Oregon!

Last weekend, David went to Ashland, Oregon to help his sister Stephanie move. Of course, we forgot to send the camera with him, but he said it was really beautiful up there. As David was telling me some things about the trip I thought the highlight for me was this: Apparently in Ashland there is a natural water fountain where the water has an unusually high amount of minerals in it. Stephanie took David in a non deviant way by the water fountain and pretending like she had never tasted the water before she took a drink and said, "wow, that's amazing, Dave, try this water." So of course David took a nice long drink, after which he tried to spit it all out. He said because of the high sulfer content of the water it tasted exactly like rotten eggs. I was laughing so hard when he told me about this because Steph has been wanting to do this to someone the whole time she has lived there. David is the best for jokes like this, and he doesn't hate you afterward so he's pretty fun.
On the drive back from Oregon in the moving truck, David and Steph got a flat tire just outside of Elko and had to wait a couple of hours for someone to come with a new tire. (apparently they don't include a spare with moving trucks because it is a liability for the client to put a tire on.)
David flew home on Memorial Day which I will talk about in my next post. With a few pictures by the way! Shocking, I know.

Why do I always forget my camera?

We have had a fun few days this past week. On Saturday morning we went to St. George to go to Freis Farmers Market. We were in the market for apricots for canning, but they didn't have any just yet, so we settled for fresh Corn and beets. MMMM! Then we went to lunch at the downtown St. George Pizza factory. I have memories of my Grandma and Grandpa Jackson taking us there when we would go swimming at their condo. They sat us in a booth which used to remind me of a train for some reason. Around Pizza Factory is an old shopping village that we walked around in for a bit. Next time we want to try the open air soup and sandwich shop. We wanted to do something that Mckinley would think was fun, so next we went to the park on tabernacle street where they have these water fountain things around the park that little kids can play in. There is a little river with big boulders in it that kids can climb around on and play in the water, and then there is a geyser pad? like at the gateway mall. Mckinley preferred the stream but she did run through the geysers twice with her daddy. Red Robin was there, and when Mckinley saw him she ran up to him and gave him a hug. She was so excited that she started jumping up and down, which the robin did too. We thought it was so cute because she seemed so enchanted about it. It was an impromptu park visit for us so we didn't have Mckinleys swimming suit or a towel or anything, and I'm pretty sure that Mckinley was the only one there wearing a dress. When she was soaked to the bone, we put her in the car and went home.
Later, as we were doing yardwork, one of our neighbors came over and asked us to participate in a photo shoot for Deseret Book. Hahaha, we did it, but the funny part was that it was for a Christmas story. So we were dressed up in winter Christmassy clothes as it was like 90 degrees outside. We sang Christmas carols and were really feeling the Christmas spirit for about an hour.
The next day, Mckinley gave her first talk in primary about Jesus being baptized. She had practiced so hard on it and had colored a really pretty picture to display, and she was very worried that the primary leader was going to forget about her turn. When they said "now we will turn the time over to Mckinley for a talk", she yelled, "I'm right here!" We were so proud and I thought she would be shy about talking into the microphone but of course, what was I thinking, she is not shy.

A new adventure with training wheels

Last Halloween, Mckinley got a new bike. Davids boss had been bombarded by neighborhood trick or treaters, so instead of candy, he gave her a bike. So as soon as it started to warm up, we went and got training wheels and a little kid helmet. And the next day it rained...all day. And the day after that was a Sunday. Anyone who has kids knows what it's like when your kids get excited about something and then you tell them, "but not until Monday." It was a very long weekend.
Finally Monday came and it was time to try out Mckinleys skills with her new bike. She was so excited. She got really frustrated though because she couldn't figure out how to make the bike do what she was trying to do. She just wanted to ride and have the bike read her mind, is that so much to ask?
The next picture was taken the next day. She was pretty mad again and was ready to leave her bike down the street and walk home. It's hard to see but she is walking away, very defensively folding her arms.
But the story has a happy ending. She got back on her bike and has been working very hard to learn how to steer. (pedalling plus steering together equal major tantrums.) So look out world!