Seussical The Musical

Boo is currently performing in Seussical as a jungle animal. I must say she is a wonderful green giraffe! If you get a chance come and check out the play it runs Monday, Wednesday, Friday and Saturday through July 21. It is very good!

Brown Mexican Mama

AB just returned from a fun trip to Cancun with her special friend.  She came back very brown and with cute braids.

The Killdeer that about Killed ME!

Sometimes our greatest strength can also be our greatest weakness.  My strength is a sensitive heart, especially when it comes to animals. Well, this has caused me endless stress and probably taken at least 15 years off my life to date! Case in point our dog Lucky (who single handedly or single "pawedly" shorten my life by at least 10 years). Well, the latest in stress producing animals was a small family of Killdeer birds.

A while back I set a goal to always walk or ride my bike to church - thinking this would provide me with a little exercise and possible add quality years to my life - WRONG!  Sunday as I was happily pedaling home I noticed a couple of small birds fluttering around a storm drain.   A normal person would probably say, "Oh look- birds" and then happily continue on their way, unfortunately I am not a normal person and I just had to go and investigate.  Well, to my shock and surprise 3 small killdeer birds had fallen down the storm drain.  Ahhh, why me! Of course the drain was far too deep for anyone to reach down and grab the birds out.  So I continued home, but I couldn't get the baby birds off my mind. After dinner I decided that I needed to take some action. I walked around the garage for a while and decided to make the birds a small ladder so they could walk up it with some coaxing from their mother.  With duct tape and chicken wire I made a "ladder" that I put down the storm drain. See Miss M with exhibit A.

I watched the birds for a while. The mother and father would not venture into the drain but were trying to get the babies to climb up the ladder.  I left them to their own devices for a while but couldn't just "let it go".  So about an hour later, I grabbed Doodle and we headed back to the storm drain to see how they were doing. Well no luck, the babies were still stuck on the bottom. Doodle and I tried to lift the drain but those things are heavy and we couldn't budge it.

 I returned home and started making some phone calls. A guy who worked for the city told me that those drain covers do lift off but it could be tragic if the drain fell on a finger or foot. I began weighing the options.....fingers/baby birds, fingers/baby birds..... in the end fingers won and I decided that if the birds were going to be rescued it would have to be with the drain cover on.  After a few more calls to friends (thanks Kim) I decided that I would sew a net, attach it to

a long pole and see if could scoop the birds out.  See Miss M with exhibit B.

After the pole and net were built, I decided  I needed moral support and possibly some smaller hands (AB was out of town in Mexico) so I called a good friend JME and her daughter H to come with me on MISSION: RESCUE KILLDEER. Well, all is well that ends well... even if you stressed out enough to kink your neck and take a few more years off your life.   See exhibit C, D, E.  Once the babies were out of the drain and safely in the dirt on the side of the road, the mother bird flew over and sat on them covering them and protecting them with her wings. I guess the moral of this story is that if you want to have relaxing Sunday evenings - DRIVE TO CHURCH!

Girls Camp

Girls, Girls, Girls that's all I see,

There's not a guy in the vicinity....

It was a great week with lots of nature and estrogen!

Bear Lake

On the 5th of July we headed to Bear Lake to have some fun in the sun. We grabbed Granny and Cubby, met my Aunt, Uncle and some crazy cousins at the lake. It was a great day and all I have to say is "GO ROSIE, GO ROSIE!"

The Tooth Fairy Came to Our House Last Night

M lost her first tooth yesterday!

Manti Temple Trip

On Tuesday, me, my mother and Aunt Chap jumped in the car and drove to the Manti Temple.  It was so fun.  The temple is amazingly beautiful and everyone was so nice, they even gave us a little tour.  Our Aunt Peg works in the temple and she showed us around.  It is my new favorite temple!

Grandfather and Great Grandfather's Graves

On the Manti trip we found my Grandfather and Great- Grandfather's graves in the Manti cemetery.  It was pretty cool.

The BO-LINDA #2

When I was a little kid, my dad made a folding Kayak out of wood with stretched canvas.  I thought it was the most amazing thing ever.  The kayak was named "BO-LINDA" We went on some fun adventures floating the marsh lands west of Farmington and discovering the "secret of egg island" in the Great Salt Lake.  So Saturday when I saw an old Kayak at a garage sale, I couldn't resist and bought the thing for $15.  Took it home and cleaned it up - then dragged it to our friend's pool to see if it would float.  It will from now on be known as BO-LINDA #2!

Miss M learns to ride a two wheeler!

We have been trying to teach Miss M to ride a bike - forever!  I even set it as one of my Personal Progress goals.  The four previous children had the little blue Schwinn to learn to ride, but I gave it to a friend before M learned to ride.  The other day I found out my friend still had the little blue Schwinn, so I got it back!  That is a magic bike and in about 10 minutes Miss M was riding around the neighborhood.  The first picture is her and the little blue bike.

Life in Bolivia

 A note from Elder CTR's last letter..

"C, what are you doing sick?!  It's summer!  Sorry you're feeling lousy, that's the worst.  If it makes you feel any better, I wasn't feeling my best after I ate cow stomach last week.

Things are awesome here, I love being a missionary.  I'm really grateful for this opportunity to be here among these people.  It's a dream come true.

Hope all is well at home, I love you all!

Elder CTR"

What a difference a week makes

So the caterpillar eggs were a wash this year - but last Tuesday, Boo and a little friend went to the cemetery and found 6 small caterpillars on one milkweed. We only kept one. The first picture is him on the day we got him. The second picture is him a week later. This growth is amazing. He should be hanging in a day or two.