Bunny business

It was a surprise when we first spotted the big black and white bunny hanging out on our lawn a couple of months ago. Then we started seeing a big brown and white bunny. And it wasn't too long after that we started seeing little bunnies hopping around.

Analee discovered the bunny hole one day as a baby bunny darted in. We found that they liked to hang out under the grill. The one day Peach was yipping by the shed.

At first Seth thought she had gotten herself stuck in the shed. Then he thought she had gotten her collar stuck ON something outside the shed. Then he realized she had cornered a baby bunny behind a palette by the shed. 

We rescued the bunny and hoped it was smart enough to stay out of Peach's yard.

Unfortunately, bunnies don't seem to be as smart as we had hoped they would be.

The black baby bunny found its way back into Peach's yard and into her teeth on Saturday, December 1.

Fortunately, Peach listened as we told her to "Drop it!" and "Leave it alone!" Seth rescued the bunny and brought it inside to assess the damage. We kept it in a clear tote with a rag, a bowl of water and some lettuce for a few hours.

Analee handling the bunny. 

 Miriam and the bunny.

When we decided it was unhurt, we decided to reintroduce it to "the wild" (our yard).

Winnie was tasked with carrying the bunny back outside to the bunny hole. But then it jumped out of her hands and ran for the road. 

Seth and the older girls chased and caught it, then carried it back by its hole. 

Miriam released it, and it quickly hopped back down into its home.

We have, since then, had one baby bunny fatality. We didn't see that Peach had gotten a hold of a bunny until it was too late.

But we did rescue another baby bunny (a black and white spotted one) last Saturday (December 15). Again, Peach had it in her mouth. This time Winnie was playing in the back yard, and she ran inside to tell us. Seth again commanded Peach to drop it, and he picked up the stunned bunny and brought it inside. 

It seemed much more dazed than the black one; it lay in the same position for a long time. We were worried that it may have been injured internally, so we decided to keep it inside overnight. We gave it a sponge bath to get the dog slobber off it, and it didn't squirm or fuss at all. At 3:30 a.m. when Seth stole downstairs to check on it, it was hopping around and had eaten all the lettuce we had placed in there.

Taking those as good signs, we gathered the girls and took the bunny outside after we had all waken up for the day. The previous bunny hole showed no signs of life, so we took it back by the pasture fence where Analee had seen bunnies coming out from under the wooden playhouse Seth and Bekah constructed a few summers ago. Ana released the bunny. It sat there for a few seconds, then disappeared under the playhouse.

Fingers crossed that we don't find any more bunnies in Peach's teeth. 

Journey to Bethlehem and ward Christmas party

Our girls have loved going to the Idaho Falls North Stake's Journey to Bethlehem, so we cleared a night (except Seth who had church business to attend to) and played, ate and remembered the birth of our Savior on Thursday, November 29.

We paid tickets for snacks and made our crafts first, then waited in the chapel for our turn to visit the live nativity located in rooms throughout the building. Unfortunately, our guide was new to the job and skipped half the rooms, so we backtracked and caught the ones we missed before going outside to see the animals.

Analee sticks out her tongue in concentration while making paper beads.  

Rebekah overseeing Winnie's paper bead creations. 

Winnie braiding her headband. I had no idea the 6-year-old knew how to braid. 

Miriam wearing her headband while Analee braids hers. Analee's braiding was so fastidious that a random lady commented on how well she could braid. 

 Four cute girls and a camel.

Joseph, Mary, four cute girls and a donkey.

Then on Friday, December 7, the newly formed Parri Ward had our first Christmas party. Seth emceed the event, and I was in charge of the Primary's live nativity.

 The massive crouton brick that Analee got with her salad.

 Winnie the sheep eating dinner.

 Miriam the donkey eating dinner.

Analee the star enjoying the mandarin oranges somebody brought for the dessert table. 

 Andrea trying to help the dog, Care Bear and jaguar that decided to scale the pews during the nativity. The children got to dress up for the nativity in whatever costume they deemed fit.

Ted Berrett, our patriach, narrating the nativity while Andrea herds angels out of the scene. The gym was so full of tables and chairs that we opened up the chapel and used the very back of it for our nativity. 

