Wow! What a Great Weekend!

Awww!

Is that a SMILE?!!! (I"m talking about the big picture up above)

OK, maybe this one isn't quite a big of a 'cheeser' as you'd expect, but come on! These are hard to catch on film! :o) Yes, Taylor has been smiling for us--and she isn't asleep when she does it! Her smiles are still rare, so boy do we work for them! We sound pretty funny over here, with our high pitched voices squeaking, "You're such a pretty girl!" just hoping to get a cute, little, appreciative smile for our attention. :o) Come on, Taylor! We want more! (By the way, if you don't laugh at the third picture, I'll wonder what's wrong with your funny bone!)

We received a wonderful surprise in the mail the other day--it was a wonderful quilt from Bonnie, made special for Taylor! Bonnie has made quilts for each of my babies & does a great job. They are all still being used & loved! Thanks, Bonnie! She has quite the quilting business set up, offers great original patterns on her website, and is coming out with a book soon! I have her blog listed here on my website under "Other Good Blogs We Visit" if you're interested in checking out her Quiltville fun!

Kelli has some exciting news as well--she is about to lose a tooth! Hurrah! Her first! I didn't realize it until we tried having corn on the cob & had to cut off the corn for her. She's been 'about to' lose it all weekend, and actually complained out loud to no one in particular, "THIS STINKS!" She caught me off guard with this (was not thinking 'loose tooth'), & I wondered, Taylor's clean--is it Addie?.... No further outbursts from Kelli enlightened me, & I was beginning to worry! I asked, & she explained she's tired of having a loose tooth. Well, pull it out! She didn't like that idea, so for now, she still has a loose tooth. We'll give you the tooth-fairy update--hopefully before the end of the week! One can cut only so much corn!

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The picture on the right looks like she already lost the tooth, but it's really so loose that there's an extra big gap. Weird.

Friday was full of fun--last moment we decided it was a nice enough day to hit the Hogle Zoo, & start using the family membership Mark & the kids gave me for Mother's Day. Luckily Mark had the day off--as a part of a four day weekend!--it was great to have him home! We threw the stroller in the van, packed a few snacks & water bottles, picked up Mikey from school & headed out for fun & adventure! Here are a few pics from our first trip this year:


This is a great marble replica of the earth--it's 'floating' on this pedestal of water & is a lot of fun to look at & roll around. The whole thing gets wet & is great for cooling off the little ones.

The Ghost of the Bayou is a bit scarier than the crocodile of the play land area. :o) I just told those two hams to smile.



The first thing the kids wanted to see at the zoo was the playground. You'd think they'd want to visit some of the animals, but not today! Let them play! We'll see the animals next time, eh? The kids got to pet this super-soft chinchilla. "Just two fingers" is what the zoo-keeper said--and what I kept saying, hoping Addie would listen!


There are some great little cubby windows you can look through---with the hope of getting a 'close & personal' view of the animals in a few of the exhibits. The kids were popping out of the ground like little prairie dogs. :o) The one picture shows Addie from inside the cubby window--the other two shows an outside view.

This thing the kids are posing on is a giant elephant--complete with fun elephant sounds & water that squirts out of it's trunk (but only when it's hot weather).


We didn't see everything that day, but we have a whole year of unlimited visits to go enjoy the rest! Thanks for a wonderful Mother's day gift, Mark! I'm loving it! (and as you can see, the kids are loving it, too!)

Mark & I had a fun date on Saturday...no kids--not even a baby! It was the first date I've planned in a LONG time... I should do it more often! :o) Mark had never been to the Desert Star Playhouse in Murray, UT. I thought that was incredibly weird, since he grew up here--went through his 'dating' years here. Don't you think that's a bit strange? It was time he went & had a few laughs. So this is what we went to see!
It was a lot of fun! The Desert Star always does some kind of a spoof using some play, & putting a Utah twist on it. Always funny! I think I actually heard Mark laugh out loud. :o) --He does a lot of laughing "on the inside"--same with crying. :o) I would recommend a visit to this place for anyone! Coming up next is "Indiana Bones." Check it out! http://www.desertstar.biz/


Memorial Day brought lots of rain--sheets & sheets! I thought it was quite poetic--to have so many 'tears' on such a day. We had some great BBQ & 'fun in the park' plans, but ended up having 'fun in the backyard' at G-ma & G-pa Harker's home when the sun came out briefly. Although we weren't able to set up the volleyball net like planned, we still had a great time! All of Mark's sisters were there with their hubbies & all the cousins were there for the ultimate in grand-kid fun. I think that was the first time Addie & Brooke played together so well! They were quite chummy! We (meaning the adults & Mikey) played "Imaginif" and Mormon bridge (done with rook cards--I think it's a Harker favorite). Everyone who wanted to got a bunch of 'Taylor time'--it was nice to finally have some pictures of Grandma Harker holding Taylor!

