Helpers & Pet Jerry

It's nice having Mel and Ethan around for a few more days before they take off to BYU this week (on Wed). Mel with Katharine yesterday - 

Since she's still here to help, this morning I asked her to get the kids out the door to school and I tried to catch up to Corey and join him on his ride. I was following him on life 360, he left like 10 min before me and was just a little bit ahead of me the whole time. Eventually I gave up trying to catch him and headed back home. He rides ALL THE WAY up the canyon to Lisa Falls. I went until I felt done, then texted him that I had almost caught up (probably not really) and then I went down to the quarry and stretched as I listened to the creek. 

We really live in such a lovely place!

When I got home we watched a few butterflies emerge - two to be exact. And then as I went about the day's tasks, I was up in the laundry room and found a butterfly flapping around on the floor. It had really messed up wings, all of them bent to one side at like 90 degrees. It was a male. It must have wandered off the milkweed and made it's chrysalis in a place where there wasn't room for it's wings to hang and straighten out! I was so sad for him! He kept trying to fly but couldn't. I decided to clip it's wings at the bend, thinking that maybe we could get it some replacement wings? 

This video gave me that idea. And true... that butterfly had one bad wing, whereas ours had 4, but I still thought it looked easy enough and we'd give it a go. Unfortunately, we don't have any spare monarch wings lying around. Mel and I tried to size up the wings from a printed pic of a monarch that looked about the right size. 

I found some thin plastic, that was the stiff, yet thin and light (from some wrapping around vellum stationary thing), thinking that that would work best, cause it wouldn't get ruined if it rains. With the plastic wings sized up the best we could, we were ready to operate. 

He did not cooperate but we did all 4 wings and they are each free and not stuck together, so we felt we had done pretty good! They even almost lined up perfectly when he closed his wings... Well, they're a little off I guess... Hm, darn.

We took him outside to see how he did. I was actually super impressed, he was able to hold himself up, but didn't get enough lift to get up in a tree or anything and soon he was on the grass again. It made a good noise though, which will be helpful for us being able to find him when he is inside. I ran upstairs into the laundry room for more supplies, and there was ANOTHER butterfly on the chair!! This one looked absolutely perfect. It surprised me so much though - I came in, saw it, and I imagined it sitting there waiting... ready to surprise me, and I walked in it shouted "TA-DA!!!! Look at ME!! I did it!!!" So I laughed and we took that one outside along with our messed up one. The good one did like 5 little victory laps over the trampoline and around the yard, it was so cute! It was like it was saying to the other "SEE! This is how you do it! It's easy!!!" And our poor guy was sad, not feeling understood or really encouraged by their showing off. So... it looks like we might have a pet butterfly. 

I called thanksgiving point to see if they have any monarch wings we could have, but I wasn't able to talk to anyone to ask... I thought maybe we'll go down there. We googled how to feed a butterfly and found two helpful videos, so we fed out pet, we've named him Jerry...

...and then I got ready to run errands and maybe go to the butterfly biosphere. I go out to the car, and noticed I had a flat tire. Blah, another thing that I wasn't planning on that it going to steal my time today - first a busted butterfly, now a flat tire. I was glad to have kids at home to help. Melodie watched Katharine while Ethan and I changed the tire. I was trying to get the bolts loose, then Ethan gave it a go, and I told him he should step on it to use his body weight instead of trying to turn it with his arms. He said "I bowl with 14 lbs, Mom..." Haha, letting me know he's got plenty of upper arm strength. And he got them all off

And then I went to Burt Bros to get the tire fixed. I left K home with Mel, but Peter saw me leave and he came long and they gave him a toy car, so that was nice. Peter was happy. They were able to patch it, we had run over a nail. And then it was time to take Owen to his trumpet lesson. I'm glad that we discovered the flat tire when I went to try and run errands rather than when I went out to go to trumpet, or else we would have missed his lesson. So, yeah, busy day with things that I wasn't planning on, but we handled it well, I think starting off the morning right with some sunshine and fresh air helped. We have a pet now, Jerry the Butterfly, and since this is one of the "super" monarchs that is larger and lives longer (like up to 6 months) we might have this guy through Christmas! It old the kids that they need to take him on walks to the neighbors flowers. He's a sweet butterfly, and it's so cool when he turns his head. He kinda looks like/reminds me of Larry the Lobster from Spongebob. He just looks really strong and cool, it's fun, so yeah, we have a pet! 

