I Will: My Happiness Manifesto

Life is hard.  Life can be unhappy.  Life is full of grief and fear and disappointment - often in unpredictable succession. But this is not a post about depression or heartbreak. This is a post about choosing how I will choose to live amid depressing, anxious, or other unstable circumstances.  

As I have been trying to regain my footing after facing some distressing mental/emotional diagnoses in my family, I’ve come to understand the power of one small phrase.  It is essentially all the power I have condensed into 2 words: I will.  I will choose to live happy regardless even if those around me are struggling or suffering or failing to meet my or other’s expectations. That sounds all fine and dandy, but a bit too generic and hypothetical.  So, I’ve whittled it down to some very specific statements I plan on hanging on to for dear life. They are not profound. They are not earth-shattering.  But they are mine - my fight song - my manifesto.  If all I truly possess is my will, then I’d better be serious about I will.  So in no particular order, here goes:

·      I will read interesting books and entertaining books and occasionally very boring books.

·      I will eat fresh peaches in August. 

·      I will plant tomatoes. 

·      I will grow flowers. 

·      I will pull weeds. 

·      I will praise God in private and out loud.

·      I will wear yellow and pink.

·      I will thank. 

·      I will smell flowers. 

·      I will take walks and ride my bike.

·      I will do yoga and I will still do the circuit workouts even if they don’t feel happy and probably only give me the illusion of strength. 

·      I will eat. 

·      I will cook. 

·      I will occasionally host parties with food that makes my mouth water. 

·      I will tell my family I love them.

·      I will brush and floss.

·      I will hug and kiss my family (who will appreciate the bursting and flossing no doubt! 😉).

·      I will write them notes.

·      I will bite my tongue when the need to criticize or correct comes up and I will apologize when I don’t.

·      I will go to book club. 

·      I will go to girls’ nights out.

·      I will watch movies.

·      I will cry.

·      I will make myself smile. 

·      I will listen to music and occasionally burst into dance. 

·      I will play the piano. 

·      I will occasionally play the flute. 

·      I will occasionally travel. 

·      I will quilt. 

·      I will build and plant and grow.

·      I will eat chocolate. 

·      I will attend church. 

·      I will attend the temple. 

·      I will enjoy sleep. 

·      I will express love and support to others. 

·      I will fit puzzles. 

·      I will visit.

·      I will be still. 

·      I will repent.

·      I will work.

·      I will drink in the beauty of sunsets and sunrises.

·      I will clean.

·      I will find reasons to laugh.

·      I will feed my spirit with scripture.

·      I will pray often for others but more often for myself because I need the most work and I’m the only whose will I can change. 

That is my plan for how I will live happy.  Some things may be more frequent flyers than other, but I will work on my will because my will is the only will I have any control over. I thought about making a list of all the things I will not do, but that list is way too difficult, deflating and unrealistic. So instead I will focus on the things that I can do and will do because my happiness is my business and it must - and ultimately can - only come from my will. I will!

Keep driving: a hijacked-life analogy

I used to think that adversity and trials and challenges were bumps in the road of life.  I'm starting to learn that our unique challenges and trials aren't the bumps in the road -- they are the road.  I feel very blessed to know that an all-knowing, all-loving, all-powerful God designed a plan that was custom fit for each one of his children on this earth.  The thing is -- we don't all fit on the same road.  In some ways, it all feels like we are starting out on the same road as those around us.  As little kids most of us have a very similar world - school, play, etc.  But as time passes this changes - some earlier than others.

Frontage road betrayal

What used to feel like driving on a multi-lane highway veers off as a frontage road.  Wait a second.  You can still look and see the nice, straight 75 mph highway and that was the plan, or I should say - your plan.  Nope.  God put you on a frontage road that now seems to turning off into totally new territory - not even going the direction you wanted, but up a curvy mountain road.  The speed limit is slow and at some points the road is a treacherous gravel track.  And dang it if you can't see those happy, cruise-controlled vehicles speeding along that lovely straight highway. . . Ouch.  You feel betrayed, and hijacked, and at times like you've failed to stay on what you considered your life's road/mission.  I have two words: keep driving.

Other drivers

Once in a while you might meet a couple other drivers in your off-the-highway route, and if you look closely, you might even recognize a few of them.  A neighbor, a leader, a family member, or even a stranger also seems to be on this alternate route and as you meet or pass on the road, there's a knowing smile or nod, or an understanding roll-of-the-eyes at the condition of this road.  Keep driving.

