Barn Charm - My Love For Barns~

 

I have always had a fascination with  Barns. I love pictures of barns and they bring back childhood memories of being on our farm. I loved the barns at my Uncle's home and also at his ranch. I remember playing in the bales of straw in those barns. I was a cowgirl at heart and enjoyed playing like I was" Annie Oakley".

I love the blog site entitled Barn Charm. Take a moment to visit this site and enjoy all of the pictures that have been taken of barns. 

This picture of a barn was taken in Rupert, Idaho. I think it is a very unique barn. This one was built with stones; perhaps the design was from Denmark or another Scandinavian country. If anyone out there knows about where this style of barn is found; please leave a comment. 

I love this one and hope you will enjoy it too.

Our Amazing Mourning Dove Parents~

The Male and Female Mourning Doves~

 I like to watching the Discover channel and the Animal channel. I find that animals, birds and other species are so unique in their own way. They are beautiful creations from a loving creator. They are such a wonderful part of our earth life. I am fascinated by how they live, procreate and care for their little ones.

Recently, we had fun watching a male and female Mourning Dove as they busily made a nest for their eggs in our front yard tree.

 The female Dove soon laid two perfect little eggs, making her a soon to be mother.

The two Eggs~

Meanwhile the male Dove would come and go.  This is where the analogy of parenting like a Mourning Doves came together for me.
After the eggs were laid this sweet little mother bird sat on the eggs faithfully. I found it  intriguing that she would sit there so patient until in the afternoon when the future father Dove would come and relieve her for a while. This would gave the mother time away from the nest; time to eat and drink
I loved it through the years when my dear husband would give me a break from our children and send me off to shop or do whatever I desire to do at the time.
I found it  interesting that the Mourning Doves build their nest together. The nest was made of twigs and sticks. In reading about these amazing birds, I found that they usual try to find a place for their home that protects them from the weather and keeps the nests out of sight of birds of prey.
We too desire to find a good home in areas that will be good for raising our families. The father's role as a provider is very apparent even in the life of these little birds.
The two eggs are laid 48 hours apart.The Eggs are incubated for 14 to 15 days. During this time the father bird watches over them all and helps the mother Dove when needed. Toward the end of the 14 day incubation period, both parents often incubate the eggs together to provide additional heat and humidity.
I loved how that is similar to how we bring forth our newborns. Most of the time our husbands are right there with us through this process of birthing.
After the fledglings are hatched they are first fed "Pigeon milk" from the lining of both parents crop, and later they receive partially digested food from the parents. I guess this correlates with breast or bottle feeding of our little ones. Again the father bird comes and relieves the mother each day for a while so she can eat and have some down time.
Somewhere between 14 and 15 days after the baby birds are hatched the parents will leave the nest.

Father Mourning Dove Caring for his Fledglings~

Within a half day after the parents leave, the chicks will become hungry and one by one they take their first flight to the ground, often far below. The parents usually remain out of sight until the babies are on the ground then they will feed them.
Yup, as parents the day usual comes when our children are ready to leave the nest. We struggle with these moments because they won't be under our watchful eye. This is where we  trust in our Heavenly Father that they will be watched over and protected.
When the parent birds in our tree left the nest we became very concerned. As we drove out of our driveway, we looked upon the roof of our home and there were the two parents watching over their little ones. It was a tender moment. During this time the parents watch over the babies trying to protect them from predators as they improve their flying skills and learn to peck seeds on the ground. The parents will also continue to feed them up to another 12 days after they leave the nest.
It takes a pair of Mourning Doves on an average of 33 days to raise a brood. These little baby birds grow very fast.  It takes us 18 years or more for us to raise our children. In fact I think it takes longer than that. I sometimes feel like I am still raising my adult children.In some ways I would love just 33 days. However, that means I would miss the many treasured moments of raising children.

Mother Mourning Dove with her two Fledglings~

So what can we learn about parenting from the Mourning Doves. I think they are amazing parents. They carefully care for each other as they are building their nest. Just like we prepare for our little babies to come. When our babies are born we keep them protected,  warm, fed and cuddled. As our babies grow they require a lot of care. I love how the fathers of today help with caring for their children more than perhaps they did in other eras.  Fathers watch over and protect us just like the father Mourning Dove does his brood.

Baby Mourning Dove~

My husband and I enjoyed watching and taking pictures of these two birds as they cared for their little ones. It was all so fascinating.
I believe that God created this earth and provided for us these beautiful birds for us to enjoy. He watches over all his creations as found in the following verse of scripture:
Matthew 6: 26 " Behold the fowls of the air: for they sow not, neither do they reap, nor gather into barns; yet your heavenly Father feedeth them. Are ye not much better than they?"  Yes, Heavenly Father is aware of us all~

 

Celebrating Family Moments~

We were so blessed to have two of our families from Idaho come down for a visit. We love them all so much and had great moments with them. I would call that "Celebrating The Family Moments"~

On July 30th through August 2nd our daughter in law Amber and her two daughters Taylor Jo and Averi came for a visit. My husband was able to take one of the days off; which was awesome. We had a great adventure with them. During this time our son, James and his son Christian were on a scouting trip so thus Amber decided to spend some time with us.
Here are a few pictures of this fun moment in time.

