Bird Denominations

Today we decided to stop by the Albuquerque Temple and walk around the Temple grounds as a family. While we were walking Scott noticed several small birds chirping and flying from one tree to another. He commented to the kids, “Don’t you think if you were a bird you would live on the Temple grounds too?” There was a pause, and then Brynn responded, “well… maybe if I was a Mormon bird.”

Let's Go!

Jared recently learned to ride his bike without training wheels. He's just barely 3 1/2 years old and very proud of himself.

Scott put together a little video of this event. The clip needed a little extra footage so he added some pictures of us this past Spring at White Sands as a bonus feature.

Enjoy!

Quotable Quotes

Last Sunday was Ward Conference. The chapel was hot...very hot. The air in the chapel has been turned off for several weeks, but it's still warm in Albuquerque... With blazing red cheeks Jared exclaimed in his not-so-quiet voice (as much as Jared tries, he really only has one volume and it is not quiet) "Mom, church is so boring to listen to!" There were smiles and quiet chuckles from the people sitting in several of the surrounding benches.

The other day Jared couldn't find something he was looking for. He exclaimed, "This is very strange and mysterious!"

And his obsession for weapons continues yet again. A few weeks ago as I was putting Jared to bed he said, "Mom, Rowdy (his little preschool friend) has like 100 swords. He has one with blue fire on it, and it is so powerful. Maybe I could have a powerful sword like Rowdy."

Mistaken Identity

Have you ever seen one of these?

Last week as we were saying good-bye to our garden for the season and pulling it out Kaitlyn and Brynn each found one of these really cool bright green caterpillars...or so we thought. They put their "pets" in a jar and were hoping to keep them until they turned into butterflies.

It wasn't until a few days later when I was describing our caterpillar to some friends that they said, "It sound's like a tomato-horn worm." And so it is. A nasty predator of the garden able to annihilate our tomato and pepper plants. And we're housing it as a pet!

When I told the girls the news Brynn responded, "Oh, gross! I can't believe I ever touched that thing!" Kaitlyn is remaining true and loyal to her plump green friend...but instead of its place in her room her jar has been moved outside.

What This World Really Needs

KAITLYN ESPLIN FOR VICE PRESIDENT!

Kaitlyn's second grade class held their own election. Kaitlyn ran for Vice President. She made a poster in class with the help of two campaign managers, and then she had to give a speech. She wrote the following speech by herself:

Hi my name is Kaitlyn. If I were vice president,
I would keep people on track.
I would help people if they were hurt.
I would be kind to every one.
And if people were scared I would help them not to be.

What a sweet little girl. She ran against two other little girls and one boy. The boy won (I'm pretty sure from the numbers that he got all the boy votes and the girls split the girl votes) but it didn't seem to phase Kaitlyn. She said she'd run again in January when they re-elect officers. Way to go Kaitlyn!