Passion on a Fieldtrip?

Today was pefect weather for a fieldtrip. The McNary National Wildlife Refuge located in Burbank, Washington is an awesome place to visit. The center is staffed by numerous volunteers who are PASSIONATE about their job. The center is open to the public all day, everyday. It's definately worth the trip for you Tri-City residents.Dallin and his friend Austin

When I was a kid I never liked the question booklet you had to complete on every fieldtrip,

I thought it took the fun out of it.This is where the passion came in. This lovely woman (below)taught the kids about the wetlands and dug some critters out of the water (by wading in with her thigh high boots) to view under the microscope. At one point during the lesson a noisy bird flew over the group, she stopped and closed her eyes and listened. She was the epitome of a nature lover. I looked around the group to see the children's response to this woman who was obviously in her element, and they were right there with her. She had commanded their attention by her love and devotion to what she was involved in.

In order to see the animals at the closest possible range without scaring them, there is a wooden hut that extends over the water that you quietly sneak into and observe. I got this picture of a Yellow Headed Blackbird and turtle.

On the grounds of the refuge there is a house that holds numerous animal pelts, skeletons, bones, and stuffed birds. Construction is currently underway for a brand new center to house these treasures. I thought this owl was fascinating.

Dallin's two favorite parts?

The Wigwam

and the dead bottled up snake with it's tongue hanging out.

Our weekend got off to a great start. Enjoy the gorgeous weather!

I'm curious,

What's your Passion?

From Backpack to Garbage Can

Since preschool my children have brought lovely papers home. Pictures, drawings, colored xeroxed papers, you know what I mean.

I'm not an ogre, but most of the time it goes up on display for a time and then it "myseriously" winds up in the garbage can. You can't put it anywhere close to the top because if it's seen, there'll be a BIG problem. So you wad it up as tight as you can and stuff it towards the bottom, under banana peels and gross stuff that no one's going to touch. You have to be careful though to make sure it's in the middle at the bottom because some garbage sacks are way too transparent. I've been caught before while changing the sack. It's difficult to know how to handle the situation.

"Oh my goodness, how did that get in there?" is my usual response. Awful, I know!

I do, however, save the good stuff. It's on display in my laundry room. See this organized mess.

I recieved a "keeper" Mother's Day card 4 years ago. It's a flower and then written along the stem are qualities my daughter thought I possessed. My two favorite lines,

"My mom is OVERLY friendly to her family"

and

"She cooks like your at a restaurant sometimes."

Both are meant as a sincere compliments, I know, but they make me

laugh and smile!

So does my favorite picture of the week.

You can't see it, but Britton was fascinated with this tiny, little ant on the floor.

Thank you Elizabeth, Kenley, Dallin, Cameron and Britton for making this amazing journey so enjoyable.

I love you, and you, and you, and you and you!!!!!!!!

Flowers

One of the most amazing things I have ever done is a project we did in Young Women's when I was about 16 years old. Each girl in my ward was paired up anonymously with an elderly person in our ward. We called ourselves "Secret granddaughters." For the period of a few months we wrote notes, sent small gifts and did secret acts of service for our "Secret Grandparent." Whenever I had something to give my "secret grandpa," I would give it to someone to hand over or leave it on the front porch of his home. Well, then something unusual started happening. My "Secret Grandpa" was starting to give me things back. He would give things to my Young Women leaders to give to me. First, I thought, wait a minute, this isn't the idea, but it became so much fun.

On the evening of our grand unveiling to each other there was a dinner planned at the church. I was really nervous. I already felt as though I knew this man, but not really. One by one we entered the gym in our ward building and we were introduced, in my case, to my "secret grandpa", Brother Molloy.

Before I started this amazing challenge, I knew only this man's name and that he was extremely quiet and often sat in the same place in the chapel. I had never, previous to this, made an attempt to talk to him.

I remember walking up to him and shaking his hand. He came in his best suit and his white hair was combed neatly. If you think that friendships only come to people who are in the same stage of life, you're missing out on wonderful opportunities.

