No April Fools'

This was a perfect shot for this week. Sunday is Easter and I found the Easter Bunny. Jason and I ate at Lions Park today and he saw this little rabbit hop out of the bushes. I decided I wanted to see how close I could get to it, and I got a lot closer than Jason thought I would. I am under the impression that this rabbit is domesticated. Here's why:

1. It let me get this close. I am not zoomed in AT ALL. This photo was taken with my phone.
2. It was clean.
   
3. It's the colour it is. Most wild rabbits (at least, in this area) are light grey in colour.

Regardless, this little rabbit was adorable and I was so excited to be able to get a good picture of it. Happy Easter, everyone!

Spring

You can tell the seasons are changing - the ducks are back in the park. I love the white one...I think there were two in the whole flock. This was taken at Lion's Park in College Place.

Don't Ask Me Why...

...I didn't take any pictures of Alex and Brittany's baby chicks while we were there today. We went over to their house for lunch after church and we got to see their new little chickies - they had five of them, and they're mostly blackish-grey. We even got to see them chase each other around fighting over a box elder bug Alex put in their enclosure. But did I think to take a picture? Nooooo. So here instead you get a blurry rendition of Kayla trying to make friends with Basil, one of their two cats, and Basil attempting to get a good angle to swat at the pacifier Kayla keeps swinging around. Kayla LOVED the cats and got so excited she squealed every time she saw one. It was pretty adorable. It almost made me want to get a cat. Almost.

Pretty in Pink

We had Summer and Michael over for lunch and games this afternoon, and while we were enjoying a card game I got out some chocolates we'd gotten in a gift exchange over Christmas. They were all packaged fancy and looked delicious so I figured offering them to guests was an opportune time to try them out. Part of the packaging was a bright pink bow around the top. Summer took it off and tied it around Raina's neck. She looked so purty! (And the chocolates weren't very good, by the way.)

Stay!

We got to La Grande around 7:00 tonight. Fortunately the roads were good; just a patch or two of frozen snow in the left lane. Hooray for easy traveling! Jason was showing his mom the best trick Raina could do, and for the first time Raina actually caught the treat when she was told "Okay!" Good girl, Raina!

The Second Star

This is Izzy. He was a huge hit at the nativity. He lives about half an hour away from us, and we were privileged to have him as a part of the scene. I learned a lot about dromedary camels while we sat out there in the cold tonight. For instance:

• They can tolerate temperatures ranging from -40 (F) to 140 (F).
• They have three stomach chambers and chew their cud, as cows do.
• They can live to be 50-60 years old (in this case that probably means Izzy will outlive his owner).
• You train them the same way you train horses.
• Camels are smart; if you let them get away with something once, they will stubbornly refuse to accept that it's not okay the next time.

People really had fun seeing Izzy. I hope to have him back next year. Thanks to Charley Coleman again for the photo.

Our 2009 nativity is officially over, but next year is going to be incredible and I'm already excited about it! I've got three ladies already volunteering to help organize next year, so I'm stoked! It took two years, but finally people are catching on to what it is and what it can be. You won't want to miss it next year!

Inheritance

Meet Calypso. He and his buddy, Zero, his black-hued twin, are going to be staying with Jason and I for the next 8 months. Ruth was officially accepted as a student missionary to Poland today, so I thought it was appropriate to post a photo of these little guys. When she heads to Europe, Jason and I will be taking care of her fish for her. Hopefully they will live to see her return!

Another Kitty

Tonight we went to Alex and Brittany's house to celebrate Britt's birthday. She's 24 today, and she had a fabulous dinner in honor of it. We had white "chicken" enchiladas, baked potatoes, bread with homemade jam, fresh veggies (tomatoes, cucumber, and carrots) with dip, and vanilla lemonade. For dessert we had apple slices with a DELICIOUS dip (cream cheese, brown sugar, and toffee bits), and fruit pizza. Above is a picture of Lance holding one of Alex and Britt's kittens. I think this one is Chamomile (known as Cammie), but I can't remember which one is which yet. They're both black and white and I've only seen them once before. If you'd like a laugh, here's what Lance's shirt says: "The time for action is past. Now is the time for senseless bickering."

Happy Birthday, Britt!

Meet Gimbie

This...is Gimbie. Ruth found him at the Humane Society a few weeks ago and couldn't pass him up. The unfortunate thing is that since then she's decided to go to Poland for a year and now needs to find a home for Gimbie. We can't take him because Jason's allergic to cats, so if anyone reading this wants an adorable friendly cat, here's one! He's three months old and loves people. He purrs as soon as he sees someone. The only bad thing is that he has a neurological disorder that has made his back legs malfunction. He can't walk very well, but boy does he give it a valiant effort! He's very cute. Today Ruth posted him on a classifieds website so she needed some photos to post with it. I took some, including this one.

While I was trying to get Kayla happy this evening, I noticed how big my avocado tree is growing. Isn't it awesome?!? I'm so excited. Now I just have to figure out how to keep it alive this winter...

Friends & Food

Tonight we were treated to the most delicious meal ever: Damie's enchiladas and rice. It was amazing. She and Jared are expecting their first little one, a little girl, in November. They are excited about babies and really wanted a chance to hold and see Kayla. (Plus we think they like us, too.) So they had us over for dinner and asked what we wanted. I will NEVER pass up an opportunity to have Damie's bean, cheese, and zucchini enchiladas. They are amazing. Here's Damie rocking Kayla to sleep after dinner. Kayla loved Damie and Jared!

