Have you ever wondered where milk comes from? Well now we know the answer. Milk comes from melting cheese! Let me express that for you algebraically:
wedge of cheese + external heat source = glass of refreshing milk
Don’t believe me? Just ask Dr. Dallin, leading milk expert of our time.
Once he explains it to you, it will all become clear and you’ll be a believer too.
Mandy wanted me to play a guessing game with her. She came to me with her fists tightly closed and told me to pick one. So I picked the left one.
And I got it right! She hid her hands behind her back and then brought her tightly closed fists in front of her and told me to pick again. This time I picked the right one.
And I won again. This went on and on with me winning every time. I must be some good guesser, right? Nope. I finally ask Mandy to open both of her hands:
Apparently she was afraid that I wouldn’t get it right and she didn’t want my ego to suffer, so she helped me out a little. I love playing games with three year olds!
…not really, but I’m just going to pretend that you have been agonizing in anticipation for these pictures from our ward party. So here we go…
The Water Slide
I think Dallin spent 2.5 of the 3 hours that we were at the party going down this slide. He was wild!
Bouncing
They also had several blow up bounce houses and a trampoline. Layton wasn’t too sure about it though.
The Dunking Booth
Our good Bishop was brave enough to sit in the dunking booth. Look how happy he is - for now :)
Nathan took a few throws to try to knock him down, but unfortunately he missed.
The Bishop’s daughter took a throw too and missed, but then she went in for the kill and took him down. It was awesome!
The Food
In addition to the normal picnic fare they also had…
Snow cones – oh so cold and yummy
Cotton candy – super sticky and sweet
And of course the watermelon that Layton couldn’t stay away from.
The Mechanical Bull
Nathan took a ride on the mechanical bull.
But that bull was mean. Mean, I tell ya! And he threw Nathan off.
Then I took a ride on the bull. All smiles at first…
But then things got a little wilder. I am proud to say though that I stayed on the whole time! (I think the bull operator was a little nicer on me than he was to Nathan though.)
Some of our friends tried it out too. This is Cassie. Isn’t this picture great? It looks like her eyeballs are about to pop out of her head. I love it!
This is Heath and Kelly.
They were one wild bull riding duo! It was quite a show to watch them :)
But just so you don’t think that only adults got up there, this is little Miss Millie. Isn’t she darling? My kids were too scared to get up there. But not Millie! She was awesome!
Can you tell that we had more than just a little fun that day?
This is a teaser post of more good things to come. We had a big ward party on Saturday with all kinds of fun activities, but I haven’t had time yet to edit and crop all the photos, so just enjoy this one for today:
I think Layton ate his weight in watermelon that day. He just couldn’t get enough. More pictures from the party to come tomorrow. Get excited – we’re talking water slide, dunking booth, and mechanical bull riding!!!!
Last night we said goodbye to Dad. His plane leaves early Tuesday morning. He will first go to a base in Wisconsin for training for about 45 days. Then (fingers crossed) he may get to come back to visit for a couple of days before leaving to go to Iraq. We’ve got the web-cam all set up for video calling, so hopefully we’ll be able to “see” lots of him that way.
He really seems ready to go and was in great spirits. Nathan gave him a beautiful blessing that let him know how much our Heavenly Father loves him and will be with him, as well as with Mom, during this coming year. It is really going to be hard on her, but I hope that she will call on us often (yep, Mom, I’m writing that just for you, you better call us!).
We love him so much and will miss him. Dallin said that what he will miss most about Grandpa is when he does funny stuff to him, like turning him upside down and hanging Dallin from his back. Mandy said that what she will miss most about Grandpa are his great big hugs. Layton can’t talk, but he is going to miss Grandpa too!
Nathan’s Dad, who I also refer to as Dad, has been in the National Guard for who knows how many years. Lots. And now, when he is close to the end of his career, he is being activated to go and serve for 1 year in Iraq. As you can imagine, we are very sad to see him go and are nervous for him to be in such a place. But at the same time, we are so proud of him for serving his country. It is such a noble and selfless thing to do.
Last Sunday, a party was held for him to let the ward members say goodbye. He’ll be leaving next Monday. He is so well loved by his family and friends!
These are just some random pictures from the party.
Several of you noticed that I put a new family picture up on the title to the blog. This past weekend we did a little photo shoot (thanks Stacy for being our photographer). The one in the blog title is the one that I think turned out best, but I thought I would share some of the others with you because they are rather amusing. Between trying to keep Layton from all out bawling and getting Mandy to even look at the camera much less smile, I’m just glad we had at least one that turned out fairly well!
Love that Mandy smirk!
What’s so interesting? Not Sure.
Isn’t Layton’s smile the best! But just look at the Mandy girl.
Taking a picture by the well SEEMED like a good idea. But I guess not. Mandy didn’t agree.
Again with that Crazy Girl Mandy face. She’s a mess.
Don’t you love my big open mouth? I was trying to get Layton to smile.
And then he did…once he had his hand down my shirt. Good golly!
And this one is my personal favorite.
In fact I love it so much, I thought you might need a close up of what makes it so very special to me.
Love that girl!
