They're doing it!!

They are only able to sit for short periods of time before falling (1-3 min) but they are able to sit. Hurray! Abigail does it correctly but if you notice Tasha on the right has her knees locked to keep up her balance. We have our work cut out for us with her PT!

Wildlife Sanctuary

We had a fun time last week visiting a wildlife sanctuary. We wore all long sleeved things to avoid mosquito bites, but it was about 93 degrees and we were roasting! The water is low so we didn't see any alligators--bummer. We did see some other fun things though. Here is Nate with my friend Jenny looking through the telescope at a rare "ghost orchid".

Tasha could only take so much and crashed in her new stroller--still just a bit big for her.

This is a great picture, but it doesn't show that the grasshopper was about the size of my hand. It was VERY intimidating. I really wanted it for my collection!

Her they all are: 4 kids + Jenny & her MIL who is our branch pres.'s wife. We really LOVE their family.

It was a great day, but we spent about 20 min at the end just sitting in the building enjoying the A/C. Man was it hot!!

Our Little Branch

One thing that I am really enjoying is our branch. We are just out of the ward boundries so all of the Ave friends we have are in the ward and we are in a branch. We drive 25 minutes to church through some beautiful scenery. There is a sign on the front of the school that we rent to announce that we are here and we meet in the cafeteria. If we are late there are generally not enough seats in the rows and we have to sit at one of the round cafeteria tables. It sure makes coloring easy for the kids. Our average sacrament meeting attendance is 80, making our family 1/10 of the branch--statistically speaking. Our speakers have a podium on the stage and we have a portable keyboard to sing with. At first, our kids kept asking why there were tiger pictures everywhere, but now their mascot is just part of the quaint ambiance. Classes are held in various corners at quiet levels and primary is held in the teachers' lounge.

Primary is an adventure in itself. We just got a 3rd teacher (hurray) who takes the 3-4 year olds. The rest of the kids are divided into 2 classes taught by the primary president and counselor. The other counselor is in charge of nursery which is in this 4x5 area in front of the bathrooms. We have a 2 little rugs and a bin of toys. There are only 3 kids (Andrew is one) until the twins join in December. Overall we have about 15 kids on any given Sunday. Where do I fit in? I am the primary secretary (aka helper and potty-taker during the 1st hour) and the primary music director. Both are callings that terrify and intimidate me and I feel like I am failing miserably. I guess that means that I am in a great place to learn. This calling looked so much easier when I was watching Sis. Gordon & Sis. Estes do it. :)

In the end, it is absolutely the people that make the branch. There is a tremendous dedication to the gospel and a strength that I have loved. Our youth are absolutely fantastic with testimonies that sometimes outshine all the adults. Even in our small branch, there has never been a lag in testimonies on fast Sunday. This has been and will continue to be a fantastic experience for our family. I doubt we will ever take a nice ward building for granted again.

July 4th Fun!

The morning of the 4th I was pretty depressed. I was missing my parents' neighborhood breakfast, the Murray parade, the BBQ and fun in the sun with family and lighting off fireworks together. But, we decided to head to the beach for a couple of hours. We had been invited over the phone by a member of the stake pres. but we knew everyone there would be in the ward & we are in the branch. It was a potentially akward situation to go somewhere and meet a whole bunch of strangers but we did it anyway. We ended up getting to know several amazing families and having a great time. We ended up staying the whole day and ordering pizza with them. Our kids made friends easily and it ended up being a fantastic day. I loved sitting on the beach and watching the fireworks over the pier. It was the start of a new tradition. Andrew posing with the twins in their beach hats.

Ansely holding a sleeping Tasha. We got spoiled with several people who loved holding the twins and they gave us a ton of breaks.

I am in the orange jacket riding in the catamaran.

Gabby playing in the tide pools.

Andrew just loved the little tide pools. They were the perfect size and the water is about 92 degrees. The kids had a great time catching sand fleas (about 1" in length) and keeping them in little pools & buckets.

Nate found a new friend Seth, who likes boogie boarding as much as he does. It was so fun for the kids to swim until dark.

Last Week

It is really hot outside these days so we have had to be really creative to stay entertained inside. This week the kids really got into costumes and put on a play for Abigail, Natasha & me. They used the boxes for our new bar stools as a stage. They were hilarious!

The heat is really making us tired. The kids (Josh included) have a hard time staying awake lately in the evenings.