At the beginning of July, my family had a reunion in Bartlesville, OK.  On July 3, we took a trip to visit Woolaroc.  It was a nice place to visit.  The kids got to pet some animals.  And there was a nice little museum to explore.

Emily is always excited to see animals. She would have been more than happy to get IN the pen with this little guy if she had been allowed to.

Jessie's a little more cautious, but she still loves to look at the animals... leaving a little more distance between herself and the creature whenever possible.

Here's a random picture from in the museum.  I'm not sure who had the camera at this time, but it was obviously not me.

Here I am, holding Mr. Nick.  He was a bit tired, but very happy to be out of his stroller for a few minutes.

After taking those couple pictures, my Dad asked me if I'd seen the sign that indicated they'd prefer you not to use flash photography.  Oops!  Totally missed that one.

But, the most exciting part of this visit happened just before the museum while we were exploring outside.  We found a nice tower above a building, so several of us climbed up to get a view.  I was lagging behind, so I decided to pull out a camera to get a picture of everyone up there.  This is what happened next.

I looked up to try to get a picture, and heard Jessie start crying.  If you look close, you'll see Jessie's head sticking out through the bars.  Those are Nathan's hands above her head, trying to push the bars apart to help her out.

After several minutes, and with the help of a real firefighter, (my brother-in-law, Travis),  and several other grown men, (Peter, Nathan, and my Dad) Jessie was freed from her captivity.

She came down and sat in my lap after the whole ordeal was over.

  By the way, so you notice how red we all were?  That's the product of super low temperatures in the upper 90's that day, and nearly 100% humidity.  I guess I just need reminders why it's okay to live so far away from home. We have great weather here in the bay area, even if we have to fly to get to see grandparents.

Swimming Lessons

During the last couple weeks of July, the kids got to take swimming lessons.  The pool was nice and warm.  Thank goodness for that.  Who'd have thunk that the highs during the middle of July would have been in the 60's?  And I thought it was cold when I took them as a kid. 

Joshua hanging on the side of the deep end of the pool

Emily about to jump off the diving board.  Emily is like a fish in the water.  She loves the diving board, and by the end of the class, she was able to swim back to the side without help from her teacher.

Jessie was so happy to be in swimming lessons.  On the last day of class, she even went off the diving board, too!  Go, Jessie!

I was going to try to tell a little more, but this new format on blogger is really confusing.  It will take a bit to get used to.  Until then, I will try to at least get a few more pictures up.

Joshua's First Testimony

Today was testimony meeting at church.  It was very nice and uplifting.  At one point, Josh asked about the "talks," hoping it was the last one.  Then I explained to him that since it was Fast Sunday, people could get up and bear their testimony (or share their feelings on the gospel).  He thought about it for a moment then asked if he could go up and do it.  I told him that we should wait until next month and we could practice a little more at home, since we can't go up there and tell him what to say... that wouldn't really be HIS testimony, would it?  So, he told me he knew what he would say, and told me what it was.  I told him to ask his Daddy to take him up.  :)  Peter got up and took him up to the stand.  When he was the next one, Josh had Peter go stand behind him, and then he said, "I believe this church is true.  I know that God lives.  And I know that Jesus died for me.  In the name of Jesus Christ, Amen."  Completely unprompted, and not exactly what he told me he was going to say.  He is growing up so fast, and I'm thankful that he is developing a good foundation in the gospel.

How To Prepare Fish - Emily

Tonight, Tuesday, August 16, we had the missionaries over for dinner. Emily was especially talkative. At one point she started explaining how to prepare fish. (We had rice and beans in homemade tortillas, so I don't know what sparked the fish conversation.) Anyhow, here goes...

Emily - First you catch the fish on a hook. Then you take it off the hook and take it in and put it in a bucket. Then you cut out the eyes, and cut off the mouth.

I said - You usually just cut off the head.

Emily paused for a moment as she thought about that and then said - then you cut off the head. And then you cut it open and take the bones out. And then you take it home and put it in the freezer. And then you take it out and cook it for 5 minutes and then you can eat it. :)

I have no recollection of discussing this with her, and we've never gone fishing with her, except once when she was really young, and that was catch and release, so no fish preparing. Did she figure this out on her own? Maybe so. What a brilliant little girl!

Joshua's Hunting Story

As related by Joshua on 8/7/2011 as he was going to bed:

When I have a wife, I’ll ask her if I can go hunting. And she might say “Yes” and she might say “No.” We’ll have to wait and find out.

I want to go hunting so that I can see if I like it.

When you go hunting you have to be really quiet so you can sneak up on the animals. You have to wear sneakers so you can be quiet enough to sneak up on the animals so you don’t scare them away.

Also, when I go hunting I’ll take a sword and a gun. I’ll put the sword in a thing on my belt and the gun in a thing on my belt. Then when I see an animal, I can pull out the gun or sword and use it. I’ll use the gun to shoot birds when they fly up. I’ll use the sword to kill the other animals. I might even need to use them both at the same time. I might even get a hunting dog to help. I will use the gun if the animals try to run away.

I want to go hunting in a big open place so the animals can’t hide. You know like a big forest where there aren’t any trees.

I can use a rolling bag to put all of the food in so that I can take it with me when I’m done. I can put all of the animals I get into the rolling bag.

Some Assembly Required

On July 23, we went and picked up some shelves for the toys. However, some assembly was required before the shelves were ready.

Here is a picture of the shelves before any work had been done. :)

Thank goodness my husband knows what to do when provided with few instructions on a project such as this.

After a week of hard work, the shelves were ready for the kids to help with the finishing touches. They got to paint the beautiful decorations on the shelves. They did such a good job... too bad the sun was in their eyes. Otherwise, they would have been all smiles. I promise.

Jessica was tired of pictures so I stood in for her this time. Again, the sun was just not cooperating with us. Oh well. The shelves are really nice. That's what's important.

Here are the shelves in the house. I'd forgotten there was carpet in this corner. It's so nice to have a place for things. :)

Blue or Pink?

Well, I had an ultrasound done on Monday, August 1. The technician couldn't tell me much, but I assume everything is alright. This baby has a nice little heartbeat, and all the parts I could make out. Anyhow, below are the pictures they gave to us.

The top left picture is of the spine. The top right picture is of the face. You can also see a little fist up there, too. The bottom left picture is the profile. And the bottom right picture is a leg and foot.

Now for the answer to the question... drum roll please...

We will be pulling out all of Joshua's old BLUE clothes... and the other color ones as well. But yes, he will have a brother. At the moment, he'd rather have his own room, but I don't think it will be too much longer before he decides a brother is far better than his own room. :)