Hovland Piano Recital

McKinzi has been working really hard on her piano this year. It was a joy to watch her perform at the spring recital.

Carol Kind and Near

Ahhh! The Giles family! We love you guys! What a treat for our family to have Mike, Carol, Brooke, Ashley, and Max stop for a night in Minnesota on their way to Utah! When we pulled into Cliffside Commons six years ago in our little sagging Honda Accord, having traveled all the way from Seattle to Boston, Mike Giles was the first person we met. Having seen our liscense plates from Idaho, he came to help us move in and introduce his family to ours. They lived on the same apartment hall as us, about four doors down. They gave us a mattress to sleep on, dinner to eat, and extended a hand of friendship that will last forever. Once when we were supposed to have dinner guests and forgot(we were out shopping), the Giles invited our guests to their home for dinner and insisted that we join them as well! When Kinzi was learning to sing "I am a Child of God", she would sing..."has given me an earthly home, with Carol Kind and Near"! We have been richly blessed with good friends near and far. Friends forever!

Pepin, Wisconsin

The first official day of summer vacation, the kids and I hit the road for Pepin, Wisconsin, birthplace of Laura Ingalls Wilder. We never saw such beautiful countryside... farm after farm of rolling hills, the occasional goat atop a large red barrel, and the gorgeous landscape framing the mighty Mississippi River. We enjoyed a large ice cream cone at Nelson's Creamery, and bought some "cheese n' onion" cheese for grilled sandwiches later that evening. We stopped in at Arrowhead Bluffs museum and gift shop to admire the Native American history and craftiwork. The entire day was delightful, made even more so by enjoying the company of good friends.

pyromania

Like mother like son.

To be, or not to be responsible for these yahoos.

So I'm making Kinzi's school lunch, signing her reading log, yelling out practice spelling words, and all the while I hear a little Ezra voice from the bathroom every few seconds "Ew. Pause. Pause. Pause. Ew" I figured he had done some logs in the tub, not like he'd never done that before. Rolling my eyes I glanced into the bathroom to gage the damage. Nope, I had not expected him to be launching his poop onto the floor! With each "crash landing" came his little "Ew" as poo splatted everywhere. It was too soft to keep it's shape. (sorry, I know that's gross) He looked up at me with his big blue eyes and apparently, talking about the tub, he said, "All clean!" I nodded, smiled through gritted teeth, and closed the door.

Our family decided we wanted to participate in the neighborhood's Litter Bit Better trash clean up. After Ezra cut his hand on broken glass, took off his shoes and socks and ran through the muddy wet grass, picked up a cigarette but and exclaiming "Gum!" popped it into his mouth...we decided that maybe we'll wait a few more years to be good citizens. We did, however, find one silver necklace and 50 cents (a dollar ripped in half). I think it was worth it.

My good friend Lorinda recently offered us a great piece of advice. To prevent diaper leaks during the night, simply apply a jumbo pad into the diaper right before bed. It works like a charm.

Shootin' the Carribean breeze...

Some highlights from our trip:
*spending time with our wonderful friends Scott and Lindsay
*Clearwater Beach, Florida. We bought shell necklaces from a real hippy.
*Ping-pong tournaments, although we never won! There are some serious players out there! Our favorite was a kung-fu ping-pong serve. Intense.
*Guest talent show on the boat. Nat sings The Sound of Music's "My favorite things" as one of the six acts. Feeling like a rock star the rest of the trip as people call Nat by name and compliment her song.
*Riding ATVs through the jungle in Mexico. Seeing lizards and a tarantula and a monkey
*Snorkeling in the coral reefs of Grand Cayman, exploring the ship wreck and taking pictures with our underwater camera.
*Reading the Book of Mormon for 4 hours straight on Easter sunday.
*Eating salmon!!!
*Spending time, uninterrupted, with just the two of us! Memories for a lifetime!

These things are fun, and fun is good!

We are alive in Minnesota! We have been up to lots of family games, outings to the zoo, learning how to do HOT LOOPS (oh yeah), and watching spring thaw. Happy are we!