We are alive!

I know it has been a very long time since we have posted, I am sorry for the long delay. A lot has been going on at our home and we have done a lot of fun things we need to catch up on. Here is a short list of our activities these past few months.

1. We are going to have another baby! We are so excited! We are due in the middle to end of April. This is also the reason I have not posted - I have been sick. Blah. I am feeling better now and feel like doing stuff again.

2. We took a trip to Wyoming to see some of my (Karen's) family. It was a great time! We spent some time in Star Valley, WY, and spent a day in Jackson Hole. I sure miss Wyoming and everything about it!



3. This next thing may not seem important to you, but it was a life changer for me. My favorite pair of flip flops died on our trip to Wyo! Aargh. I love them so much and I have had them for so long, I can't remember how many year I've had them. I think more than 5 years.

We laid them to rest in a huge tree in southern Utah that was just filled with pairs of dead shoes. See below!




4. Grace is starting to speak in sentences and she is so good at it. It is so fun to have actual conversations with her. She calls Dad "Dab" and Mom "Momidy". Too cute.

5. Libby has finally started crawling!!! She waited til she was 11 month to do so, I was getting a little concerned. She is getting better and better by the day.

6. We now are the proud owners of THREE goats. We added two more so now we have a herd!

7. Logan has been working hard, hard, hard at work, and is presently at Hannigan's Meadow in eastern Arizona with Conan for a fishing trip. I hope they don't freeze!

That is a lot, and enough for now. love you all!

New Pet!

We have a new pet - and I like him better than a dog. He is a sweet black and white pygmy goat. I have to admit, I wasn't too excited to get him. But the first time I met him, my heart melted. He loves people and kids, and best of all he doesn't jump all over you. Logan wanted to name him after someone important, like a president or something. We decided on Napoleon because he is so short! So, welcome Napoleon to our family!

We also have more wildlife pictures to share. We are getting to enjoy finding out what different types of animals live near us. Logan found a horny toad and caught it. Grace loved it!

Baby Blessing and fun pics

Logan's cousin Terry blessed his and Heather's baby this last Sunday in St David. Titan is such a cute boy. I sm jealous!! I am glad I was able to go - it is a happy plus that we live close to Heather's parents in St David. Now we hope we will see more of their family. I was really glad to see Doeshann there as well. It has been too long since I've seen her! Here are some pictures.

Heather, Titan and Terry

Terry, Doeshann, and Grace


Libby sitting in her highchair eating noodles - she loved 'em!


Grace in our field of weeds. At least the weeds are green!

Swimming Fun

We spent the day at Conan and Chrissy's house last weekend and had a really fun time. They had some friends and their kiddo's there, and it was a fun little kid party all day. Here are some pictures of Grace swimming and going down the slide. She is fearless!!

Da, Daddy, Dabby?

Grace is spouting off words as if the dam burst, and all the things she has wanted to say are just spilling out. It must be exciting for kids to finally figure things out and learn to talk. Grace has turned into an even happier girl now that she can get her point across in words. I wonder at some things though. She will spout off a new word and get all the syllables correct, and then degenerate the word down to just its first syllable. It was fun to listen to her say "triangle" for the first time. Now it is just "tri."

Another thing (and the name of this post) is what she has called Logan. For along quite a long time she called him "Da." In the last few months, has called him "Daddy," which I think is cute. The last two days, however, it has degenerated to "Dabby." What???? She will ask, "Where's Dabby?... Dabby? Dabby? Dabby?" and look around. Hmmm. I am sure it will fix itself (with the help of me repeating Da-DEE everytime). Anyway - that is what has been going on at the Beach home lately!

Creeped Out!!!

Just look what I found on my front porch the other day!



I screamed - and not for ice cream. I have not been the same since. Now I am just sure that they are everywhere. Every time I feel something on my leg, or back, or arm I freak out. I need to get it together.

We understand that these great little creatures are a lot more active during the monsoons, so we shouldn't have to deal with them all year. Comforting? Not to me. I will just have to figure out how to tarantula proof our home and yard! Or move.

Photoshop

How much do I love photoshop? I love it so, so much! I am learning how to fix up our photos, make colors brighter, add edge burning, and some other cool tricks. There is a lot more for me to learn, but look below for a neat thing I learned how to do today. I was surprised how well it turned out!

(P.S. You can see what the photo looked like in the post below)

Rain Rain Rain!

Rain rain rain! The monsoon season has arrived in Benson! It rained like cats and dogs these past few days. It has been fun to listen to, watch, and play in. Here are some pictures of our front yard and a few other places around the house. I thought we were going to float away!

Grace during a break in the rain.

Rain is funny.

The chicken coop full full of water. I am glad they are smart
enough to get out of the rain!

Do you see the stream of water running towards the

side yard? It was raging!

The front yard full of water - we could've swam in there!

Exercise Tapes

So - have you ever tried to to an excercise tape with a two year old in the room? It is impossible. Grace thought it was the funniest thing she had ever seen. There was her mom on the floor doing sit-ups, leg lifts, etc. She was climbing over me the whole time! I had to give up. This activity will have to be done during nap time or after she is in bed for the night.

Update on the escaped chickens. I am sure all (4) of you that read this blog have been on pins and needles waiting to see what their fate was. They are fine, they stuck close to the coop all day, and between the two of us, we were able to shoo them easily. They probably enjoyed being out of the fence and being "free-range" chickens for a while.

Here is a picture of the eggs we collect.

Chickens

Have you ever caught chickens on the loose? I haven't. But I need to! We have two chickens that escaped the coop. I took Grace out today to check for eggs. Actually, Grace whined at the door "Chickies" until I relented, slipped on some flip flops and went with her. I usually do not go in the coop, but I did today, to check on the feed. I let Grace come in too. Bad mistake - I looked back a second later, and the door was wide open! Two of the chickens were out fast.

I like that we have chickens, that we get free eggs, and we have some neat pets that I can take Grace to look at once or twice a day. Now, comes the time that I will actually have to touch them.
I tried for half and hour running around the coop after those chickens. Every time I would get close enough to grab them, they would take off. I have to admit that I am scared to grab one. I don't think I can do it. They are sticking close to the coop, and look like they want to get back in, I wish I could "shoo" them in better. Oh, well, I will have Logan help me when he gets home.

Here's a picture of the escapees.


ps - did I mention this is Sunday, and if I was at church, this wouldn't have happened? Grace was sick yesterday, and coughing a little today. If we had at least gone to Sacrament meeting this would not have happened!!!