Rachel's First Time in the Temple

 What a wonderful, special, amazing morning I had with my daughter in the temple for the first time. I was so excited to spend time in the temple with such an amazing group of young men and young women. There is no place on earth I would rather be and it was so special to share it with my daughter. I love you Rachel!! I am so glad you were excited about going and want to go again.

Nine More Teaching Days!!!!!

 The weather was perfect today so we took advantage of it and swam in a lake. This was just a small taste of summer. I am looking forward to June 13th!!!! Nine more teaching days!!

Shoe problem

 My house is generally clean. I'm not a messy person. However, if you judged me by the state of our shoes, you would think otherwise. We have a nice cupboard-thingy to hide shoes in by the front door, but we tend to leave them in front of the cupboard instead of in the cupboard. The backpacks and coats are supposed to be hanging from the hooks. At least they are in the generally vicinity.

 We had a nice place for shoes here, yet more of them seem to be on the floor.

 The garage is definitely the biggest problem.

No wonder we often have trouble finding our shoes....

Erin's Field Trip

 I couldn't go with Erin Joy on her class field trip to Rosario Beach so I sent her with a camera. I had fun looking at her pictures and seeing what she felt was important. Here are a few of her pictures....

 This picture was from Golden Corral....her favorite place to eat because she can eat lots of cotton candy and dip things in chocolate. This was her place of choice on her adoption day.

Happy Family Forever Day, Erin Joy!!

Nine years ago, I met Erin Joy. She was a terrified toddler and I was pretty terrified myself. It took a few months, but as we slowly bonded and grew to love each other, she has become the joy of my life. Erin Joy....the perfect name for such a sweet, joyful child. I am so blessed to be her mother. I love you more than chips and salsa, my compassionate, friendly, artistic, kind, and delightful daughter.

Every year on her special day, she receives an "ornament" that I purchased in China when I adopted her. She also gets a small memento from that special trip. This year she got a little "goodie bag" from China Southern airlines...a toothbrush, toothpaste, lotion, and other small toiletries. She was excited about the Chinese writing on the items.

I LOVE YOU ERIN JOY!!!

Spencer Island

We spent part of Memorial Day exploring Spencer Island. The girls had fun picking cattails. I had fun bird-watching.

 The boots made a great place to keep cattails.

 Just a little rainy....we were glad we didn't camp this weekend.

Erin's Poem

At her class poetry night, Erin Joy recited a poem written by her Great-great grandma. She did a great job!