  With
four weeks left to enter the fourth annual Dreyer's Slow Churned Neighborhood
Salute(SM), ice cream fans can enter to win one of 1,500 ice cream socials
that Dreyer's will award to deserving neighborhoods.  Each Neighborhood Salute
party comes complete with a doorstep delivery of Dreyer's Slow Churned and
party supplies for up to 100 guests.  Interested neighbors can visit
SlowChurned.com by Friday, May 30 to nominate their blocks.
To enter the contest, entrants are invited to describe why their
neighborhood deserves to win.  Since Dreyer's Slow Churned Neighborhood Salute
debuted in 2005, Dreyer's has delivered ice cream socials to 4,500
neighborhoods and their 450,000 residents.
"We've heard from thousands of winning neighbors and they have shared
incredibly heartfelt stories about how their parties have brought their
communities closer together," said John Harrison, Official Taster for Dreyer's
Grand Ice Cream.  "We're happy to give people of all ages a fun way to get to
know each other better!"
How to enter Dreyer's Slow Churned Neighborhood Salute Contest:
Visit SlowChurned.com by Friday, May 30 and submit a paragraph (350 words
or less) explaining why your neighborhood deserves a Dreyer's Slow Churned
Neighborhood Salute.  The Slow Churned Neighborhood Salute website is also
available in Spanish via a direct link from SlowChurned.com.  Contestants must
be legal residents of the United States and at least 13 years of age as of
March 11, 2008.  Official contest rules and entry forms are available on
SlowChurned.com.  All entries must be received by May 30, 2008.  Dreyer's will
notify the winners in June and will salute each of the 1,500 winning
neighborhoods with a Dreyer's Slow Churned light ice cream prize package
during July, August and September.  Each Neighborhood Salute party comes
complete with a "Party in a Box" which includes 12 cartons of Dreyer's Slow
Churned(R) light ice cream in a variety of flavors, four boxes of Slow Churned
Light Ice Cream Bars, napkins, spoons, scoops, cups, bowls, a yard sign and
other supplies to host an ice cream gathering for up to 100 neighbors.

So it looks like you guys can either show up at my house for some amazing Dreyer Ice
Cream fun, or else go to the website and enter on your own for next years contest!

We will definetly be posting photos on that event! And EVERYONE is invited!
(I'll let
you know the date as soon as they let me know!)

SUMMER FUN~
Well, it isn't summer fun if it doesn't include water,
and I'm sure you can all tell
from our previous posts that we Birds know how to have fun in the water!!
And this weekend was no exception! We discovered TUBING...in our own backyard!
Mckenzie is still in Cali which means her camera is too, so we don't have any photos
of our daring adventure, but suffice it to say that me, Zach and Jerica
know how to tube a creek...in style! It only took two trips to the tire store,
one to purchase the tubes, and one 20 minutes later to repair the tubes!
Zach learned the hard way that tubes, when shoved against a
dead tree branch, POP. Mom learned the hard/wet/cold way that sitting on
the full end of the tube causes the tube to flip backwards...thus dousing the
entire mom in the creek! Jerica learned that if you crash into the bank of
the creek and overreact by standing up off the tube without looking to see how
deep the water might be, well, it just might be deep enough for a wee one to
not be able to touch! We tubed from the beginning of the creek
clear down to I-15 (we got out just prior to the viaducts that go under the freeway.
We have never had so much fun! Lots of laughter, lots of water, lots of giggling and
lots of joy! I could handle another dozen or so tubing outings!

Birthdays, End of School, and SUMMERTIME Travels!

2008-06-08T13:40:00.000-07:00

Its nearly been a month since the last post and so much has happened! We ended the school year with a bang and about 1000 gallons of water! Some major water fights occurred at the Bird house as we celebrated the END of 11th, 9th, 6th, and 4th grade. First I need mention that all children did amazingly well for end of term grades! Jerica did straight A's, Zach had a good solid mixture of all letters, Jenner did A's and B's and Mck did all A's as well! So WAY TO GO BIRD BUNCH! Great job on ending the year! Now on to the party fun!

