Z. O. O. spells zoo

Spencer has been on a spelling kick lately. "Mom you need to S. T. O. P. Ok, now you can G. O." If someone asks his name you run the probability of having it spelled to you. He does a nice dramatic pause after each letter too.

This morning we went to the Z. O. O. The very last hurrah of the preschool year. MiKayla and her family met us at the house and we caravaned over together. It was good to spend some time with them. It was fun to run into other preschool families as we checked out the animals.



The weather was perfect. It wasn't too crowded. We couldn't have asked for a better day to go.



Austin is taking a field trip with his class on the 24th to the Boise Zoo so I had him work with dad for the day. We really missed his wealth of knowledge about each animal. Spencer took over the map duties and did impressively well (so adorable.)







Later that night when Austin got home the kids ran through the sprinkler. Emma Lynn knew school was out, that means it's summer time and summer is all about sprinklers!
I love the logic thought process. They had fun except when Ruth got her hair wet. As Kurt would say, "She's such a girl."



After baths we watched Emma's grad present, "Princess and the Frog." It's feeling like summer is here. aaaaaahhh.

Preschool Graduation

Emma Lynn is a Kinder Bloom graduate.



This event was stressful for me on many levels (lack of sleep, not meeting all my personal deadlines, not having a working oven, emotional strain of letting go and the feeling of being in a general funk just to name a few.)

But now its over and I can move on. I need to.

Thanks to Cindy, Kelli and Kurt for your help - you are amazing!


The Lady bug and Caterpillar classes (Emma is third from the left.)

She has truly been a fabulous helper and a preschool super star. I'm so proud of you Emma Lynn! Congrats on all your hard work.

End of the year Party

Spencer's preschool officially ended tonight with a BBQ at the house. There was lots of good food and good company. It was enjoyable and low key. And I'm happy cause all these kids will be back again in the fall (I'm not a fan of good-byes in any form!)

Spencer has done so well this year in preschool. And like he told me, "Mom, I'm really in all 3 classes cause I go to all of them." He has loved having Braxton come, it's pretty much the only thing he cares about. He's lucky to have such a good buddy.






7 of the 10 Busy Bees

20

Austin has been slow to lose his teeth. His second bottom tooth (where the other permanent tooth has been growing behind) has been lose for a few month now. He doesn't like to wiggle them very much. Monday night after we got home from our Vegas trip he was messin' with it. Without much coaxing he agreed to let Kurt "work" on it.

He started with the string method.


That proved to be very difficult because it was so wet and slippery. He did manage to make it dangle-by-a-thread lose.



Finally Kurt just grabbed it with his hands and yanked.


The child finally has 20 teeth again. As Austin said, "At least 2 of them are permenant." That's right. At least you're lucky enough for the tooth fairy to bring you a whole dollar. Personally my favorite was the debate Austin and Emma Lynn had about the tooth fairy's gender the next morning. :D

4 - 2 + 1 = 3

Austin switched the bunnies to a new cage on Thursday afternoon. He did it without being asked and it took quite a bit of time. Good work. There was a slot in each cage and Kurt was positive they couldn't get through {I was less positive of that "fact."}

When Kurt woke up Friday morning there were no bunnies in the cage. He searched before work and found one {Austin's Tom.} The kids handled the news really well and spent the rest of the day looking for the others. It proved to be a good activity for them. :D

That evening our neighbor called us. He'd found a bunny in his pasture, "Nearly stepped on it. Scared me half to death!" It was Spencer's Addison. The kids were happy to share. One for the boys, one for the girls. I was just happy that they solved this problem with no crying, screaming or whining. {{happy sigh}}

I was visiting a friend yesterday and came away with her bunny. I'm not exactly sure how that happened. She's a sweet talker and I figure we use to have 4 so surely it wouldn't hurt to have 3. This newly aquired bunny is a dwarf breed that won't get very big and it's super hairy/fuzzy. It looks so comical! They are calling it Master Fred with a nickname of Hurley.

Meanwhile the original Easter bunnies are growing at a rapid rate. And since fate left us with one boy and one girl..... it might not be too long before 3 bunnies turns into more... Does anyone know at what age bunnies can start reproducing?

Growing in the gospel

I am enjoying my life. I am grateful.

I feel like we (our family) have been anxious engaged in a good cause. We have always been service oriented. But I feel like we have encompassed the meaning of being anxious engaged in a good cause. Every day, busy serving.

It brings happiness.

I love watching Kurt serve. First of all service becomes him. He is so handsome. He is a good, good man. Making me a blessed woman.

Kurt encouraged Austin to bare his testimony yesterday morning before he left for his meetings. As we were sitting in sacrament meeting I asked Austin if he was ready. "Mom, I want to but I'm so scared." He said this a few different times. They now have a cordless mic so he could just stand right where he was. And I promised I would go first. My heart swelled. He also gave the talk in Primary about oridances of the gospel.

Austin asked to give the Family Home Evening lesson tonight. He had thought up a lesson while he was taking a shower. He got a rubber duck, cup and drew a picture of a cross. "Jesus is the duck. He died on the cross. They put his body in the tomb {places the duck in the cup.} On the third day {he pours water into the cup and the duck rises out} He was risen." So clever, I love that he came up with that on his own.

My boys are growing up in the gospel. I can't think of anything better.

The Dynasty - A New Generation

Karen came this weekend for a 24 hour visit. It was for the soul purpose of finally for the first time in her life getting her own set of wheels {seeing us was just a bonus.}

So after two long years of neglect the Dynasty will be driven again. I'm sure she's happy to be on the road again. She got a full make over in the shop and then Kurt drove her like she was a pick-up and gave her the two thumbs up for Karen to take back to Rexburg. {We were headed to Ontario for soccer that morning and I looked in my rearview mirror and saw Kurt in the Dynasty behind me. There was a HUGE tractor tire in the trunk with the car nearly dragging bottom. I had to double take because it was such a randomly hilarious sight. Kurt went all the way to Nyssa like that. That's when he felt confident in the Dynasty abilities.}



So my siblings will make fun of me for this but it was almost sentimental to load Karen up in the Dynasty and send her back on her way to Rexburg. For many reasons but the two that top the chart are: this is Karen's first car, we pat her on the shoulder and say have a nice 6 hour drive. ya. nice. And secondly it was almost sad to say good-bye to the Dynasty. There have been so many good memories in that car...

~ courting in Rexburg
~ honeymoon / newly weds
~ driving cross country to Iowa
~ school days (nursing school car pool)
~ hospital commutes for Kurt when Austin and I were in Des Moines
~ surviving a tornado
~ bringing home babies from the hospital
~ more driving cross country

{{{deep happy sigh with cheesy content grin}}}



Maybe the Dynasty will bring Karen the good fortune of holding hands with a cute boy at the Elk Farm in Rexburg. May you be so lucky! Here's to many more memories made for the next generation of Dy~nasty drivers.