Secret Service

Our friends Iveth and Diego have been having trouble with their car. On Thursday Corey let them use his car to run some errands and Corey took their car into Burt Brothers. Corey used to take our cars to Firestone, most of their locations have closed, but after my happy experience on Monday, that is our new go to place for car stuff. And then Tues I took the car there for registration, it's like been "fix cars" week. So their car was done today, and after Corey drove it, he felt it was in major need of a good clean. So we decided to do let our kids have an opportunity to work and realize that it's kinda gross to clean other peoples messes, ...eventhough we were voluntarily doing, but still, we hoped it was a lesson in what it's like for parents cleaning up after their clueless kids. So we're hoping it makes them more clean conscientious. All the kids helped. Natalie and Mel cleaning the floor mats -

Daniel played with the toys that were in their car.

Abi probably did the most and worked the hardest on the inside. We told them to come over to our house and we'd give them a ride down to Burt Brothers when it was done, (even though it was already done and I had brought it home to clean!) We put it in the garage so we could finish vacuuming the inside.

After Iveth came over, we showed her the surprise.

She said "Que pena" a few times (how embarrassing) but it was fun and we liked doing the surprise. She looked like she liked it too!

Then Iveth and I and the kids all washed the outside of our vans in the driveway. Corey was working out in Riverton today, so then I left to meet him for date night at Thanksgiving Point to watch the 6:30 butterfly movie that I learned about on Wednesday, I'll share a pic of that next week in my letter to Joseph. I've been missing monarchs this year, this gave me hope that they are still alive and well. Today Iveth and Diego came by with some donuts to say thank you.

Corey and the kids were gone cleaning the church, August has been our turn each Saturday morning at 8. That's been a good experience too. It's good to work and serve, I hope we can do more of it more regularly.

Ride, Audition, & Butterfly

I enjoyed my last bike ride this morning! The forecast said it was going to rain at 8, so I left early to be sure to get it in - woke up at 5:15 am, left at 5:30, and was at Corner Canyon before the Coyote Trail head gate opened. I left from the Coyote Trail Head and went up to BST to Ann's to Peakview to Ghost Falls. I think we're going to have this little girl's middle name be Ann, after Ann's trail, and after my mom if she's born on Tuesday (my mom's birthday). A view of the temple from Ann's - 

I did the quick Rush Trail from Canyon Hollow twice, cause it's so fun. It was a great ride. It never did rain, so I was in a hurry for nothing, but I'm glad it helped me get out quickly and start the day off in the mountains. I was back home before Corey and Abi left for her GMS audition. Corey said he heard that she did great in the audition, although he could tell she was lost and in over her head for the theory exam. The other people were writing down answers and Abi was at a loss just staring at the questions. 

They went out to Ihop after to celebrate all the hard work she had done preparing. 

After he got home, Corey took the little boys out to the Kangaroo Zoo again (Pleasant Grove this time) and they had fun. Corey is such a good dad to all of our children, big and little. And for me, today I've just been trying to getting stuff done before the baby comes next week! Abi found a butterfly in the back yard today, so that was fun.

She shared it with Daniel. 

It wasn't trying to fly at all and looked like it was struggling for some reason. We eventually left it in a tree, letting nature take it's course. We talked about monarchs, and I have hope that we'll find some eggs this year. We haven't had any caterpillars or butterflies the past 2 years. The last ones we had were two in 2019 and then another one that year. An article I read in January said that the numbers have increased in 2021, so I'm going to look more diligently this year. Numbers are still really low, but we're going to exercise faith. Our milkweed looks really good, so yeah, hopefully we'll have some monarch beauties this fall.

Butterflies

 

We have some monarchs again this year. My friend Mary finds them in her yard - she's got a lot of milkweed. She gave us 8 caterpillars, then we found another baby one on the milkweed that we picked up to feed the other 8 hungry hungry caterpillars. So we had 9. One of them we let go outside when he was about to j-hook, so then we were back to 8. Then one of the big guys knocked off or ate the tiny one I think, cause one morning we couldn't find him - down to 7. One of the caterpillars got stepped on when he was in his wandering stage cause he got on a stool. Down to 6. 6 of them hooked, then the first one to come out was on Thursday, and he turned black and we could see the wings, but he never emerged. The chrysalis was cracked and we kept waiting, finally the next day I figured he was dead but wasn't sure, so I tried to open it - found out he was still alive inside but for some reason the poor guy wasn't able to push his way out of the chrysalis. But since it had cracked open his wings had dried up inside while they were all small. It was so sad, we felt so bad for him, but obviously he wouldn't survive, so I took him outside and sent him to fly in heaven (I squished him after an "I'm sorry" prayer).  So at our peak we had 9 and now 4 were dead. Hopefully these next 5 all survive. 

