Hello again!

Okay, pictures. Emma in bed. Ethan, in my bed. Laura an Abby. Me studying my brains out, and Joseph in a fitting (both figuratively and literally) shirt.

Laura had herself a Lemony Snickett morning here recently. Joseph had gotten up in the morning and had blood all over his face. Just a bloody nose in the middle ofthe night, but it looked terrible. We did not have milk, so my morning cereal routine for the kids was thrown off. The kids didn't midn the pancakes, but it made me late for everything else that morning. When I had finally gotten myself all put together I went to open the front door and the latch was stuck. It didn't matter what way I turned that handle the latch stayed firmly in place. Ethan was running late for the school bus, so Ethan and I ran out the back and around the front. Laura was a bit grateful for the stuck door at the moment because Joseph, his face still a bloody mess could not run out and see Ethan off. Laura dashed out to get Emma ready and when she finally got out to the car with the kids she had discovered that a neighborhood kitten had been stuck in the van and left a present on Emma's seat. Stressfull, but funny now.

We had Emma's birthday here a week ago. She had about 10 friends over and 1 neighbor boy that had invited himself. They all went over to the park and took whacks at a pinata (5 and 6 years old is too young for that) I ended up breaking it. The kids all had a lot of fun, but it was hard to herd them. I made cupcakes for the kids that turned out fairly nice, but I think we don't have any pictures.

We had all gone to Portland on the weekend of the 10th. I had meetings down there for work. I teased Laura a few days before because she wanted to plan it all out. She asked if I knew where we were staying yet I said casually, "Oh, the Hilton, I think." Little did I know. THey booked us at the Hilton Homewood suites. The nicest place I have ever stayed. It had a livingroom, kitchen, and a big bedroom. In each there was a bigscreen plasma tv. It had a real breakfast in the morning, USA Today waiting for us in fornt of our door, and other amenities we did not have time to enjoy. It was great. The following night (friday night) we stayed at Laura's aunt Margaret's house. Not as fancy, but the hospitality was much better. On Saturday we were debating about going to the beach, but we decided that driving an hour there, an hour back and 3.5 hour home would be too much to be fun, so we all went to the zoo instead. We ahd a great time. Probably the funniest thing was that after we had gone through and seen seals, polar bears, giraffes, and many other exotic animals, Ethan and I were on the way to the bathroom and he shouted excitedly, "look Dad a squirrel!" I thought, isn't it funny how 1 ordinary animal out of a cage can be more fun than an exotic inside.

Emma has really blossomed in school. She has a lot of friends. She says that every day she says a prayer over her food and tries to get her friends to do the same. She spoke to one girl recently and the girl daid, "oh, I didn't think you were my friend anymore." Emma said, "I everybody's friend!" It is so nice to have a girl that is excited about the gospel.

Laura was in the school with Ethan recently and they say the nurse come out of the office. Ethan said, "Hi ya nursey!" She got a big kick out of it then as she was walking away he said, "I like her. I wish I could keep her."

Abby is getting bigger. She is smiling often at people now and actively batting at toys. She is a lot of fun.

Joseph has reached a developmental milestone. He can now climb over a child gate. Hooray! HE siad something really cute recently. He asked, "Grandma grandpa mission?" "Yes, Grandma and Grandpa are on a mission." "Jojers mission too?" "Yes when you are older you can go on a mission too." "Yeah! Jojers Grandma Grandpa!" He thought he would see them because he would go on a mission. He said a similar thing to Laura also.

Big news in Laura's family. Is the anouncment of the Kansas City temple. Melissa (her sister) is expecting her first baby. Sarah just found out that she will be having another boy. That will be #6 for her. 5 boys and 1 girl.