Feed The Birds

OH SO HUNGRY!

FIVE BABY BARN SWALLOWS

GRIFFIN, BUCKBEAK, RAIN, PHOENIX, AND CELESTE OSTLER
(PLEASE DON'T ASK WHAT ORDER THEY ARE IN)

Today Andrew and I celebrated our five month anniversary as a married couple. It was a great day. He called me from work, and told me that one of the guys he works with knocked a nest down thinking there were no birds in it. This was two days ago, and the Mom and Dad bird, although around seem to have lost interest. They gave up feeding them and I guess don't know what to do. I knew these birds wouldn't make it with out help and a miracle. There were five barn swallows, and Andrew and I were afraid they were going to die. You can see this video at the bottom of the page which was taken this morning, and then know that in the hours since then they all have only improved. They sleep, but tweet when they are hungry. I called my Mom for advice. Since Eubie our brewers blackbird lived to be 13. He was a bird that our pet cat Camphor brought home to us. I bought "cheep" dog food and mixed it with a tiny bit of water per Mom's instructions. I thought for sure they were goners because they just weren't opening up their beaks, unless I forced them. I also noticed they were shivering, so they went down my top and rested in my cleavage on the drive home. That's when they started chirping. I got them into a laundry basket and kept them in, yes it's true one of my softest and oldest bras. It was warm from the dryer. I put a lamp over them and now they are five of the happiest birds. I don't let them get too warm. Now they eat and poop constantly. I can only thank Heavenly Father for this miracle, because I prayed for these baby birds at lunch. I prayed that I would know what to do, and that if it was His will, that they would live. I know we are not out of the woods yet, but I really think they are going to be okay. They just needed a little TLC. This is going to take patience, hard work, persistence, and love. I know I can do it, because my own Mom was amzing at it. I watched her do it. I can't wait for the day when I can take them back to the Manti Temple grounds and release them back with all their other brother and sisters. I really hope they make it. We'll keep you updated on their progress.

Pool Party!

Ephraim, Utah has reached some record highs. I'm told this is because of all the negative temperatures in our bitter, cold winter. I'm a little more than half way through this pregnancy, and living in a house with no air conditioning. However, I'm here to tell you I'm glad we moved into a house. Our apartment would have been way worse. We were on the second floor and heat rises. Besides making home improvements along the way will be all part of the fun. Especially since we just met with our landlord and she loved that we had done so much thus far, she gave us permission to do almost whatever we wanted. That being said, and going back to the heat we decided that a pool was a must. Mom and Dad chipped in from California and so off to Walmart I went. Several nice people helped me load the beast into the car. Andrew and I hosed the majority of the rocks off our patio, and laid down a tarp. The next steps were installing and filling the pool. The side of the box said ready for water in just ten minutes. I assure you even if you are a professional that is a vicious lie. It was a lot of hard work, but we both knew it would be well worth it. A few of the neighborhood kids had jealously pooling in their eyes, and for that I felt a bit of sadness. As we began setting it up, the neighbors cats came to watch, and give their approval while resting in our shade. Soon it was time to fill it with water. A task which wasn't easy because of the extreme water pressure running through our tiny hose. Luckily we had patio chairs and plenty of OFF insect repellent. This doesn't seem to help me any. We looked it up and soon discovered mosquitoes like pregnant women twice as much. However, the cold water feels great on our bites. Our neighbor has the exact same pool only bigger, and she said she noticed no difference in her water bill. This was great news to us, and made me relax more as we pumped almost 1,700 gallons of H2O into our pool. She also bought a tarp and covered her pool because it's so hot her water temperature got to be 92 degrees. We only had the tarp on ours one day and it was already swimmable. We bought a raft, and a yellow jacket catcher since we noticed they seem to be building a hive near our pool. Finally ready we got in and enjoyed many hours of our new luxurious pool. We couldn't be happier and we know we'll get many years of happiness. Please enjoy our pictures and videos below. Happy Fourth of July to all. Andrew and I will spend a quiet day at home. There is a brilliant firework show not far from our house, but we decided to stay here, barbecue, swim, and set a few of our own fireworks off in the street by our house. Adding our pool will only make this a great day! If you're feeling hot and want to come take a dip, please come and stay anytime.

