Welcoming Samuel

Not quite sure what a baby must think; they’re taken out of the womb, and then wrapped up so tight in cloth and then placed in a car seat.

But he hasn’t asked to go back, so we’re grateful, and feel blessed to have Samuel in our lives.

The nursing staff went wild when they saw Autumn and Megan walk in the building with their “Big Sister” shirts on.

We were sitting at dinner, and we knew Samuel had a messy diaper. I asked, who’s going to change Samuel’s diaper.

There was a long pause, and Megan said with a big sigh, “I guess I’ll change Samuel’s diaper.”

And she did indeed help.

Just chillin’ in the monkey suit.

 

 

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Spring 2011 – Autumn

Spring is here! Well, sort of.

It’s been a wild ride trying to get spring to come.

There’s been enough good weather to get some yard work done and take a few pictures outside.

 

 

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Culture Evening

We enjoyed a ward culture evening with various artistic numbers ranging from dance, piano performance, vocal, recitation (which is different from resuscitation), and for the “extremely well cultured,” a ukulele number.

The number was a medely of 3 songs taking us through the roaring 1920′s with Blue Skies.

People sang this song in the 20′s because it was believed that the good times (blue skies) would never end.

Well, they did end with the crash of 1929, and the Great Depression ensued with 24% national unemployment.

They sang Brother can you Spare a Dime.

A very sad song, very sad.

But the sad times didn’t last forever…in fact there’s something that got people through the bad times: faith and love.

And perhaps a few Monkeys put it best in their song: I’m a Believer

That was the medley of song on the ukulele.

(The uke was made pre-1930 and the hat was Great Grandpa’s).

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Happy Easter 2011

We started off Easter a little early this year with our own family passover meal. We thought it would be fun to have a passover meal at home with Autumn and Megan.

Autumn was really excited for the Passover meal. Megan just wanted to get to the dinner part, so we had to hurry it along.

It was a lot of fun and offers insights into the sacrament and Easter.

This Easter season, we reflected on our trip to the Holy Land almost one year ago.

The Garden Tomb

On the mount of Olives, we could look across the valley to the temple mount, the Golden Gate (also called the Mercy Gate) which has been sealed can be seen as well as the beautiful Dome of the Rock.

The Garden of Gethsemane. Some of the stocks of these olive trees date back 2,000 years.

We can tell you from personal experience, that the tomb is still empty.

Easter at the Cabin

For this year’s Easter, we went to the cabin and had a fun time with family.

I snatched this picture early one morning.

The girls were happy with their Easter baskets. Megan’s was a real hit with the book Sleepy Kittens from the movie Despicable Me.

Megan reached for one of her eggs she saw behind the pillow. Each grandkid had a specific color of egg to find.

Moose on the Loose

We had an adventure as we looked out the window and saw a moose in the back yard. It was a bull moose and was shedding its winter coat.

Moose have antlers so they fall off and grow back every year.

I pulled out my Android phone and took a video of the Moose. My sister Katherine was skyping us when we saw the moose, so we took the computer out so she could see too.

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Little Radio Stars

We set up our Blue Yeti Microphone and had a fun day a while back recording the kids. They wanted to sing some songs and tell stories.

I think we have a few radio stars. Below are the recordings we made:

Megan’s Recordings:

Megan Singing Row, Row, Row Your Boat

[audio:http://www.wheatleyfamily.net/audio/2011-03-27-Row-Your-Boat-Megan.mp3|titles=Row Your Boat, Megan]

Megan Singing the song, but with a little editing, we’ve put it into a round:

[audio:http://www.wheatleyfamily.net/audio/2011-03-27-Row-Your-Boat-Round-Megan.mp3|titles=Row Your Boat Round, Megan]

Megan took a moment to record a little from the beginning of the Rapunzel story.

[audio:http://www.wheatleyfamily.net/audio/2011-03-27-Rapunzel-Megan.mp3|titles=Rapuzel Story Retelling]

Megan wanted to tell the story of the Three Little Kittens from the movie Despicable Me. She tells the story as Mr. Gru with his deep voice read the story to the little kids in the movie:

[audio:http://www.wheatleyfamily.net/audio/2011-03-27-Three-Little-Kittens-Megan.mp3|titles=Three Little Kittens]

Now some stories and songs from Autumn:

Autumn arranged the song below by herself:

[audio:http://www.wheatleyfamily.net/audio/2011-03-27-Hot-Cross-Buns-Peter-Peter-Pumpkin-Eater-Retelling-Autumn.mp3|titles=Songs by Autumn]

Autumn sang Row Your Boat:

[audio:http://www.wheatleyfamily.net/audio/2011-03-27-Row-Your-Boat-Autumn.mp3|titles=Row Your Boat, Autumn]

Autumn wanted to tell the Story of Star Wars:

[audio:http://www.wheatleyfamily.net/audio/2011-03-27-Star-Wars-Retelling-Autumn.mp3|titles=Star Wars Retelling, Autumn]

Megan and Autumn sang Pearly Shells:

[audio:http://www.wheatleyfamily.net/audio/2011-03-27-pearly-shells-Autumn-and-Megan.mp3|titles=Pearly Shells, Autumn and Megan]

The girls had a lot of fun recording the songs. They had even more fun listening to them over and over again.

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