Zach started it out by inviting his ENTIRE 6th grade class to our home for Guitar Hero, Rock Band, Wii, and other challenges. Pizza, snacks, chips, brownies, crackers, cookies and even some vegies all made their way into 32 mouths! We did the M&M straw game (7-11-doubles) and then Jenner and his group of friends went outside to go to the park and lo and behold a HUGE water fight errupted from the front yard. This mushroomed into about 40 people ransaking the kitchen for cups, pitchers, bowls, any liquid container, and all faucets being used for water balloon filling. Every single towel in all three bathrooms were used as well as several back-up t-shirts and shorts of Zach and Jerica. And the good news? No one got hurt! And the better news? Everyone had a GREAT time! Soaked to the bone! Jenner and his friends were a hoot, dragging the hose all over and showering unsuspecting victims with their spray of cold water! Zach said it was the best end of school party ever!

Jerica, on June 2nd, aged into the double digit world. Ten. She invited over 6 girl friends for some water fun of her own. We started with slushies, then a slip and slide, then musical towels (chairs) then presents, water gun fight, lunch, ice cream cone sundaes, silly string fight and finger nail painting.....all in 3 hours!! talk about a fast paced adventure! She had a very wonderful birthday day with her friends. On Sunday we did her family party with gramma Champion, and Jerica picked out her dinner, which was kabobs and salad and ice cream sundaes (yes, she is an ice cream freak, not a cake freak!!) Gramma brought her a darling hand made purse that she used on her trip to ANNAPOLIS, which leads us right into summertime travels.

We are currently in Annapolis Maryland. Jerica had a second birthday party at Rampa Rick's house complete with cake and ice cream (THANK YOU ANN!!) and then Rampa took her to Art Town for a huge box of crayons and some color books which Jerica has been coloring in all week. Then we went to Great Great Great Uncle Harry's house to help him celebrate his 91st birthday! (photo at top) She did so many beautiful pages and drawings. Ann brought into work a Stained Glass Window craft that Jerica REALLY got off on, and so we will be coming back to Utah with some beautiful projects courtesy of Jerica and her crafty coloring skills.

Thursday we attended Mckenzie's graduation ceremony from Summer Seminar at the Naval Academy. It was an amazing event wherein she got her little Navy bum kicked, but she kicked RIGHT BACK! (2nd, 3rd and 5th photos) Mckenzie's company (Delta) won Company Color's at the graduation for showing the best team support and being the best overall company, so she was elated with all of her navy experiences. Their physical activities are quite rigorous and intense. She said they were awake at 5am and lights out at 11pm and she never slept so good nor accomplished so much! We visited with granddaddy at the hospital and had a nice visit with Grammy, Uncle Bob, Uncle Frank, Uncle Ricky and even Uncle Butch. We went to a musical and saw My Fair Lady and LOVED it! The actors were stellar and the songs were fun and catchy. Jerica spent the next day reliving the entire play as Rampa played the soundtrak on the stereo system and blared it through the whole house! We were all singing and dancing. Then we headed to Elkton to see Ricky, Ashleigh and Kaila. Lots of fun in the pool, playing great Dalmuti and enjoying time together!

We head back to Utah tomorrow and then this Friday it is off to the International Rotary Conference in Los Angeles California. More news next weekend!

