Temple Trauma

Something always seems to come up whenever we try to go to the temple. Last attempt, we realized, after we had packed everything up and were driving out of town, that our recommends had expired. This Saturday, we had everything in the car and ready to go, even the kids, when we realized we had locked both our keys in the house. Jacob scrambled to try to get in through the screen door in the back. No luck. Finally, he was able to take off one of the small, square screens on the greenhouse window in the kitchen. There was no way Jake or I could fit through that window, so we recruited Sage. Jacob stuffed her through the window and onto the kitchen counter by the sink. This was all very dramatic, mind you. Sage was crying the whole time, wondering what on earth we were doing to her. After a lot of persuasion and reassurance, which really didn’t work, Jacob was able to lower Sage off the counter and onto the floor. Sage was fairly emotional by now and fled into the safety of her room. So then we were yelling at her through the window to come open the door into the garage. Through her sobs, Sage yelled, “But I don’t know where the keys are!” Finally, we convinced her to just come turn the lock on the doorknob, and she did it wonderfully. After the ordeal was over, Sage was quite proud knowing that she had saved the day. Our little hero. We wouldn’t have made it to the temple without her.

We were not sure if we should think that we are good parents or horrible parents when we saw this, but we knew we had to take a picture. (She must have been in the 2 Nephi, Isaiah chapters :o)

Whenever we go to Alburqurque (I can never spell it right), I realize how small a town we live in. I am definitely not used to all the cars and “busy-ness,” but it sure is nice to get my Target fix. I got the kids all their summer clothes. Taos is coming to life, though. Consistent warm weather has finally arrived. The other day as we drove the main drag through town, we passed the park that was hosting an arts and crafts festival, there were tourists all over walking the streets, and all the trees are in bloom. So the off season is over, and Taos is hopping again. I can’t believe that it has now been a year since we’ve moved here. It sure has gone by fast. Things have come full circle for us now as we’ve seen all the seasons of Taos. It has been an adventure.
Anyway, after the temple last Saturday we headed to the Alburquerque (whatever) zoo. It was really fun. We got to see the sea lions and seals get fed. Sage saw all the animals see had hoped to see and then some. The mountain lion sure stared Keiger down too. It was pretty funny. So after all we saw, what do you think was everyone’s favorite attraction? Lions, tigers, bears? Nope…the baby ducklings. The kids got a kick out of watching them dive under the water. I learned a good lesson from this too. Sage was so fascinated by watching these ducklings, but I was anxious for her to see all the other big animals that I thought would be so cool, so I scooted everyone along. Lesson learned: Don’t throw off a good thing. If the kids want to watch ducks the whole day, let them watch ducks.
Case in point. Last Friday, I drove the kids to the fish hatchery. It’s pretty cool. You can take a walking tour off the entire facility and see the development of the fish from fry on up. There is a pond area full of trout that you can feed with fish food from a dispenser. We had a picnic lunch (as soon as I mentioned the word ‘lunch,’ Keiger ran for the car where the food was) and fed the fish. Sage and Kei were entertained for nearly two hours. It was kind of relaxing for me! I should have brought a book. The kids fell asleep on the car ride home, and we all smelled like fish for the rest of the day!
We celebrated our 6th anniversary on the 1st. It was a REALLY windy day. I was in my bedroom playing on the bed with the kids when we heard this loud sound like thunder. Turns out, it was our roof peeling off. We have what is called a brie roof, which is kind-of like a heavy tarp thingee burned onto the top of the house. Weird, I know, but we’re in Taos, what do you expect? So thank goodness we have homeowner’s insurance. We toyed with the idea of just putting a new roof on, but it’s a bit too expensive, so I guess we’ll just save and repair it for now.
One last update on the chickens. They aren’t that ugly anymore since nearly all of their feathers have grown in (No, that is a peacock at the Zoo:o). They spend the days outside now, so the kids go out to check on them a lot. Come to find out, one of our hens isn’t really a hen. Just our luck, we’ve got a rooster. Too bad for him. I think Sage has been influenced by some of my rooster comments. The other day she said she wanted to pet the “ugly rooster,” and she asked Jacob what was with the “funky red stuff” growing on its head. That’s Sage. Every now and then she whips out the funniest things, like “holy moley” or “oh my stars.” And then she uses words like “indeed” or “of course.” Too funny. And Keiger is really growing up too. He is really into “singing” and loves doing the actions to “Popcorn, Popping,” and “Head, Shoulders, Knees, and Toes.” He also has perfected his use of the word, “uh-oh.”