Twinning

Reese and Quincy are already on their second Quarantine haircuts. I gave them both trims in March, and they requested matching chops this time. Quincy has a recent growth spurt in height and with the haircuts, they really look a lot alike all of a sudden, which I am happy to report they are loving! 

This quarantine has been great for these two in reminding them to be besties again. They’re together 99% of the time these days and it’s good 95% of that time. Earlier this week they were in the driveway doing chalk and a new neighbor walking the lane asked if they are twins. They were flattered by this and spent the evening being completely silly. Farmer Johnny Brown and Cookie Monster came downstairs for dinner that evening. They’re super giggly and the past couple weeks have been a blessing. 

On Sunday, I taught them the late 1990’s hair art of twisted rows. The only thing missing were those tiny glittered plastic butterfly clips! 😂 The girls loved it and kept their hair in rows all through today, and then complained of fierce headaches by dinner time. “Why does my head hurt? It’s got to be the schoolwork! 

Uh no, your hair has been bound up in tight little mock cornrows for 24 hours, girls.  They sure looked cute though, and they both borrowed star wars shirts from Corbin to wear today. May the 4th be with you!  

Backyard Camping

My parents generously passed a giant tent they’ve had for years onto us and we set it up out back for some “backyard camping” 

We spent the entire day outside and played in it all day long. We read scriptures outside (perfect timing, king Benjamin!) and then the sun began to set. 

So we did what any rational Willardson would do.

We came inside, had root beer floats and orange crush floats and watched a movie!  

Meg Reads: Folks This Ain’t Normal by Joel Salatin

It’s springtime, so it was a perfect month to read a book to inspire homesteading!  I listened to this audiobook over the last month while weeding, planting, and watering our garden, and building the chicken coop. 

I loved a lot of what Joel had to say. 

I also disagreed with a lot of what Joel had to say.  

Joel romanticizing the “old way” of doing everything, and how “it’s worked for thousands of years. This new way of ___ just ain’t normal.”  Is the general idea of the book.  New methods to mass produce food on super farms obviously introduce a lot of new and harmful problems.  He goes back to simplify simplify simplify.  That speaks to me.  

But he also highly criticizes big farms for the sake of being big.  It’s not REALLY that the “new” methods are dangerous that bothers him. It’s that the government mandated “food police” solutions for the large farm problems are also forced on small farmers, (where the problems do not exist) and puts small farmers out of business.   He wants a live and let live ultra libertarian symbiotic world, that even I—-—an idealist cannot see.  Joel also roots for legalization of everything and he is anti vaccine. I’m not for huge government, but because I believe a “live and let live” is a permissive playground for addiction that so very often leads to destruction of families and hurt kids, and let communicable diseases run wild and free (also hurting society’s most vulnerable)   I can’t get completely on board with libertarian “legalize all the things and don’t make anyone do anything they don’t wanna do” ideals. 

 I also have a unique reader perspective as the spouse to the buyer of mass produced animal products for the worlds largest retailer.  And he’s a pretty good guy, who cares about the general health of the customer, as well as the safety and well being of his suppliers.  He visits the plants/arbitoires and our family eats the products he chooses. He’s definitely not being coached by an evil supreme leader sith Lord. I understand Joel’s case for small farmers. But again, his reason for still wanting small local farms is because “large farms are the death of innovation”.   But he criticizes every new innovation and then is frustrated he’s accused of being a Luddite.  

It sounds like I didn’t enjoy the book. False. I loved this book! But I read it as an opinion.  I learned so much and was inspired to return to backyard chickens and home composting (the composting is going terribly, btw! I think my carbon/nitrogen ratio must be way off. But hey, I’m a “woman of action and confidence” now (see next post) so I’m not afraid to just keep trying! Haha!  I loved Joel’s historical explanations for how and why things were done the way they were 100 years ago. I often consider myself a Luddite who is terrible with technology and would have thrived living 100 years ago. Well, all the outdoor plumbing thing...

