How can I not post these pictures?

I love these pictures.

The turkeys were awesome.

I love the flower.

In all the times I've seen peacocks, I've never seen the tail displayed before. I've missed the season I guess. But now I've seen a peacock in full display in person. (They are a bit arrogant. They know they are spectacular. He seemed happy to show off for the humans as well as scream out for the pea hens. And I do mean scream.)

At the elephant

It was too cold for the water to spray, but still a fun location.

My boys are sure that they epitomize the essence of coolness. Don't you think their picture should illustrate the word "cool"? Funny guys

Willa and Alyssa are up for fun pics again.

(I was happy behind the camera.)

A fun day. We saw the big cats up and about. The tiger was pacing right next to the fence. A wolf was out and being social. The peacocks were in full spring display. There was so much to see that Boaz was done before we were done. He was sure that eating at the zoo was the only option to satisfy his hunger. But Uncle Pete knew of a buffet. Fast and lots of options. Josh ate salmon and rice and Boaz had pot stickers and noodles and broccoli. Success in more ways than one. :)

Going Apes

Hogle Zoo was fun. And what a great photo op.

Josh and Boaz mugging for the camera.

The second picture is Kayla. She is in her second year at college. I remember her when she was all arms and legs seeing me off at the airport when I left on my mission. Is it possible that I am this old? Surely not!

My sister, Willa. This picture was for Pete's benefit. He had another camera. I think it's a great look.

Last picture is Alysa. What a cutie girl. She climbed up all by herself, while her sister required a boost.

Loving Auntie Willa's house

Could two boys look any more delighted?

What a great way to work out the wiggles from a long trip. It was a race to the back yard with shoes flying all directions.

(And inside they had a Wii. The didn't think it could get much better:)

Grandpa & Grandma's House

I think Ron is looking good for just being out of the hospital for a week.

Boaz is loving sitting next to Grandpa. We are happy to be able to be here and spend some time with him and Grandma.

Headed to church

I do live with some good looking boys :)

I love to see the temple

The boys and I left Craig in St. George and we headed to SLC to play with my family.

One of the first matters of business was to visit temple square. I love to come here every time I am in Utah. The boys loved going on the roof of the Confrence Center. A fun day with Auntie Debbie. :)

In the hospital room

Call me crazy, but I wanted a picture with all our sun glasses.

What a cool family.


Josh let Grandpa's new puppy wear his glasses for the second picture. They were a bit sad to leave the puppy at the hospital.

headed to Utah

Grandpa Oswald just had surgery and we are off to visit him and let daddy stay and help. Boaz and Josh got new sunglasses. Momma decided the sun was very bright and the boys needed eye protection too.

Cool face

This is Josh's cool face. Notice the half closed eyes and hand signal. He does a credible job snearing for emphasis.

He was delighted with this picture. I let him have the camera for a bit and we have some crazy shots of nothing. But he loved taking pictures. And as hard as he tried to look cool for the camera, he had tons of fun once we got there. :)

Field trip to the coast

I love going on field trips with Josh. Today his class went to Newport and visited the marine science center there. It was a cold, windy day. I was glad I had brought two jackets for us.

First we went to the mud flats and dug for shrimp. Josh and I excaved several holes, but we didn't have any luck finding shrimp. Other people did and we got to see them. They were very small and pretty aggresive. We were out at low tide, and they talked to us about where the water was at high tide. He taught us about pollution sources and habitates. The mud flats were part of an estuary. Where fresh water meets ocean water.

Then we entered the building. There were several "tide pools" and other exhibits. The first picture shows Josh touching an anemone. It is the green hairy blob in the water.

After lunch, we went to "class" and talked about rocky intertidal areas. They had barnacles and mussels. The kids got to put plankton in the water and watch the barnacles filter feed. Fun.

The second picture shows Josh with a sea star. We learned that sea stars have tiny pinchers on their skins. These pinchers can pull arm hair. I felt it too. Very odd.
Sea stars like to eat clams. We had live cockel clams (?) and when the sea stars were put in the same dishes the clams went a bit crazy. It took a good 5 or ten minutes for some of them to react, but the clams would push out their foot and flail around trying to get away from the sea star. I think the clams were seriously tramatized, but the kids loved it.

All in all a fun and successful day. Definitly worth the 90 minute bus ride to get there.

I love music!

There are some seriously talented musicians in our stake. Three enterprising souls have put together a stake choir to perform an Easter Concert on Good Friday, the Friday before Easter Sunday.

I have been attending practises for over a month now. It is a 15 minute drive right in the middle of Sunday afternoon. I've had to forgo Sunday naps and keep track of time a bit more than I've been used to. But the first time I went, I was hooked. I got to sing a 'G' on top of the staff. I've been thinking what it is about the high notes that thrill me.

To reach that note, I have to commit totally. I can't hold anything back. I have to sit up straight, or better yet stand. I have to throw my voice up into my head, not strain for the note. When I hit it, it rings through my soul. My body becomes the note.

I don't necessarily love to hear womens voices. Given a choice, I prefer a wonderful men's chorus. I do love the full chord of both voices, or really all four or six voices. And if the whole song is crazy high it rarely works. I have a hard time singing harmony. I can't hear the lower notes. So I have been happy learning how to sing the melody, and the high notes.

I've been trying to teach myself how to sing the alto. It's taken years. I usually try on the Sacrament song. I've been trying to listen for the alto part. I am amazed at the ability others have to hear the different notes. I have a sense of satisfaction when I am able to sing alto for a verse. But the thrill of singing for me really is hitting a crazy high note.

Today I hit a high 'A'. I can still feel the glow of that glorious note. :)

Subbing in nursery

I usually get to go to Sunday School and Relief Soceity at Church. I love to join in the discussion and get the spiritual uplift of good and insightful discussion.

But today I got to play in the nursery with the 18 month olds. I think all the 3 year olds were out today. Two little boys decided that they liked me. On relaxed on my shoulder and quit crying. It felt so good to have a little body melt into me like that. Boaz rarely did it, and it's been a very long time since Josh has done so. We brought out the snacks and he I learned he loves rasins. He growled deeply in appreciation. Just thinking about that gives me a glow of satisfaction. The other little boy was very sad, and the rasins and gold fish and animal crackers didn't do it for him. So he sat on my lap. And then he began to melt into me. He is a sturdy little boy, and I found I was adjusting my arm a few times, and my tail bone began to ache while I was sitting on the little nursery chairs. Of course my shoes were not helping, I wore heels -- silly me. But then the miracle happened. This little boy fell asleep in my arms. I didn't know that I missed that as badly as I do. Just think I could have been in Sunday School and Relief Society and in the middle of fun gospel discussions. But instead God blessed me with a sleepy toddler. Truely He loves me. :)