so proud of myself

Okay, now I sew a little—mostly straight line things like baby blankets and curtains—but I’ve never considered myself as someone crafty.  But the other day our Young Women’s presidency decided the girl’s needed something special if they completed our challenge of reading the Book of Mormon.  Now the president and second councilor are jewelry makers so we went that direction and you should see what we made.  (And I’m so proud of myself.  Due to Dell being on call our out with the missionaries a lot I cranked most of these out by myself while watching TV.  It feels good to have made something that really intimidated me in the past, but in actuality was pretty easy and loads of fun.  Anyone else need a courage necklace?  Dell’s on call again this week.)

Here they are.

We handed this one out to all the girls today.  They all get “courage.”  When they complete the Book of Mormon they’ll get the circle that says “strong.”  (Which fits in perfectly since Elder Bednar challenged our stake to read the Book of Mormon looking for “in the strength of the Lord.”)  The scripture on the card is from Joshua 1:9.  It’s the young women/young men theme for this year and one of my all time favorite scriptures.  “Be strong and of a good courage, be not not afraid neither be thou dismayed; for the Lord thy God is with thee whithersoever thou goest.”

good helpers

The kids are pretty good at helping us with yard work and the other day we were trying to spread out a small load of dirt.  It was dumped on our driveway and we had to spread it about to the rest of the yard.  ( I use “we” lightly here, Dell’s the only one strong enough to carry the wheelbarrow full of dirt.  I spread the dirt once it’s dumped and Henry and Lizzy are responsible for picking out the large rocks.  Lizzy especially loves this.) 

Looking good Lizzy.

Go Henry go!

Pigtails

Look!  Lizzy finally had enough hair for some pigtails. 

Blackberries

Most of our garden is not thriving, but the blackberries…. oh the blackberries.  We’ve picked bowls and bowls full.  We’ve made blackberry cobbler 4 times and had plenty for snacking too.  I love sun warmed berries fresh off the vine.  In fact, it’s been two days since we’ve picked and I’d better get out there.  Hmmm, maybe blackberry cobbler for dinner tonight.

Aren’t they too cute.  They love each other so much.

Henry’s itching one of the 100 mosquito bites he got on the father’s and son’s campout.

The graduate

Henry graduated from pre-school yesterday.  I was surprised how sweet it was.  The sight of all those little kids walking into the cafeteria with their paper graduation hats made me tear up.  Oh dear.  I’m sorry the pictures aren’t better, but Lizzy had been woken up from her nap to go to the graduation and she needed to be held the whole time which makes for tricky camera work.

The graduates waiting for their diploma

Henry getting his diploma from the principal.  He got the award of “most inquisitive.”  Each kid got an award that the teachers came up with such great ones.  Best Puzzle builder, best helper, even best line leader awards were given out.

Henry with his beloved Mrs. James.  Can’t you just see how much he loves her?!  Really.  He loves loves loves her.  I’m so grateful for him to have had such a wonderful adult in his life.  And one that loves him too.  Thank you Mrs James for being such a great teacher.

log cowboy

Hiking back to the car in Lost Maples State park we had another river crossing.  This crossing had a nice smooth log section floating in it.  And Henry knew right away it was perfect for riding.  Here’s the log cowboy!

Lost Maples- memorial day

We’ve spent too many weekends working on projects so after spending most of Saturday working on the yard we were sure grateful for a holiday on Monday.  We packed up the kids and the camelback and headed for Lost Maples State Park.  It’s my favorite state park.  I love the hills, the cliffs, the trees, the river, and the… river.  Really, the river steals the show sometimes.  And the kids love it too.  Here’s so photographic proof of their love.

Lizzy was not hesitate at all, but walked right in.  It was very shallow where we started her playing.  At first she just wanted to horde rocks, but she soon got the hang of throwing them into the water and threw rocks for 20 minutes straight.  (She really is a Hedengren/Dunn.  Both my family and Dell’s are good rock throwers.)  I’d give her a pile of rocks and when that was gone she’d sign for “more” “please.”  But then that was too slow for her so she sat herself on a large rock and would throw a rock in, reach over and grab it out of the water and throw it again.  She kept throwing the same rock for a long time.  And it was a good rock, the size of a small grapefruit.  It made a very satisfying splash.  Lizzy would grunt her “1,2,3, boom” with most of the throws too.  She’s so funny.

Dell and Henry hiked up the stream a bit until they found this perfect swimming hole.  The water came up to Henry’s chest and he loved jumping and playing in there.  Lizzy and I hiked up when she tired of rock throwing in the shallow part and we introduced her to a little pond that came up to her waist.  She LOVED it.  She splashed and splashed the water and tried to grab rocks to throw in.

By the time we left this part of the river, Lizzy, Henry, and I were soaked.  Dell stayed dry because I was the one carrying LIzzy (and getting splashed by her rock throwing.)

The hike itself was glorious.  The temperature was perfect.  Just hot enough that being wet wasn’t uncomfortable, but cool enough that being dry was comfy too.  And the sky was my favorite shade of bright bright blue.

Henry hiked the whole way, though on the way up he started to run out of interest so we then had to be jedi soliders sneaking up on seperatist troups.  We set traps, cast spells (not sure where that came from, maybe super mario brothers), and snuck along as quietly as we could at times.  We each had a stick.  Mine a small wand, Dell’s large and curved and so was a bow, and Henry’s big thick stick (which he’d brought from home) was his sword/wand.  You can see his stick in the picture of him in the swimming hole.  He lugged that stick the whole hike and we even brought it home again for the next hike.

Lizzy, doesn’t sleep in her carseat very well, but it looks like the backpack is a better place to nap.  Here she is.

going, going….

GONE

When it rains…

A couple of weeks ago I was finishing up preparations for a baby shower I was hosting that morning when I heard the sound of a good Texas rain.  Racing to the front window, this is what I saw.

now the side yard

and finally the back yard

The ironic thing is that we had just refilled the sandbox on Saturday (since the last big rain washed all the sand away.)  bye bye new sand.  We have since landscaped the area on the other side of the fence from the sandbox in a way that should divert the water from the sandbox and onto the grass instead.  Then it’s just like irrigation right?   Or maybe we can convince KB to keep the construction debris picked up so it doesn’t clog the grate on the drainage opening. 

Hoping to clear at least the lake in the street (to allow people to park for the shower) I quickly changed my clothes and ran out to the curb where I filled up a bucket with stuff and then the waters magically receded from our yard.  Hmmm, maybe when we sell our house we can list it as an occasional river front property.  :)