June

  The last day of school came, Emery had her fourth birthday, Reagan came to visit, and it was Father's Day.  June was a busy, fun month.  

Emery, Luke, and Sisko playing with bubbles.

Harper also did a portrait of Daryl for Father's Day.  He too got blue eyes.

Avery and Harper put on a bit of Father's Day show for Daryl, and made sure to announce it to everyone.

Harper looking good.

For Father's Day I made chocolate muffins for breakfast.

Emery looking good.

Avery taking it easy.

Avery on the last day of school.

Harper on the last day of school.

Playing My Little Pony Life with Reagan.

Reagan and Emery.

Emery, Reagan, and Harper on Emery's fourth birthday.

Emery was excited to get the fishing game.

Meantime Back at the Ranch

   While we were in Germany Brad and DeAnna held down the fort for us.  They had recently moved up here and had not found jobs yet.  DeAnna however found a job before we left, so that meant Uncle Brad did most of the kid watching.  He bought little birdhouse kits from the Home Depot for Avery and Harper completely with goggles, aprons, and little hammers.  The girls still where their work aprons and goggles randomly around the house.  

Looking good Luke.

Avery and Harper painting  their birdhouses.

Brad and DeAnna's dog, Lady, taking it easy.

Painting creations.  I love Harper's face.

Emery playing with play dough.

Luke playing too.

Auf Deutsch

  At the end of May beginning of June, Daryl and I ran away to Germany.  We rode the train around the country visiting Hamburg, Cologne, Munich, and Leipzig.  We also visited Neuschwanstein Castle.  Something I've been wanting to do ever since my first high school German class.  I took German in high school and college, so I was very good at politely explaining that I spoke terrible German.  I wish I had brushed up on how to order ice cream.  It was pretty warm and air conditioning was not the same there.  It was a great trip that we kind of took spur of the moment.  I loved all the old churches and castles.  We both especially enjoyed the chocolate museum in Cologne where we spent 80 Euros in the gift shop.  

The Koln cathedral.  It was stunning and really a highlight of the trip for me.

The cathedral roof in Koln.

This lovely lady is a saint residing in one of the many churches we visited.  Her skeleton was begemmed and you can't really tell but they made her some creepy jeweled eyes too.

This was our mode of transportation up to Neuschwanstein where of course the people standing next to me in line were from Utah.  This seems to always happen to me when I where a BYU shirt.

Daryl and I at Neuschwanstein.

A bridge at Neuschwanstein.

We went to a museum in Leipzip of musical instruments.  This is an early version of the juke box.

The End of an Era

  At the beginning of this year it was obvious that my cat Fox's best days had been left behind.  On St. Patrick's Day we celebrated his 16th birthday and were quite sure that it would be his last.  He held out until Mother's Day when he fell into a non-responsive state.  I took him into the vet the next day and cried like a baby as we let my ridiculously old cat go up to the big scratching post in the sky.  He lived a very full cat life and was a quiet companion.  I thought he would live forever, but he lived a lot longer than most outdoor cats for sure.

Fox snuggling with Zoe.  They were raised as kittens together and tolerated each other well.

Fox outside where he was happiest.

Fox and Zoe hanging out on their litter box as kittens.  (Ignore the camera date stamp.  It was never set)

May

  Well May was seven months ago.  Most of the pictures are Mother's Day related.  I got to go to Harper's little Kindergarten Mother's Day Tea.  Thanks to preschool this was the first such event I was able to ever go to.  It was adorable. 

Harper and her class performing a dance for the moms.

More dancing.

That's Howie gently spinning Harper during the dance. 

Harper and I took a selfie at the Mother's Day tea.

Luke, Sisko, and a lot of Rice Krispies.

I think Luke and Sisko were both eating the cereal off the floor.

Yes I randomly found Luke's toothbrush perched on the base boards.

I also found an apple with the smallest bite ever taken out of it at the base of the stairs.  I'm told I will miss this stuff one day.

Luke grabbing the camera lens.

My Mother's day cards and flowers.

Luke made this sweet bouquet at Church.

Avery drew some nice chalk flowers for me.

Harper made this portrait of me.  Very accurate.

Emery made this lovely heart for me at preschool.

April 2017

  April has come and gone.  Here are a few of the highlights of the month.

Luke fell asleep like this on our bedroom floor.  He just didn't like any of the shirt options that night.

I love that their are still a few little baby chubs.

Luke has been coloring more on his own lately.

Emery demanded this action shot with my trusty carpet cleaner in the background.

Harper and Sisko having breakfast one morning.

Sisko thought he needed to have some hard boiled egg as well.

Harper begged to differ.

This was the Sunday morning of General Conference.  I like to have a bit of a continental breakfast. 

Luke, Emery, and Harper hunting for Easter eggs.  Daryl and I are pretty lame.  Harper hid the eggs herself and then led her younger siblings on the hunt.  Avery was busy doing something else.

My sweet sister-in-law, Angie, made little Easter baskets for the kids.  Avery instinctively knew how to eat the Pez candy directly from the dispenser.   

Luke has entered into another phase of liking yogurt.  He calls it ice cream though much to Emery's confusion who always joyfully calls out that she would like ice cream too.

Luke figured out how to open the cabinets on his own finally by grabbing onto the molding.

Avery copied this picture from our Zelda guide book.  I know I'm biased but I thought it was pretty good.