March 25, 2012

Tuesday we went to a couple's house in our stake. Craig had met the man in the stake men;s choir and invited him to have lunch. The man said that he didn't eat out and asked if we would come to his house. A little tentatively we all went over after school. THey own an ancient home surrounded by five acres. It was truly a kid's paradise. We helped them haul limbs from their orchard and got to ride on the trailer behind the four wheeler. He then proceeded to give us a challenge to see if we could build a fire without fuel or paper high enough to burn a string. Breck and Lan were on their own, Capriel and Dad, and Talia and I. We went to work collecting firewood. We were only allowed 3 matches. It was fun to see the different techniques the kids used. Breck decided to just build pile of grass tall enough to reach the string right away, while others worked to build a more solid base. Talia and I were the winners, though Craig said he and Prilly should recieve some glory because they got their fire going with only one match. After the competition we had a hot dog roast. They kids had a great time running around, exploring, swinging on the rope swing and being outside. It was so fun to meet new people and so fun to see such gorgeous property.
Rhyse, who is definitely our precious baby, even though she is getting pretty big. I love that Breck recognized her sweetness and actually thought to take this picture.

Here's Lani being silly with some Valentine's candy from Gma/Gpa Winder.

Breck definitely has a green thumb. She spends significant time babying her plants. She is now growning many new things for our garden. She seems to know when and how to water, move and care for them so that they thrive.

Landen performed his science experiment this week. He tested to see if color affected people's perception of flavor. He gave each person three small cups of carbonated water (all strawberry flavor). Two were colored and one was clear. It was fascinating to observe how serious the kids were about their answers and how varied their perceptions were. Landen did a great job and seemed happy with his efforts. My favorite part was after we had tested all the kids, Landen said, "finally, now I can have a drink." I handed him a partially empty bottle that happened to be clear. He look at me disgustedly, and said, " I don't want THAT one," and then reached for the blue colored bottle!

We also had Capriel's first soccer practice. After the initial bawling over shingaurds and shoes and clothes and ....... things went pretty smoothly. How awesome to be able to have it in my own backyard! I'm excited for the challenge. I can tell that I'm going to have to be very prepared and energetic, but I think it will be really fun. I was a little nervous setting them up at the end up practice for a little scrimmage, cause I wasn't sure they'd have any idea what to do, but I was wrong. THey were aggressive, focussed and knew just what to do.

Just a few random pictures. THese are Capriel's marigolds, that she planted from seed.