Motorcyle, Grad, Bug, Newer Pet, Garden, Piano

If there's one thing we enjoy its..
"knowing that beyond every ordinary explanation there is a deeper and more exciting discovery to be made"

Julie Andrews Edwards, The Last of the Really Great Whangdoodles

:::Motorcycling:::

Ethan, Cedric and Tyra got a chance to ride on a motorcycle!
Thanks to, Tyler, our next door neighbor.

:::Graduation Day:::

Amanda (John's sister) graduated from USU. Goooo Aggies!!! And way to go Amanda!

:::8th Anniversary:::

First John took some time off of working and we walked along the Jordan walkway and had a picnic with the kids.







We found a bug crawling close to where Millie was sitting.






John even let it crawl on his hand. . .

We researched this bug and found out that it was a "Toe Biter" bug which normally is an aggressive creature. Its bite is known to be the most painful out of all insects in its category (which includes ants, bees and wasps). Its crazy that we played with it like we did!

...I was warning them.








We watched a variety of birds at a nearby lake. There were different kinds of Gulls (seagulls) and even Pelicans!

All the birds took off at once after a dog ran into the water. It was thrilling!

When we got to the Jordan River there just happened to be a few men flying their model airplanes. It was so neat. These "toy" planes were huge - costing up to $9000!

One of the men in this group professionaly flies spy planes over the Middle East.

Cedric was enthralled by it all.

:::An Even Newer Pet:::

Ethan was playing with the baby snake we had recently found outside when I hear him screaming, "Mommy! mommy!!!" I figured he had lost his snake in the grass but instead came in carrying a whole other snake 10 times the size of the other one!

It measures 2 feet 4 inches long! Garter snakes usually grow to 2 - 2 1/2 feet long.

Not only are our kids enjoying the snake but the WHOLE neighborhood of kids come over daily to see and hold it! We've had multiple kids coming over a few times a day to visit these rad reptiles.

:::Square Foot Gardening:::

Yaaaay, we're finally getting our garden going. It's finally warm enough now.

The kids had a great time mixing the dirt for us. . .

. . . and starting their own garden.

:::Favorite Day:::

Our favorite day this week was the rainiest and coldest day of the week. We watched The Sound of Music - and the kids (mostly Tyra) enjoyed it and want to watch it again!

We also cuddled together in my room, playing various games as I read to them from The Last of the Really Great Whangdoodles.

:::Piano Playing:::

Tyra has been playing the piano. She's doing really well - considering that she isn't taking any professional piano lessons.

She loves to pull Millie up to the piano and let her tinker away to her hearts content.

Funnies, Olives, Glass, Train

Family Funnies---Greece---

We finished up our studies on

Greece by having a taste of one

of their favorite foods - OLIVES!!!

---New Pet---

We had an interesting experience by the Jordan River this week. First a large skunk scurried across the pathway about 20 feet in front of us. We didn't let it deter us from going to our favorite area though - we just tiptoed past where we saw him cross. We didn't want to annoy a skunk!

After only a few minutes at the lake we saw a snake slither across the waters edge in front of us. The kids caught it and we all decided to take it home and study snakes for the week. . . I'm not sure the river is going to be its home ever again...the kids love it and the snake seems to be happy himself.

---Glass Blowing---

We spent a couple hours at Thanksgiving Point while John shot some bridals in the T.P. Gardens. The kids wanted to go to the Art Gallery/Glass Blowing buiding. We came just in time. They had just started making a piece of art glass.

The artist has blown into the glass glob that is stuck to the end of his metal rod. He's shaping the end and widening the mouth in this photo.

After many other steps: heating the piece over and over, blowing into the rod over and over, shaping, stretching, cutting and pulling, he's flattened the glass piece and spins it to give it its shape... this is pretty much what the final piece looks like.

---Train---

Cedric is SOOO in love with trains! As we drove home from a Park Day with some other Homeschooling moms I saw a train off in the near distance as I crossed over its tracks. So we turned around, stopped near the tracks and got out of the car to watch. Boy, what a thrill. You don't realize the magnitude of the trains size nor the power in its body until you observe it up close.

The engineer even waved to the kids! Cedric is still talking about it!

"Our time is our life, and whatever it is we are doing with our time, we are paying for it with our life. The challenge of mortality is to manage our time in such a way that what we spend it on is worth our life."

Ardeth Greene Kapp