One of Damie and Jared's cats, Molly, was extremely curious about the baby carrier. She just about crawled all the way in.

A Drive in the Country

This morning Jason and I took Kayla to church for the second time. She didn't do as well as the first time, so we missed most of the sermon while walking and rocking her in the lobby. She did eventually fall asleep and was of course a little angel while people were coming out of the sanctuary after church. "What a doll!" and "Is she always this mellow?" were some of the comments we received. Of course, even when she's crying, everyone tells us how beautiful she is, and though we agree, it's not really what we're thinking while she's crying for no reason.

After church, we decided we wanted to get out of the house and Jason suggested going for a drive. So we packed a picnic lunch and loaded up the car. We drove west on the back roads and ended up in Touchet, where we ate lunch at a covered picnic area next to the school (yes, "the" school). This was some of the scenery we saw while out on our Sabbath afternoon drive. I must say this view is much more pleasant than the smell we encountered here...

100+ Degrees

Today it was miserably hot. I know, I know - it's summer. In Walla Walla. But it was horrible today, really. And it always feels worse to a pregnant woman. So just trust me. It was so hot even the dog didn't do anything but sleep under the fan.

Just Plain Awesome

Today was actually quite relaxing and just another all-around great Sabbath. We slept in a little bit, and then I made a delicious breakfast of hash browns, scrambled eggs, and fruit. Then Jason and I made some music together - he played clarinet, I accompanied on the piano - before we went to church. The church service was wonderful. It was a male quartet (they were all over 50, but they sounded really good) doing old school Christian songs and hymns. Their harmonies were beautiful. When we came home, we made haystacks for lunch and then went for a walk before relaxing in the living room with the fan and popsicles. It was HOT. At 6:00 we headed into CP to have dinner with our friends Tobi and Michael. We had a delicious meal of corn tortillas with a mix of black beans, corn, green peppers, tomatoes, and lime juice. Then we played a game of croquet (Jason won).

Around 8:30, Michael's dad and brother showed up. They were there to watch a movie. Since it was a long movie and we didn't want to stay up that late, Jason and I left around 9, but before we did...I got to do something I've never done before and might not ever get to do again: I held a parrot. Rascal is a BEAUTIFUL bird, as you can see from the picture. His blue is tinged with bright green, and there's a bit of orange and red in his yellow. Definitely the most beautiful creature I've seen that close. Since my previous experience with birds was holding parakeets, this was quite a change. Rascal's beak was about as big as a parakeet.

Though it looks like his huge feet would hurt on bare skin, they don't. He's learned how to rest his claws on people so it doesn't hurt at all. He could make it hurt if he wanted to, but he's a very friendly bird. Michael's dad, Danny, has had Rascal since the bird was 6 months old; he is now a 12-year-old parrot. He will live to be between 85 and 105 years old. Rascal's beak is the most frightening part of him - though his eyes can be kind of creepy, too. His beak can snap a broom handle in half. Parrots have also been known to easily take care of curious cats sweeping their claws through the cage bars to swat at the birds. They simply bite the cat's paw off. Yes, completely off. Fortunately, since he's been raised since just about birth by Danny, and is ver well-trained. The only person he's ever bitten was Tobi, and Danny explains that the bird is very jealous because Tobi took one of the bird's boys away. He didn't bite her hard, but she had a bit of blood and a blood blister for a while, and it left a small scar. Just imagine what it would have been like if Rascal was REALLY mad. Though he did nibble a little bit at my arm, it didn't hurt at all; in fact I barely felt it.

Rascal behaves just as well as a well-trained dog. He comes when he's called, he'll respond to a sharp, "NO!", and he knows what "stay" means. He's a very gentle bird, but he does know he intimidates people. When I was holding him, he dipped his head quickly and moved a little closer to my face, and it made me yelp a little bit. He immediately mimicked my yelp and then attempted to do it again to make me scream again. When I laughed at something, the bird laughed, too - mimicking MY laugh!

When I'd finally given Rascal back to Danny, he put him on the floor to let him explore. He made his way over to where Jason and I were sitting, and since I was warned he liked to nibble on toes, I curled mine up. Jason was wearing sandals and he sat there watching Rascal approach. When Rascal got close enough, he lunged at Jason's feet, and Jason got out of the way just in time. Rascal wouldn't have hurt Jason, but it's still disturbing to see a beak that large and sharp coming at you at 30 mph.

Like I said, it was a fun evening, and I think this definitely makes my year so far. Parrots are just plain awesome.

Spring Babies

My parents are here visiting this weekend, and after Sabbath lunch and a nap (for some of us), we decided to take advantage of the sunshine that had appeared after a grey morning. We grabbed our collection of old bread and headed to the one park we know of that has ducks and doesn't have signs saying not to feed them: Lions Park in College Place. The above sight greeted us at the far end of the pond. There are nine of them there, even though you might only see eight. They were so cute! And they were close enough to touch...though I resisted (it was tough). Finally, enough people gathered that it made Mama Duck nervous and she hopped off the rock where she was keeping an eye on her sleeping babes, plopped into the water, and quack-quacked until all nine of them were safely behind her. Then she led them into some overhanging branches at the edge of the island in the middle of the pond. There they waited, presumably until the crowd went away. The ducks didn't eat much, but it didn't matter...we enjoyed our time at the park thoroughly, thanks to these adorable babies.