Divine Navigation

You still catch glimpses of the seemingly smooth road of others as they share their successes on life's traditional track.  Ouch.  Keep driving.  You start to realize that you must rely more and more heavily on the navigation system since this is all new territory and you now feel completely lost.  Keep driving.  The Savior Jesus Christ is the only true navigation system and regardless of what track you are on - be it highway or backroad - He will continue to guide you if you keep driving and keep listening.

Scenery

Occasionally you eventually start to accept the fact that the highway is not on your road-map.  And then you start seeing some interesting things.  Scenery, views, wildlife are occasionally spotted as you plod along this hijacked road and you are able to see things at 25 miles an hour that you would never see at 75 mph.  The road is still hard, slow, and the destination isn't even close to being within sight, but you still keep driving.

Destination

Eventually, you find yourself on top of a mountain in the most beautiful place you can imagine.  You are able to look down and see that highway below - some speeding along, others stopped in traffic - but knowing that eventually they will have to climb to where you are - where God wants them to be - in order to have the joy and peace from this view.  You will be so familiar with the voice of your divine Navigator that following Him becomes your goal.  Your driving skills have become very diverse and others have been comforted seeing you on this hijacked road when it is their turn to take a similar track.  Your determination to keep driving inspires them to keep driving.  And there is something satisfying in knowing that your desire to follow your Navigation system and keep driving didn't just bring you to a wonderful destination, but helped others arrive as well.  You may never know those other drivers, but your example was a tangible line of hope to them.
So, for those who feel like their life has been a bit hijacked from their original plan, keep driving.  We can never hijack God.  His Son - our Divine Navigator - has a route for each one of us - regardless of where we are, where we turn or fail to turn.  Through his atonement, he can always reroute us.  The key is to keep driving.

Life is Like One Long String of Adversity Deliveries: An Amazon Analogy

Life is full of figurative gifts and packages.  Some are joyfully anticipated such as eternal marriage, or having children.  Some are pleasant surprises like new friendships or unexpected job opportunities. Some come in horrible packages like disease, accidents, or emotional or mental illness.  And some seem to be empty packages such as death, loss or failure. And yet, life requires that we receive all kinds of these “experience” gifts.  It is up to us to open each one of them and find the individual lesson awaiting us.  

Sometimes we are handed a hard gift.  We hesitate to unwrap it – deluding ourselves that if we don’t unwrap it, it will go away.  But life simply doesn’t have that kind of return or exchange policy.  We can’t go back, or around – only through.  And we are promised that we can find Christ in each and every package.  

Sometimes Christ seems to get lost or overlooked in happy gifts such as blessing.  In a painfully empty box of trial, disease or loss, He may not be readily seen, but if we keep looking, we will find that He is the good – sometimes the only good – thing to be found.  Sometimes it take repeated, painful attempts at unwrapping as you may think you’ve got it opened, only to find another layer of packaging inside.  And just as some packaging these days is so strong (think any child’s toy on Christmas morning) with an excess of zip ties and impenetrable sealed plastic that it practically requires bolt-cutters, so it is with life’s gifts.  Sometimes we don’t have the strength or desire to keep unwrapping the dang package. It may require other loving, supportive people to help out.  More often than not, it requires finding a professional with the right tool – like emotional or bolt-cutters to help unlock a layer.  

So let that curiosity to see just what awaits you inside keep you moving forward.  And even if, after lots of effort and lots of hope, you find what appears to be an empty box, look again, and again, and again.  Find the Savior.  He is there in every package every time – even if we can’t easily see Him.  He’s the one who has been urging us and nudging us and prompting others to help us open the package.  

The fact that opening life’s gifts is a hard and painful process shouldn’t surprise us.   The concept of a broken heart and contrite spirit isn’t just a hollow, scriptural phrase but a very excruciatingly real and essential process. The scriptures are full of examples that back me up on this: 

 “May the gates of hell be shut continually before me, because that my heart is broken and my spirit is contrite!” 2 Nephi 4:32

“The Lord is nigh unto them that are of a broken heart; and saveth such as be of a contrite spirit.”  Psalms 34:18

“And ye shall offer for a sacrifice unto me, a broken heart and a contrite spirit.” 3 Nephi 9:20

I believe that the strongest individuals are given the toughest packages.  They also have the most potential and blessings awaiting them, however, those blessings are often delayed – oftentimes until the next life.  In a way, life is one long series of surprise “Amazon” deliveries with a string of experience-packages showing up on our life’s doorstep.  Never stop opening.  Never walk away from one of these gifts regardless of how tempting it may be to do so, or how exhausted you may feel because these gifts are inescapable. 

