Picture update

                            Me and Em

Lesa, Nathan, Courtney, Maddox and Asher

Maddox as spiderman

                        Maddox on the roof and Asher in the Dr. Seuss hat.

Last day of pre-school for Kingston........running to his mom.

                       Timothy and Kingston

           Darci

                             Kingston

                                And more of Darci.  Jessica and Kingston.

New car

Last Monday we bought a new car......Hyundai 2013 Tucson. This time we went prepared. Jess had told me how they got their car at such a great deal so I called her and learned what she did. And you know what? It worked!!! We bought it for $4000 less and got $7200 on our trade in and got life time oil changes, car washes and inspections. Steve was shocked and said he has never walked out of a dealership feeling this good. He was shocked at the deal we got and so was our dealer. He said when he buys a new car he's going to do the exact same thing we did. :)

This picture is sooooo off.  It's too long.  It almost looks like a hearse......weird.

What a deal!!

My deal of the day.  I went to the Pottery Barn outlet today to look for something for Jessica.  Unfortunately they didn't have what she wanted but they had Pottery Barn rugs 20% off the price they had on the tag.  This rug (5x8) was originally $1100.  Then marked down to $400.  When I got there it was $75 and then another 20% off.  So I got it for $64 with tax.  I'm still hyperventilating!!

Biking

Christopher has fixed up one of our mountain bikes that we've had for years.  I redid some of the cables and put on a new chain.  I ordered new tires that I hope will come soon and I took one of his old helmets.  I did my first bike ride on the canal yesterday.  I got hooked!!  It was so much fun!  I wasn't going to bike today since I did 17 miles yesterday but with the stress thats been going on I hopped on the bike again today for another 9 miles.  One of the big stresses is that one of Emily's friends committed suicide yesterday and it's been really rough for her.  She is doing better today and we've had some really good discussions but here is a lot of shock and sadness.  Today she is hanging out a lot with her friends and I think it's helping her out a lot.  This is the 3rd suicide at her high school this year.  Pretty rough.

It's official!!!

 Nathan and Courtney are engaged!  :)  They're getting married August 21st in the Mt Timpanogos temple.  Exciting times!!!

Planted

The garden is in.  I have 2 raised beds and they are full and also the space around them.  I think I planted too many pumpkin seeds cuz all of them are coming up.  I think there are 8 of them.  :)  I'm also trying out a grafted tomato plant.  They're a little more expensive but from what the guy said at the nursery they are suppose to grow really big with lots and lots of tomatoes.  So far it is growing faster than my other tomato plants.  I also have all the flowers planted and dug up a little more grass this year.

 Emily has been so busy with school.  She just got done with 4 days of testing and has finals next week.  She's tough.....she'll get through it.  We also bought her a new pair of pointe shoes for the recital coming up.  She is in 9 dances.  I haven't seen all the dances she's in but some of them are so cool!!  It's going to be a great recital.  These are the shoes we got but we have to take them back.....a size too big.

Mothers Day

 Mother's day was great!!  I think one of the best I've ever had.  I think the only way it could have been perfect is if Timothy, Jessica and the kids were here.  But it was a great day.  In the morning Steve took me to a Mother's Day brunch and the Blue Boars Inn.  We have never done this before but it was a blast!  We had a 5 coarse brunch.  Then we went on a 2 mile hike.

 The weather was beautiful and the lake was so blue.  A lot bluer than it shows in the pictures.

 Then the kids came over.  Nathan bar-b-qued hamburgers and hot dogs and we all sat outside and talked while the kids ran around.

It was a wonderful day!!!!

Maddox's 4th birthday party

 Today we celebrated Maddox's 4th birthday.  The weather was perfect for having it outside but the wind.......it kept blowing out the candles.  Christopher and Nathan kept trying to light them and protect them from the wind.  We sang a fast Happy Birthday and I think Maddox blew them out.  Hard to tell.  :)

 He got an Iron Fist.  He loves that character and lots of other fun presents.

Happy Birthday Maddox!!  We love you!!!

Spring

I have been horrible at updating our blog.  I have tons of excuses but one of them is that I've been outside working on the yard.  Mainly the back yard.  Emily's secret garden had lots and lots of beautiful tulips that came up.

But now they are wilted and I cut them all back.  I replaced them with other flowers and I think I have that area complete.  Also the hammock is out so it is officially spring.  The vegetable garden is all planted too.  Things are slowly coming together but with working outside the inside of the house is a mess.  There's no time to do both and I'd rather be outside.  :)

And Emily has her drivers permit so she's been driving around here and there. When did she get old enough to drive???

Merry ol' England

So what did I do in England? The time has come to reveal all!

I am part of a UN sponsored program that looks at how to better understand flies that prey on livestock. Things like tsetse flies and flesh flies like screw worm (which lays magots into the wounds of things like cattle and sheep). 

First some quick proof that I was in in England.

Here is Big Ben!

and Westminster Abbey:

and some scenes from the Tower of London:

For only a second I was trapped in the castle of the Wicked Witch of the West:

Here's me at the British Museum:

 Which I came to see the Rossetta Stone! And there it was!

And as a plus there were other cool things!

The actual meetings were at the Natural History Museum. Where you could see a stuffed Dodo!

 Er . . . I mean this stuffed Dodo:

And have a diplodocus smile at you:

And I got to learn dinosaurs were big!

Now I was there for some  meetings, here are some pictures of the back rooms of the Natural History Museum, the group, and some highlights. In the last two pictures are insects collected by Alfred Russell Wallace and another Naturalist, look closely at the label to see who it was collected by!

And there were collected during Captain Cooks Voyage in the 1700s!

Tomorrow more adventure!