Anyway, this book was well written. I had to look up a few words Joel kept using, like arbitoir (slaughterhouse/plant) CAFO (concentrated animal feeding operations—a large farm, essentially), and hubris (prideful speech). There were a few others not in my vocabulary, but it was a great read and Joel paints a beautiful picture of small farming lifestyle, homeschool, and just. Slowing. Down. Eating our own food. Sharing with neighbors. Loving and helping our neighbors and community living. Not wasting our lives away spending hours in the car driving ourselves to have life experiences. You know that part speaks to me! I can’t figure out a way to offer music and culture and variety to my children without getting in the car and spending hours carting each of us to our interests. But I suppose that’s really just a season and we have our entire lives to spend enjoying home.  

Home. I LOVE the way Joel describes his feelings about being in his own home. It is how I hope my own family feels about our home. My favorite quote from the book is in a chapter about the excessive miles our food travels, and that we travel for vacations and entertainment.  Tourism and travel is great, he says, but not a necessity for happiness, and not where our focus should be spent obsessing over, detailing, and perfecting.

“...Home be as exciting as any discretionary destination. We’ve divorced our own homes as the centerpiece of life And that disunion manifests itself in running elsewhere looking for satisfaction.” 

Preach! As I focus on creating the culture within my home, first. I am fulfilled, and I can more easily discern the beautiful parts of the outside world I want to see and share a part in influencing and shaping our lives.  Travel is not the goal, it is simply an additive to bring depth into an already rich home centered life. 

I now have a garden going again, 5 week old chickens, a wannabe compost pile, and a reminder to be a better steward to the earth. To waste less and recycle more. To lay up storage against the winter months. To love and serve my neighbors. 

So while there’s some flip flopping in Joel’s ideas about what “being different” means and whether it is good or bad to be normal, I still thoroughly enjoyed and highly recommend this book, because it challenged me to look at my own ideas about normal and different are and question my ideas. I considered my mindset, and what experiences and education have formed my opinions, and whether I still stand with those opinions. I thought about what ways my family is different, and what ways we are considered normal, and to whom, and whether those opinions actually even matter. 

Meg Reads: Mother Daughter Book Club Edition

My 2020 goal to read more is going well. During Quarantine, I had a mom friend zoom with Tia G, Julie S, Jill M, and Katie G abd I asked what everyone is reading (they are all avid readers so I knew I’d get great suggestions from them! We decided to have a mother daughter book club! Jill, Ruby, and Shirley were our zoom “hosts” and chose The Confidence Code for Girls. 

This was so fun to read and to discuss together.  I liked the way the book described what confidence is NOT. Confidence is not putting others down to build yourself up. It is not focusing on what others think and feel about you. It is not being successful every time.  

This book dives into the necessity for failure and discomfort. Being willing to accept any possible outcome and just trying. And that even if all of the risk analysis, acceptance of calculations of what could go wrong, visualizations of success, practice, self coaching, baby steps, perseverance and support from loved ones and stick-with-it-woman of action-actions  fail us and we still lack confidence, we can just do hard things anyway. Some life experiences cannot here avoided and some of those are just difficult, potentially painful, even. Those are the things we can go into with the gumption to just accept our feelings about it as they are and do it anyway. And we can tell ourselves we are just going to “do it afraid.” This spoke to me. 

I hate going to court. I hate it hate it hate it.  It is a necessary part of my calling as a foster mother. But it is uncomfortable and challenging and I’ve left court completely devastated and broken enough times that I just hate the whole experience.   I’ve seen too many people hurt and let down-failed by the system-that I do not enjoy going to court. But I do, because I believe in my role as an advocate for the children in my care. And regardless of the outcome, I need to do the best I can to get them what they need and deserve. So I go. But I love the way the book offers confidence in the form of “doing it afraid.”  Confidence is not success or failure. It is the willingness to try. The action of just DO-ing.  Just keep going, stay on the path, and try, try, try. 

We also talked about perfectionism, gender inequalities: what does confidence look like (to the world) for a boy your age vs a girl? What does it REALLY look like?  We talked about sincere apologies, and apology avalanches, catastrophic thinking, friendship and loyalty, being direct in getting our needs met and in asking for something. 

We talked about the limitations of judging people without getting to know them. 

We circled back to the methods in the book for addressing failures to allow for future growth vs staying stuck. 

