I love this website!!

I love this website -- Look at all of the fun General Conference packets you can copy for your kids. I just got called to teach in Primary and there are so many great things to use on this website. I am all for using others' cute ideas!! :)

Our crazy garden

We have a very small backyard (if you can even call it a backyard) and all these tomato plants that we did not plant started coming up out of the bark -- we have a small forest that just seemed to appear one day in the backyard. Things grow so well here except grass it seems. These vegetables were picked in August, but we still have lots of tomatoes. We did plant some zucchini, squash and also a few tomato plants, but they didn't do as well as our wild tomatoes. YUMMY!!

Z's first day of preschool

Z and H -- good buddies!!

Z started preschool on September 2nd. He was so excited and so ready!! He goes to the Baptist church preschool just down the street from our house. His teacher is really nice and he really enjoys going each day. A little girl whose dad works with Jer also goes there and we are able to carpool. Z goes to school everyday for 3 hours a day. It is just like he is in kindergarten :( Z is getting way to0 big, way too fast!! I was OK when we dropped him off, but the night before when Jer gave him a Father's blessing I had a hard time. And then when I reminded Jer to say in the blessing to keep Z safe, that got Z all upset because I was worried. He wouldn't tell us what was wrong, but he had red puffy eyes and he was trying to hide it. He told Jer later that he was worried about me and that he would miss being with B and me -- cute boy!!

Z's Primary activity

On August 20th Z attended his second primary activity since moving here. They had fun water games, ate otterpops and learned some bike safety. He had a good time and so did B!


Waiting to toss a water balloon that none of the little kids could catch -- it was funny to watch :)
He was supposed to slide on his stomach, but instead he just ran down and hoped he didn't slip and fall!

Greensboro Children's Museum

A friend from our ward invited us to go to the Greensboro Children's Museum on August 19th. It was about 20 minutes away and I had not drove that far by myself since our move -- but we made it :) I had actually been to the museum years before. When I was teaching in Utah I came to an education conference in Greensboro and we went to the museum -- I never dreamed that I would someday live close by. Z loved the grocery store the best. There was also a pizza parlor, fire truck, police car (with a very loud siren), an airplane cockpit, a house, a beach, a construction site, and a lot more. It was so much fun and we plan to visit again!! Z wants to show his dad everything :)

This is how B started the day -- not thrilled

and always in the stroller!

And this is how it ended -- precious girl!!

Z's first soccer practice

Z had his first soccer practice on August 14th when my sister was visiting. He had been not so patiently waiting until real soccer started (his said that his summer soccer camp wasn't real soccer). Jer was asked to help out as an assistant coach. They will practice Thursdays and Saturdays for 45 minutes each. A guy from our ward is the coach, but his wife ran the first practice since her husband was out of town (I guess he is gone quite a bit)-- they are a great family!! There are a few kids from the ward on the team and also later we found out there are a few kids from Z's preschool class. All the kids here call adult women Miss (I think it is really cute!), but Jer didn't want to be called Miss :) or Mr. so he is Coach Jer. Z loves having his Daddy out there with him. Z even told me he wasn't going to call him Dad, but coach Jer like all the other kids :) It is fun watching all the kids learn, and lots of times it is just plain funny! I can't wait until the first game.

At the beach

As I said earlier when my sister came to visit we went to the Outer Banks. We were able to spend a few hours at the beach. We were not going to really get in and swim, but we all ended up doing just that (except for B of course). It is amazing how strong the tide is. At one point I tried to take Z out a little further with me. As we were turned around looking back towards the beach a strong wave hit us in the back and knocked both of us down. I had a death grip on Z's arm and Jer was afraid that I was going to break it. Waves kept coming and we couldn't get up. It was a little exciting, but Z was a brave boy and I was happy he didn't become afraid of the water after that. B didn't like the beach this time as much as last time, but Z really enjoyed playing in the sand and Jer, my sister and I loved playing in the water. Great Fun!!

Lighthouses

There is no way to explain the lighthouses!! They are so pretty and fun to see. We saw two -- one was the Bodie Lighthouse that is not open to the public (the one with horizontal stripes) so we were only able take pictures in front of it. The other one is the Cape Hattaras Lighthouse. Because B couldn't go up in it, Z, me and my sister climbed it first and then Jer climbed it by himself. We climbed about 268 steps to the top and the view was breathtaking. One of the pictures shows a path far below and Jer and B are on that path. In 1999 this lighthouse was actually moved 2900 feet from its original position. Because of erosion and storms, the lighthouse was in danger of not being stable and falling into the ocean so for 23 days they slowly moved it to its current day position.

Wright Brothers National Monument

This was a fun place to visit. The monument is located at Kill Devil Hills near Kitty Hawk on the Outer Banks. We were all so amazed that the first few flights by the Wright Brothers did not really go very far (look at the white markers that Z and Jer are walking to -- there are four) and also they did not go off of the large hill (they only used the hill for the glider), but launched from the ground. Simply amazing!!

And there was another . . .

Yeah!! My sister came to visit us from Wed. August 13th through Sun. the 17th. She left her husband and two kids at home for a little mini vacation by herself. She is 6 months pregnant and she looked beautiful. We did lots of fun things. She came to our summer movie with us (we go to a kids movie each week at the local theater -- $5.00 for 13 movies), she played the Wii with us, we went to Z's first soccer practice, and we watched the Olympics together. That was all done at home and then we took off for a 5 hour trip to the Outer Banks -- loved it!!! The Outer Banks are a string of small islands off the coast of NC. We went to the Wright Brothers National Monument, hiked to the top of a lighthouse, and played in the ocean. She had to experience our way of travel which is not knowing exactly where we would stay or what we would do, but it worked out great!! It was nice weather and we had so much fun with her. Please come back soon M!! We love you!

This slide show shows the hotel where we stayed and the neat view of the sound from our window. There also is a picture of the bridge that you crossed to go from one island to another one.