Ryan:
has been extra diligent in his studies the past few weeks. He will take the national board exam on June 10th. Because of his long days on campus, Kris Anne and the kids have packed lunches or dinners to join him. They love seeing Daddy and playing hide and seek at his school and he welcomes the study breaks. Last night when he returned at 11:00 pm and Kris Anne was working on a lesson, he spent an hour making the kitchen spotless for Sunday. He'd studied for over 13 hours, but still took time to serve his family.
Kris Anne:
loves her calling in the Young Women. Last Friday we'd scheduled an overnight camp out, but with intense tornado and flash flood warnings, we changed our plans. We stayed at the church for some certification, then cooked our dinner on propane stoves when the rain stopped. At about 10:30 pm after our devotional and clean-up, we voted to do our five mile "hike" around a nearby bike trail since all the girls were there (a rarity) and we couldn't hike through flash floods. So anyone who looked out their window that night saw 6 girls and 3 leaders wearing camping backpacks and walking around the exercise path. We chatted, laughed, and sang, especially piping up when we passed a house that still had its Christmas lights on!
Scotty:
is a great helper around the house. Since Daddy's been gone a bit more lately, he takes pride in being the "Man of the House." Today I woke up from a Sunday nap when I heard Joseph crying. When I reached his crib, I saw that Scotty was in with him singing "I Love to See the Temple." "I wanted to serve you, Mom" he said. Scotty's new talent is cooking. We pay for his art lessons by making bread and dinner for his art teacher once a week. This last week, Scotty made his own batch of bread - yeast, sugar, measuring the water, turning on the mixer, etc. For half of it, Kris Anne was in the living room with Joseph. He was proud of himself for helping to pay for his art lessons. Today after his nap, he asked if he could make some Cream of Wheat for a snack (that's a first!) With the exception of turning on the stove and getting an extra cup of water, he made it by himself.
Georgia:
looked like a red headed Shirley Temple today. Last night we turned on Chip 'n Dale while Kris Anne put Grandma Gottfredson's curlers in her hair. She left them in all night and this morning she had tight little curls all over her head. Georgia's new talent is learning scriptures and she feels so proud of herself as she says "Okay guys, I'm ready to share my scripture!" Georgia really loved our Family Home Evening lesson about Elder Ballard's talk. She now puts her shoes, tupperware, and toys away, saying, "Mother I'm serving you . . . I'm obeying an apostle of the Lord." (She calls us "Mother" and "Father" lately!) She will turn three this Wednesday.
Joseph:is growing quickly. He crawls everywhere, pulls himself up, and even tries to stand with "no hands." He says "mama" and "dada" and shares his huge smile with everyone who looks at him. Yesterday we went on a long walk in the Missouri heat. As usual, we lathered him up with sunscreen. Even so, he had white marks everywhere we'd put sunscreen and red marks everywhere we'd missed. Do we dare admit that he had two tiny blisters by his nose? Next time - more sunscreen! Even so, he's been his cute happy self all day.