It may seem utterly fruitless to keep unwrapping layer after layer, but hold on to that box.  Hold on to the people that are helping you hold that box.   You are so loved, you have a crowd of people seen and unseen supporting you.  Let others such as family, friends, therapists, doctors, and priesthood or church leaders use their metaphorical bolt-cutters to help you and empower you.  

Above all, remember that Christ is urging you forward. He’s putting people and resources and opportunities in your path for one glorious reason: to help you become like Him and ultimately return to live with our Heavenly Father and Savior Jesus Christ. 

My sister recently reminded me that the oft-quoted scripture from the Book of Mormon that states, “Men are that they might have joy,” (2 Nephi 2:25) also carries the unwritten, opposite message: men are that they might have pain and sadness.  The reason is that all things must have their opposite.  The opposition allows us to recognize, value and seek out the good.  The same chapter in the Book of Mormon says, “it must needs be that there is an opposition in all things.” (2 Nephi 2:11)

And so the boxes keep coming – the happy gifts as well as the painful ones.  But all come with the purpose to point us towards our Savior Jesus Christ so that He can help us eventually find joy in this life and everlasting joy in the life to come.  So keep those bolt-cutters and supportive people handy since no doubt another gift is always on the way.

Early Mission Return = Unexpected Parental Payday

Wednesday August 29, 2018 was a day I dreaded. When I found out that my son Nate was coming home early from the Mexico MTC, I literally cried so hard that I ended up hyperventilating. I felt like everything I had worked for as a mother and all my hope for my son were crumbling around me and I felt buried in the rubble. Sleep was next to impossible, eating was almost impossible due to a constant nausea from the stress and worry. I almost hesitate to describe my state of mind because my agony was so minor and fleeting compared to the anguish, darkness and despair my son had endured for 4 weeks at the MTC in Mexico. Depression and anxiety had been gradually growing during his time there and became so acute that he had not been sleeping or eating for some time. The call from the MTC felt like being broadsided by a bus. To me, it was unexpected because I had not known much about the gradual onset of my son’s illness. 
At this point you’re probably wondering where the payday part comes in. I’m getting there, I just want to paint an accurate picture of my state of mind. 
At the airport we were worried to see a large group of family and friends waiting for a returning missionary on the same flight as Nate. We had a sign and balloons and our little group of three worried about his fragile state. He came out and we whisked him away and hugged our wonderful but terribly hurting and frightened boy outside the terminal, away from crowds. His sobbing apologies broke my heart. We held on to him and shared our love and support every way we knew how.  The car ride home from the airport allowed him to tell us some of his interesting, humorous and creepy stories (he had been violently ill and quarantined with a stomach virus) and we got to know his district and missionary friends a bit better. He still had no appetite and was unable to eat, so our drive-thru at Chick-Fil-A allowed the rest of us a quick dinner. The closer we got to home, the more anxious and emotional he got. We had tied yellow ribbons on the trees and basketball standard but it was so hard to hear him weeping as he entered the house.  After getting his stuff unloaded in his room, he talked more as he unpacked. Gradually, some more details of his painful experiences surfaced along with some humorous anecdotes. 
We went to the stake center and had a very tender and informative meeting with our loving Stake President and amazing Bishop. Nate shared some of his painful experiences as well as a very powerful testimony. Being released and taking off his tags was excruciating for him, and it tore at my heart as well. 
After returning home, his grandparents and cousin (who is more an older brother) came over and more tears were shed; more love and support expressed. 
Late that night, he shared so many experiences, so many spiritual insights, so many happy memories from his mission experience and it was clear that he had touched and blessed a lot of people in the MTC. On his flight home, using his broken Spanish, he gave away a Book of Mormon to a lady named Otilia. Wow.  To have such commitment to the Lord and his gospel while you are so fearful, stressed and hurting is an amazing example to me.  Using his fun, notebook illustrations, he taught me the plan of salvation in Spanish, and he told me about his experiences with prayer. We had a very late family scripture study where for the first time in recorded Brimhall history, no one griped or complained. When we asked the routine question, “what did you learn?” Nate’s answer was thoughtful and full of testimony.
Watching his sister hug him goodnight and tearfully reiterate her love for him and that is so proud of him made tears of gratitude start flowing again. 
I could never have imagined that what I had envisioned as one of the hardest days of my life would turn out to be such an abundant parental payday. God called Nate to walk this painful, alternate path, and the scars he came home with showed just how much he was willing to endure because of his love for Jesus Christ and his commitment to answer the call to serve. It was a poignant reminder of the Savior's scars as he atoned for not just our sins, but our anguish, pain and despair.  
Regardless of what the future holds, he has earned the words from the Savior: “well done thou good and faithful servant.”  A friend told me to do two things when he came home: love him unconditionally, and recognize the divinity in him. I was overwhelmed by how much love I felt and how much divinity I saw in my boy. I was had worked to prepare myself for how hard it would be, but I was utterly surprised by the joy.
I realize that we are just starting out on an undoubtably rough and long journey, but I needed to recognize God’s hand working such miracles in our son and our family and express gratitude for such a generous and unexpected payday from a loving Father in Heaven, and an infinitely understanding Savior.

