Day Trip to Cedar City

I took the kids up to Cedar for the day - just me. Alone. With four kids. The drive up was great - Henry slept almost the entire drive and only started fussing a few miles from Becky's house. The drive home wasn't as uneventful - we pulled over 12 miles from the nearest exit so I could nurse a screaming baby, and then an hour later, pulled off on a lonely exit so Penelope could go to the bathroom in the dirt. A lightning storm followed us home, and I got to see a ton of tumbleweeds, my favorite. 

It was 25 degrees cooler in Cedar than in Vegas - so we actually went outside! We ate out, went to the park and found a rope swing (score!), watched a guy practice his tight rope act, ran through sprinklers, and took turns holding Henry. It was a great trip, and with a forecast of 108 degrees all week, I am ready to go back soon! 

Henry's Baby Blessing

Henry was given a name and a blessing on June 7th, and he cried the entire time as Matt gave him the blessing. Henry was blessed to be intelligent, obedient, to have a sense of humor, to be married in the temple and to be a strong example of righteousness. I wish I would have taken notes but I was very distracted by the crying...

We were so grateful to have so many friends and family attend the blessing. This picture just makes me happy!

First meetings! Henry got to meet a lot of his family for the first time,  plus a visit from Ali and her family on their way from Utah to California.

Visit from May and Grandpa

My parent's came to visit for Henry's blessing day and we had a great time with them. And the kids were very happy that they brought Porter and Duke (are we EVER going to get a pet??).

Henry's first heart to heart with Grandpa - or his first talk with Hank, as my dad plans to call him.

While they were here, we went to a splash park where some of the kids splashed and some... well, ran around the outside of the water, or played in the puddles. This was one of our last less than scorching days.

Last Day of School!

We survived the school year! Kindergarten and Second Grade are in the books! We had some rocky last few weeks of school - Miles' teacher had to take off the last month of school because of a surgery to remove her thyroid, but her cancer has spread and she will have to get additional treatments. Miles liked his substitute, er, guest teacher.

Claire the Writer

I find Claire's notes everywhere - on her window, her wall, in notebooks, on the desk, and in adorable cards that she gives to us for formal occasions (Matt's graduation) or for no reason at all. I want to remember the cute phrases Claire uses and her love for writing.

Claire wrote out her feelings on getting baptized this year and taped it to the window above her bed.

A graduation card for Matt - my favorite is, "To the world, you are just a man..."

This is the type of "just for fun" work I find on various notebooks and papers around the house. Claire is analyzing different type of birthstones for Ms. Hiller's class.

And Claire's note about her memories and thoughts on her name - super cute!

Mr. Henry - Two Months Old

Two months already! Henry is filling out and adding weight - I love seeing his little legs chunk up. He is holding his head up pretty well lately - he still bobs up and down a bit but he is getting stronger. And his eyes are looking dark I think... not positive yet though.

Henry is taking a bottle well, which eased my mind a lot. I went back to work this week and was worried about him eating enough while I was gone. Miss Penelope flat our refused the bottle for weeks and Matt is scarred for life now!

Two month stats:

Length: 23 inches (46th percentile)

Weight: 12 lbs 3 oz (45th percentile)

Head: 15.5 inches (55th percentile)

Raindrops on Roses

Every now and then Penelope lets me add a new song to our bedtime routine. I chose Raindrops on Roses as our newest number and she wants it every night now. Dare I say, it has replaced "Jingle Bells, Batman Smells"?

Raindrops on Roses from Shannon Hiller on Vimeo.