We watched the two black ones above come out this morning, so amazing.

The kids had fun with them. One of them was anxious to get on with his life and flew off high in a tree The other one stuck around for a while so we took lots of pictures. They named him Brian -

 

So amazing. It makes it worth putting up with all the frass (aka caterpillar poop) when they finally emerge. Love it.  I think the other 3 will be coming out tomorrow if anyone wants to come by. :)

Rainbows and Butterflies

Yesterday around 4:55, we had one of the brightest rainbows I've seen! It wasn't as tall and didn't last as long as the best rainbow we've seen in 2018, but the one today was a double and it was bright and so GORGEOUS. I was in awe. 

Zooming in a little - 

And a better picture of their cute faces - 

Rainbows are so amazing!!! Like WHO THINKS OF THAT?!?!?! If you were up in heaven trying to brainstorm some things that should be included on planet earth, how would you come up with an idea like that? I told my kids once to just try and imagine if there were 5 seasons instead of 4, what would the 5th season be and what would be some things that would happen during it. I can't come up with anything more incredible than what already is. That whole "Stand Forever" talk by Lawrence Corbridge is amazing, but just listen from 21:52 if you're pressed for time. There are miracles all around, and it's crazy amazing, from fall rainbows to autumn leaves, from monarch butterflies to snow, to the human heart, birth, and life!

My heart is full of awe and wonder at this glorious earth. Yesterday we had one monarch emerge, and the van was done and was on my way to pick it up and turn in my rental vehicle (goodbye Chevy Traverse! sniff) and I had the thought to take the butterfly to my friend Megan. It's hard to know how much to reach out, but I just sent a text to let her know that I was going to drop something off, and then I got it ready, and took it and one chrysalis over to their house. She texted back that she wasn't there but their housekeeps were, so she said the door should be open. I left a live butterfly and one chrysalis on a table for them and she sent me some pictures today of them smiling at this wonder of nature. "So so so fun <3 We let them go today after the storm passed" 

I thought of taking it to them for two reason. One being that Connor had a tatoo of a butterfly - this was on display at his funeral was on September 13th. 

He actually got a tattoo of a female monarch (I'm glad he knew the difference!) Megan just got the first image that she found online and she didn't know the difference. Megan told Corey a few weeks ago, before Connor passed, that Lizzy (their other child that died) had appeared to Connor in a dream and told him some things that he should do, like go on a mission, and that he got the tattoo after that to always remember her. Megan said that her kids often see a butterfly when Lizzy is near, even in winter time. I think I'll take them some milkweed too so that they can hopefully always have butterflies in their yard! 

A few more butterfly things - we've had some crazy wind and I've been trying to keep my caterpillars outside so that they can tell by the temperature and sun that they need to migrate, but the wind kinda freaks me out and so I'm constantly checking on them. The wind almost blew them over the other night. We were reading scriptures when it happened, I was holding Katharine, and I paniced when I saw the milkweed fall - I handed Katharine over to some kid, I don't remember who, I just shoved her over and said "Hold this!" as I ran outside. "THIS?!?!" they all said in joking shock - that is how you speak about your child? "Hold this"? I might never live that down. But the caterpillars were all still hanging on to their milkweed after that last night. I had one that fell yesterday, but some quilt batting that I got from a neighbor Terry saved his life. I've got their milkweed held down by lots of rocks and it's secure, but then again, the wind has blown over empty garbage cans before! Tonight one of the caterpillars that I thought was making it's j-hook, just disappeared. I worried it was blown off but I didn't find it on the ground or anywhere, I looked and looked, so I don't know. It will be nice to not worry about them once "caterpillar season" ends. Corey asked me that on Sunday in a moment of frustration ~ "When does caterpillar season end?" He's been very patient with me! We have a shared "to do" list on our phones and he put one of my tasks as "Save the monarchs from extinction", which was nice.

