Dear Eric,

Hurry home from Scout Camp before I spend all of our money.  We've been to Target three times this week.  Today I took the kids shopping at the toy store--it could have been worse, they wanted to go to a pet store.  Tomorrow we are headed to Costco.  I had to find something to occupy my time while you were gone...

LOL,

Stac 

Summer Is Here

And we are really excited!  I love the freedom from rigid schedules, warm weather, spending time outside, children who are exhausted at the end of the day from playing hard, and the slower pace of life.  We have planned some really fun things for our family this summer and are looking forward to many adventures.

Eric and I kicked summer off in fashion by heading to youth conference with the 14 to 18-year-old youth from our ward this week.  We stayed at Aspen Grove which was wonderful because all of the activities were planned and carried out for us, as were the meals.  We basically hung out with the kids and had a great time.  It doesn't get much easier than that!  The conference wrapped up on a really high note with a special evening presentation by Elder Jeffrey R. Holland.  He spoke on our conference theme "I am encircled about eternally in the arms of his love" {2 Nephi 1:15}.  It was a really wonderful experience to spend the evening with an Apostle.

After a day to recover from all the fun at Youth Conference, I took my kids to one of their favorite summer destinations, the Tracy Aviary.  It was the perfect day to go there.  The weather was warm and it wasn't crowded.  I was really amazed to reflect back on our trip there last year and realize how much my little guy has changed.  He really enjoyed seeing the birds and different exhibits this year.  Last year all he wanted to do was run.

Allie reminds me of my Grandpa Hudson.  She loves to really study things thoroughly.  She wanted to read every last detail about every animal in each of the exhibits.  Landon would look around, check things out, run around a bit, and then he was ready to move on.  In the picture above he was showing the little birds in this exhibit how to fly. 

Landon and I had to exercise a lot of patience today as we waited for Allie to absorb everything she wanted to read. 

Landon doesn't go anywhere these days without his favorite thing in the whole world, his beloved "puppy dog".  He named it all by himself. 

When he needed both hands to explore he would bring puppy dog to me and tell me "watch puppy dog mom".  It's a miracle this little puppy dog has managed to not be lost {for too long} yet.