Pine Crosses and exploring our hillside

Alice @ A Number of Things posted during Easter week about Pine Crosses.
It is amazing that nature and the pine trees "know" when it is Easter and when to top the ends of its branches with tiny crosses.
We have a hillside with a few pines and I've never noticed crosses at the tippy tops over the 8 years we've lived here! But I'm not much of a nature girl.
We went out onto the hillside to show the kids and take pics. The crosses were so high in these tall pines that I really had to use a zoom to get up there.
Our pines are very large. I noticed the upright yellowish growths all over the tree, but they seem to only make the crosses at the top and highest edges of the tree. I bet it has something to do with the sunlight. Our home is on the shady side of the trees, the north side. I’m not going to climb high enough on the hillside to see the south side. Our hill is quite steep. I don’t know if you can tell how steep it is by the pictures.
Derek is pointing at a new baby tree growing up ahead.
I have never climbed very high on our hillside. When we first moved here I was 7 months pregnant. Then I had a fear of leaving my baby & toddler while I climbed a hillside and my mommy brain was scared of falling and getting hurt while my babies were left alone. I never thought about climbing up it again until I was pregnant again. So it has not happened.
I do look out and up at that hillside everyday -- while I stand at my kitchen sink.
I will mention that I helped rake the bottom section of the hillside up to the first ravine 2 summers ago. Today is the highest I’ve ever climbed and that was barely past halfway. But I was willing to do it in the name of nature and learning. So here are the pics to prove it.

Here is a picture looking down on our yard. You can see the tree edges on the left is taller than our house, and the one on the right is pretty big too.