We also laughed a lot.  

I loved hearing the different thoughts and ideas each of the wonderful women in this group had. My daughters loved it, too. We are “confident” that we will do this again! 

Quarantine Companions

2020: where “he’s breathing my air!” is now a punishable offense. 

Cooped Up

See what I did there with the post title? 😂😂 I’m

Just hilarious. 

Sloane came outside today and gasped, “Mom! Is you building me a house?!”  

I try to make a little progress every day for 30 minutes to an hour during the twins’ nap time.  Soren and Reese sometimes pop outside to help me and they are good company and creative photographers of the process. 

Flock 3.0

We raised our first two flocks of hens from chicks. Batch 3 was given to us, by the Pendletons when they moved to Utah, and integrated into flock 2.0. 

3 weeks ago, the children wore me down and I caved. 4 baby chicks set up camp in a brooder in the dining room. 

Each of the big kids got a chick (they all belong to the little 3 who truly rule the roost around here)

Here’s a breakdown of who’s who: 

Born March 24th 

Reese: Americauna named Waffles 

Quincy: “blond” Americauna (shown awake in above pic) named Carol (see below for a pic of our beloved neighbor being introduced. We call it “Carol meets Carol”. 

Corbin: Barred Rock named “More Cowbell” 

Soren: Cuckoo Marans named Steve, because even though they’re all hens (females), we always have a “Steve” to blame the naughty behavior on. “It was Steve!” Is the common scapegoat. This Steve, however, is modeling Soren’s mellow and passive demeanor, and Waffles tends to be queen of the pecking order that they’re establishing. 

Steve ☝🏻 Will lay reddish hues chocolate colored eggs

Cowbell will be a brown layer, and Waffles and Carol are Easter Eggers with blue/green eggs. 

And now we are (and by “we” I mean Me. I am) stuck with the task of building a coop. How did I forget about this part?  The children have helped and are learning a lot...like why we needed to raise up those two low bricks in the back so the foundation is level.  


I probably should have made it a foot shorter so it doesn’t peek above the fence, but I’ve learned a lot in past Chicken keeping years, and two things are of greatest importance for success: 

1) security-

Protection from predators and rain. A wet run is stinky. And unsecured coop is dinner for a raccoon, opossum, fox, or hawk. 

I built a cement block foundation for this coop to keep predators out. They will have more run space, the entire run will be roofed and I’ve placed it perpendicular to the direction of the rain to keep it dry. 

2) convenience-

The first flock was so easy to maintain. The coop was tidy, and eggs were gathered daily and cheerfully by Willy children. Why? Convenience! It was so close to the house. We walked right out from the kitchen slider into our little backyard and gathered eggs, fed, and watered the ladies. So easy. They never got into the garden. Aside from

“Broody Betty” Penny’s hormonal season, it was a good, easy time.  When we moved to Primrose Lane, we put the coop waaaaay out back and down below the retaining wall. On mud. This meant we could not see the hens from the house to enjoy their antics (and out of sight, out of mind), and collecting eggs meant climbing two flights of stairs to a part of the yard that didn’t have a good outdoor light, and walking on a slanted, muddy area. The hoses barely reached this location as well, so you had to drag it over from the garden area, and trek back around to the side of the house to turn it on and off. This was not as bad once we installed the back deck, but still a pain. And since it was a pain, it was often a mess. 

The new location is farther from Knaup’s pool area, which I’m sure they’ll appreciate. It’s at the bottom of our side deck so we will be forced to keep it ship shape  or we’ll see and smell it.  

Progress will require another trip to a hardware store...and Lowe’s was a super crowded disaster last time...like a Walmart on Black Friday crowded!  I can’t and won’t do that again we will just wait until after the social distancing ends, or we will shop at a smaller hardware store with an outdoor lumber yard to avoid people.

But here’s the start of the coop/run skeleton. I can’t decide what type of roof to use. Metal would be most affordable, but I’m worried it will be loud when rain hits it and I really love my neighbors on the other side of the fence.  I noticed another neighbor is reroofing her home this week, so we may take a walk today and see if we can salvage enough old asphalt shingles to cover the coop. Worth checking out and yay recycling! 