Dollar Bills on the Door: An Advent Assessment

So, I thought I'd bring a little dose or reality and a little closure to my previous post of our Christmas advent plan.  Keep in mind that I'm dealing with 2 teenagers. . . enough said right?  Anyway, more often than not, my kid's doors would look like this:

After a while of letting things build up, they'd disappear.  I'm really praying they weren't lying to me and that none of the bills lined their own wallets. 😏 But they did report on how they used their door-dollars.  Giving away included purchasing toys to be donated to operation home front, surprising a little girl at the grocery store with a dollar bill, leaving them on windshields of cars and giving money to local homeless individuals.  

At the end, they'd both saved up a bunch that we planned to donate at the Light The World vending machines on temple square, but they were all closed/out-of-order that day, so the money went to help a homeless pet owner, and a homeless woman reportedly suffering from Crohn's (wow - what a horrid combination). 

Even if they didn't have life-changing experiences with the dollar-bill-on-the-door experiment, it at least made me conscious of how I was choosing to help and serve every morning as I taped the bills to my kiddo's doors.  Did we change the world?  Nah.  Did it give miraculous, life-changing help to someone?  Probably not.  But it did soften my heart and alter my perspective, and it was a memorable way to anticipate the celebration of Jesus Christ - He who gave all.  

I'd love to hear how any of your experiments turned out!

Dollar Bills on the Door: An Advent Experiment

Like a lot of folks, we have tried all sorts of Advent calendar activities.  Through the years, we've tried all sorts of festive countdowns:

• We've had the small treat or gift each day that rotates through the family members.  
• We've read a scripture about Christ each day.  
• We've read an inspirational Christmas story every day.
• We've donated small gifts to a neighbor in need of a little TLC.

And yet, as my kids are in the teenage phase of life, I wonder if I've failed to raise my children to be generous, giving adults.  Fingers still crossed as I remind myself that teenagers aren't fully baked yet. Man parenting is a recurring act of faith!  And so with those thoughts percolating in my head as Thanksgiving approached, I had an idea.

Everyday from December 1st to the 24th, I will tape a $1 bill to the door of my kid's bedrooms.  The first day will also contain this note:

Our advent activity this year will be an individual experience in giving.  Every morning you will find a $1 bill taped to your door.  This money does not belong to you.  You may not keep it.  You have to give this away to someone in need.  You can slip the bill into a friend's locker, leave it at a grocery store checkout for the person behind you, or even leave it on a car windshield.  But you must give it away.  You may also choose to save the $24 up and give a larger, more thought-out gift to someone you know who could really use a little help and a little love.  On Christmas day, you must report on how you gave away your bills.  Hopefully this will not just give you insight into being more generous, but give you an idea of one of the Savior's parables of the talents.  What you give away and share with others becomes a greater blessing than selfishly keeping it to yourself. 

Love, 

Mom and Dad

I don't care if they will slip it to a homeless person on a street corner, or leave it in a vending machine for the next person to use.  I just want them to have more opportunities to think outside themselves and give to another person.

I am reminding myself to not expect anything besides grumbling and griping.  I highly doubt they will have a life-changing experience, but I hope they learn at least a little something.  If nothing else, it will fill their memory banks with stories to tell their future children about their strange mother who did weird stuff like taping money to their doors during December.  I for one have already had a bit of a mental shift already and we haven't even started.  I'm thinking of how on a daily basis to give something to those around me. As one my favorite hymns says, "Because I have been given much, I too must give."

