Family Home Evening

Tonight for FHE (family home evening) we talked to the kids about how to stop germs from spreading. With all the talk of Swine Flu, we really tried to stress the importance of washing hands, coughing into your elbow, and of course to keep your fingers out of your nose!! Nathan told them there is a super strong germ out there right now, that they might have heard people on the news talking about, called swine flu. (We had also talked about other names pigs have). Noah looked at me with those big brown eyes and said,
"How did the pig fly?"

Marlee's 2nd Field Trip

Marlee's Kindergarten had another field trip this week. And I was lucky enough to go again! We had almost a hour long bus ride north to the farm to see the baby animals. Marlee was amazed at how soft the sheep's wool was. Especially that little black lamb. But, she was a bit stunned to find out that people (her parents included) EAT lamb!! During our visit there, the sheep escaped. Just imagine 3 sheep running for their freedom, about 100, 6 year olds squealing in delight, and 4 grown men trying to herd them back into the stall. Man, I wish I had a picture of that moment . . .I love this picture of her holding the goat. She was not afraid to pick that kid up at all. And he had the cutest horns just starting to grow!Here's cute little Norman the bull - ummm, I mean steer. The "farmer" with Norman gave out waaaayyy too much information to these kids about how he became a steer a few days ago. See Marlee's face? She did not appreciate the details.But she did love the Shetland pony, TINKERBELL - The Wonder Horse. Every girl there fell in love (I think it had something to do with the name?)!!And last but not least, the 4 day old baby chicks. Her absolute favorite part! It was the perfect end to a very fun afternoon.

Where to Start??

I feel like there are so many little things that I could blog about. But where do I even begin? So, in no particular order :

• Elijah still loves the toilet. After many many weeks of no interest, on Easter he decided to hop in the toilet at Grandma's house. We all threw up a little in our mouths.
• Every morning, and I mean EVERY morning, Noah asks me, "How's your throat Mom?" He's done it since I had my tonsillectomy. Funny guy. He also asks Nathan everyday, "How was work Dad?"
• Marlee loves school, and has decided maybe it's not so cool to have her Mom walk her to school anymore. Too bad so sad, I'm still going to do it.
• Sunday night the kids (all 4 of them) we're playing in Van and Noah's room. My bionic ears (bet you didn' t know that I have super sensitive hearing and smelling?!) heard a "hisss" come from the room. "OH!" I thought, they must have my hairspray. NOPE!! They had a 2 liter of sprite they were trying to open!! AHHHH that could have been horrible!
• Marlee's playing soccer. Her team is the Yellow Dragons. She's the only girl on the team, and also the tallest.
  
• My softball season starts on Thursday. Can't wait. Got a great group of girlfriends on the team this year!!
• Nathan and I only have 2 1/2 weeks till our race. YIKES!
• Van has discovered whales. He was looking at a book at Grandma and Grandpa's 2 weeks ago, and hasn't put it down since. He can't wait to go to Sea World when we're in Australia.
• Elijah LOVES basketball. That's all he does when we're outside, run around with a basketball. He also loves watching it on tv.
  
• We love going for family bike rides. It's fun to have everyone on a bike (we even have a little seat for Elijah.)
• It looks like Spring is finally here.
  
• The library "around the corner" from us opens on Thursday. We can't wait. How awesome to have a library in walking distance!?
• Nathan starts his final semester next week. Only 8 weeks left!!
• Elijah loves dogs. He gets so excited and shakes his head back and forth whenever he sees or hears one. Lucky for him we live in a neighborhood with a million dogs.
• This next week will be 10 years since I graduated from Ricks (now BYU-Idaho) College. I thought 10 years from high school made me feel old. I was wrong. 10 years from college really makes me feel old.
  
• I was practicing the piano the other day (yes, I have started practicing again), and Vance said, "Mom, can you stop singing, I can't hear". Guess he didn't like it so much.
  
• Nathan has started growing a fantastic garden. It's still in the early stages, but it appears that he has a green thumb.
  

Whew!! That list is long. I'm impressed if you're still reading. Thanks for stickin' through it.

HAPPY EASTER

General Conference

Nathan had a fantastic idea to get the kids to listen to Conference last week. When they heard something they knew they would tell us to draw it. So, here are our notes from Sunday Morning's Session.