Mother's Day 2008

2008-05-14T12:18:00.000-07:00

Mother, mom, mommy, ma, all the traditional names evoke a sense of love, belonging, and care and nurture. This Mother's Day was a most unusual one here at the Bird house, but it was Mother's Day nonetheless, and I loved every minute of it. It caused me to reflect on how lucky I am to have a husband who has instilled in his children the sacredness of the day. Even tho Rich was in Mesa giving HIS mother an amazing Mother's day, he ensured that I was treated equally as well in his absence. For years he has always prodded the kids early in the morning to create a spectacular breakfast spread on a tray, delivered to me in bed. COmplete with flowers, cards, syrup, napkin, and all the other possible essentials for enjoying a great breakfast. He always gives me warning so that I can jump up and use the bathroom and brush my teeth before the tray enters the room, carried by the pride and joy of all the kids who had participated. As they eagerly await me taking my first bite, I savor the moment of having all my children around me, knowing that as they get older, and go their separate ways, there will not be many more times when all five kids are there with me. And this was that year.
Jordan has moved to Oregon, so he was absent. Mckenzie had to work, so she was absent, and Richard was with his parents, so he was absent. Yet the love and feelings of Mother's Day were present in spite of the absences. Jordan sent a beautiful email, Richard called several times, Mckenzie woke all the children up at 6am to hustle them into the kitchen and prepare the breakfast on the tray, and Zach, jenner and Jerica all joined me in bed and ate with me! Syrup on the sheets is a great trade off to be able to eat together in bed!!
Richard helped Zach prepare his Mother's Day talk for church over the phone and Zach did a superb job in his delivery of it! Mckenzie took off to work. Then Rich spent 20 minutes with me on the phone helping me outline and prepare my sunday school lesson! After wards we made the phone calls to all the wonderful mother's that are in my life and thanked them for being my mom. It was a wonderful and complete day, and the best part happened at evening, when Zach, Jerica and Jenner and I took a walk to the park together and swung in the swings and I shared stories with them of my childhood and swing jumps and my first swear word (which occured on a swing set!!) We laughed, played relaxed and enjoyed each other's company. Then upon arriving home, there was a wonderful heartfelt email from Jordan and an hour long phone call with my Oregonian boy that I miss so much, and after we hung up at 1130, the day finally felt complete. As every woman knows, being able to touch base with those we love and care for, is truly the greatest gift any mother can have on this day. I am truly a loved mother.

PUGS PUGS PUGS

2008-05-04T10:17:00.000-07:00

I should have said that five times, not three, as we have 5 puppies...and actually two parents...so SEVEN TIMES! These darling pugs are so much fun, and so much WORK! It's like I've added triplets to my already full and busy family! Mckenzie is being amazingly helpful with the cleanup, and the other kids are all pretty eager to play with them and hold them, so it all works out in the end.

We put an ad in the paper this past week, so they are now officially up for sale. We went and did their first series of shots, got their pedigree chart from AKC and all the other 'formal' stuff that goes along with selling these darling pugs! $900 for females and then we have one male which will be $700.

20 years of marriage...I AM IRONMAN!!!

2008-05-04T09:58:00.000-07:00

Rich and I are celebrating 20 years of marriage! Today is our 20th Anniversary, and he is in Kentucky! UGH! So we took advantage of spending time together last night. I arrived home in the late afternoon to a table FILLED with beautiful roses and the yummiest homemade cinnamon rolls. Rich had spent the afternoon weeding the front walk way (to plant the roses in) and baking with the kids! After a much deserved kiss, we went to Chef's Table in Provo and had an amazing dinner that consisted of crab cakes, rolls, sorbet, filet mignon with an amazing mushroom and bleu cheese sauce, chicken with this creamy sauce and perfect rice, and then a fresh strawberry with custard sauce dessert. It was so delicious! Our final stop was to go see IRONMAN....what a great 'summer-movie'!! Great witty dialogue and fun interchanges. The plot is always weak with a superhero comic remake, but honestly, Rich and I thought this one was great, and we especially loved the ending wherein there is the pathway laid for a sequel as Robert Downy Jr. AKA Tony Starks claims in a press conference....I AM IRONMAN!! Really a great flick. Of course now, being able to get the tune to Ironman out of my head is a whole different story. And of course, even after 20 years, the saying still holds true....Loved you once, Love you still, Always have, Always will! Happy 20th!

Jenner and Mckenzie and several of their friends went to see the 1030pm showing of it the night before and said they didn't think it was that great....hmmm...I think it was just past their bedtime! Either that or these two kids have no sense of humor!

Knights, Presidents and amazing bird boys!

2008-04-25T14:27:00.000-07:00

Well, for all of you who haven't been updated for a few weeks, have we got some news for you! Jenner and Zach are pretty amazing Bird Boys! Jenner ran for Sophmore Vice President this past week and after some really clever sayings, "Be Heard, Vote Bird" "Lover of None, Friend to All" the winning slogan became "Vote Bird, Friend of Nerds" and had a picture (a geeky one I might add) of one of Jenner's Friends, Erik Armstrong doing a peace sign with a dazed look on his eyeglassed/braces face!! It also had a photo of Jenner looking as though he was flying through the air doing a jump off a log at the Oregon Coast, so the photos really made the poster come to life. (Not sure if we took a picture of it, but if we did I will get it posted eventually!) He also had to perform a skit on Channel One News (at the school) wherein he sold brains of Einstein ($1 million dollars) and Edison ($5 Million) and then his competition ($50 BILLION) why the price difference? His competitions brains haven't been used!!! The skit went over very well and got a lot of laughs. So now he will drop one of his classes for next year in order to dedicate time to making changes for his Sophomore class. GO JENNER!!