Spreading out the pool and beginning to remove wrinkles

Simba watches as an uninterested party, and cools off in the shade



Andrew shows me his pool hose



Inflating the top ring




Fillin' her up with water the old fashioned way




There arose such a ladder and as usual Sara has a full bladder!




Standing in the beautiful cool pool water the next day
Sara says "Ah, my squito bites feel better already."



Just half a Taft trying out the new raft




Come on in, the water's fine! "Mmmm my wife made this look a lot easier."




Whoops, try again! :(




Sara and her two babies floating comfortably in the water

The Stork is carrying a pink blanket

8 pictures total (4 on top and 4 below)
Explanations of what you're looking at are written below each
Click on picture to enlarge

Wednesday our families waited in anticipation to hear from us as we traveled to Mt. Pleasant to have our Ultrasound. We decided we weren't brave enough to wait until the birth to see if we were having a boy or a girl. Sara thought for sure it wasn't necessary, because according to the Chinese Sex Chart, Grandma Pats pencil test, 5 dreams, and the ring test she was having a boy. However, she also worries a lot, so it would be good to see if the baby was okay. It was neat to finally see the baby on the screen for the first time. We were so blessed to have a technician that told us everything we were looking at. At first she had her legs over her head and was sucking on her knee with her ankles crossed, so telling the sex was impossible. She was asleep, with no intention of getting up. The technician was determined and we had an almost 40 minute ultrasound. She began pushing on Sara's tummy and jiggling it back and forth. Finally she stretched and showed herself to us. When the technician wrote "it's a girl" on the screen Sara almost sat strait up. Sara asked if she was sure, and when she explained that she was, and showed us what we were looking at Sara squeezed Andrews hand and began to cry. No big surprise. Since becoming pregnant she cries on a regular basis. The technician then showed us some special features. She would point out things like her femur bone, and bladder, a four chambered heart, and kidneys. How she saw all that we'll never know. Then she told us our baby has big lips. Sara looked over to Andrew who had his lower lip stuck out. We know exactly where she got those from. When she's putting on lipstick in the future (which according to daddy she won't be doing until at least age 20) she'll be grateful to have full lips. We got up and were about to walk out the door, when they stopped us and said that her brain hadn't been checked. Sara's heart started to beat fast, but another look at her baby would be worth anything. Besides we loved her already no matter what. Blessedly she was perfect. She is a little above average in size, but they are trying to determine if Sara has gestational diabetes with Sara pricking herself twice a day. She may be born closer to Halloween, but we'll just have to wait and see. We just want everyone to know how blessed and happy we are with a healthy baby. We are grateful to Heavenly Father for giving us a daughter to raise and to love.

