Blackberries.

It was 70 degrees today for the high.  Perfect.  We hiked up in the afternoon to the top of Quarry Hill.  There were lots of wild flowers blooming.  The Blackberries were just ripe.  Sarah and Lily love to pick and eat them.  Alex is still a little unsure of them...but he did like finding them.  We spent a good hour picking and enjoying the nice weather.  I was a nice afternoon.

Summer Play Group

This summer so far has been wonderful.  I am not nursing a baby and I am not pregnant..ahh the freedom.  So, we decided we are going to try and do more activities.  

This past week our ward's playgroup got together at Zollman Zoo.  The kids loved it, and had lots of fun with their friends.  It was a beautiful day.  Here are some pictures.

Hannah, Alex, Carter, and Sarah looking at the bald eagles.

Alex, Tommy, and Carter.  Instant buddies.  Alex has been asking for play dates everyday with these two.

Samuel and Lily.  Nursery buddies.  Samuel is 2 months younger than Lily....this gives you a pretty good idea of how big she is...we love our little chunker.

Feeding the goats.

This picture was for my Mom and her love of Chickens.  They had all different colors and sizes.  So cute.

The Elk were worn out, and so were we.  Time to go home.

Happy Birthday Alex!!!

Alex turned 4 years old today and enjoyed a full day of festivities.  He has been asking everyday if it is his birthday.  I think he couldn't believe it that today finally had come.  We had a friend party in the late afternoon, and then a little family party in the evening. I am exhausted, but my little guy had a wonderful day.  It was worth it.

What have we been up to?

Last week it finally started to dry out a little after a solid week of rain the week before.  We had some pretty intense weather with Tornado Watches. It always makes for an exciting evening.  We have been outside all of the time loving the nice weather now that it is drying out.

Sarah enjoyed her first week of freedom and rediscovered Mario Kart Wii.  She also seems to be getting along pretty good with one arm.  She went for a run with her dad and didn't even mind having to lug around that big cast.  She is such a good kid.  I love having her home for the summer.

Alex has been loving having Sarah around to build forts in the back yard and play with. He loves LEGO's and build some pretty neat castles, cars, and princesses.  He wrote his name all by himself this week.  We were pretty surprised.  He asks me every morning is today is his birthday....he can't wait for his first friend party on Wednesday.

Lily is getting into everything.  Nothing is sacred in this house.  She loves to pull the books off everyones shelves in their rooms including Mom's and Dad's.  If she is ever quiet we know where to look.  Right now she is the destroyer. She also is fearless, this past week we went to the park and we watched her climb up to the top of the playground and slide down head first on the Spiral Slide.  When we go outside she always runs right to the big kid swings and starts doing some crazy tricks.  We have to watch her because she has no clue that she can get hurt.  She wants nothing to do with the baby swing. 

Dave has been working hard at work he has a design review this week so he had lots of things he needed to get ready.  He also has been enjoying watching Spain, Germany, and USA play in the world cup and playing with the kids. He ordered a Germany flag for me and a Spain flag for himself and he likes putting them up when our teams are playing. 

I went this past Saturday and worked on a Habitat For Humanity Women's Build day.  It was so much fun.  It was cool to think I was contributed to someones home.  I have been trying to help my soggy garden dry out.  I think the tomatoes are gone.  Everything else is doing wonderful.

That's it for us.  Hope you all had a lovely week and a nice Father Day. 

Sarah's Fractured Arm

Sarah fractured her arm this past week by jumping out of the swings in the backyard right before bedtime.  She landed wrong and fell on her elbow.  Our neighbor is the head of Pediatrics in the ER at St. Mary's (Mayo Clinic) Hospital, which is about the best perk of living where we do.  So we showed it to him first and he recommended we go to the ER.  They did an X-Ray and put it in a splint.  She had to wear the splint for 4 days until she was able to see a Pediatric Orthopedic Doctor.  They took more X-Rays and told us she fractured the bone that connects to the elbow (but in doctor terminology). We are glad she didn't do more damage to her elbow.   She will have to wear her cast for 3 weeks and then get another X-ray and hopefully it will all be healed by then.   Not a fun way to start the summer, but she is being a good sport about it.  She got her cast put on the day before the last day of school, so she was able to have all of her friends and teachers sign it.  She also really likes the yellow with orange polka-dots.

Glasses

Lily found these glasses and has been wearing them around.  She loves to put things on...hats, headbands, glasses, necklaces.  It makes me laugh.  I love her cute little personality and watching her grow into a little girl.

More Running Pictures

Are you tired of our running pictures yet?  Well, here is another one.  We had a ward 5k that Dave and I helped put together on Memorial Day.  It was a beautiful day and my favorite 5k to date. Sarah ran her first 5k and beat her mother.  Dave stayed and watched the kids.  We had a very fun morning.

I just finished running when this picture was taken and I was still bright red and looking tired. We also now have proof that Alex was pulling Lily's hair.   Sarah was off having a water fight with her friends, so she missed the pictures.