After this introduction, Brother Molloy remembered me at every holiday and occasion. He loved to write about his deceased wife and their dogs and children.

I have saved some notes that he wrote. I didn't do much, just mostly let him know I was thinking of him. After all, when you're lonely, that's what really matters.

Fast Forward to my Valentine date with Brent when we were dating. Brother Molloy was the other guy that sent flowers that day. (Here it is if you missed it.) We also received a wedding gift from him when we married. Consider this:

"Some of the choicest blessings in life,

have been the close friendships I have experienced."

---Elder Wirthlin

A picture says it all....

I've got a million and one reasons to smile, here are a few!!

18 months old, Britton did fantastic in nursery yesterday," Loves It."

Kenley made us Molten Lava Chocolate Cakes for dinner. YUM!

Britton put himself on time-out on our "naughty bench" after a small misdemeanor.

Kindergarten Round-Up tomorrow evening. Our chance to meet the teacher and see the classroom. Cameron is so excited.

Celebrating birthdays. My sister-in-law turned 40-something.

Kenley's cereal bowl says it all.

Work starts today on our shop. I'll post later about what this means for the inside of our home.

Our dogwoods are looking great.

Eggs from our generous neighbors, Jan and Mattie. Feathers attached: Now that's FRESH!!

We're getting visitors from England. Here are Leslie, Michael, Thomas and my Mom at the Rain Forest Cafe about 4 years ago. They'll be here again next month,

WE'RE SO EXCITED!!!

What's making you smile today?

24 Things about Me

Thanks Nicole for the tag. This is trickier than it looks, narrowing things down to only four is difficult.

*4 Places I go over and over
Preschool
McLoughlin Middle School
Livingston Elementary School
My Laundry Room

*4 people who E-mail me
(I get very few worthwhile E-mails, here's some I delete without opening)
Classmates.com (They really want me to pay them to see people I don't really want to see.)
Richland Auto care
Delta Airlines
Every Hotel Brent has ever stayed in. (Many, many hotels.)

*4 of my favorite foods
Veggie sandwiches with Yoke's Garden Tomato salad dressing
Chocolate Cake with almond butter cream frosting
Toasted Whole Wheat English muffin with butter and orange marmalade
Beans on Toast (A fried egg on top would be a special treat.)

*4 places I would rather be right now
A fantastic Disney world vacation with my fam.
Girls trip to NYC
Mall of America (I've always thought this looked like a lot of fun)
Warm beach

*4 movies I could watch over and over
Anne of Green Gables
Life is Beautiful
I like watching TV shows on DVD, then you don't have to wait until next week
Family Ties European Vacation (I haven't seen it in years, but it's hilarious.)

*4 people I think will respond (This is a tag invitation.)
My Sister
My Co. Primary counselor
My Girls
My Island dwelling friend (She lives in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean on an Island, how exotic is that?)

Because so many of you asked, next post I'll fill you in on the other guy that sent me flowers on Valentine's Day. I have to tell you though, it wasn't a romantic gesture.

My Love Story...Continued

Back by popular demand!! (Only two people asked)

I'm completely out of princess dialogue.

So we have left the castle and find ourselves deep in the Amazon Jungle.
If you missed the beginning, click HERE.


Character names have been changed:

Sir Brentus is now Jungle King.

The Princess is now Lady in a Leopard Skin. (LIALS)

One day while resting comfortably on a hammock built between two larger than life tropical palm trees, LIALS was reading her large stack of Modern Jungle Bride magazines and sipping coconut milk. Even though the Jungle King hadn't officially asked her to share his tree house, she knew it was coming. She had chosen the leopard print for her dress and the perfect African violet and delphinium bouquet.

It was Valentine's day and she was completely happy. Not only was she planning the event of a lifetime, she was preparing for a romantic evening. After school LIALS went directly home to pick out the perfect outfit to match Jungle Kings loin cloth. (Sorry, I couldn't resist.) Surely, this was the night. It only seemed natural to ask a jungle girl for her hand in marriage on a Valentine's date. Upon arriving home she noticed a bouquet of tropical flowers had been delivered to her tree house. Just then the Jungle King swung in on a vine carrying a bouquet of his own. If the Jungle King was bringing flowers, then who were these from? (I can honestly say this is the only time in my life I had received flowers from two different guys on the same day- but that's a whole different post.)