Genealogy we are doing it

HERE WE ARE AT THE CEMETERY

Today was a wonderful sabbath day for Andrew and I. A few weeks ago Mom called and asked how far Huntington was from our house. I found out that it was a little over an hour away. We decided to go on a Sunday drive to find the grave of one of my ancestors Ann Jewell Rowley, a handcart pioneer. We looked up directions and had a fantastic drive. We were both so surprised at how beautiful it was. Even if we hadn't have found her marker, the drive alone would have been well worth it. We passed through large forests of trees, such as birch, pine, and aspen. We climbed up to 10,000 feet and were surrounded by snow again. Somehow this time it didn't annoy me. It was breathtaking. It was a warm day, and as we descended we saw the glaciers melt away into brooks, streams, and finally rapids. We saw dams that were being built by beavers, and even a doe. There were huge carved out cliffs, and caves. Beyond that red rock cliffs stood as a background tall against the bright blue skies. So many different birds that I'd never seen in bright orange and black, not to mention our usual cows, sheep, goats, alpacas, and horses. Then as we approached Huntington we saw huge lilac bushes. There were so many different flowers in the cemetery, and it was well kept and very beautiful. As we walked around the smell was amazing! Lilac everywhere, it was like walking through a field. There was a breeze, and we knew her marker was in section J, but that is all we knew. I first found the Rowley section but it was Andrew who found her grave far from all the other ones. A closer look revealed that she actually had two stones. One marker was for her. It had four sides and stood as a column. The main side was hers, and then it showed two children born almost one year apart and both dying on the same day as they were born. This was a difficult thing to see and I can't imagine how she must have felt. Especially now that I'm pregnant, it would be beyond painful to endure. Another side showed a son that lived to be 14, and the last side we're unsure of. It was someone married to Thomas Rowley. As I mentioned before she also had a second stone. This one was done 150 years later for the pioneers sesquicentennial. It had a special etching in the stone of pioneers with their handcarts, a special gold seal that said "Pioneers, Faith in every footstep 1847-1997." It also showed that she was a member of the James Willie Handcart Company. I thought back to the book that had some of her journal entries in it, and realized even more today how brave she really was. What an amazing testimony she had. It made me very grateful for her, and for the time era in which I'm born. We found many other Rowley markers, as well as some others with the last name Guymon. It appears that somehow they were possibly married into that family. Almost anywhere you saw a Rowley/Jewell marker you saw one that said Guymon or Guymon/Jewell. We took many pictures, some I hope to be of some value to genealogy. However I'm sure the work has been done for all of these special people. I'm so proud to be related to such a remarkable woman, as there were only a handful of people in the whole cemetery that received that gold seal and a redo of their grave. I hope you enjoy the two short videos, and all our beautiful pictures of this special day for us. With Love, Sara and Andrew Ostler

PS to Mom... I have a ton of pictures of different markers, so when you come up in the next couple weeks I'll have you look at all of them and you can keep them and even take them home. OXOX

Video on the way back from the cemetery

ABOVE: Andrew and I by a rushing brook about to turn into some rapids
BELOW: Ann Jewell Rowley's original grave marker


Below: The new stone with the golden seal they made for her just a few feet away

ABOVE: Sara with grave marker
BELOW: A pretty smelling lilac bush not far from where she is buried

Many times it was difficult to capture the beauty. Above is the mostly frozen
ELECTRIC LAKE and Below is a couple of forests the front one is birch then
directly behind it is some pines. Again the fresh air smell was incredible

Home at last I explain the grave rubbing's we did with colored pencil
WHAT AN AWESOME DAY!!

Wedding Vows for Time and Eternity

February 8th 2008: This date might not mean much to the average person, but for us it was the happiest day of our lives. We were married in the Los Angeles Temple at 11 am, and have been happy about that decision ever since. We're now expecting a baby on November 13th of this year (please don't do the math in your head, it was a honeymoon baby, trust us!) and are currently living in Ephraim, Utah. Below are a few pictures of us at the wedding enjoying the day.

Sealed with a kiss

Adding to our family trees

A beautiful cake for a beautiful day

Although it started out nice, it ended up messy!

The infamous First Dance of many to come!



See what I mean? :)

Pea in a Pod

On our one month anniversary on March 8th, 2008, we received an unexpected but welcome present. Sara was feeling sick, so she decided to take a pregnancy test, knowing full well with her overflowing optimism that it would be negative (due to her infertility problems). But instead of the expected answer, it was positive! She told me and I was stunned, not really believing it or taking it in. She was shaking as she showed me the result, and ended up taking about five more in the few days following just to make sure. :) We've been to the Doctor twice now and everything is going great, with only one small scare of spotting that quickly went away. Below is the picture of one of the pregnancy tests she took and an audio clip of the baby's heartbeat. We loved going to the Doctor and listening to the heartbeat of our baby. Since I can't feel the baby, going to the Doctor together and actually hearing the baby's heartbeat meant a lot to me and my wife, and it was a wonderful day for us both.

The first type of test she took, Wal-mart brand.



The second type of test, digital, it says the word "Pregnant"


First appointment that we heard the heartbeart:
Click here to download and listen to the heartbeat!


Second appointment one month later (much louder and clearer recording):
Click here to download and listen to the second appointment's heartbeat!