Boise, here we come!

Hi Everyone,

As some of you already know, we are moving back to Boise!!! Mark is transferring with Microsoft to the office in Boise. We have already found a great house to buy in Boise which we will close on by the end of June. We feel very blessed for this opportunity. Redmond is beautiful, there are so many great things to see and do here, but there's no place like home. We will miss our friends and ward here, but it will be great to be so close to our friends and families in Boise. It will also be nice to be closer to family and friends in Utah. We love you all and now we won't have to miss some of you so much! Have a great week!

Love,
Aubrey

Joy Bear and Roses

 

This is Joy's latest trick. She has only her hands and feet on the ground and lifts the rest of herself up off the ground. She can stay like that for several seconds. I think she's trying to go somewhere. She gets a little frustrated with it after awhile. Such a strong, cute girl!

 

 

 

These are pictures of some beautiful roses Mark brought home for me on Friday, an early Mother's Day present. It's been a lovely Mother's Day, Mark has been giving me lots of time to rest. I've been reading the Fablehaven series. I know, it's for kids, but I like my books easy to read and squeaky clean, so this definitely fits the bill. It's a fun read, I would highly recommend it. I hope everyone has had a great Mother's Day. We love you all!

Love,
Aubrey

Sweet Grace

Grace is showing a really sweet side lately. Last night she said the bedtime prayer. She said "Thank Thee for this day, thank Thee for our family, and thank Thee that I love BethAnne...so much!" She went on to say more, but I thought that was so sweet. I guess when your kids are going through a phase (like Grace did for 6 months after the baby was born) you just have to try to love them as best you can and hang on, it will get better if you try to stay positive and hopeful. I'm so grateful for my sweet kids and even sweeter husband (see they do have some of him in them). Have a great weekend!

Yummy new stroller!

 

 

Joy just loves her new stroller. We put her in it and she started eating it right away. It's a Jeep (Kolcraft) brand and we love it because we finally found one like the one we used to have. That one got eaten by the airport baggage handler monsters, and we had a hard time finding a new one like it because they changed their name (sort of) from Kolcraft to Jeep. We found it at Walmart, other stores didn't have it (it was a great price too). I could go on and on about why I like this stroller, it's light weight, easy to maneuver, one hand folding, cushy handle, not too short handle, good basket underneath, etc. Have a great weekend!

Love,
Aubrey

She aint heavy, she's my sister

The girls and I went to the Zoo again yesterday, we got a membership because it's a great Zoo and good exercise. We were really blessed that it stopped raining just as we pulled up to the Zoo so hardly anyone was there and the weather was gorgeous. After walking around for a couple hours the kids started to get tired and BethAnne started to complain that her foot hurt (her doctor thinks it just a minor flat foot kind of issue, we're probably going to get some inserts for her shoes). BethAnne's too big for me to carry and she didn't seem to be hurting too much so I said we just had to be brave and keep walking and we would get to the car soon. A few minutes (and a few complaints) later, I turned around and saw that the girls were a little ways back and Grace had her arms tight around BethAnne, it looked like she was giving her a big bear hug. At first I was concerned because Grace can be a little aggressive physically, even with positive expressions of affection. But BethAnne was smiling big and saying "Grace you can't carry me, I'm too big. Grace it won't work." Grace tried and tried for a minute or so. She wanted to carry her big sister so her foot wouldn't hurt anymore. I was so touched and also amused because of the impossibility of the feat she was determined to perform. It's times like this that make it all worthwhile.

Love,
Aubrey

Bear and Eagles at the Zoo

Enjoy! It's much cooler in person, but I wanted to share anyway!

P.S. Their bald eagles are ones that have been hurt that they rehabilitate and release back into the wild.

More from the Zoo

Here is a picture of one of the bears we saw today. Being there so close to it was amazing, it's hard to show that in pictures. We will post some cool videos of some of the animals later.

 

Here are Mark, BethAnne and Grace in front of the Elk habitat.

 

They also have a fun indoor play place at the Zoo with a neat nature themed playground, a pretend animal hospital, and other fun things to do. We had so much fun!

 

 

Everything else is going well here. We love and miss you all!

Love,
Aubrey