After a lovely evening at the Gorilla Bistro and a stroll down Canopy Lane (Red Robin and Park City) , LIALS was dropped off at home. No proposal. Tired and discouraged she fell on her bed of palm leaves under her bug net and and fell asleep to the sound of tree frogs.

Five more weeks passed and no proposal. The Jungle King had his own idea of how this should be. He snuck into her tree house while she was at school and whipped up an amazing dinner of BBQ wild hog and nuts and berries. Now the Jungle King had impressed her many times before with his skills around the fire, but this was over the top. The question came, the ring was placed and the date was set. Now the only question was,

Your jungle or mine?

Everything was running smoothly and they were ready for the day. But three days before the wedding the usually calm LIALS froze with fear. She didn't have cold feet, she had

FREEZING cold feet.

The jungle king assured her that this was completely normal feeling and that it didn't mean she didn't want to become his Queen. She did a lot of praying and decided that because she was trading in her leopard skin for a white dress and instead of marrying in a jungle they had chosen a holier place, they were destined for a eternity full of love, happiness and laughter. Riding off into the thick Jungle brush on their large African elephant ('85 Honda) they felt grateful and so blessed to be taking this journey together.

Keepsakes

You know how you know something, but then you forget?

At some point you remember again and it's like a whole new excitement.


I had forgotten about this little time caspule I put together for Elizabeth after she was born.
I was so excited to look inside and see the things that I thought were important to keep.

Balloons and cards...

Newspaper from the day she was born...

All the obvious things from the hospital...

And these treasures.

When Elizabeth was a newborn I asked her grandparents to write her a "letter to the future." They have been sealed for the past 13 years and won't be touched until some special day in the future. Maybe her 21st birthday, or when she marries. Also pictured is a journal entry that we were given a copy of from a man in our ward who paid a visit to our home and wrote about his experiences.

This got me thinking about letters. In this day of E-mail and such I don't think I have actually sat down and wrote a letter to anyone for years, other than a few thank you cards. Following is my experience with letters and why I love them.

*I received many beautiful letters and notes after we lost our baby boy almost 3 years ago. They offered hope, love, condolence and a little joy at a very difficult time. Here are a few snippets:

"Maybe knowing that I am thinking of you will help at least a little bit."

"Our thoughts and prayers are with you."

"Our conversation on the phone reminded me how important each and every moment with our children is, no matter how many or few."

"Sometimes it's hard to understand the reason for some of life's struggles."

"We hope you recover quickly and that your family will feel comforted and loved."

Words of love help to strengthen and uplift. I love and cherish these letters.

*I came across a letter years and years ago my mom and dad have. It's from a very dear lady I knew when I was a little girl. She wrote a letter long before I was born expressing her condolences to my grandmother after her six month old baby passed away. I think about this letter often and the words she expressed, "Don't worry Lilly dear, she is in Heavenly Father's arms." (or something similar to that, it's been a while since I read it and it's currently missing.)

Sorry those are kind of grim. I enjoy happy letters too.

*While cleaning out her aunt's things after she passed away, my mom came across many love notes that her uncle wrote to her aunt while he was in the military serving during WWII. My dad sent me this picture, I can't make out the words, but I do know it's addressed to:

"My Darling"

*Yesterday in church Elizabeth wrote Brent a letter as part of her Young Women's lesson expressing love and appreciation.

I love the Random Sampler section in the Ensign. I enjoyed reading this and thought it was a fantastic idea,

"One way to establish and maintain long-distance relationships is through our family home evening create-a-letter night. First, each person draws or chooses the name of an extended family member or missionary. Then we set out paper, stickers, punches, and markers and start creating a variety of unusual letters."

I love personal letters and don't write them often enough. I'll write one today.