I have graduated

Please see the following indisputable proofs.



My family came!



Adam graduated and his family came, too!
We all ate at India Garden and then took a picture in the snow.

Unfortunately, I still have two classes to take:

Biochemistry and American Heritage :(

2 sisters + 5 birds = bird hat

My sister briana is back! She is moving to Salt Lake City to open her practice Fern Midwifery. But first she is staying at my house for a week, or so. The trick is: now we've got 5 birds in my tiny attick appartment. This is her beautiful lovebird, Ave (Avocado).

When I said 5 birds, they are: Lemon-lime, Ave, Martin, and two new ducklings!!!

Martin was pretty lonely in his box all day, so I bought him two new sibs from the IFA. They are three weeks younger than Martin, but hopefully their differences will even out with time.
Here is Briana with Platypus and Babs.



All these squeakers eat a lot of greens and poop a lot of poop. The Goose's Mother recommends duck diapers (so funny!) to solve this carpet-destroying problem. Briana, Adam, and I tried it out with varying degrees of success...



But we just can't take Martin seriously anymore!

Here we are thinking about ducks. Omlet has gotten us so into ducks we don't know what to do.

Bird's aren't too bad...welcome to the bird house!

Martin is getting so big. He grows one part of his body each night. His downy feathers are thickening and his real feathers are almost here. Last night he grew one inch to each wing!

Martin loves to see the world! And he travels by technicolor bag.

Here is Martin riding bikes with Adam, Kimball, Sailor Elaine, and Zina.

Martin goes to school!

children of the wild world

You probably come from Canada

the cold winds chased you down

Is that a touch of snow upon your wing

are you headed southward bound?

Move quickly wild bird, the hunter comes from town

He longs to see you on his wall you match his mantlepiece of brown.

Faster wild bird, your sun is sinking down

I'd love to ride your noble wings I would utter not a sound.

There must be some kind of blue sky somewhere

God made especially for you

Children of the wild winds go there now

And take what's left of living for you.

You probably come from Asia

where the seas are deep and clear

When you rise to break the rolling waves

your body glistens like a mirror.

Move faster great blue one it's the fisherman I hear

And there's a pretty price upon your head they're paying well for you this year

Faster great blue one your darkest storm is near

I'd love to ride your great blue tail all your secrets I'd hold dear.

There must be some kind of blue sea somewhere

God made especially for you
Children of the wild seas go there now
And take what's left of living for you.

You probably come from Idaho where the cool air treats you right

Where you roam the Sages Mountains in your savage delight

Move quickly brave one, the builder scales your heights

And your home to him's worth millions now so there's nothing he won't fight.

Faster brave one,

your moon is losing light

I'd love to run the trail with you,

scream your courage through the night.

There must be some kind of mountain somewhere

God made especially for you

Children of the wild lands go there now

And take what's left of living for you.

There must be some kind of new world somewhere

God made especially for you

Children of the wild world go there now

And take what's left of living for you.

Spring City, Utah

Hello, I have been up to much school lately. But also plant field trips, critical mass bike rides, watching Martin grow, and a trip to Spring City, Utah.

My friend, Zina, needed help cleaning up snow-damaged yurts at her ranch for teens.
It was really fun and everyone who came got to swim in a jacuzzi, sleep in a yurt, eat delicious food, and listen to conference outside.

The yurts were ordered straight from the source: Mongolia. If you get a chance to see "Cave of the yellow dog" or "story of the weeping camel," I highly recommend them. Mongolia and Mongolians are beautiful. They have the cutest, smartest kids, too!
The yurts were made in the most amazing way: wood lattice pieced together using leather (sinew?), lining of rainbow-coloured silk, insulation layer of yak felt, outer layer of canvas, everything tied down using horse hair rope and yak hair rope, everything held up with wooden supports and spokes that were lacquered orange and hand painted with intricate designs.

Here is one of the snow-crushed, teen pirate-claimed yurts:


Here is Zina wrapping up some horse hair rope.

I would love this as the door (and door step) of my home!

On our way out of town, Adam and I stopped to drink at the spring that made Spring City famous and also at Zina's dad's ceramic shop. I bought a cup and a bowl!