Vole Patrol and More

No more messing around.  It's an all-out war now.

 There is a serious battle going on between our grass and the voles.

And just what exactly is a vole - you might ask?
A small, typically burrowing mouselike rodent with a rounded muzzle that has the ability to do serious damage to a yard during the winter months.

 In this case, it happened to be our yard.  The little critters had a real feast in our already struggling lawn.  Of course, the voles chose our nicest patches of grass to nibble on.  In the front and in the back of the house.

 Quinn was all about this outdoor project.

It's nice having a little helper around.  And then we played soccer together.

 Who needs snow to play with a sled?

Jantzen can now claim "pie-maker" status.

Jantzen's 5th grade math teacher, Mrs. L, loves pie so much that March 14th is her almost favorite day of the year.   March 14 = Pie Day (3.14).  Special thanks to G-ma M for having Jantzen over to assist in making this delicious apple pie for him to take to school (for a PI party).

 I just love finding these notes in the pockets of my jacket.
Thanks Elsie!

Finally.  We found the right materials for Brinley to finish making this jewelry holder (part of a Christmas present).  The chicken wire holds earrings and there are screws along the bottom of the frame for necklaces and bracelets.  Now she just needs to round up her jewelry where it can stay organized - yep, we're both happy!

Other news from the week - Friday was Tanner's first track meet of the season and he ran his personal best in the 1600m and wasn't far off his 800m PR.  Nice way to start things off!  Way to run Tanner.

Tanner and Brinley attended an extensive youth-oriented family history conference from 9:00am - 3:00pm at a local university on Saturday.  Perhaps information overload for these first-timers but there are exciting projects in the works for family historians (and aren't we all?).  Aaron attended a portion of the adult conference before leaving to help his brother put down tile all afternoon.  Now that his church responsibilities with the youth have shifted, he felt the "freedom" to leave early and assist Chris with his mammoth home-improvement project.  After working with the young men in our ward for the entire time we have lived here (7 years this summer), Aaron was recently called to be ward mission leader.  And with the demographics of our ward, there is a plenty of work to do.