Ambree's Wii was brought out with Mario Cart--You can't get much better than Mario Cart!!! Mikey was thrilled! I was, too. :o) Especially after I took first place on both of my races (then I quit while I was ahead!). Did I mention Mikey wants a Wii? So does Mark. I'm not so sure... :o)Addie was thrilled to see Grandma's new addition to her playroom...a Barbie Island Princess dress! Addie instantly threw her own clothes to the floor & donned this beautiful play-dress, never taking it off for the rest of the day--at least until we insisted it was time to go home. (We had already established earlier that the dress stays with the playroom, but only after Addie told Grandma that she could take it home & take care of it for her, if she wanted to.) :o)


When we had another small break in the rainfall, Grandpa kept the girls busy for a while with the stroller. Then Kelli took over for him when he was done!

We did finally go home & get the kids in bed...they had school the next day & needed some sleep! Thanks for such a fun day of family time everyone!

Monday night.... This girl looks a bit troubled! (This one made me laugh hard--couldn't help but include it!)

Kelli begged & begged to make her own lemonade stand--well yesterday, I finally gave in (the weather was warmer than it had been & we weren't going anywhere for a while--might as well!). I told her that the only way she could have a lemonade stand is if she didn't get any money for it--she was to give it to her friends for free. She agreed. Two hours later when it was time to come in from all the fun, Kelli had a plastic cup containing almost three dollars. Hmmm....did someone forget? That's her excuse. :o)

We also had a bit of excitement, soon after cleaning up the 'stand'... I got a knock on the door from my neighbor. She said there was a bunny on our lawn--of course being out in the desert, you'd expect a little wild bunny every once in a while, but we hadn't seen one yet...I was mistaken though. It was a big bunny. A big, brown, fluffy, floppy eared one! Definitely NOT wild. It reminded me of David's Leo-the-Lop, back in the good-ol'-growin'up-years, only with long fur. Do you all remember "Leo the Lop?" That Serendipity book? That was the bunny! Having grown up with a rabbit-raising brother, I decided someone would miss such a gentle & fluffy pet! I cornered him & picked him up--my neighbor luckily found the owner, and we delivered one sweet lost bunny to his front door! One thing--I forgot how much fur you get all over your shirt when holding rabbits...especially in the springtime! After taking 'Leo' back, I looked every bit as furry as the rabbit I held!


Here's another great moment for our family...it happened just this afternoon! Just when we thought they'd NEVER get it (we've been trying for years with no success!), Mikey and Kelli are riding bikes! Hurrah! It took a neighbor girl (Kelli's friend) learning to ride a two-wheeler before Kelli realized she could ride one, too. All Mikey needed was a bit of competition--if his sister could ride one, he was going to do it better! Well, it worked, and so far we haven't returned to the InstaCare for more stitches! (It's only been a couple hours. Give it time. We'll be back.) Goes to show that you can teach a kid how to do something, but until they really want to do it, it won't get done. :o) Didn't we do this before with potty training?....

Here's Kelli riding her friend's bike.

Here's Mikey riding his bike.

Boy, did we play this last week! Well, this is officially my longest blog. On Sunday in Relief Society, we discussed Elder M. Russell Ballard's talk from this last conference titled, "Daughters of God." You know how there's that story of the mother who rushed her kids through everything--was focused on the 'getting done' and not so much the 'doing?' (I picture myself, telling the kids, "hurry! hurry! hurry!!!") Well I want to be a mother who looks back on all these pictures and remember what we did that day, what the kids said, & how the kids sounded when they laughed. Hopefully this blog will help! (If not, I'm counting on all of you, since now you have enough information, that you might as well have been there!!!!) Have a wonderful day!

Joy