Now Zach on the other hand has officially been dubbed Sir Zach, a royal knight in Mrs Ahlstroms 6th grade class. He earned 285 points (15 points shy of being the KING!!) and was 'knighted' this past week. The interesting story behind this 'knight-hood' is how he came to earn those 285 points. In typical Zach fashion, a single page document outlining all the helmets, royal gear, research papers to write, Crusaders speeches to declare, shields to design was presented to me on Tuesday night of this week at about 8pm. Due Date? Wednesday morning. Items to be completed? 12. So it became a family affair of scrambling, cutting, coloring, gluing, researching and typing for a frantic 3 hours before we all collapsed in a heap but vowed to get up early and attach the remaining projects yet again. 6am we all jumped up and went back to work. Zach was armed with a giant shield, an amazing helmet, a very wicked Kings Crown, a lovely hennin (or womans/princess hat) a research paper on symbols, a crusaders speech on not having homework be allowed, a sword, a breastplate (pure cardboard and duct tape) and several notes of other things that were 'finished'. It amazes me what can be accomplished with a roll of duct tape and an empty cardboard box. So we welcome to our family SIR ZACHARY!!
WAY TO GO ZACH!!

Rich (the Spazz) and Wendy, November 07

2008-04-05T16:58:00.000-07:00

We went up to Timp to play around in nature with the kids, Mckenzie was our photographer and got some great shots of everyone playing in the creek, the leaves, and etc. Rich was MOST uncooperative and wouldn't take a decent photo...but we caught him as he was forcing a smile...and so I'm posting it since everyone is always asking who this better half of mine actually is since he is seldom around!

Midnight Sledding

2008-04-05T15:37:00.000-07:00

Back in January at about 11pm on a school night Mckenzie came running through the house inviting everyone to go sledding in the 2 feet of fresh snow....she was so convincing that we all joined in...kids with the sleds, me with the camera! Mckenzie, Jenner, Zach and Jerica had a blast for about 30 minutes sledding down the hill by our house...and it was still snowing! It got cold so we all went in for hot coco!

2008-04-05T15:35:00.001-07:00

Wendy, Mckenzie and Loni hanging out and having a girls night out!

2008-04-05T15:16:00.001-07:00

Me and Ricky and Ashleigh (17-blowing out her cheek) and Kaila (15). We had an amazing time in Elkton...went and saw a double feature, made cookies, caramels and fudge...and had a great time hanging out and getting to know each other!

2008-04-05T15:00:00.001-07:00

I went to Annapolis to see 'Rampa Rick' in February and got to spend some time with our extended family members, Frankie and his new condo, Uncle Frank, Uncle Boogie (Butch), Uncle Bob, Gary and Anita, Ann, Grammy and Grandaddy just before they took off for Florida, Aunt Evie, and even Ricky, Ashleigh and Kaila! It was such a great time! We really enjoyed each other's company and catching up! More photos will post! wb

Jenner's Hair Cut

2008-04-03T14:28:00.000-07:00

I GOT A HAIR CUT!!!!

OMGosh I got a short... Well... kinda short... hair cut. I hate it its way too short. I think my Mom has a presence or aura of bad hair cuts. When I get it cut with her or by her it ends up too short or absolutely Terrible (with a capital T). No offense mom lol.

Now I need to get Extensions so it can be like normal!!!

Spring 2008

2008-03-27T21:06:00.000-07:00

Well, March is here and about to storm into April. I need to get in gear and get an update before it's summer, so here is my springtime news. A lot is happening in this BirdWorld! I think I will need to do a breakdown of people in order not to miss anything. So let's go in order of age...which would put Richard FIRST!