Gardening: Gotta Get Growing!

My gardening season starts in January. Yes - January - even though living in a zone 5 means that we are still in the middle of winter. January's the magic month when seed catalog start showing their hopeful faces in an otherwise dreary mailbox. I suppose you know you're a gardening-nerd when your leisure-time reward is snuggling into a comfy hair to read seed catalogs. 

Come February, I have my orders planned out and placed and wait in anticipation for the spoils of my seed-catalog-shopping-splurges to arrive. February is one of my favorite months because the days get noticeably longer, there's usually a thaw - during which I love getting out to prune my fruit trees - and my stockpile of seeds starts to grow. 

Then March comes and it's show time. Time to get growing. Time to hydrate peat pellets and get those seeds started. 

And for those of you that might claim you have no space to grow anything - I found the perfect little solution at my local home improvement store: narrow seed starting trays that hold 12 peat pellets. Perfect for getting a jump on a patio garden. In my case, they fill the gap between my large trays nicely (heaven forbid any space should be wasted). 

About this time I ask my intrepid spouse to till the garden. We both know it's probably too early, but he does it to humor me. This early tilling does help work in the layer of fall leaves we've piled on and allows the soils to dry out so that when he tills the following weekend, it's ideal for my early spring planting. 

So what exactly do I have planted? Here's my breakdown for indoors and outdoors thus far:

Outdoor (direct sow) 

Peas (little marvel and sugar snap)

Scallions (green onions from seed)

Spinach

Butterhead lettuce

Corn salad (this is new for me this year - if it's an epic fail, I'll resow that area with other salad greens.)

Indoors (on shelves that span a basement window with grow lights mounted)

Marigolds (seeds harvested from last year's flowers)

Zinnias (seeds from last year's flowers)

Herbs (loads of basil, some cilantro, etc)

Petite sweet peppers

Patio strawberries (not sure this will work - but the seed catalog suckered me in)

Amaranth (two kinds - love lies bleeding and a tall variegated)

Strawflower (seeds from last year's flowers)

Coleus (seeds from last year's plants - first time I've tried non-commercial coleus seeds so we'll see)

Trailing petunia (again - first time harvesting these seeds so I'll be curious to see how they work)

Cauliflower Veronica (spiky chartreuse kind)

Nemesia poetry mix (I'm always looking for shade flowers)

Awaiting their turn in a separate box are all sorts of pumpkins, squash and gourds. As for the rest, I'll be spending plenty at the nurseries in about 6 weeks. 

I always try to save a few unplanted seeds so that in a couple weeks I can go back and resow those pellets that haven't germinated. 

In the meantime, I'll be making daily visits to check on my indoor and outdoor gardens to watch for the first signs of life. Does a body and a spirit good!  So go on and get growing!  

Beekeeping: R.I.P. . . . again!

I've been anxious all winter to know how our hives have been weathering the winter. So last week, my husband and I went over to see if we could see evidence of life without disturbing the hives. Generally, in wintering hive you'll see a few dead bees outside the entrance - as they "bring out their dead" (anyone catch the movie reference?). Also, you can sometimes hear a slight hum if you put your ear against the side of the hive box. Well, sadly, there were no signs of life in any of our 3 1/2 hives. Oh My Lanta!!!  Not a happy thing. We assumed that the nuke (that's the 1/2 hive) wouldn't overwinter, but seriously!??! It's more than a bit discouraging. 

But, after venting our frustrations a bit, we ended up ordering 1 packet of Italians and 1 packet of Carniolans. We might try moving one hive to a different location to see if there is something extra harsh with their current location. As for the batch of hives in North Ogden, only one out of three of those hives shows signs of life. I suppose that once the weather warms up, my hubby can get a better idea of what happened as he cleans out the hive-carnage. Let's just say that beekeeping isn't for the faint of heart or weak of attitude. 😜🐝

Living the Dream (aka Best Laid Plans)

So, I was excited about our family home evening lesson this week. I'd prepared it the week before and thought it would be an inspirational and timely message for the fam. Ok, right there a red flag should go up. Not that I shouldn't be inspired when preparing FHE lessons, I just need to remember that my inspiration might not transfer to my kids during the lesson. It wasn't a hit. I found myself muttering under my breath through clenched teeth, "living the dream!" 

(The only trace that we had FHE was a fuller wastebasket.)

