Redd Family Reunion 2010

We had our Redd Family Reunion the weekend of July 9th to the 11th. Yes I know I'm kind of behind... This year we had it up in the Sandy area, which was different but still lots of fun as usual. Friday we got together at a park where there was a pool. We had dinner with homemade root beer and chatted with family members.

Saturday morning a group of us did an early hike in the mountains behind the University of Utah. We hiked up to the "Rock Furniture." It was a nice hike and the view of Salt Lake was beautiful! We also got to relax in some surprisingly pretty comfy rock furniture which made the hike all worth it.

Saturday afternoon was spent at Liberty park where numerous activities were enjoyed such as slack lining, koob game...? (not sure if that is the right name or not, but I definitely know it was not "cube" ha ha), playing in the water, eating food of course, more chatting, feeding the seagulls, etc.

Next we migrated to Aunt Becky's church Bowery where we ate dinner, played in the bouncy house, candy cannon, and were entertained by a hilarious game of "Minute to Win It" put together by Katie and Maridee. They did a great job and it was so entertaining to watch! However, sadly my camera died about half way through it so I unfortunately wasn't able to capture the best events.

Sunday we all met at the Lee's house for dinner and dessert (Grandpa's chocolate) and then those who needed to travel headed home.

"Rock Furniture"

Grandpa's Ties

Candy Cannon!

Empty Nesters

Well we released little Juniper back into the wild Sunday morning. She was definitely ready to go, and had been acting more like a wild bird that last couple days we had her.

It was a good little adventure we had raising that bird, and I even got quite attached those last few days that I was taking care of her at my house, but it is nice to have her gone. We took her outside Sunday morning and she sat on Jeff's finger for a few minutes, then just flew away. It was a melancholy moment... Our little girl left the nest and was venturing out on her own :( Ha ha!

Sorry I don't have the pictures to share...

Not So Little Anymore

Our little Juniper is not so much of a baby anymore! We've had her for about 2 1/2 weeks now and she has grown so much! She's flying now too!! Oh and we found out that it's most likely a girl due to her duller coolers and different tail feathers.

She takes a lot of time and commitment... she wakes up at 6 every morning and then has to be fed every hour... This little experience has showed me that I'm definitely not ready to be a mother yet ha ha!

Usually Jeff has her most of the time and I mostly just bird sit while he's at work, but he's been busy flying and this weekend he went up to an air show in Idaho so I've been taking care of her since Thursday morning. Phew... she is a lot of work!

I brought her home with me for a few days and she was miserable the entire car ride. I hate to make her go through that again...

She is such a funny little bird. She is extremely social and hates to be left alone. She loves to sit on top of your head or shoulder, and she hates to be in her cage. You can see in the pictures how much longer her wings have gotten! We've also added millworms to her diet... yuck! Why does she have to eat gross disgusting bugs?! But she just loves them.

He he :) I feel bad because the bird bombarded my dad, and of course my first concern was to capture the moment, so I made him wait while I grabbed my camera. Ha ha Sorry Dad! I love this picture because the bird is peaking up behind his head looking a bit guilty.

My dad rigged up this little golf club perch for her in my room, which she loves. She has successfully left her pleasant little surprises on almost everything in my room... my bed, my carpet, my bookshelf, the wall a few times, my shirt, my dad's forehead ha, and the footnotes of Alma chapter 37. She's only partially potty trained.

The good news is, is that she is really close to being released back into the wild! She is the cutest little thing and I've gotten pretty attached, but it will be nice to have her go. She's flying pretty good for small confined spaces and she will eat the worms on her own. Also, the progress made today is that instead of sitting and waiting to get fed she now flys to the food. That is a good sign! She's kind of crazy actually... she pretty much attacks you when she's hungry ha ha.

The real test will be if she will catch and eat live crickets... but after that she should be ready to be set free, which I'm guessing will be sometime early next week if not this weekend! I'll keep you all posted :)

Baby Juniper

This is Juniper. The baby swallow that we rescued a couple weeks ago after falling out of his nest. The other three babies had already died and the mother had not returned for quite sometime. We brought him home and have been raising him until he is ready to fly away.

When we first got him he was kind of ugly... ha ha. But now he is looking more like a bird and so much cuter!

We started out feeding him mashed up cat food.

However.... now he's moved on too:

Ewww! Crickets.... ugh.

Live Your Life

I found a couple quotes the other day that I really liked:

"Live with Intention.

Walk to the Edge.

Listen Hard.

Practice Wellness.

Play with Abandon.

Laugh.

Choose with No Regret.

Appreciate your Friends.

Continue to Learn.

Do what you Love.

Live as if this is all there is."

- Mary Anne Radmacher

"Go confidently in the Direction of your dreams. Live the Life you've Imagined."

- Henry David Thoreau