Away We Go!

Here is the Badger loading our moving truck:

We've spent waaaaaay too much time in these yellow Penske trucks (we like Penske because they're always nice and new and have CD players and take diesel fuel which cuts our gas costs in half.)

Goodbye, duplex. Goodbye, wonderful oak trees. Goodbye, new crop of acorns. Goodbye, prairie.

This is it for this blog. I have decided to call my new blog "Birrd and Badger" because, to quote a book I read recently, "all us gots is us." Our life is totally up in the air right now and our posessions are scattered, but we have each other, and that's enough. You can keep following our adventures here. Thanks for reading!

Rabbit Update

Our little Rabbit has been having the hardest time of any of us dealing with all the change in our lives. She has become very much attached to me lately because of all the anxiety she feels and she has a lot of sad moments, especially in the evening.

However, she has a lot of happy moments during the day, and we think she gets cuter by the minute.

I absolutely love the way she looks in this gorgeous blue sweater with her butterblond hair and her big blue eyes.

She also looks cute in pink.

Especially when she's dancing on the table.

Moving Fun

Moving is intensely hard and stressful. However, every once in awhile there are moments of pure fun and silliness along the way, such as when I packed up the armoire:

Since You Were Wondering...

I am in Utah.

It is beautiful. I am very glad to be here. My life at the moment is simultaneously extremely sublime and extremely difficult.

I have been dreadfully ill since I got here, but I'm getting better now. I had the worst ear infection I've had in years and I still can't hear properly. I even had to take antibiotics, which are always a last resort for me. But it was definitely a moment for a last resort-- I was curled up in my sister's guest bed in agony while my Rabbit be-bopped unsupervised around her non-childproof house and broke CD cases and photo frames and ripped keys off her laptop.

Oh, my goodness, there are so many stories I could tell right now! I could tell you about the magic fairyland we drove through on the way out here and the homeschool field trip we went on yesterday and I could also tell you a lot about my experiences with a shedding snake.

However, my internet access will be sporadic until November. I won't be able to do much with my blog, especially with photos.

I am very aware that I am no longer Little Birrd on the prairie. Some are waiting on the edge of their seats to see what I will call my blog now. I do not yet know exactly. I am waiting for inspiration. When my hearing's back and I'm sitting at my own computer and the creative juice starts flowing something wonderful will come into cyberbeing and you will all be dazzled and warm-fuzzied at the same time.

Until then, I remain yours faithfully,

Birrd

Freezer Surprise

Lately for dinner we've been eating a lot of what I call "Freezer Surprise."

What that means is that I unearth some strange frozen hunk of who-knows-what from my deep freeze and find some way to turn it into dinner.

Most of the time, it turns out really quite tasty. I had all kinds of treasures buried in my deep freeze.

Since the Badger lost his job on Sept. 11th, I have only purchased a couple of gallons of milk and a couple pounds of butter at the store. Everything else we've eaten has come out of our freezer or our canned goods stockpile. And I've baked a lot and ground a lot of wheat. I love my wheat storage!

And we've eaten really really well. I've never felt deprived or like I was "living on food storage."

Now, I must say that the night before this happened I had this unusual and strong prompting to go to Sam's Club and stock up on a few things. I'm very grateful I followed that prompting because those items have made this whole scenario a lot easier.

We've been so blessed. We still have tons of food. I could probably go at least another couple of weeks with only spending $10 or so at the grocery store. I just have to make sure I plan our meals ahead of time so there's time to do the extra prep.

Someone dropped off a bag of groceries, mostly snacks for our drive, on our porch the other night. It was so kind. I'm so glad to have some treats for the kids for the trip-- it's hard to eat out of your food storage, however bountiful it may be, when you're traveling.

I have a testimony that when you are trying your best to live a life of service to the Lord, that He will take care of you. I know that we are in His hands right now and I feel totally at peace.

Prairie Barn

Sorghum

I think the sorghum is ready to harvest.

Actually, I have no idea if it is or not. I just think it must be because it's turning brown on top. I have no idea what they use it for either (liquor? sweetener? animal fodder?), but they grow a lot of it around here and I think it's pretty.

Badger-Style

The Badger did my hair yesterday.

Do you like it?

I do.

Developmental Update

My Rabbit seems so big lately. In so many ways, she's not a baby anymore.

She sings, she jabbers, she puts tray puzzles together.

She likes to put anyone's shoes on and walk around in them.

She loves to color and scribbles on everything.

More and more she shows signs of understanding what's going on around the house and more and more she finds ways of letting us know exactly what she wants. And she definitely knows what she wants. As the Badger and I often say, "The Rabbit has her own agenda."

She's sleeping much better and going to bed at a reasonable hour.

It's so wonderful to see her healthy and normal!

