Holly's Birthday in April

Life is a zoo

I told Nick to take a picture with the goat, I laughed when this is the part of the goat he wanted to pose with! :)

Nick has no fear of anything in the petting zoo.

Taking Time to rest and have a drink. The kids love the zoo.

track and field day

Staying Cool can be messy!

Matthew and his friend Brandon

Shelley takes time for a hug!

Dancing Queen

Shelley had her Dance recital in May. She did a great job. Her favorite is Clogging.

Our most recent family picture

Here is the most recent picture of us all together. Sad that it is from December, but you get the idea...

Not so consistent I guess

I am not as good at getting my blog done as I had originally hoped. I am going to try to do better though. I am not near as creative as my sis-in-law Joni. Her blog is awesome. I mean totally don't look at mine after looking at her blog, I am put to shame. She is a pro!

We are getting ready for summer vacation, the kids last day of school is tommorow. So, I am up late making brownies for teachers and getting all the last minute things done for their last day. Shelley will actually go to some summer school this year, her grades are fine, we just feel that fourth grade is going to be a challenge and she could use a little extra help before tackling next year. She has a great attitude about it though, it will be good for her.

Last week the kids had track and field day and they both did good. Matthew sang in a small group at the opening ceremonies and it sounded so cool. My piano recital is this Saturday and we are having it at a concert room at Schmitt Music. It should be pretty cool. The kids get to perform on a 100,000 dollar Steinway Grand piano. Pretty cool!!!

We are missing our family and friends that we are not close to. It is hard to be away from the ones you love. I will try to upload some recent pictures so we will see how it goes!

I will write again sooner this next time...

Birthday Time!

It is been a while since my last post. We have been busy with Birthdays as of late. Richard had one on March 26th and Matthew had one April 5th and Holly's birthday is in 2 days. Yikes! It is a busy month because we are also making a weekend trip to Cheyenne in a couple weeks. Just a quick update on the kids. Matthew was certified by the Red Cross to babysit (he is 11 now). It is very exciting to have a built in helper now if I need to run a quick errand or run to the store. He was certified also in Child CPR. He had a party on Saturday and had 7 friends come. It was a lot of fun for him. Shelley is still quite the young lady. She never stops growing, and is a lot of help to all of us. Holly Anne loves her to pieces. She has a Dance Recital coming up, so she is excited about that. Nick is fun as ever. He whistles all the time, sometimes it is embarassing. We were in Wal Mart and he kept doing his favorite kind of whistle (the kind you do at a very attractive person), and he had a lot of heads turning to say the very least. He found a bracelet on the back porch, and when he came to tell me of his discovery, he said " I was sticking my head out the back screendoor, you know when I stick my head out to whistle, and I found this...." I cracked up, honestly I didn't know he stuck his head out the door for the pure enjoyment and amusement of whistling. What a funny little boy. Holly Anne will be 2 this week as I said earlier. She is talking like a 3 year old. She says anything, and has complete conversations with us. We have to admit, as difficult as she was a newborn, she is so easy and calm as a toddler. She loves all things about dollies and strollers. She is getting a shopping cart to push around for her birthday. Her newest thing is calling mommy and daddy by their first names. It is a little strange to hear her call "Katy, where are you?"
All in all we are very well. We are looking forward to warmer weather. We really can't wait to take the boat out!! We are excited to live close to much of my family. Cory and Sarah are moving to S. Dakota!! How fun to have them close again. We are sure grateful for all of the family we have and our wonderful friends as well.
Conference was this weekend. I am always so grateful for the gospel, and what a wonderful force it is in my life. How wonderful to have a living prophet on the earth today, and how blessed we are to receive instruction from him every 6 months. Another cute anecdote about Nick... I know he is just pretty witty. We have the kids play a Bingo game during conference. They have a card with spaces for prayer, Joseph Smith, tithing, Atonement, Jesus etc. They have pictures underneath too, so he can do it by himself. As you hear a word on the card in a talk, you cover it up with a penny. So during one of the talks he heard someone say "Remarkable" He jumps up and says "Remarkable, I'll find it, it's here somewhere." I told him there was no square for remarkable, he looked at me and replied... "Well their should be, it's a pretty big word." All the kids love the bingo game, and I think it is fun for us adults too. Time flies, and you hear everyword that is said. Well, that is all for now. Until next time!