Family Fun!

We had a fun-filled week with my parents and my sister and her family. We spent a morning at Hammerman Beach and, despite the fact that it was overcast and cold, we had a great time.


How impressive! Uncle Ryan caught a fish with his bare hands! I guess it helps when the fish is dead.


The kids always have fun with Grandpa!

Another day we headed up to Dutch Wonderland in Pennsylvania. We couldn't have asked for a more perfect day to spend at this wonderful little amusement park.










We also played at Chuck E. Cheese, cheered on the US team in World Cup (we are extremely loud fans and I think we scared my in-laws), read together, played together, and just enjoyed our time together.

It's Great to be 8!!!

This past week has been extremely busy for our family so it's time for me to play a bit of catch up. Last Monday, June 14, Savannah celebrated her 8th birthday. Obviously this is a very special birthday for her, thus the very busy week!

Eight of my favorite things about Savannah:

1. Her laugh - just hearing it makes me laugh
2. Her creativity - she is always thinking up some great idea, whether it's a new game to play, a new adventure to go on outside, or the many crafts and drawings she presents us with
3. Her love of history - how can I not? I'm a history buff myself
4. Her competitive side - although this can be problematic at times, I do love that she wants to excel and be the best in whatever she does
5. Her love of learning, both at school and in spiritual matters
6. Her willingness to help - she has always been such a great helper
7. Her sincere desire to be a good person - I really hope this trait lasts throughout her life
8. Last but most definitely not least, Savannah is a go-getter! If she needs something or wants to do something, she immediately goes and does it...no waiting around for this girl!

Due to the snow days that had to be made up, Savannah spent her birthday at school which,strangely enough, she was pretty excited about. We sent in some cookies for her and her classmates to celebrate her special day. Later that day Savannah got a visit from her special friend Chad and he brought with him several sweet gifts for her: 3 pairs of earrings, a stuffed animal, and some chocolate ice cream. Needless to say, Savannah was thrilled.
But the best visit of the day came that evening - my sister Heidi and her family and my parents arrived for their week long visit. The cousins hadn't seen each other since Thanksgiving so they had a lot of playing to do.


What a great way to spend Savannah's birthday - surrounded by cousins!

Grandma and Grandpa Schaeffer got Savannah a new dress for her doll Felicity,

Bolt, a stuffed animal she's been wanting for quite some time.

The big gift for this year was the Spark Razor scooter.


Those dang trick candles! Grandpa had to come over to give a little help!

Savannah's Favorites at 8:

• Color: blue
• Food: tilapia
• Movie: Seven Brides for Seven Brothers
• Book: The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe
• Toy: Barbies
• Animal: lynx
• Sport: soccer
• Thing to do: read
• What she wants to be when she's older: a vet
• Fruit: watermelon
• Vegetable: mini corn
• Song: I Love to See the Temple
• Holiday: her birthday
• Candy: tootsie roll
• Dessert: chocolate ice cream
• Season: spring
• Restaurant: Red Lobster and Red Robin
• Temple: Salt Lake City
• Place to go: the Virgin Islands
• Scripture: Alma 37:33
• Scripture Hero: Helaman

Best Friends are Natalie, Kate, Mackenzie, Jayna, Kaia, and Celine

Happy Birthday, our sweet Savannah!

Herb Tasting

We had another fun Keepers meeting on Friday night - Herb tasting! One of the moms in our group has a truly fantastic garden, including lots of different herbs. We all went around feeling and tasting the variety of herbs in the garden: lemon balm, lavender, licorice, cilantro, rosemary, and many more.


After identifying all the different herbs, we headed inside for a lesson by one of the mom of the many medicinal uses of herbs. It was a really good lesson and I learned a lot! Next we headed back outside for the girls to plant their own potted herb garden. We were supposed to have grown one herb these past few weeks and then bring it to share with the others. Savannah's herb was cilantro but our efforts didn't turn out as we would have liked. We got about 2 little plants, definitely not enough to share with everyone. Thank goodness Sister Uhlig came to our rescue and had plenty to share from her own garden.

We finished up with dessert - ice cream topped with a mint leaf - and then handed out awards. It's our last Keepers meeting until September but Savannah is already planning on spending quite a few summer days working on earning more Keepers awards.

An Early Birthday Present

Yep! After 5 1/2 weeks of thinking that the kitties had either died or been eaten, we finally found them. And guess where they were? Right next door, in our neighbor's yard, hidden underneath a black tarp covering an old pond. Now that they are almost 6 weeks old, they're moving around and happened to follow their mom Princess out into our neighbor's back lawn...that's how our neighbor spotted them. To say that our kids are excited is an understatement! Savannah is beside herself and quickly claimed one of them as her special kittie, "Jack". I told her the kitties are an early birthday present.



Of course David is NOT happy but how can your heart not melt looking at these little guys? They are too, too cute!

2nd Grade Picnic

For the past few weeks Savannah has been informing us about all the endangered animals in the world, especially the lynx. She and her good friend Kate have been working on a report about the lynx for a school project and even completed a power point presentation that included pictures and facts. All the students in her class showcased their presentations to the parents this past Thursday so of course the boys and I had to attend. I was so impressed with all the work that Savannah and Kate did for their report and they did a great job with their presentation, even if they did speak a little too softly for most people to hear.

After the presentations, the 2nd grade picnic was held in each classroom because, unfortunately, it was pouring buckets outside. We still had fun eating lunch with Savannah on the towel we spread out on the floor. It's always fun to spend a little extra time with Savannah during the day and see her in action with her friends at school.
Savannah and her good friend Mackenzie.


Savannah and one of her best friends, Kate.

Fun at the Zoo

We couldn't have asked for a better day to go to the zoo! The weather was perfect: blue skies, slight breeze, high 70's, just absolutely gorgeous! We met several friends there and spent most of the day wandering around, checking out the animals, stopping to put faces in each sign available, and climbing on or hugging each animal statue we passed.

Xander was really excited to feed the giraffe.






The whole day the only animal Xander wanted to see was the rattlesnake. We didn't get to it until the very end...we saw, we took the picture, and as soon as we walked away, Xander asked me, "So, where's the rattlesnake?'' Sometimes I wonder about that kid.

Although this zoo doesn't have any gorillas (which are my absolute favorite!), they did have some lions and we got to get up close and personal with the elephant. Another fun day with the boys as we wait for Savannah to get out of school.