Rich is still traveling back and forth to California. He actually really likes being in Cali, and I think if we could have a perfect world, we would live in Cali and not Utah, but such is the life...we are IN Utah, and I am NOT MOVING again! He is now traveling Tuesday through Friday. Another new guy has just come aboard at Technicolor, Jim, and he is going to commute to Cali as well (he lives in SLC), so Rich and he are thinking of getting an apartment. We will also most likely be putting one of our cars back down there (we just brought it back in December!!). Rich loves being home on the weekends, and particularly this past weekend was exceptional! Being Easter we had an amazing Easter Sunday which began with a "Throw-Down" cook off in the kitchen between Rich and Jordan. Jerica and I were the judges, and Zach made himself the 'announcer' (this was done by walking in and out of the kitchen, randomly, and yelling out how much time was left and how gross things looked/smelled!!) and Jenner was the verbal criticizer! Mckenzie was off in California enjoying prom, so she wasn't in attendance, more about her in a few more paragraphs!

Jordan won the cook-off with a recipe to die for. It has a wonderful unique secret ingredient which you will have to see if he will share it with you. It was a delicious combination of eggs, cheese, sausage, toast, honey and cinnamon sugar and butter.

Rich won for presentation. He had a remarkably beautiful display of eggs mixed with vegies and cheese, small canteloupe scoops drizzled with banana yogurt, and triangular shaped toasts. Very tasty! But missing that secret ingredient! We then proceeded with the egg hunt which we all got involved in, then off to church where Rich and I did a FANTASTIC job teaching about the Atonement. After church we went to moms house for a yummy lamb dinner and a fun egg hunt that involved the time-line of Christ. It was just a fantastic day/evening!

Wendy: Well, since I talk to everyone, you all know where I am in life. Suffice it to say that yes, I'm still busy, yes, I still over-commit, and yes, I still love home made chocolate chip cookies. I am still working out every single day and half the time I have between 2-4 kids with me, and last Saturday I even had a husband with me! I love the strength that my body is gaining and my passion for rock climbing continues to increase! I just love that challenge of getting to the top. Some day I will stick with just ONE color of holds to get to the top!!! The pearl business is moving right along and the foundation is doing some amazing things, you can visit www.myprincesspearls.com for some fun Mother's Day needs or www.pearlswithapurpose.org to see how lives in the Philippines are changing!

Jordan: Well, this is one soon-to-be 19 year old that continues to amaze Rich and I. Jordan is off to Oregon, Portland, in about 4 weeks. He is signed on with Barrier Pest Control and will be walking all over the greater Portland area convincing home owners to protect their yard and shrubbery from deadly insects!! He is also hoping to make several thousand dollars doing this...so if you live in Portland...SIGN UP! He is still working for Best Buy and is in school at UVU (UVSC just became a University)

Mckenzie: Now this is one child I could blog all day about! She has just returned from a most amazing trip to Cali wherein she was invited to attend prom down in Newbury Park! Her dress was beyond phenomenal and her date was a total hottie! They had a blast and went with a great group and then she stayed on an extra 4 days to hang with all of her friends (they were on spring break). HUGE thanks goes out to the Green family who kindly consented for Mika to live in their home for the five days!! She is still with Best Buy as well and we will have her prom pictures posted here soon!

Her plans are to head over to Cali for the summer and work and live and then head off to Europe for Study Abroad for her senior year. Now this girl has PLANS! She also was just recruited for Summer Seminar at the Naval Academy in Annapolis MD, which it looks like she will be attending the end of May, first of June for a week. Go Rampa Rick! You finally got a Bird to attend the Academy...BEAT ARMY!

Jenner: Another busy busy bird boy... this one is right in the middle of track season...and LOVING it! His first real exercise/sport in 3 years and he's been able to do it thus far. He had his first meet on Monday and did great for his run, but his shotput was a bit off compared to his practices. He had a Blast! He just got registered for High School, yes, you heard/read me right...HIGH school! He is signed up for Drama club, Spanish, Media, and Ballroom, in addition to his Honors math, english and etc. He will be a very busy sophomore! His hair is still long and he is currently soliciting for bids on getting it buzzed. The guys are willing to pay, but the girls are all "Oh no, don't cut your hair Jenner, it looks SO good long"! (bummer!) So far he is at about $80, but he won't do it for less than $200...so time will tell on that one.

