My knight in shining underpants!

Rowan is such an enjoyable child! One of his most endearing qualities is his imagination. At the present time he is obsessed with The Lord of the Rings. We have the old cartoons that he likes to watch. This is a picture of him charging around the kitchen chasing after Nazguls! 

Again, I'm not sure why the photos are being turned on their sides.. If anyone has any suggestions to this problem, I'd be glad to listen!

We've got a broody!

Raising hens has been a truly educational experience for me. I'm now onto a new lesson. I have a hen that won't leave the nesting box! I'll poke her, push her, take all the eggs out from under her, but still, she won't move! In the mean time, she only eats about once a day so she's not getting the calcium that she needs. She's laying soft eggs that I can break if I poke them with my finger. She has decided they aren't good enough to sit on and kicks them out into the coop then finds other eggs to sit on! I've been reading to put her in a wire cage without bedding to cool her engines, but instead I think I'm going to try to find some fertile eggs for her to hatch. Wish me luck!

See how puffy she is? That's a face that says, "back off!" She kinda lays her wings out a bit too to keep the eggs warm. Poor thing wants some babies!

Tea Party Time!

It's the perfect weather for tea parties and the wedding season is upon us! Why not combine them? I threw a tea party bridal shower for a girl friend of mine the last week of April. I love all the china and table settings. I had a lot of fun with this!

These are a few teapots of my mom's and mine. The yellow is an antique pot, the white and blue from Target.

This teapot is from my mom's china collection, British Castles.

This is my hand made teapot with the Scottish Thistle.

A piece of Lennox china I inherited from my Great Aunt Shum

My favourite tea cup!

Pretty antique china plates, the one on the right is Lamoge. They are holding rose shaped sugars.

 Choose your tea cup!

 I think it's fun to mix and match china. These are the three sets I have.

 I wish the picture hadn't turned vertical, but here is the spread of food! Quiche, puff pastry filled with cream cheese and jalapeno or artichoke, chicken salad and egg salad sandwiches.

 For dessert, my friend Diane made us delicious cake pops, chocolate covered strawberries, and white chocolate teacups filled with lemon curd! She is amazing!

And of course the pretty present table!

Spring has Sprung!

I love our yard in spring time and can't help but to take some pictures of the new blooms we have around the yard! I took these a few weeks ago. By now my red and yellow roses have finally come in and my hanging baskets are filling in nicely. I still wanted to show off some of the first blooms of the season!

Having only lived in our house for just under two years, I still get some new discoveries in the spring time! I found this iris growing on the ground underneath one of my camilia trees. I propped them up and they are doing well. Not sure why the blog turned the picture on it's side, but it is still beautiful!

These are wild onions that we have growing all over the side yard! I don't think that they are eatable, but the are very sweet.

Roses are such hard work, but the blooms make it all worth it! I love the fragrant blossoms and various colours! The front of our house looks barren without them!

I was also surprised to find wysteria growing on the front and back gate! If only the blooms lasted a bit longer. I think these were here for about 2 weeks.

 A few other pretty blooms found in the front yard.

This lilac tree only blooms for about 2 weeks as well. It has such a sweet fragrance! Sadly, once picked it only lasts about 3 hours in a vase.

 The pretty little things shade the chicken coop for a few weeks!

Chandler James

I haven't written in so long and I believe it was partly because I was overwhelmed with what to write for Chandler's 12th birthday! I don't have any of his baby pictures scanned, however he is the only child of mine that has an actual baby book!

Chandler is truly an amazing boy. He is funny, likable, and very creative! Although at times he can be challenging, we could never do without him!

This year, on his 12th birthday, he was ordained to the Aaronic Priesthood. He now serves the sacrament at church and is growing in faith. I am so pleased that he seems to grasp the importance of this and takes it seriously. I feel that Chandler is a very strong soul and is capable of doing a lot of good! I can only hope that I'm a good enough parent to harness and direct him in the best way.

We love you Chandler!