Life is the heart of it

"Life is the heart of it, waste any part of it and the world passes you by.  Don't ask for how long or why, just celebrate life."   Charly

It's been a rugged week but in the spirit of exhausting each little moment, I decided we needed to create some happy, carefree moments this weekend.  Saturday, we had to take a break from the water drama.  The boys were exhausted and we still had some work to finish on the inside of the house before Spencer and Ashtin left this morning.  While Spencer finished up the work and Sam went to work all day, I did 10 loads of laundry at the laundromat, cleaned the garage, cleaned the house and then threw an impromtu party! 

Ashtin graduates this week from Utah State University!  Of course there will be no graduation ceremony or any of the usual celebrations.  I borrowed a cap and gown and made her a tassel.  I couldn't find any charms for the year 2020 but I found a tiny little frame so I put a picture of Spencer's 9th grade school picture in it.  Those were his mullet days.   Ha ha.  

I put together some little loot bags for the party guests and blew up a confetti gun in the living room as she walked through the party curtain.  

After our party, we had a murder mystery evening.  For Christmas, I gave Shelbie this really cool subscription box called Hunt A Killer.   Each month, they send evidence for a crime and each month we have to eliminate two suspects.  It's been a really fun family activity as we try to solve the murder of a Pharmacist after his High School Reunion party.  The company does a really great job.  We just have one more box left.  It's pretty legit. They send all the police reports, crime scene photos, evidence etc.  

Our Crime scene board where we have all the suspects and those who have been cleared of the 'crime'

Police reports and poor guys funeral program.

Tonight, we took a drive to a wildlife refuge about 40 miles away.   I have had this obsession with birds and wildlife this year.  It started with our outing to watch the bald eagles roost on Valentine's Day.   Each Sunday, I take a drive to just get away and enjoy some quiet in nature.  

Tonight was amazing.  I had read that at this wildlife refuge the Blue Herons had arrived.  I really wanted to see a Blue Heron.  They are so beautiful and stand 5' tall!!   We saw so much more, I couldn't believe it.   We saw lots of rabbits, deer, moose...but we also saw Sand Cranes, Pheasants, Black Ibis, Blue Billed Duck which is very rare to see, especially in this area.  There were Yellow Head Black Bird, Trumpeter Swans and the lucky Red Winged Black Bird, an Otter, and the most beautiful Blue Heron!  It's breeding season for the Blue Heron so the beak was a beautiful shade of orange, striking against the blue hued feathers.  He was so picturesque except I didn't get a picture.  We turned a corner and there he was.  I didn't get pictures of most of these but it was so amazing.

The most exciting thing was the massive flock of American White Pelicans migrating through. The wingspan of a White Pelican is second only to the California Condor, measuring 10'.  10 feet and we saw more than 50 Pelicans flying in the most beautiful formation.  We chased them up and down the shore of the lake.  

 The sun was setting as we started for home but the marsh was so melodic with a million different species of birds all singing their own little tune.  We just sat there quietly and listened to the peaceful sound.  It was a great way to wrap up the week.

Spencer and Ashtin made it back to Utah and tomorrow, we get back to the work at hand on the water situation.  We have lived without power for more than a day.  We have survived just fine without heat for more than a couple of weeks in February.  There were times we lived just on the food we had stored.  This is the first time we have lived without running water.  It's tricky!  We are going on 5 days.   It's not horrible but it certainly is time consuming to boil water to wash dishes, wash hands...especially with all the panic hand washing we are doing on top of the usual hand washing. 

Ahh...the life and times.   We certainly didn't waste a single moment of the week.