Winnie the sheep waving at Rebekah the photographer during the nativity. 

Analee the star (on the left) after leading the wise men and their donkeys (?) to the stable.

Miriam the donkey rejoicing as everyone takes their final bow and Seth announces the arrival of Santa. 

 Santa (Gary George) checking out Winnie's sheep ears.

Miriam getting her candy cane from Santa.

Thanksgiving break

Along with the delicious early Thanksgiving we enjoyed with Seth's parents and sister (and her family) on Sunday, November 18 and the Thanksgiving we enjoyed with my parents, brother (and his family) and sister, we enjoyed some traditions and togetherness during the break.

Usually we save making gingerbread houses until Christmas break or a FHE in December, but then they don't get to be on display very long. So we made our gingerbread creations on Friday, November 23, and they're now on display on top of the piano.

Rebekah decorates her house. It nearly fell completely apart, but I helped her piece it back together and add some extra frosting to cement the pieces together. 

Seth and Winnie with their creation. 

Miriam with her creation. I helped her make the house, then turned everything over to her and let her decorate it. 

Analee with her camping-themed creation.

The next day, we went to Fall Creek in search of the perfect Christmas tree. Seth found it and cut it down. I started dragging it back in the direction he pointed. "Walk 300 feet in that direction and you'll intersect with the road. I'll come pick it up with the 4-wheeler." Ha. I never found a road. Instead, I dragged that tree to Kingdom Come and back, then found I had gone too far along the creek and had to backtrack so I could cross it on a bridge. Unbeknownst to me, my brother Tyson, his wife and his dogs were following my tracks, so they got to go on the same long, circuitous route.

Selfie with the tree I dragged every which way. 

Seth hauling all the kids on the 4-wheeler. Rebekah, Analee and Winnie on the back; Oakley, Miriam and Bennet on the front. Rebekah opted to stay behind and help watch the kids while we tracked down the tree. Oakley then decided to make things interesting for her by taking off her boots and insisting she play in the snow. Bekah held on to her squirmy, whiny cousin until Seth returned and helped her out.

Winnie posing on the tree. Why ON the tree, you ask? Heaven only knows. 

Seth loading the 4-wheeler into the back of the truck. 

The face Winnie makes while he loads the 4-wheeler (look in the back window). 

 The face I make while he loads the 4-wheeler.

Uncle T said you can stick your cold hands in Cu's jacket to get them toasty. Winnie took him up on the offer.

Then that Sunday night (November 25), we went over to Grandma Scott's to decorate gingerbread cookies while Seth stayed at the church to help with tithing settlement.

Winnie posing with her gingerbread man. 

Analee trying out the cookie icing while Rebekah watches. 

Four cute girls decorating cookies. 

 Miriam making her star.

Analee and her cookies. 

Andrea, Ana, Bekah and Miriam decorating cookies and waiting their turn for the icing. 

Winnie the photobomber.

Fall miscellany

Winnie plays in the leaves in the side yard Saturday, September 8.

 Miriam takes a nap on the family room couch Saturday, September 8. When she woke up, I mentioned how she must have been tired to fall asleep there. "I didn't fall asleep," she told me. This picture tells me otherwise.

Analee, Miriam and Winnie try on dresses that belonged to her ancestors on Sunday, October 14. Analee's dress was worn by my grandma Marie Egbert Wirkus on her 8th grade graduation day; Miriam's dress was made and worn by Marie; Winnie's was probably Emma Jane Duncan's temple dress. 

Analee, Grandma Scott and Oakley wearing a trio of white dresses. We're unsure of whose they were, but they came from Marie, so they came from her line. 

Aunt McKall and Grandma Scott see how tall Analee is. 

Rebekah and her partner play "How Far I'll Go" and "Love Is an Open Door" at her first Monster Concert on Saturday, November 10 while her piano teacher Lisa Humpherys directs the group. There were (I believe) 14 pianos on the stage, and two people per piano. 

Analee and Miriam pose next to their epic LEGO creation on Saturday, November 10.