Update: I found an old stash of 2x4s that I had stored under the lower deck and used them up to make some progress on the coop during naptime, today. 
Reese caught this pic of me straddling a cross support with one foot precariously perched on the fence.  

Monday Musing

I post more on Instagram than on my blog and that should change. 

So here are some pics from today. After a long morning of zoom therapy appointments, the twins were taking late naps, and the older children were occupied with schoolwork. It was 38* outside and Aaron had a blazing fire that kept the living room at 76*. I put dinner in the crockpot and decided to just. Sit. Down. I had a book and thought I might rest my brain and body a minute. 


5 minutes later...I glance down at this. 


And this. 


Lots of this. 

Not shown: Sloane flopping herself across my lap, refusing to nap, but very unhappily and comfortably awake. Rolling around, on my body. 

Mom. Mom. Hey mom. 

Mommmmmmmmmmm.... 

Haha I have a feeling that MY Mother up the street is reading this and feeling the same way. Just give me 5 minutes... 😂😭😂😭 lets ALL practice “social distancing.” At home. With each other. In this room. On this sofa. With this blanket.  

I’m honestly grateful they enjoy my company.  But had to laugh when I had that “you’re being watched” feeling and discovered them right. There. Breathing my same air. 

Speaking of air, I went out to check on my garden after the freeze last night (cucumbers are toast, but I have half a dozen more starters that are thriving in the greenhouse, so I’ll swap them out in a week. Green beans are still coming up and something is eating the leaves as fast as they can grow. 

Naughty squirrel is still digging up a mess and he’s likely going to die. 

Surprise voluntary cilantro coming up in little rows made my day. I haven’t grown cilantro in years, so I think this might possibly be from the chickens eating it  and “replanting” via chicken poop? Or just seeds that blew and are coming up. Gardens are such a miracle to me. I struggle to keep some things alive while others just do their thing and thrive. 

The first two pics are of the family of deer that tracked through the common property behind our fence. Probably looking for treats in the forest. I should take the children morel hunting back there. The deer know there is something yummy hiding in the flora and they come by for a snack every day.  I wonder what it is. 

Easter 2020

Happy Easter! 

What a beautiful day of celebrating the resurrection of our Savior!  

The Willy kids woke up to Easter baskets (on their spots at the tables—-I don’t recall where this tradition began or why, but it’s what we do🤷🏻‍♀️) with new flip flops or t shirts (only good vibes tee for Q, Schrute beet farm for Reese), a box of sugar cereal, and either a toy, game, Movie, or book. 

The Willy Easter Egg Hunt was also a traditional mix of candy and some hidden cash. The Easter bunny thought she was wise to put candy filled eggs in obvious places, and hide the money filled eggs in the difficult spots, so the older children would have to work to find their spoils and the littles could enjoy a bounty of chocolate. A certain 10 year old was so anxious to find his dozen eggs first that he pushed his way ahead of the little ones and collected up the easiest clutches of eggs, leaving younger siblings short and spending 20 minutes trying to find eggs to complete their dozen.   When it came time to open eggs, the 10 year old tasted a lot of disappointment as he opened egg after egg filled with caramel (which he does not like), and each younger hand waving a dollar bill in the air was insult to injury.  He got one dollar in his loot, and only because a younger one traded him for one of his princess pink eggs 😂 

Quincy was the big “winner” of the hunt with a whopping $21 out of the total $40 that was available for collection. Other than Corbin, everyone else had between $3 and $5. Quincy generously shared a few dollars with a couple siblings and used one dollar to “buy” a king sized kit cat (no caramel) from the school orchestra candy fundraiser box (still in my closet) for her brother. It was a fun time for everyone and a good annual lesson on being a good sport. 




Next, we had family church at home. Music was played by Corbin on the keyboard, the talk this week was by my mom, and Aaron did a Sunday school lesson. I miss meeting in a congregation of saints, but I really do love home church. It is different but still reverent and sacred and memorable for sure.  I like taking the sacrament with just my little giant family. I like that the children get to take turns praying and that our talks are more like discussions. I miss being IN A physical church but I’m thankful to be able to still HAVE church. 

