Zoo + Preschool Graduation

Hayes recently had a field trip to the Zoo with his preschool class. The day we went was pretty chilly and windy. We had some fun though. He fed the giraffe some lettuce (actually he freaked out at the last minute when he saw its huge purple tongue, and I fed the giraffe some lettuce).

2 weeks ago he had his preschool graduation where his class sang some songs and had a little program for us. Some of his friends are moving on to kindergarten next year, which made him realize that he didn't actually graduate. This made him mad enough that he came home and cut up his diploma. I guess there is always next year...

Christmas in April

For Christmas this year we gave out sibling dates as gifts to the brother or sister whose name we drew. My brother Alex drew my name and promised to be my guide in Rexburg to all the sites associated with the Teton Dam failure in 1976. This weekend I met Alex in Rexburg and got a whirlwind tour of life in as a student at BYU-I. I forgot what real college life was like. We went out to dinner with a bunch of his friends Friday night in Idaho Falls and then went to a girl's apartment to watch a movie (I fell asleep on the couch in the first 10 minutes). The girls in the apartment did not go to bed until well after 1 a.m. while I was lying on their couch trying to sleep. At this point one of them remembered that they actually had an empty bed where I could sleep (information I would have appreciated about 3 hours earlier). It was pretty funny and definitely a flashback to my undergrad days.

Alex and I drove out the the dam site and hiked around trying to imagine what the flood would have looked like. He took me through all the towns that were hit. It was great! We had such a fun time! It was a great road trip. The drive across Idaho was beautiful this time of year with the mountains still snow-capped and the fields and grass starting to turn green.

I did start my thesis research at the BYU-I special collections and they were so excited to help me! I am glad that it will be an enjoyable experience. So far I am overly-enthusiastic and obsessed with the topic, so I hope I still enjoy it by the time I present it next March. I present my thesis proposal to my committee of advisors on Wednesday, so wish me luck!

Easter in Boise

The kids had a good time finding what the Easter bunny left them. Hayes is convinced the Easter Bunny is a genius because he had the brilliant idea of bringing him a huge Star Wars book. I tried to avoid candy all together (I abhor Easter candy, it is so not good). We had an Easter egg hunt at my grandparent's house and the kids got a kick out of that.

Easter in Yakima

The weekend before Easter we went up to Yakima for Aunt Doris' funeral. The funeral was nice and we enjoyed seeing a lot of Joe's family. The kids dyed eggs with Grandma Kathy and did an Easter Egg hunt. It was pretty fun!

Totally Framing this...

For my birthday Joe sent me to a women's football clinic at Boise State where we got tour all the football facilities, meet some of the players and the coaches, and learn about how Bronco football works. It was awesome! And...I got to meet Coach Pete, which was a dream come true.

McCall Winter Carnival

A couple of weekends ago Joe and the kids went up to McCall for the Winter Carnival there. I was in class all day for 3 days learning about the environmental history of the Civil War so I stayed in Boise. They stayed at my Grandpa's cabin there for the weekend and had a fun time in the snow. They checked out the snow sculptures, rode some rides at the carnival, and saw the fireworks over the lake. I had a blast reading articles and writing a book review...yeah, not really, but maybe I can go next year!

Hayes turned 4...a month ago!

Hayes is four now! He wanted a Bronco birthday party (which I encouraged). We found Bronco cupcake papers at the Bronco store and made blue and orange cupcakes that have the Boise State fight song written on them. We had a fun party at my parent's house where all of my brothers and sisters and some of my cousins came. And yes, he has a mohawk in this picture, it has since been shaved off.