The New Moon

On Monday night we had our firsts guests here in Tennessee. The Moons were on their way to Alabama for a summer internship. Brandon is a law student in Williamsburg at William and Mary. It was so great to meet the newest Moon, Atticus. He is three months old and so cute. Mike barbequed us some yummy hamburgers and we visited until late. In the morning we had breakfast, read atticus books, and stopped by the park in Kingston before the Moons had to be on their way (sadly, Mike had to be at work early that morning). It was so fun having them stay with us for the night. Hopefully we will get to meet up with them more this summer.

Here they are in front of the Lake.

It was just like old times. Here we are together. I am wearing Elizabeth's sunglasses. Aren't they cute?

We Gave Bob a Bath!

Bob jumped in the lake again when I brought him on a walk this week. He is so hard to keep clean now that he has a yard to play in. He loves to dig in the red dirt. He was getting stinky so we gave him one serious scrub. This is him after we dried him off. He gets "fraggle rock" hair on top of his head. I love it.



Here he is again.

My Garden Rocks

Stephanie gave me the idea to stamp rocks to label my garden. She introduced to me the best stamps by Martha Stewart (it was on her blog, simplyradiant@blogspot.com). The only problem was finding rocks smooth enough to stamp on. I spotted these rocks on one of my walks around the lake and Mike came back with me to collect a few in a backpack.

Here are two pictures of our garden. We planted corn, carrots, peas, beans, tomoatoes, cucumber, pumpkin, squash, and watermelon. It is hard to keep up with the weeding but we can't wait for our garden to grow and give us yummy vegetables.

We had a nice weekend. We ate out at a mexican restaurant. We actually saw real live mexicans there too which is rare around these parts. Then we went to the store and bought a blender to make smoothies (our last one broke). Mike makes the best smoothies! Come over and we'll make you one, well Mike will anyway. While we were at the store we saw an ice cream maker and we had to buy that too. So today we made oreo ice cream, yum! Isn't homemade ice cream the best? Besides eating we watched an Alfred Hitchcock film, The Rear Window. Mostly I just hung around while Mike worked on more thesis revisions. It is almost done. I can't wait until he is done because then I don't have to worry about hogging his free time. Weekends are great because I get to be around Mike all day. Anyway....that's all for now.

My Mother

My mother is so wonderful! I desire so much to be more like her. I wish that I would have tried to learn more of her skills while I was close by. Its not just her talent of sewing, quilting, basket weaving, book binding, decorating, gardening, singing, piano playing, baking, or her business intellect that make her the best. My mom sacrificed the little things for us kids. She played with us and read to us. She thought of fun crafts to make and encouraged creativity. She baked cookies for us. She came to all of my games and performances. She sewed us tutus. She taught us to sing around the piano. She made us do chores and learn to work. She taught us to seek knowledge and to get an education. She even forgave me when I hit Dad's truck with the family van. She was friends with us and our friends. She made the family our very own academy awards for family home evening. She is so great and I love her!

President Howard W. Hunter said:
"Mothers are given the sacred privilege to 'bear the souls of men; for herein is the work of [the] Father continued, that he may be glorified.
"The First Presidency had said: 'Motherhood is near to divinity. It is the highest service to be assumed by mankind.'

Thank you Mom!

Our Weekend

We had a nice weekend. On Friday we went to a local pizza place to eat dinner but we din't stay because it was too smokey. We ordered to go. What's with the south and smoking? Everyone smokes yuck! I miss the no smoking restraunts in the west, but anyway. . . The pizza was good. We took it to the park. After we went bowling. Yes, we actually have a bowling alley here. It was fun.

On Saturday we drove up to Knoxville to register for baby stuff. Mike would rather have been doing anything else but we needed to get it done. That night we went to the drive-in movies. We saw spiderman 3. We had our blankets, pillows, treats, and a great spot. What is it about the drive-in that is so great? The only sad part was that we had to go home before the second show. It was late and we had to finish writing our talks for church today.

I will report that our talks went well, I think. My topic was on mothers of course and Mike's was on how family life helps us understand our Heavenly Father. He did a good job. We were also set apart today for our callings as second councellors in the young men's and young women's programs.

Family Home Evening at the Park

This week for Family Home Evening we went to a park in Kingston. It was really hot but we still enjoyed a little picnic and short walk along the Lake. Here is a picture of Mike and Bob.




This is a lovely picture Mike took of me. I am really looking pregnant these days.

This is Bob's first encounter with water outdoors. He really liked it. He actually got in further and swam a tiny bit. He also drank a lot of water which I hope doesn't make him too sick. He is a fun dog to have around. His personality is one of a kind and he keeps us entertained.

Mike took this picture of me in our hammock. This is our front yard and the blob under me is Bob.