Jubilation! and Relief...

We received notice this morning that Britt passed the fourth and FINAL section of the Certified Public Accoutant Exam. It has been quite the marathon. I am so proud of Britt. He has worked so hard and put up with A LOT from yours crazy...I mean...yours truly.

My Busy-ness

I have been talking for years about starting my own business. From a preschool to a math tutor place to even a private school - my brain would never stop. So, with the help of a great friend, we channeled our efforts and startedI'm not one to brag, but...I made that logo...in Paint...It took FOREVER!

It is a long shot from what I thought I would ever do with my own little business. But I am loving it!!

Check out our weblog (is that a word?)

www.sweetwhimsyglobe.blogspot.com

I still have moments...

...when it dawns on me that I have three children and I shake my head in wide-eyed amazement. And, yes! I want more. Why do I want more? Well. 1. I feel like a mad scientist, "What genetic creation will we come up with next?" 2. They are hilarious! See footage below

Vacation in Colorado

We love to visit Ouray, Colorado every year. And this year was especially fun with my sisters and their kids. Calan had a chance to grow up a little by traveling and staying with cousins for 4 days without his mom or dad, the longest he's ever been away. He was a mountain boy by the time I saw him.

I love that part of the country. The drive can be quite discouraging, but means to a breathtaking end. We go just about every year and see all the same old mining sites, but never tire of them. Some day I want to go in late September or early October to see the fall colors.

Lions and tigers and bears! Oh My!

Could that title be any more cliche?...Well, the tigers were incognito and we missed the bears to play at the farmhouse and splash pad. But the zoo was loads of fun.

Calan was a trooper and hiked the whole time, while Cora became very stealth at hopping in and out of the stroller to see each animal exhibit. The lions and giraffes put on the best show. The kids renamed the Mandrills. They are now the "mean monkeys." And the maned wolf was mentally deteriorating before our eyes. Oh! and the mangy, rabid squirrel was a highlight as well.

But it felt good to be outside. Albeit, a little warm by the time we finished up. I wished I had jumped through the splash pad jets before we headed out. But I hope we get a chance to go again soon.

Calan karate chopping the jets of water. One little boy dared to point out the obvious, "You can't hit water." But Calan was not deterred.

Cora and the "mean monkey."

Out little group of zoo-goers. Thanks, Wallace's, for the invite!

River Trip

I had been wanting to take a family outing to the Salt River's Horse Shoe Bend for weeks now. SO, now that Britt is no longer studying for the final section of the CPA Exam, we took advantage of our free time on Saturday and went. The drive is pretty long on a dirt road. Four-wheel drive isn't necessary, but the road was pretty rough.

We decided to take Britt's old truck so that our nicer truck didn't get too beat up. His '93 F-150 has only three seat belts, no air conditioning, and no stereo. Well, that translated into a VERY hot drive with 75 pounds of children on my lap and my funny bone getting hit repeatedly by Jenna's car seat. Oh... I should mention also that it not only is 2-wheel drive, but has some wild suspension and travel. I honestly don't know what that means, but it translates into extra bumpy when you drive slow and less bumpy when you drive fast. Let's just say we had to drive slow 75% of the time.

We set up a little shade, munched on our picnic lunch, and got in the water long enough to lose feeling in our toes. Then we'd get out and stand in the sand long enough to burn the bottoms of our feet and so forth. It was almost fun. Our happiest moment we managed to catch on video.

After that, things started going downhill. The wind picked up, so our canopy collapsed on me and Jenna. The kids were hot and tired and that was before we got in the car. I doused them with water to try to keep them cool on the drive...they were not happy with me. They fell asleep on me and 75 lbs on my lap turned into pure dead weight. But in the end, we had some quality family time, explored a little more of our world here in Globe, AZ, and learned that we never want to take little kids to the river again.

My New Project

I just got a new calling in church to be a Laurel advisor, which means I get to hang out with the 16 and 17 year old girls in the ward and try to teach them about the gospel. I say "try" because of my teacher-ability not their teachability. Anyway. As I have been planning my lesson for this Sunday, The Blessings of the Temple, I put my own spin on a handout idea I got from sugardoodle.net.

I formatted it in Microsoft Word to print out with two quotes in the left column and two pictures in the right column. Then I re-feed the paper through the printer again. It makes the handout a quarter sheet of paper with the quote on one side and the picture on the other. Chop twice and TaDa! You have an instant hand out.