Nauvoo the beautiful (happy birthday mom)

Happy birthday, Mom.
I'm blogging for you!

We loved our stop in Nauvoo.  Thanks for the wonderful meals, mom and dad,  for getting us tickets to performances and being great tour guides and especially for going to the temple with us.  That was the highlight for me!

               Michael, Jessica, Gma and Gpa

 Group photo at the visitor center

 We went on an oxen ride

 One big happy family

 Talented young adult street performers (also put on show in PM)

 Curtis got a kick out of the non-standardize spelling in the school house

 Mother and son (Trevor) posing next to statue in the Women's Garden

Demonstration of rope making in the family living center

Jason's Choir Concert and Graduation

I took lots of photos and video because I know you would have wanted to be there:)
Jason did an awesome job.  He performed in three different choirs and had some solos and performed a duet with his pal, Josh.  He also had four costume changes.  Each choir did songs from a different musical.

Jason as the Grinch, displaying his most valuable male vocalist award

I couldn't download the videos directly.
Neil helped me put Jason's solo and duet on you tube.
Sorry for the poor sound quality.  It cut out when I changed the zoom.

	http://youtu.be/7A5t72_lPGo http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OayHdhrqZdg&feature=channel&list=UL

Some graduation photos:
It was so nice of Jessica and Michael to come over for the big event.

disregard the video--I don't know how to delete it

Goodbye to the NW

Saying goodbye before heading East the middle of June

 To my sister Brenda and Andrus cousins

 It was hard to say goodbye to Janelle and Pam, who are like sisters to me

 We spent the our last Saturday in Oregon in Medford, first a baptism trip, then playing with cousins at Neil and Pam's

Playing at the water park in Meridian, Idaho

 Dodge Grandparents Ellen and Elmer

 We spent the night at Elmer and Ellen's house in Boise

 We stopped in to see Velvet and Carl in West Jordan then drove to Keith and Robyn's in Grantsville

 Curtis riding cousin Bailey's horse

 Curtis playing with cousin Andy

 Michael and Jason trying out Keith's jeep

Next stop: Nebraska enroute to Nauvoo

Marvelous Memorial Weekend Memorires

 I took the boys to visit Jessica and Michael for Memorial day weekend.  They just moved into a new apartment (more like the upstairs of a townhouse) that is light and roomy and lovely at Camas Commons. 

 Here is the kitchen and living room.  They boys played lots of video games, but we also went on some outings.

 The highlight was going with Ken and his girls to Camp Alpine on Saturday.  It was so great to spent time with them at this magical place because we will miss the family reunion in July this year.

 Trevor and Ann Marie are walking where the pond normally is.  It wasn't dammed yet.

 They found lots of snakes in the grass.  Ken's wondering if they're related.

 Rachel and Robin check out the captured snakes.

Curtis and Ann Marie playing at "Libby's Leap"

 Trevor and Michael testing the strength of the rope swing

 Rachel brought her bow/arrows and throwing knives.  She could be a medieval warrior!!

Michael, Trevor and Jason tried throwing the knives

Group shot at the archery range

 We took an excursion to nearby Alsea Falls.  Ann Marie got wetter than she expected.

 Ken shared his hot dogs and smores with us around a campfire

 My beautiful daughter who is turning 20 on Monday.  It was so great to spend time with her.

 Triumphal Trevor tidbit:  Trevor drove the car for the first time while we were at Alpine.  We drove around the meadow several times and then drove us out to the highway on the way home.  He has been hesitant to drive up until now but he seems to really like it.  Town driving is a little scarier.

Trevor earned his Life Scout rank this last week.  He's pinning me at the Court of Honor.

Jason's Prom date

 When Jason got home from France he was so excited to be asked to prom by a German exchange student named Wiepka.  She's very cute and nice and they have been dating since.  They went with a group of friends...

 and rented a limosine...

 after dinner they drove to the top of Pilot Butte for more pictures

I did the flowers for the group.  It took several hours but was fun for me.

 Jason making cookies at our apartment with Courtney and Wiepka last week.

Visiting Jonathan in our new home

 I took Curtis and Trevor with me to visit Jonathan in our new home the first weekend of May.  We flew with our two cats, who handled the trip fine with sedatives and love exploring our new home.

 We have 2.5 acres of land; the back of it is wooded and borders two large ponds.  We also discovered how to remove ticks and treat for bites (Jonathan and one of the cats had multiple bites).

 We took Curtis and Trevor to a nearby fun park where we played mini-golf, laser tag and go carts.  Maybe Jason can get a job there:)  The boys loved it. 

 We went for a walk near Trevor's high school.  There's a bike path the stretches for 10 miles.  It's really beautiful countryside.  Jonathan picked a nice area for us to live in outside of the city.

 Curtis at dusk checking out our ride-on lawn mower.  It takes Jonathan a hour to mow the grass.  He's looking forward to the boys taking over weekly chore.

We visited the school while we were there.  We went to church in our ward;it's small but friendly.  I found some chicks for sale at the feed store a town away and we bought 8 chicks.  Jonathan has spent all his free time this month building a coop and yard for them because they quickly outgrew the bins in the basement.

Jonathan also bought me peach and apple trees for Mother's Day and planted them.  He said there are already peaches on the tree.  I'm so excited!   We won't have time to put in a garden until next year:)
Our visit went so fast and it was hard to say goodbye again.  The next time we see Jonathan will be when we're getting ready to drive the whole family out there for good!

My baby trees are on the left outside the fence.

End of an era

It was sad to say goodbye to our home of eleven years this week.  The move went so smoothly with only invited (and hired) helpers.  Three men loaded everything into the Penske truck in five hours.  The Mattsons had helped me pack and stack everything ahead of time into the staging area (garage).

We are now settled into our little third-floor apartment.  It is surprisingly clean and quiet with lots of cupboards for storage.  Our tuxedo cat, Boots, is not a happy camper being stuck inside (I'm afraid he'll run back to Baskin Ct or get run over), so yesterday we bought him a collar and lease so we can take him on supervised trips to the back yard.

We've hiked the Butte 4 times this week, even with the move, because we are right next to it.  I don't have any pictures to show you because Jason has my camera in France.  We went to visit Nathan's family for two weeks (his graduation present).  He'll fly back tomorrow and will be very busy making up class work so he can actually graduate in 7 weeks.