The Secret to Life

I think I have finally discovered the secret to life:

Go to bed before you want to.
Get up before you want to.
Stop eating before you want to.

Now I've got it figured out I just need to apply it.... :)

Quite the Hike

The hike to Timpanogos Cave is only a mile and a half long, but it climbs 1,000 feet. That means it's very very steep.

It's worth the climb though, even without the nifty cave at the top. The scenery along the way is stunning. Just ask Fish.

(Here's what he's looking at:)

We had such a happy hiking party when we trekked up there earlier this month with Grandpa Badger.

I'm looking forward to being back in Utah where I can do more stuff like this.

A Day to Remember

Ten years ago today, the Badger and I hiked up to Timpanogos Cave. I was taking an upper-division Geography class at BYU on landforms and one of the requirements was to tour the cave. I decided since I had to go anyway it would make a romantic date.

It turned out to be very romantic. After the cave tour, as the Badger and I sat on a bench overlooking the canyon, he got down on his knee and asked me to marry him.

I was so surprised that I didn't say anything at first. A panicked look came over his face and he said "please???"

There wasn't anyone around to take a picture of that historic moment. But earlier this month we were at the cave again and we reenacted the scene. This time Grandpa Badger took a picture. Here we are ten years later (with our little pink and purple offspring in the background.)

What an amazing, hard, crazy ten years it's been! We would do it again. Oh, yes, we would do it again.

Here's my Badger ten years ago on the trail down from the cave (so, just minutes after we got engaged).

Here's my Badger in just about the same spot, just about ten years later.

I'm so very glad he asked. It was a good thing we started. And it just keeps getting better.

Switchback

Our life here on the prairie was zooming along at a breathless pace, full of plans and projects and ideas and dreams.

Suddenly it all came to a screeching halt. My Badger lost his job.

We didn't even remotely see it coming. It was like hitting an invisible wall and having the wind knocked out of us. We were totally numb for a couple of days.

Then we asked ourselves, "Now what?"

That is a very hard question to answer. The market for pilot jobs right now is like a large vegetable bin with a handful of small, moldy potatoes in the bottom. The prospect of getting employment that can support a family in another field is even worse, however, so we're probably going for the little potatoes. The bin is so deep that they're going to be hard to reach and it will likely take quite some time.

After much discussion, prayer, and pondering, we have determined that while we wrestle through the job-getting process we need to move back to Utah. We have so much family there to support us. It will be like coming home to recharge.

So suddenly I find myself once again scrounging for boxes and trying to figure out what I can get rid of (sorry, Couch. You're staying in prairie-land.) We're loading up in three weeks-- or sooner, if a job comes up in the mean time. This will be our tenth move in just under ten years of marriage and our fourth interstate move.

My goodness, you feel vulnerable without income.

But I'd rather go through unemployment than a death or a divorce. My children are all healthy and my family is all together. We have plenty of food in the house, thanks to our food storage. And we have enough money, or very nearly so, to get us back home to Utah.

And then we'll go from there.

Even though I have no idea where our next income will come from and how long we will be living on very little, I'm actually excited. I will love living in Utah for as long as we're there. I will love seeing the mountains every time I look out the window. There will still be fall color on their flanks when we get there and then I will get to watch them become covered in their winter coat of snow. I will love getting together with my sisters and my brother and their children. I will love letting my kids play with their cousins. All the precious family closeness that we only ever got a few small rations of on brief vacations will now be dished out in abundance. When I think about these things I am almost grateful that the Badger lost his job.

I can say that because I know that there is a purpose for this. The Badger's entire career looks mortally wounded at the moment, but we will go forward with faith.

After all, switchbacks are the only way to get to the top of the mountain.

Badger Burger

My Badger is serious about his hamburgers.

Two patties with lots of lettuce, tomato, onion, and grilled mushrooms. The Badger likes mushrooms on everything.

The leaning tower of Burger...

Here he goes! Can he get his mouth around it? He can barely get his hands around it!

Almost in!

Mmm.... yeah.... Good!

South Fork

While we were in Utah, we had a picnic with the Badger's family up the south fork of Provo Canyon. There is a fairly new park up there that has fast become a favorite place for family gatherings. It's very picturesque.

We all enjoyed marvelous food.

It was nice to meet Aunt Kaa's boyfriend.

And there was lots of sparkling conversation.

Family, good food, and mountains. Does it get any better?

Kids at South Fork

At our South Fork family picnic, the kids were in Kid Heaven between having cousins to play with and having nature to play in.

The boys climbed trees

and messed around in the stream

while the girls engaged in more genteel pursuits such as wildflower arranging

and worm examining.

How They Sleep

They do have their own beds, but if you try to make them go to bed by themselves they freak out. Then they end up falling asleep like this.

A Fish First

He waited a loooooong time for this!