Ah well, at least I'm in good company. I love what Elser Bednar had to say about this recurring, yet frustrating issue:

"Sometimes Sister Bednar and I wondered if our efforts to do these spiritually essential things were worthwhile. Now and then verses of scripture were read amid outbursts such as “He’s touching me!” “Make him stop looking at me!” “Mom, he’s breathing my air!” Sincere prayers occasionally were interrupted with giggling and poking. And with active, rambunctious boys, family home evening lessons did not always produce high levels of edification. At times Sister Bednar and I were exasperated because the righteous habits we worked so hard to foster did not seem to yield immediately the spiritual results we wanted and expected."

He went on to say:

"Sister Bednar and I thought helping our sons understand the content of a particular lesson or a specific scripture was the ultimate outcome. But such a result does not occur each time we study or pray or learn together. The consistency of our intent and work was perhaps the greatest lesson--a lesson we did not fully appreciate at the time." https://www.lds.org/general-conference/2009/10/more-diligent-and-concerned-at-home?lang=eng

SOOO TRUE!!

I've decided that it's not just about teaching kids, or showing them consistency, but rather it's a test. Heavenly Father is waiting to see if we will continue to push against that rock that doesn't move by having weekly, less-than-edifying family nights and scripture study. 

Once I realized that family night isn't just about my family, it's about me demonstrating repeated commitment to the Lord, I can actually find success on Monday nights when everyone huffs out of the living room to "cool down" after FHE. 

And I'll be able to say, "living the dream" while shaking my head and smiling (albeit somewhat ruefully) instead of grinding down my teeth. That's a win!

Beekeeping: winding down for fall

So in an effort to bolster our hives as much as we can before we let them go on their own until spring, we are starting to feed some of our weaker hives. We are  going with jar-feeders instead of traditional hive-top feeders. 

We put these on in the morning, and by this evening they had drained about half of the sugar syrup. We also have some pollen patties on the struggling hives 

Stay tuned for the next phase: sugar boards. 

Beekeeping trials and tribulations

So, there's been a dearth of beekeeping posts and it's not due to lack of adventures in the apiary - quite the reverse is true. Unfortunately, our adventures have tended more toward the hard-knocks variety instead of the easy-peasy types. 

Ash has requeened about 6 or more times - all but one queen were raised by him. We have had hive losses, queen losses and even a laying-queen hive that we managed to requeen.  

Here are just a few recap photos of a learning/experience-rich, honey-poor season. 

Marking one of our new queens with a blue paint pen (this year's color). 

Queen cells on a brood frame. 

Old, empty queen cells. 

Treating hives for mites. 

There's obviously a liter haven't documented this summer. It seemed like every hive check presented a new problem to solve. There was so much swapping and reswapping of brood, queens and nukes, that we could hardly keep track. We are just hoping to get some healthy colonies to survive the winter and maybe next year we'll be able to get back to honey-making. If any fellow beekeepers out there run into some weird challenges with your apiary and need a sympathetic ear - we're your folk to go to. ;) 

Beekeeping: Early Mite Treatment

So before we put our honey supers on, Ash decided to do a quick treatment for mites.  A friend and fellow beekeeper had some mite trouble already this year and we thought we'd avoid any problems since it will be few weeks before we do another big hive check.

Afterward, we put on our queen excluders and honey supers and on our newest hive, we added another deep:

Since I spent 20 minutes staring at the openings of the hives waiting for the mite treatments, I got an up-close-and-personal look into bee activity.  I watched as bees came out to defend their hive from little beetle-like intruders.  They tried biting them, and then ended up pushing them off the edge of the platform.  Since it was evening (best time to treat for mites because you catch the largest percentage of bees at home inside the hive) I watched the bees stand on their "front porch", put their tushies in the air and fan their wings like crazy.  This was their way of calling bees to come home by wafting their queen's specific pheromone scent.  I still enjoy helping Ash with the hives, although it is a bit stressful for me when one of our girls gets smashed between hive boxes.  I think I'm too soft-hearted to be a super efficient beekeeper.  ;)

