My Little Helper

In between the rain, and cold spells we have had this spring, I have tried to get a little work done in our yard. It's a good thing I have Ben around to pitch in...

He takes his work VERY seriously.

But no picture captures his true personality like this one does...

He is all boy, and so much fun! I am so glad we have this little guy around.

My Oldest is Eight!

Vanessa turned eight on Monday! I just can't believe it! We gave Vanessa a choice of having a birthday party with her friends, or going to a special day camp called "Kid vs. Wild". She chose to go to the camp and she had SO much fun. It was right up her alley. They went to Cabelas and learned about wild animals. She got to explore caves, and build a shelter in "the wild", where they had lunch. She also got to do some rock wall climbing, which was her favorite. She really loved it, and it was also a great learning experience for her as well.

On her actual birthday, we left Ben and Evan with a babysitter, and took Vanessa out to dinner. She really seems to love it when we just take her. We love Ben and Evan, but they aren't the most fun to take out to a restaurant.

She enjoyed a big platter of shrimp. She is such a seafood lover! Later, we had the servers come and sing her happy birthday, and they brought her a big ice cream treat. She was pretty embarrassed, but I know she loved it.
Later we came home, had cake, and opened her presents. There is a long story that goes along with the cake she asked me to make her. Let's just say a caterpillar she caught last summer on a camping trip made quite an impression on her.

She loved all her presents. She has not outgrown her love for stuffed animals. She sleeps with about 20 of them every night. And of course, she loves her video games.
Overall, I could tell she really loved her birthday this year. In her prayers that night she thanked Heavenly Father at least 3 times for giving her such a wonderful birthday.

A Lesson in Art

I've started a bit of a new hobby and it has taken up a big chunk of my time this past month. I've started to sell a little on ebay, and so I have found that it has been harder than usual to keep my blog updated, but I will try to do a better job this month.

Marty's clinic is building a new clinic that should be opening within the next month or so. It should be quite a bit of an upgrade from the building they are in now. On Saturday, his clinic offered their employees kids ages 5-12 a chance to create new artwork that will be framed and displayed throughout the new building. "Real" artists were there to assist the kids and show them new techniques for creating their artwork. At first, Vanessa was the only kid there, but soon after the table was filled.

Every child was supposed to complete two paintings, however Vanessa was the only one who barely finished one. Ahhh, that is how she is about everything she does. She is a bit of a perfectionist. Hmmm,... I wonder where she gets that from?
In the end she came up with a beautiful jungle-themed picture. It will be really exciting (especially for her), when she gets to see it framed, and hanging on the wall in Marty's new clinic.