Here you can find a virtual tour of Temple Square.

We visited LDS Church's Temple Square - This is the Christos Statue that it in the Visitor's

Averi and Taylor Jo ~ 

LeAnn (me) and my grandson, Jackson who is living with us right now.

Here are some pictures of the prophets through the years from the Old Testament, New Testament and The Book of Mormon, Another Testament Of Jesus Christ~

This picture represents some of The many languages that the Book of Mormon is printed in.

This is the famous Tabernacle where the Mormon Tabernacle Choir records and performs.
Look here for the history of the Tabernacle; you will enjoy reading about it.

Inside the Tabernacle is the famous wood carved pipes of the organ.

Our sweet Granddaughter Averi, who is blind loved the Tabernacle. The acoustics are so good that there is an echo that sounds when you are talking loud or clapping; she loved it.

Also, if you dropped a pin in front of the tabernacle you could hear it in the back of the tabernacle. Here is a great history on this building ~

LeAnn And Roger in front of the statue of the Mormon Pioneers pulling a hand cart.

Here you can find the history of the Mormon Handcart pioneers.

This picture represents our life span of experiences. It is a beautiful painting.

Here is a replica of the inside of the Salt Lake Temple; it is very impressive.

Here are pictures of the temple grounds that we took. You can see the temple and the tall white structure is the LDS Church office building.

Here is the history of the Joseph Smith Memorial Building ~

Roger and Jackson

Taylor Jo, Averi and Amber~

Here we are at the top of the Joseph Smith Memorial Building -

Pictures taken are looking down at the Temple Square.

This is a water pond that is in front of the temple.

There is the reflection of the temple in the pond.

Yes, this was a very happy day!

We were blessed to have Travis and Amanda's children here for 4 days. We had some fun activities with them. I missed taking my camera on the one outing; but here are some awesome pictures of my grandchildren and my sweet daughter in law, Amanda. She was blessed to be able to fly to San Francisco for 4 days to be with her husband, Travis our son. He has been working in Sacramento for the summer. They had a great time there while we enjoyed their children here.

Just a short thought on their arrival. My dear daughter in law told me as she brought the children into the house that Ethan had the stomach flu but was getting better and Ryley had a cut on the bottom of his foot and she didn't think it needed stitches. She was exhausted from getting them ready to come and I told her that these kinds of incidents happen all the time when you are trying to travel. Luckily no one else got the stomach flu and Ryley did not need stitches.

 Layton, age three, Jackson , 18 with Sammy, Kason 6, Justice 17, Ryley 8, Austin 14, Karli 10 and Ethan 12. There is never a dull moment when these precious children are around.

 Kason

 Ryley

Justice

 Ethan

 Layton

Austin

Amanda, the sweet mother of all these children~

Random pictures of playing on our swing set ~

We had a couple of outings with the children. First, Layton age 3 saw a red car on the shelf of the bookcase in our study. When my husband disappeared for a few moments he slid the chair over and tried to stand on a very slim arm of a chair and my husband caught him in the act and saved him from a fall. He also took the gate we have at the top of the stairs; which isn't attached and threw it down the stairs; thus creating a hole in the wall. Now in raising kids we had several of these holes through the years caused usually from a door slammed against the wall. These holes have been nicked named "Mormon holes". I am sure they are not just isolated to a religion but several of my friends had them too.

I took all of the children to a water pad park where we were having a great time until a very strong wind came up suddenly and we had to leave quickly.  

What a treasure our grandchildren are to us and we did have some wonderful times with them during July and August.

The Simple Woman's Daybook ~A Peek Into My Day

FOR TODAY - August 5th, 2013

Be sure and drop by other Simple Day Book Entries here. Enjoy and perhaps join the fun!

Outside my window...it's a lovely evening. The sun is leaving a lovely ray of orange, pink and white clouds over the beautiful Wasatch mountains.

 

I am thinking...that life is crazy right now. My dear husband is stressed due to the company he works for is being audited by the government Medicare D division. He has been told to put everything on hold that he has been doing to work on gathering the information for the audit. The only sad thing is that he still has to do a 3 hour compliance audit each day for his company regardless of what he will have to do for this government request.

Meanwhile, I just can't seem to get done the things that I want to complete due to constant interruptions with other important things I have to do. Whatever happened to sitting down and just becoming engrossed in a good book.

