Dallin has a teaching job!!!

We got the call this morning. He was offered a position at the Rabiner Treatment Center in Fort Dodge, IA http://www.rabiner.org/ teaching middle school social studies. If he signs a 5 year contract with them they will pay for him to get a Special Ed license. So, we will come home from vacation, and start getting ready to move -- have to find a place to live. We've decided that this is just the way it works with us. We take a cross-country vacation and we're blessed with a job, and then we have to pack up and move right away. LOL :)

the countdown begins

11 days and counting until we leave for Utah! We are so excited to head west and visit family and friends. There is so much to do, and I just know as much as I plan to get it done well in advance, I will still be running around the night before like a chicken with its head cut off! I'll post more info about our trip and the plans later.

cool sunset

worn out

I love afternoons like this!

Happy Birthday, Daddy!

new camera

My new camera is great! The best part is IT WAS FREE!!! Here's the story:

Dallin mentioned he needed to pick up something from work yesterday, so on the way to the library we stopped by Loras. When he got back into the car he tossed something on my lap and said, "Happy Birthday." I looked at what landed on my lap, and saw this little camera! He has been bidding on things on EBay with a guy from work, and so I assumed that's where he got it from, so I asked him how much he paid for it. He said it was free, and I was astonished! I asked him how that happened, and he said that it had been in the lost and found, and at the end of the school year all the big expensive items at put up for drawings. Dallin put his name in for the camera -- knowing that I wanted a small camera that would fit into my purse/diaper bag & I had mentioned Canon or Nikon -- and he won the drawing! We do need to buy a charger for it because it doesn't have batteries -- you charge the whole camera & I need to find the instruction manual online, but we have a new camera -- it's nicer than our Fujifilm, but I'll still use that one, especially for the kids' portraits. I'm so giddy! I can't wait to figure out how to use it!

Tyler's View

Tyler took a few pictures this weekend. Thought I'd share some with you. All of these were taken by Tyler -- by himself.

ward picnic

Our ward had a picnic Friday evening. After a hot and muggy and rainy Thursday, I was worried about the weather for Friday. But it turned out to be a beautiful day! It was warm, but dry and it was windy, so that helped it not feel so hot!

Every park in town has a sand pit with these 2 of these tracker things. And Tyler has played in every single sand pit in town, and has ridden at least one of the trackers in each pit.

Adeline and Uncle Brian. I honestly think he's her favorite uncle. I can count on one hand the number of people Addie gets excited to see -- and will put her arms out to go to -- even if I'm holding her. Brian is one of those people. This is most interesting when you consider that just a few months ago she would always cry anytime Brian took her from me -- and she never did that with anyone else!

bike riding

2 days after buying our van, we bought Tyler a new bike. He had started to out grow his little trike, and we thought it was time to get him a new bike. We bought the bike at Wal-mart -- I figure if the kid's going to out grow it in a summer or 2, I don't want to pay top-dollar for it. I'll wait and fork out the big money when he's stopped growing! Anyway, so the bike was inexpensive as bikes go, but I didn't want to get his helmet at Wal-mart, I wanted to get his helmet at a bike store in town because they do helmet fittings -- and that's what I wanted. So we went to the bike store to get the helmet. Dallin and I did not purposely match the bike and the helmet, but these are the colors Tyler was into that day -- a departure from his usual "every must be green" mode -- and since he has to ride the bike and wear the helmet, I think his opinion here matters more than Mom's or Dad's.

I got the idea of going to the church parking lot for some quality bike riding. I thought he would love being able just to ride all over without any restrictions imposed on him by riding on the sidewalk. Yeah. Not so much. My kid is a conformist. He rode on the sidewalk -- and at the church he has less sidewalk to ride on than on our little street! I mean, I'm really okay with him feeling uncomfortable riding in the street -- but he does it at home all the time, and I tell him not to, and here was his chance to do it because Mom said it was okay. Oh well. He had fun.

Random Shots

One of the things I love about summer are the summer showers -- bursts of torrential rain while the sun is shining. Tyler and I saw this rainbow that stretched across the sky one day during such a shower.

On Memorial Day we had FHE in the basement of my parents' home. As we were heading towards the stairs to go home, Adeline started to crawl that way, too. I didn't think anything of it because she usually just goes to the bottom step and then puts up her arms to be carried. This time, however, she headed straight for the stairs and didn't stop until she was at the top of the stairs! Now anytime we go outside she dives out of my arms and wants to climb either up the stairs, or down the stairs -- head first. I will take her down the stairs, follow her up the stairs and to the front door -- which she will go through, and then she turns around and heads back to the stairs to do it all over again. Here she is climbing the last couple of stairs -- out of about 15. I didn't think you'd be interested in watching all 15 stairs. It gets monotonous after a while! ;)

Here are a couple shots I got while Tyler rode his bike at the church.

Memorial Day

Last Monday we went to Mom & Dad's for dinner and FHE. Dad gave a great lesson about the USA and how special it really is -- and how essential the freedoms we enjoy here were to the restoration of the Gospel. I will have to post his sentiments later. It's going to take me a while. Here are some pictures.

The boys played a grueling game of kick-ball. Tyler never waited for the ball to cross the plate. He attacked first.

Adeline getting into Grandma's Tupperware cupboard -- She hasn't stopped trying to get into drawers and cabinets since last Monday. We opened a can of worms here.

Tyler played this game with his uncles. He tried to throw the frisbee up to the deck and they tried to catch it. It was so comical! Sorry for the weird angle here. I was sitting on the ground, and tried to get both Tyler & Brian.

Addie was very concerned about Tyler getting that frisbee up to the deck.

Tyler played a mean game of football with the rest of the boys. Here he is just after getting passed the ball.

Look at that field! Wide open for Tyler to make a run for the end zone! :)

TOUCH DOWN!!!

Grandpa tried to play a game of ball with Adeline, but she was more interested in Max's tail.

There she goes. She throws like a girl. ;)

A final "thank you" to all those who serve to protect our country. I have several family members serving, and a couple friends as well. Thank you all & your families for all you do for the rest of us.