Time With Kids is Too Valuable to Let Slip By: Summer Plan 2015

Confessions of a Planner
Ok, call me uptight, but I'm the first to admit to being a planner.  Don't get me wrong, spontaneity can be fun, but when it comes to filling your memory bank with life experiences, I'm all about a plan.  Every summer I ask the kids what they want to do, see, learn or accomplish during the summer months (it usually spills into October) and we compile our Summer Plan.
Planning the No-Plan Days
The kids get 1 "lazy day" for each summer month.  This means, they sleep in as late as they want, don't have to practice the piano or do other chores.  They can lounge about as they wish.  (Yes, this is how we planning-types appease the kid complaints that their friend's moms never make them do stuff like this during the summer.)
The Basic Routine
Otherwise, the rest of the days we stick to more or less of a routine.  We get up to have family prayer before my husband leaves for work, and then they can go back to bed for another hour or so (as we hit the teenage years, the wake-up time is getting a bit later).  All the regular chores remain in place: laundry, housecleaning, cooking once a week, emptying garbages, dishes, etc.  with the addition of a weeding assignment in the yard that must be weeded (and checked) every 2 weeks.  We try to get the work and chores done in the morning so the kids have the afternoons free to hang out with friends, earn money or whatever.  Reading is a big part of summer as well, and we usually have some sort of reading competition or reward activity. (Plus their grandparents pay them for book reports. . . spoiled kiddos!)
It's Intentional
I try to make sure that the kids are involved in learning homemaking skills such as sewing, baking, canning, etc. so we plan those "training sessions" in as well.  If I was just concerned about getting the projects done in an efficient manner, involving kids would never happen.  So this way I intentionally make the focus on training them, not achieving a perfect outcome or end-product.  I no longer make my 15 year old boy do full-on sewing projects like when he was younger, but the occasional mending project fits the bill nicely for his training.  We've done ironing days also to train and hone their ironing skills.  By now they're pretty good at ironing, so we don't include that in our plan anymore.
The Crux
My hope is that besides training my kiddos to have good life skills, I'll also fill their memory banks with some really fun experiences and traditions.  So, without further ado, here's the plan for summer 2015:

Beekeeping: Start of Our Second Season

It has been too long since I've posted on our beekeeping adventures.  We lost both hives over the winter.  One hive was weak going into the winter months and the other froze during a couple artic-blast wind days we had after Christmas.  Even though hive loss is common, I still felt like such a bad bee-parent!  So we ordered 2 packets from Deseret Hive Supply and were excited to start again in April.  (Yes, Ash was the one to clean all the dead bees out of the hive.)  This year the queens came premarked in our packages.  Blue dot is the color of 2015.

I love having a marked queen - makes spotting her so much easier.  Ash has learned how to mark a queen - a video of which he will hopefully upload soon to our youtube channel.  Ash has adopted the practice of marking the hive box with the color of the queen to help keep track of which hive has which age queen without having to open it up and find her.  A little dot on the corner will keep track of the bee-history.

Ash has been taking care of his family's North Ogden hives as well.  One out of the three hives survived the winter, so we ordered a couple packets from IFA which weren't delivered until May.  When he went to install them during his lunch break, he found that one of the empty hives had new occupants - a swarm had moved in!  That was a pleasant surprise - free bees!  So he took the packet back to work and stored it in his office until he came home.

Luckily, I had painted the peach hive boxes and so he installed the packet in our new peach hive here in Kaysville.

If you are wondering what the little brown and green boxes are doing there - they are nukes that Ash has filled with splits of bees he took from the one hive that survived the winter.  It was doing so well early this spring with all the warm weather that the hive was growing rather rapidly.  He decided to try his hand at raising some queens with the help of a coworker.  It worked wonderfully and we now have 2 nukes (like a bee condo instead of a house) with 5 frames full of bees.  He can use these to help populate some of the new packet hives, or if a queen dies, we have one ready to go.  When we were checking these nukes when the new queens were just hatching, we could hear some queen "piping".  It's a special and distinct noise that the queen makes to call the other queens - kind of like a lethal game of marco polo since the queen is trying to locate the others so she can kill them become queen bee.  Yeah - it's quite the drama - Shakespeare eat your heart out!
Even though Ash ends up doing most of the North Ogden hive care alone after work, I do try to help with every hive check I can.  I finally got to see him mark a queen using a mesh-covered peanut butter jar lid and a crayola paint pen.  I had to include this photo of a cute gal on my arm during a hive check.

Because of the cold, wet May we've been having, all the hives have had a rather spotty brood pattern:

Hopefully, once the weather dries out and warms up, the brood patterns should fill in more uniformly.  It will be interesting to see how the swarm hive does in comparison to the packet hives.  My raspberries are happy to have bees around and we're excited for another adventurous season of beekeeping!