I am thankful for...the job my husband has. Yes, I am complaining but I am grateful he has employment. We have a lovely home and many wonderful blessings to be grateful for.

From the learning rooms...I am continuing to work on learning how to do family history. This is one of the things I have been trying to do but can't get too. I still need to know more about how the  LDS Family Tree program works.
As a side note on this; I went in on the  New Family Tree program the other day. I looked up my own family line of which I had entered all of the information for my own family and I found that my husband was listed as deceased, we only had one son and none of my husband's pedigree line showed up. I got so upset by this. I went in to tell my husband about it and he commented back to me: "Why don't you just call the help line". Normally, I take the trial by error method; but I decided to take his advice. I called the help line and a very kind man helped me get it all corrected. I was so grateful for his help and grateful I had actually listened to my  husband. Most of all I was grateful that my husband wasn't listed as deceased.

From the kitchen...I cooked tonight fish and made a salad. For a Family Home Evening dessert I topped Angel Food Cake with a strawberry pudding.  It should be interesting. I am waiting for my husband to quit working so we can have FHE and dessert.

I am wearing...a striped pink, white, orange and gray shirt. A pair of light gray slacks and blue slippers. I am so coordinated.

I am creating...this post and happy to be finally getting to it.

I am going... downstairs in a few moments to have a FHE lesson with our grandson, Jackson who is living with us right now. He just turned 18 years old and is preparing for a mission. He is staying with us to earn some money for his mission. He is helping us with work we need done but can't do because of our age and or too busy to do. He is an awesome young man so we are happy to have him here.

I am reading... The Book of Mormon daily with a new study guide I just started it over again. I love this book so much.

 

I am also reading a book entitled: "Pure Love, Readings On Sixteen Enduring Virtues" by Marilyn Arnold. This is full of stories and poetry about the 16 enduring Virtues.

 

I am trying to decide what novel to pick to read of the ones that I have on hand. I would like to historical romance novel. I just finished the 5th book of the "Light & Truth, The Journey Home." This series was powerful and I learned so much about the Mormon Battalion. I seriously do not know how the Mormon pioneers did what they did. Those 300 plus men, a few woman and children traveled from Winter Quarters, Nebraska to San Diego, California.They left their families with the purpose of making enough money to help the Mormon Saints get to the Salt Lake Valley. What courageous and stalwart saints they were. They mostly walked all the way there over very rough terrain.  

I am hoping...that life can slow down just a touch. I am starting to feel tired and I am not accomplishing some of the things that I desire to do. I have been enjoying practicing my piano again and I have been trying to exercise daily. However, it doesn't always happen so I get discouraged that I can't find the time to do these two things. I did have a dear friend many years ago that told me that if I wanted to do something bad enough I would find the time. I do think that it is true; but right now something has to go and these two items on my list are the ones I usually don't get too. I won't ever give up trying.

I am hearing...the typing on my computer, the cars going by the side of our house.

Around the house...it is quiet tonight. Our sweet dog Sammy hasn't felt very well today. He has allergies and started a new medication that has upset his tummy. He is such a character so when he isn't doing well; my husband isn't do well. Sammy really is good at getting him to take a break or to de-stress.

One of my favorite things... is to read..................I love to read. It calms my soul.

A favorite quote for today.....

 

Something New About Me...I love to go to lunch with friends. Today I had lunch with a very dear friend from California. I met her husband today too. I met Lura through a blogging friend in England. Lura had been in a severe automobile accident and my friend Marie asked me to pray for her. She gave me Lura's blogging address so I started to follow her recovery. At first her daughter was blogging about her recovery. Finally, when she was able to blog herself I continued to follow her and we have become very dear friends. I feel like I have known her forever. When she comes to Utah we go to lunch and I love being with her. It was fun to have her husband at lunch today too. It was a sweet moment of time.
Pet Peeves...is attending an event where everyone just piles into the food and they display no manners. You wonder who taught them to behave in this manner.

 One of my guilty pleasures...eating! I do love good food. We went to a buffet today which is not a good place to go if you are trying to eat less. How do you pass up good food; I don't know how too.

A few plans for the rest of the week: Tomorrow I am helping a sister that we are assigned to work with in the Inner City Project. I will be taking her around to pick up some medical records and take her son to his Physician appointment. I may have be taking her on Wednesday too. On Thursday my son's family is coming down from Sugar City, Idaho. Amanda, his wife is flying out to California to see my son. He has been working in Sacramento for the summer. We will be taking care of their 7 children until Sunday. I think I am going to be very busy with this wonderful family. I am anxious to be with them. It's a handful so I hope I can handle it all.

I do have Jackson here to help and the oldest daughter, Justice is 17 years old; so we should be find. They do have a very challenging two year old that will need to be watched constantly. He is known for getting into trouble.

Here is picture for thought I am sharing...

This will say Grandma's House - Kids Spoiled While You Are Away~