Zach: this kid is going to be a drummer, on stage comedian, or billionaire. Probably all three! He is doing amazing in his 6 grade A.L.L class and has been invited to several parties at friends houses this year. He ALSO got registered for Junior High School. Yes, a 7th grader is in our midst! He is going to take Spanish, Boys choir, drama and the Honors English, Honors Math and etc. He is very excited to begin at the junior high and be reunited with all of his friends from Meadow and our old neighborhood. His latest love is a fun place called Jump On It. We gave it a trial test on Monday night for FHE and it was a blast...wall to wall trampolines. Seamless! So much fun. Jumps after jumps after jumps. He is turning 12 on April 5th and would like to host his party there.

Jerica: Last but not least is this sweet little nearly 10 year old (June 2nd!) She is just loving life and everything in it. She had the huge accomplishment of rearranging her room this week and is just so thrilled with how it turned out. It really is much better the way she did it, and the best part is all the clutter and dejunking we got to do...2 bags of stuff for shipping to Philippines! Her greatest love right now is playing with the 5 pug puppies that were born 4 weeks ago. (there were 7, but two died) And boy are they cute bundles of fun! they are still small enough to fit in your hand and have the greatest coloring and expressions! They are a great way to have all the troubles and traumas of life slide right out the door as you sit and hold them!

The Bird Life is moving full steam ahead...I will make a more concentrated effort to post consistently in the future!

Frankie's New Condo in Maryland

2008-02-25T15:12:00.000-08:00

Sunday Update December 30th 2007

2007-12-30T17:44:00.000-08:00

Well, it's Sunday before the New Year of 08 begins! The birds are off to a great new year start thus far! We have had a wonderful Christmas season filled with fun gifts, sledding, tubing, and friends and family. We had marvelous visits from Maryland (dad), California (mom and Uncle Gene) and even Oregon (Ballantynes). The kids have loved having time off school, but Zach is having to make a Hover-Board for his Science Fair project, so his vacation is more of a working holiday!
Jenner has had a bit of a set back and has spent the bulk of the holiday keeping it easy due to fevers/flares. He came down with pneumonia and is regaining his strength as I type this! He really loves Rock Band, the new game we got from Granpa Rick and has become a great drummer, guitar player, and even singer.
Jerica has surprised us all by picking up the guitar on Rock Band! She is AMAZING! She is still doing the piano with Zach, but is off until the 14th as her teacher is a BYU student! She and Zach and Jenner all entertained us with wonderful piano songs over the holidays. Jingle Bells, Santa Claus is coming to Town, and more.
Mckenzie is still working at Best Buy, and likes that. Her big news of December was getting her wisdom teeth out just before Christmas. She did well the first few days, but then developed dry socket, and that was NOT FUN. But she doesn't whine as loud as she used to, especially when she's on pain meds, she just becomes really nice and loopy, and that's a Kenzie we can all love!
Jordan is still at Best Buy as well. He is dating a girl named Mckell right now and we all really enjoy her! She made the most amazing dinner ever when Syd and Gene were here. Crock pot roast beef, homemade salad and amazing cupcakes with this really cool frosting...the whole meal was a great hit, especially with me, who didn't have to cook!! I'm ready to adopt her into the family! She is really a fun girl.
Richard is still doing that crazy California commute. He's been home the last week, which has been SO NICE. We've caught up on a lot of things which makes life just a little bit smoother.
\
Pearl business is still up and going. My Princess Pearls store is open Monday through Saturday. I have a great employee that can run things quite capably. The Foundation, Pearls With A Purpose is still shipping clothes, food and educational supplies to 29 provinces in the Philippines. To date we have shipped over 820 boxes of goods. Believe International, the educational scholarship program we work with, currently has 296 students attending school with their program, 54 of which we supply tuitions for. The genuine pearl jewelry is amazing and I'm happy to report that I attended the GIA gem grading classes this fall and am now a certified gemologist. YIPEE!

So life has been busy and full of surprises as well as sweet remembrances of kindness and love!
A very happy new year to all our loved ones!

The Birdy Bunch Reporter...Wendy

Bird Family Gets Elffed!

2007-12-29T09:25:00.000-08:00

Follow the links for a Christmas greeting from the Birds (turn your sound on!)

Jenner, Jerica and Zach
http://www.elfyourself.com/?id=1682245673

Wendy and Richard
http://www.elfyourself.com/?id=1682452691

Kenzie and Jordan
http://www.elfyourself.com/?id=1682556111

First Post

2007-12-29T09:21:00.001-08:00

The Lehi Bird's are starting up this blog thing.