Off to BYU

Melodie and Ethan headed off to BYU today! We let them take the van cause all their stuff wouldn't fit in the kids car, and they were taking some of Joseph's stuff back down too (he's still visiting Guatemala). Mel is coming back up tomorrow for the Ski sale so she will return the van then. As they were loading up the car, Ethan said outloud "You know, for most parents, having a kid go to college is a big deal. but for us... Dad's at work, and Mom's feeding a butterfly... and we load our stuff by ourselves..." The butterfly comment made me laugh. It sounded silly, but I was feeing a butterfly (thank you renzlohnad). I had just cut open a watermelon I bought yesterday so I could feed Jerry, ha! So that was funny. We love ya Eth, and we wish you luck as you being your first year of college.

But yeah, we didn't make a big deal or ceremony of it. We've already got two college kids, plus we got a lot more on the docket... there's no time for us to be present and try to feel any excitement or sadness over this milestone. j/k. We feel it. But you guys gotta get outta here, you'll be happier out on your own. It's time. So I was on my way back from taking Daniel to the bus stop, and as I was almost home, they were backing out of the driveway. It's a good thing I caught them, cause they were trying to stowaway two of their siblings.

But that was better than what I was thinking when I saw the van backing out - I thought that they were leaving, without me being back to watch the toddler and 2 month old, and had left Peter in charge of Katharine. I'm glad that they are more responsible than that.

Ethan trying to get K to smile for the camera. Katharine! We want to see your pretty eyes!

Those heavy cheeks are always weighing down her face and she just looks at the ground. She's so cute.  Later Melodie texted me the picutres that they had taken in the car - 

(Those cheeks!) and before they got in the car - 

Big kids and little kids - 

I think M&E will miss P&K more than P&K will miss them. I'm sure it's nothing personal.

But hopefully they'll be ready to be attacked with sibling time when these big kids do come back from college to visit us. 

They are all such good and cute kids. Mel texted me tonight "I miss Katharine. Are you sure I can't take her?" I feel ya. After I took back Katharine and Peter, Peter was sad when I took him back inside. "MoOommM! I thought I want to go to BYU!!" :) Don't worry P, we'll go visit them! Maybe we'll go down on Saturday. 

Daily butterfly update - we released two butterflies today. 

The chrysalis with the weird lines on it emerged and looked fine but then I noticed that it didn't have antennae. 

Well, it had just like 1/3 of one on the left side.

Poor thing! Man! What a year we've had! First of all the sheer numbers we're dealing with, and then Jerry, then Tiny Tim yesterday, and now this lady with a handicap. I have since learned that butterflies use antennae to smell and migrate, so it's possible that she won't be able to find food or find California... sounds like she's in a risky situation... but she can fly, so we put her outside to dry and will let nature take it's course. Hopefully if she can't find other monarchs, they'll be able to find her? I'm not sure what she'll do to find food! 😬😟 As for Jerry, we have been trying to intervene with nature on his behalf, but to no avail. We bought some butterfly wings yesterday at Thanksgiving Point. This morning we prepared to operate. 

Here he is post op...

We thought we did a pretty decent job!

They weren't exactly symmetrical when he put his wings up and together, but we were hoping for the best for him. We took him outside to see what he could do. And he did try to take off. But he didn't get any lift, he just fell to the floor. He actually flew better with the heavy plastic prosthetic wings we made. Today the poor guy just flapped around on the ground and busted up all of his donated wings...

Well, Jerry, I'm outta ideas. Looks like you're grounded and stuck with us. I'm sorry. And then I went and looked for more eggs for some reason. I haven't found any for over a week, but then I found one yesterday, and then today I found FIFTEEN! Oh boy! Here we go again! 

I know I already have "my hands full" with my biological children, but for some reason I've gone nuts and I'm taking on more dependents. Our current 20+ caterpillars have been making a big frass mess and eating a ton. I've officially dedicated the whole laundry room desk area to them now. I bought some tulle as a covering so that we don't have a Jerry incident happen again. 

And when I was looking for eggs, I also found one full grown caterpillar! He looks like he's ready to go into chrysalis! 

I have NEVER found one this big in "the wild" before! So that was really exciting to know that they can and probably do survive on their own without us humans intervening. Yay!