Weekend Fun

Since it was beautiful weather this last weekend we took advantage of it and went to the zoo. We were able to see some cool things like the bears swim in the water, giraffes eat and come up to us really close (I tried posting a video with the giraffes- it was really cool- but it wouldn't upload, grrrr) and the siamangs make a ton of noise. They are funny monkeys. Later that afternoon we went with some friends to a beach to have a BBQ, but the beach was under construction so we had to go to a nearby park. It had a beautiful view overlooking the water so that was nice.

Johnny Jumper

Preston LOVES his johnny jumper. I decided to try it last week and he really likes it. Kate didn't really use it much so I'm glad Preston likes it. :) He got his first tooth on Mother's Day. It is on the top, which isn't usually the first tooth he gets. (Usually they get their bottom teeth first.) He chews on everything and slobbers all the time. It's funny to watch.

Criminal is Free

Yes, that's right. I am a criminal. :) I had to go "plea" before a judge this morning for a speeding ticket. Afterwards, I called Kyle and he asked me if he needed to come bail me out of jail. HA! HA! The speeding ticket was back from February (there is a post about it) when I was anxious to get to Preston's neurology appointment and I was going down hill. This cop pulled me over and wasn't even compassionate towards me with a screaming baby in the backseat. Grrrrr. I wasn't able to go into detail with the judge. I started talking and told him this was my VERY FIRST time getting pulled over and then he stopped me and had me pay the ticket and said it wouldn't go on my record if I was good for another 6 months. I was glad it didn't go on my record, but I was expecting him to reduce the fee at least! Especially since it was my first time getting pulled over. Maybe I should have asked him to reduce it and not have it go on my record, but this being my first time in court I wasn't about to argue with a judge. I didn't want him to change his mind and make it go on my record. Oh well... I paid the dumb ticket and now I have to be "good" for 6 months.

There was this kid in front of me that had a speeding ticket and he swore after the judge gave him his decision. The judge made the kid come back and the judge added another $50 to his fine for his "filthy mouth". I thought that was good the judge did that and I hope that kid learned his lesson.

Kyle's 30th Birthday!

Kyle is getting old!!!! ha! :) Today is his 30th birthday and I asked him what he wanted to do since he was turning the big 3-0. He told me not to do any surprises and he didn't really want a party. BORING! But that is his way of celebrating I guess- in peace. I'm the opposite. Good thing we balance each other. :) We did surprise him a little. Kate, Preston and I took him a cupcake balloon and his gift to his work. When we got there he was in someone else's office so we snuck into his office and waited for him to come in. Once he did Kate was there holding his balloon. It was fun and he had no idea.

Tonight for dinner he chose to have swedish meatballs, rice, broccoli and then apple crisp with vanilla ice cream for dessert. That is one of his favorite desserts so he was in heaven. Then, he took off for mutual and basketball after that. I felt bad though after he left because I realized I didn't take any pictures of him on his birthday. Nor did I put candles in the apple crisp and sing to him! How horrible is that? So maybe I'll have to take a picture of him all sweaty when he comes home after basketball. Oh well.

Kyle, I'm thankful for all you do for me and our family. You make me laugh and you are a great daddy to our kids! Happy Birthday!

Sisterly Love

This is Kate "gently" putting a sticker on Preston's cheek.

Preston still smiling after that sisterly love. :)


What a mischievious smile.

Kate is actually pretty helpful with Preston. She likes to play with him and it's fun to watch. Preston thinks she is funny. Preston is doing well. He hasn't been sick for a while (2 months- that's long for him) which has been SO nice. I think he's had his fair share of RSV/bronchiolitis bouts for a while. He is eating solids really well and is sleeping through the night. We had to have him cry it out a couple times before he would sleep through. A few months ago he was sleeping 11 hours, but then got sick and would wake up and he got back into the habit of waking up again. I figured he was old enough to sleep through the night and it's much nicer. He will sometimes wake up early in the morning, but most times he is doing well. He is rolling, sitting up and getting up on all fours (once in a while). It is weird to think that at his age, 7 months, Kate was already crawling and had a tooth. He gets frustrated when a toy rolls away from him or is out of reach so maybe he'll start to figure out how to scoot to get to it.

Activity Around the World

I am the Primary President in our Ward (it's the program in our church for children 3-11 years old). It's been a fun calling. I work with great people and the kids are fun to be around. We had a Primary activity this last Saturday and wanted to center it around missionary work. I had heard of other wards taking an "airplane ride" around the world to various countries and learning about being missionaries. So my counselors and I had fun brainstorming ideas and came up with a fun activity (or so we thought!). We had a good turn-out (for our ward) and I think the kids had fun.

First, we had the kids enter the MTC. We talked about being "member missionaries" and then they each got a missionary tag. (below)

We had them go through airport security (I waved two light savers around the kids to "check" them!). If they had metal it beeped. :) We also checked their belongings under our (cardboard) x-ray machine. Then, they went to customs and recieved a passport so they could get it stamped at each country we visited.

Then, we boarded our "plane". We had several kids really concerned about getting on a real plane! It was cute. We reassured them it was for pretend. Our budget isn't that good! One of my counselors works for an airline so she was our stewardess. She did great. She did the whole speal and then they watched a church video on missionary work while they ate M&M's (member missionary). For each country, we had men from our Ward who served in that mission to talk about their country and then serve a treat from that country. We made stops at Chicago and tasted cheese pizza then, Venezuela and tasted mango, some sort of juice drink and fried bananas. Our next stop was in Germany where we had nutella and then to Japan where we had crushed ice, sweet beans and this milky syrup. (Not too sure what is was called.) We went back to the MTC where the Sister Missionaries bore their testimonies and that was it. We had other activities planned for the end like relay games, but flying around the world took longer than we thought. :)