San Francisco

Seth and celebrated 15 years of matrimonial bliss in August, but scheduling prevented us from getting away until November. So the morning after an exciting night of Halloweening, we woke up at 4:30 and drove south to catch a plane to San Francisco.

THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 1

The commuter traffic on I-15 made us think we might miss our flight, but we made it to the gate just as we were supposed to board. With that taken care of, we enjoyed the flight, landed in California, and I experienced my first Uber ride from the airport to our hotel.

We stayed at Queen Anne Hotel. It was extremely Victorian.

Our rooms weren't ready yet, so we dropped off our luggage and set out on a walk around the area. Our first stop: Japantown. We picked up some origami paper and an origami jewelry book for Analee, ate some delicious ramen, and browsed the various shops.

Then we walked up hills and down hills (San Francisco has many of them) to see the Painted Ladies from Alamo Square.

We listened to the theme song from "Full House" along the way.

Our room was ready by then, so we trekked back to the hotel, dropped everything we didn't need, and picked up some bikes so we could go to the piers. There we bought a few more souvenirs (seashells for Winnie and Seth, seashell jewelry for Andrea and Rebekah, color-changing T-shirts for Winnie and Miri) and picked up some seafood from one of the outdoor vendors while walking around.

A ship at one of the piers. 

Pier 39.

FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 2

Ever the hopeless romantics, we rented a tandem bike to ride across the Golden Gate Bridge. A kindly fellow bicyclist pointed out that the back tire was bent, so we called the rental shop and had them bring a replacement. Suddenly, the bike wasn't nearly as wobbly or difficult to balance. We experienced a bit of a learning curve with the tandem, but by the end of the day our starts were pretty smooth, and I learned how to avoid getting pedals to the shin from my position in the back.

Seth and Andrea on the bridge. 

Our trusty tandem. 

The bridge from the Sausalito side. 

After walking around Sausalito and getting lunch as a tasty burger joint (and watching all the emergency personnel of Marin County gather in one place after reports of a gas leak), we rode the ferry back to San Fran and explored the piers more during daylight hours (and found a hoodie to get for Rebekah).

Sausalito. 

The sea lions at Pier 39. We had heard them the night before, but it was completely dark by that time, so we had to return and shoot some video to send the girls.

Then we headed over to Chinatown to visit more shops, do some more walking around, and get some dinner. (And buy Miriam a happy cat.)

These street musicians offered Seth this thing, so he sat down and jammed with them for a while. Turns out, the thing wasn't tuned.

Saddle sore and exhausted, we went back to the hotel for the night.

SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 3

We dedicated this day to Golden Gate Park, so we rode bikes as far as we could, then docked them and walked through Panhandle Park to the California Academy of Sciences.

Seth checking out a rain forest frog. 

A blue morpho eating.

We tried renting a pedal boat to go around Stow Lake, but it was more than an hour wait, so we opted to walk instead. That turned out to be the better option, because that allowed us to cross the bridge and go to the top of the island in the lake.

 Andrea on the island.

A turtle basking on the rock in the lake.

A wedding prevented us from going to the Conservatory of Flowers, so instead we walked to a tasty Thai restaurant, checked out colorful Haight Ashbury (and were offered some "good bud"), then rode bikes back to the hotel.

SUNDAY, NOVEMBER 4

Church was a 15-minute walk away from our hotel, so we attended sacrament meeting, then went back to hotel for a nap. We caught a ride to Land's End and walked along the beach and the Coastal Trail.

Seth on the beach. 

Couple selfie. 

The Sutro baths.

We went back to Japantown for some delicious sushi, then spent the last night in our hotel.

MONDAY, NOVEMBER 5

A mostly uneventful day of traveling (Uber to airport, SFO to LAX, LAX to SLC, drive to Idaho Falls) with the exception of the unexpected upgrade to first class on the second flight. I balked at the warm towel offered to me, but heartily enjoyed the big cushy seat and extra drinks and snacks.

We called the girls and told them we'd be home an hour after bedtime, then realized we hadn't changed the van's clock after daylight savings, so we surprised them by arriving home at 8 p.m. We were happy to be together again, and the girls were thrilled with their "prizes" (souvenirs) as Winnie calls them.