catching up part 4 -- leche

a couple saturdays ago, brian and i were talking right after waking up, and he mentioned that he had found some really pretty milk snakes for sale nearby. he thought one of these snakes would be a good pet for w. he showed me the pictures--knowing i like pretty milk snakes--and i said that that sounded fine. well, by the end of the day we had purchased leche.

i like snakes fine, but i've never desired to have one as a pet. in fact, i don't particularly even like pets much. i like animals in nature, but not really at home. but i have to say, leche is the perfect pet. he isn't always under foot (in fact he never is), he only needs to be fed (at most) once a week, cleaning the "cage" isn't difficult and doesn't have to be done more than once or twice a week, and he's so pretty. the only downside is that he is a bit smelly, but it's not that strong.

i have to agree with b: a snake is a great pet to have around.

catching up part 3 -- parental leave

my parental leave has now officially started--so i am off work for 2 months. there were some last-minute issues to work out with my hr department, but it all worked out in the end. so for the next two months i am truly a stay-at-home mom.

it's still been a bit crazy during the past few days, but it's so nice not to have to think of work and being there to spend time with william and do everything else i need to do. it was really starting to wear me out. i don't know how people do it all.

we are now planning our summer trips: a trip to cali (san jose/gilroy/monetery area) and a trip to yellowstone. i am also working on a few other projects--so between that, swimming lessons, water balloons, legos, grocery shopping, reading more, going to duck ponds, playing with friends, fixing the car, running, ect...i still feel like there's plenty to keep me busy!

catching up part 2 -- william's baptism

w got baptized a few weeks ago. as you can imagine, it was an exciting day. the service was nice. brian baptized him, whitney played the piano, the three of us and some cousins sang "army of helaman" (william chose that song because i sang at my own baptism), don and ron were the witnesses, all of the family men (brian, don, ross, kyle, matt, duane, ron) joined the circle, and i gave the closing prayer.

we didn't have the biggest group of family and friends at the stake baptism, but there were a lot of people who came to witness the special event. to those who came, thanks! afterwards, we had people over to our house for snacks, chatting, and playing around.

it was really neat to see brian perform william's baptism and to give him a blessing. he did a really good job. it would be sad to not have a husband/father who could do those things.

we are proud of w for making this great choice and for being such a good boy and son.

catching up part 1 -- escalante

we made our way down to escalante again this year. it's a pretty amazing place--rugged, beautiful, remote, hot. i can't imagine how scorching it would be down there in the middle of the summer.

this year there was no rain, which meant we got to hike more. we actually made it to some very narrow slot canyons, like we had wanted to last year. we caught some fish this time and found a fair bit of petrified wood (outside the monument of course). like last year, we went to the sons of the pioneer breakfast in town and the community play at the high school.

william really liked the slot canyons, the lizards, and the fishing.

each night we backcountry camped at a place along a roadside (which isn't too backcountry, but there were no facilities). we were usually setting up our tent around 11 or 12 at night. there were a few close calls with some cows walking across the roads, but we had no major problems this time. no crazy rainstorms and no almost getting stuck in the middle of nowhere. although last year that was part of the fun.