Following home church we had a unique opportunity.  neighbors of Primrose Lane put together a “Primrose porch” church service up at the other island.  Neighbors at that end of the street sat on their lawns, driveways and porches, and neighbors from my end of the lane were invited to come set up a lawn chair somewhere in the street or cul de sac 10+ feet away from anyone else for a multi-faith Easter service. A few just drove their van or truck up there abd parked by the empty lots and sat in the truck bed or with the van slider open.  The rain had just quit so the birds were loud and the speakers had to shout a bit, but there was beauty in the stillness and So much community live—-from a distance. Aaron stayed home with the younger to keep the 4 kids who can’t grasp social distancing safely distanced.  Mr. Bob opened with a prayer and a message,  Mr Kyle led everyone in Amazing Grace and Old Rugged Cross, some of the neighbors took a communion/sacrament, and a new neighbor, young Mr Brandon (who moved into the Claypool’s home) is a youth pastor so he shared a message about the savior and the resurrection.  It was an unforgettable memory for our wonderful street of friends and neighbors. We’re quite a family.  walking back home, the girls and I used the gospel library app for accompaniment and sang “I Know That My Redeemer Lives”, and turned to finish the last verse from the end of our driveway back out to our neighbor friends, who stood in their driveways and listened.  Later, Mr. Bob dropped off 7 bags of candy filled Easter eggs for the Willy kids from him and Mrs Shelly, and thanked us for our testimony through song. 

The rest of the day was spent painting fingernails, a FaceTime call with siblings, making “salad” (see below for recipe), working on the bullet journals That Reese and Quincy got in their baskets, watching church Easter videos, a ham dinner, and playing the new games and card games. 







This was Soren’s description of what will happen if we don’t cut his hair until the quarantine is over.







Snickers Salad 

Chopped up candy bars (snickers, Milky Way, Twix, whatever) 

3-4 Granny Smith apples, diced

4oz cream cheese (let sit to room temperature) 

1 tub cool whip 

Mix and chill. Yum. 

I will add my testimony here with the lyrics to I Know that My Redeemer Lives. “He lives and while he lives, I’ll sing, I know that my redeemer lives!”  I can and do feel of His love because is real and tangible and never ending. The loving and generous act of the Atonement totally blows my mind. I am filled with hope and joy and peace when I think of the everlasting mercy extended toward me. Through Jesus Christ All broken things are mended, justice is given, debts are paid, wrongs made right, hurts are healed, lost is found, and there is wisdom in anything that cannot or does not make sense with my own shortsighted understanding. I’m so thankful for Christ’s power to turn my offerings into enough and make us whole. He is my king, my healer, my master, Lord, Savior, teammate. brother, and my friend. He lives! All glory to His name! 

 1. I know that my Redeemer lives.

What comfort this sweet sentence gives!

He lives, he lives, who once was dead.

He lives, my ever-living Head.

He lives to bless me with his love.

He lives to plead for me above.

He lives my hungry soul to feed.

He lives to bless in time of need.

2. He lives to grant me rich supply.

He lives to guide me with his eye.

He lives to comfort me when faint.

He lives to hear my soul’s complaint.

He lives to silence all my fears.

He lives to wipe away my tears.

He lives to calm my troubled heart.

He lives all blessings to impart.

3. He lives, my kind, wise heav’nly Friend.

He lives and loves me to the end.

He lives, and while he lives, I’ll sing.

He lives, my Prophet, Priest, and King.

He lives and grants me daily breath.

He lives, and I shall conquer death.

He lives my mansion to prepare.

He lives to bring me safely there.

4. He lives! All glory to his name!

He lives, my Savior, still the same.

Oh, sweet the joy this sentence gives:

“I know that my Redeemer lives!”

He lives! All glory to his name!

He lives, my Savior, still the same.

Oh, sweet the joy this sentence gives:

“I know that my Redeemer lives!”

Text: Samuel Medley, 1738–1799. Included in the first LDS hymnbook, 1835.

Music: Lewis D. Edwards, 1858–1921

Job 19:25

Psalm 104:33–34