Spring Break Zoo Visit

Even though it was cold, we decided to go to the zoo again over Westley's school break. We wanted to all go together, so we had to wait for a day that Corey had off. There were actually a fair amount of warm days during the break, but the cold days always seemed to coincide with Corey's days off. So the last week of the break, we went on a Tuesday.

Turns out, now that I am writing this, I see that we didn't take very many pictures. We enjoyed the time together and the animals were all out and about again. The zoo is always very fun for us.

The meerkats were very interested in the kids and they were all right by the window looking back at the kids as the kids were looking at them.

On the ride home

Caleb's Misunderstanding

I meant to post about this when it happened, which was right after we moved here, but I forgot. Wish I had a picture to add. But anyway, right after we moved here, Caleb wore a suit to church that I got from a neighbor in Arizona. He was so excited to wear the snazzy suit, and we didn't really know why.

When we got to church, Caleb marched right over to the rows where the deacons sat waiting to pass the Sacrament. It turns out that he thought that he would be able to pass the Sacrament because he was wearing this nice suit. He was so upset when he found out that wasn't the case. We had to pull him out into the hall and explain to him that he couldn't pass the Sacrament until he was 12 because that's when he would get the priesthood. It was so sad and cute and funny all at the same time!

Dinosaurs!

About a week ago, we went to the Museum of Ancient Life at Thanksgiving Point. The children absolutely loved it and I was amazed by some of the exhibits. Here are some of the pictures:

Doing an archaeological dig in the sand at the end of the tour

In front of the partial replica of Megaladon, a huge prehistoric shark.

The lighting was horrible, so you can't see the T-rex behind the kids. Next time, I'll try some different stuff with the camera to get a better picture.

In front of the Triceratops

Next to the wall showing the size of the different dinosaurs.

We really enjoyed it and are looking forward to going to the museum again.

Prayer Sandwiches

For Family Home Evening a couple weeks ago, Caleb taught a lesson on prayer and used the "prayer sandwich" visual that we used in our church lesson on prayer a few weeks before that.

The top piece of bread is the greeting: "Dear Heavenly Father". The pickles are the gratitude part: "I thank thee for...". The tomato is the asking part: "I ask thee for...", and the bottom bread is the closing: "in the name of Jesus Christ, amen."

After the kids colored the page, we helped them cut the pieces out, then we hole-punched the pieces and put a string through them to keep them together in that order. I suppose stapling them would have worked just as well.

Watercolor Fun

Over the school break, I bought watercolor paints and the kids just loved them! They spent a couple days doing nothing but painting. Sure, it was a little messy, but they really enjoyed it. I originally bought watercolor paints for Westley to finish a project that he started in his after-school art class. The other kids were so fascinated that I had to run back to the store and buy a set of watercolor paints for each of them.

Westley

Travis

Eliza

Caleb

Make-a-Train

From our wonderful "Make and Do" Childcraft book, the boys created this shoebox train one day during Spring Break. They have enjoyed much time playing with it, almost as much time playing with it as creating it!

The Last Samurai Habachi Grill

A few weeks ago, Corey's sister Jamie treated us to some Japanese cuisine at a local habachi grill called The Last Samurai. We enjoyed the food, even the kids tried it and liked most of it, and it was a fun outing.

When the chef came out and lit the fire on the grill, Eliza and Travis screamed. We were prepared that Eliza might be afraid, but did not think about Travis being afraid. The preparation of the meal was entertaining and we enjoyed that.

Eliza really liked the soup and Caleb ate everything. The kids loved using chopsticks too.

And Corey and I got brave and tried the sushi.