YEAH!!

I don't know if you all heard this mornings session of General Conference (Saturday), but President Monson announced 5 new temples to be built. I don't remember all of them except that one will be in Calgary and the other is in KANSAS CITY!!! That is my home turf and I am totally excited! What a huge blessing that will be to so many people I know and love that still live there! I remember when the St. Louis temple was announced and then when it was done being built. What an exciting time that was for us who lived close by. Before that, we would either have to go to the Denver, Chicago or Dallas temples. Quite a long trip, although it made for fun youth temple trips! I remember I was a senior when the St. Louis, MO temple was dedicated. I took two trips to help out at the open house and then another trip with my family for the dedication. What an amazing experience that was for my family and I. I remember as I was going through that beautiful temple that I would someday be married there for eternity! I am so excited that another beautiful temple will be so close to the place I call "home!" Blessings, blessings, blessings!!!! Here is where it will be....

Where do I begin?....

So I know it has been quite a while since I have posted anything. There are a lot of things to blog about, but sometimes there never quite seems time to do it. Either that, or I just don't feel like it sometimes. But I know how buggy it can be to check in on a blog and there is always the same old stuff! (right, sister of mine!!) I thought I would just start from the beginning of the school year.

Here is a picture of my handsome Zach on the first day of 3rd grade. Can you even believe he is in 3rd grade already!!! It's just not fair! I tell my kids all the time to quit growing and stay little, but they don't seem to be listening. Zach tells me that if he stops growing, he will never be able to get his driver's liscense....his whole purpose in being alive! Honestly, I am kind of scared for that day to come!!

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3rd grade field trip to Connor Prairie. It was such a fun place. The kids really enjoyed it. We didn't even get to go around to everything. Connor Prairie is a hands-on reinactment of life in the 1800's. The kids can learn about the Indian's that were living here in Indiana, farm life, learning how to make differnt things such as candles, rugs, houses, food, quilts, etc and what life was like. The people that worked there stayed in character and talked to the kids like they were their visitors. It was fun! I am glad I got to go. It was fun spending time with my Zach-o Boy!

Learning about the Indians

They were in a schoolhouse and the teacher was explaining about how the class was run back in those days.

Zach helping load the hay onto the wagon.

I guess he is watering the grass after filling up the bucket from the water pump.

Watching a guy make a canoe like the Indian's used to.

Mrs. Maple - Zach's teacher

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Zach's very 1st PINE WOOD DERBY!

Zach did a very good job building his first Pine Wood derby car. He and Chris had a great time working together and spent a lot of time on it. They wanted it just perfect....go figure! Zach did almost all the work on it except when he wasn't quite able to use a certain tool or needed extra help. Other than that, he did most all of it. He wanted his to look like a Nascar. It was black with a red lightning bolt "Z" on both sides!

The boy that he is racing in this picture is the one that won the derby. His car looked like a rocket. It was pretty cool.

Here are most of the boys in Zach's troop. I bet you know who I think is the most handsome kid there.....!

Here is a little video of the race Zach won.

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ZACH'S 1ST CAKE! Zach decided he was really craving a cake one Sunday last month. So I told him he could make it all by himself! How could he pass down that?! That means he would be able to eat as much batter as he wanted!!

Notice all the batter still in the bowl? Yeah. I left these two alone while they made the cake and then decided to come check on them at the end. I asked Zach why he didn't clean out the bowl all the way. (Dumb question - I know! I just wanted to hear his reason) He said, "Well, I wasn't able to get all the batter out into the pan. I tried."

As you can tell, it seems like he has it all figured out now! He ended up getting out the rubber spatula to clean out the bowl. (Maybe we need to have an honesty lesson for Family Night...whatcha think?)

Chloe was thrilled to help him solve the problem!