What happens when your children are quiet?

Sonya was playing with Lucas in our backyard and they seemed to be playing great together.  Ksenia asked, "Should we check on them?"  Karren replied, "They aren't crying, I'm sure they are fine."  Despite my better judgement, I didn't move.

When we went outside a bit later, a planter box full of strawberries that used to look like this:

Instead looked like this:

Where might the plants have gone to, you might ask?

That's right ... the hot tub.  Karren had been wanting to get rid of this eye sore for a while now and this afforded her the perfect opportunity.  If you now ask Sonya where the hot tub went, she will tell you a man came and took it away because she threw mommy's strawberries in it.

Sonya the Dancer

Sonya has been taking dance classes with Miss Kim at Young Learners Dancin' School and she really LOVES it. Cindy Pederson from Timeless Images Photography snapped these gorgeous photos of Sonya. We can't wait to get the proofs (and yes, we will be sending one to all grandparents). Thank you Cindy and we hope to work with you again soon!

Sonya's recital will be on Saturday, June 18th at 2:30 PM.

John Day Fossil Beds

Intel gave me the week off and so I wanted to do something fun.  I therefore took Sonya to John Day Fossil Beds NM.  Karren had to cook for the Graduation dinner for the Young Men/Young Women of our ward so she had to stay behind.

Tuesday, May 10th
We left early in the morning at 6 AM and made the long drive to the John Day River Area.  We arrived just before noon.

At the Sheep Rock Unit, we visited the Thomas Condon Paleontology Center where we toured the museum and Sonya earned her Junior Ranger Award.

We then hiked the Island in Time trail (1 mile) where many fossils have been found.  Many exhibits and replicas were found along the trail.

At this point, Sonya was exhausted.  She conked out in the car, so I decided to check into our Teepee at Clyde Holliday State Recreation Site.  As you can see, she happily slept:

The rest of the day, we walked around the park, went out for dinner, and watch Tangled on our portable DVD player.

Wednesday, May 11th

Sonya woke up nice and early the next morning (6:30 AM) so we got a good jump on the day.  We quickly packed up our gear and headed out.

Our first stop of the day was at the Painted Hills unit. 

We hiked the Painted Hills Overlook (0.5 miles) and the Painted Cove (0.25 miles) trails.  As you can see, the hills are gorgeous.

We then continued our journey to the Clarno unit.  Here are the Palisades where many important fossil finds were located.

We hiked all three trails (about a mile total).  We saw fossils in the rocks, learned about the geology of the region, and saw a great view of the valley.

Once again, Sonya was exhausted and we had already seen all three units.  She once again fell asleep and so I started my trip home.  She woke up 25 minutes before we arrived home.  

It was a great trip.  My only regret was that Karren couldn't make it also.

Happy Mother's Day 2011 ..... Love Sonya

Made in Primary today.

Sonya's new obsession

Happy Easter

Easter this year was pretty low key. On Saturday, we attended the premier of Disney's African Cats. I won tickets through work and they had some activities before the movie. Here, Sonya is learning about reusable items. :)

Then it was off to the Stake Center for the annual Easter Egg hunt. Sonya knew exactly what to do and ran to get those eggs.

Sunday was really kicked back. Sonya sang for the first time during Sacrament Meeting with the Primary. When she came back to her seat, she was beaming. Sonya loves singing Primary songs around the house and really knows the words well.

That evening, we were invited over to our Home Teacher's, the Sanchez family, house for dinner. Great food and great company and an awesome way to end our Easter weekend.

Sonya and Sydney - A Sleepover

Craziness:



And Sleep: