Soccer Camp

Our summer officially began this week with Soccer Camp via our Park and Recreation (which I love). Ms A was so excited, especially when she saw Ms J on their first day. She loved learning how to toe stop, pass the ball and play games like clean the junkyard (kicking all of the soccer balls to the opposing side before the time up) and sharks and minnows ("minnows" trying to get their soccer ball to the opposite side before they get tagged by the "sharks"). She loved being the shark. They also had several scrimmage games with each other. Ms A was pretty good at being the goalie and cheering Ms J as she made the goals.

What I'm Thankful For ...

....knowledge of the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

The past year has been extremely heartbreaking, challenging and difficult. I never knew a person could have SO MANY TEARS and that they could come out during a variety of experiences (ie: grocery shopping, a lesson about Eli and Samuel in the Old Testament, going to the park, etc). The past couple of weeks have been quite heart-wrenching and I wanted a TIME-OUT from life, then came that "Heavenly Lifeline". Today, I was checking out a couple of blogs, when I came across this video and this testimony and talk.

I especially love Elder Holland's thoughts:

"Yet in my mind’s eye, for just an instant, I thought perhaps I saw on that side road an old car with a devoted young wife and two little children making the best of a bad situation there. Just ahead of them I imagined that I saw a young fellow walking toward Kanarraville, with plenty of distance still ahead of him. His shoulders seemed to be slumping a little, the weight of a young father’s fear evident in his pace. In the scriptural phrase his hands did seem to “hang down.” 15 In that imaginary instant, I couldn’t help calling out to him: “Don’t give up, boy. Don’t you quit. You keep walking. You keep trying. There is help and happiness ahead—a lot of it—30 years of it now, and still counting. You keep your chin up. It will be all right in the end. Trust God and believe in good things to come.”

Their words reminded me how grateful I am for a Heavenly Father who throws me a lifeline, just when I'm ready to say "I QUIT!"

THANK YOU!!!!

Crocodiles and Giraffes

We love our zoo membership because we can go for a couple of hours and see what we want and go back another time to see something new. Since Aunt Sara volunteers at our local zoo, she informed us that the sea lions and Malaysians Sun Bear were getting enrichment treats (ice cubes with treats inside). Ms A and I were excited to join her and watch the animals. While we were waiting we checking out the crocodiles. We met Lancelot and Morgan Le Fay, the 11.5 ft and 7 ft respectively crocodiles. Aren't those great names? We waited to see them keeper feed them, but today wasn't the day (they feed them once a week typically). Ms A was excited about their teeth ( they have 65-70) and the way they hide in the water. Here she is with Lance

Ms A's newest favorite are the reticulated giraffes. Here she is with Bacarry:
And another picture of Bacarry eating

We had a great time and can't wait to go back again.
Don't you love zoo memberships?!?!

Summer is Here

I went outside this evening to check on our raspberry bushes and was pleasantly surprised by these juicy, sweet and delicious beauties.

Summer has come to the Nelson backyard, now if only the weather can figure that out!

And yes, they were good and they are GONE. I did notice quite a few that will hopefully ripen in the next couple of weeks.

Preschool Graduation

Our little Ms A graduated from Preschool today. She and her classmates have been practicing their songs for a couple of weeks. She been teaching them to me as well. Her most anticipated part of the program was singing and dancing to A Tooty, Ta and having the parents participate. (She giggles every time she talks about it). Here are a couple of pictures from the program.

Singing If I Were a Butterfly

Ms Ashley, Ms A, Ms JoAnn, Ms A and Ms Hailey.

We will miss Ms JoAnn and all of our new friends!

A Couple of Cards

I had a few scraps of paper, a request for a card from my little princess and a bit of time while Ms A was at preschool, so I decided to make a couple of cards. I love that something so adorable can be made from scraps of paper. I also love the instant gratification from Ms A. "Oh, Mommy, it's so BEAUTIFUL! I LOVE it!!!

I also fell in love with this card and decided to try it out, not too bad, but I think next time, I'll have to get a digital cutter that will cut out all the parts.