Travis, I bet you didn't expect this...

For Father's Day, Justin gave Travis front-row seating to his Titanic puppet show. I mean movie. The guest of honor could even buy his own movie glasses, a fruit roll-up and popcorn from the Concession Stand O' Justin. But only with real money. Justin did a great job and worked all day drawing and cutting out props for his show. He already has big plans for his next show: Dinosaurs.



Now, don't you feel loved?

Smells like roses...

...especially if you get your face right in there! We went to the Portland Rose Garden's twice this past weekend. First, with Aunt Nicki and Uncle Lance and his parents. Second, as a R.S. enrichment activity. I told Tyler to go find his favorite flower and I'd take his picture next to it. He wanted to pose with his face smack dab in the center of that favorite rose! Ha ha!





Ya think?



Oh, I love the view...



It is ALWAYS more fun to slide...ALWAYS.



Tyler kept picking out YELLOW roses.





One thing I enjoy is to read all the labels for each row of roses. They all have the most beautiful names. I liked "Falling in Love" and "Livin' Easy". I totally cracked up when I told Tyler to find a rose he liked so he and Justin could stand in front of it for a picture. Yes, another picture. I glanced down at the name...Cinderella. It was pink to boot. I was just holding my breath to see what Justin was going to do. He came over for the picture and as he moved next to Tyler, he read the label. "Aaah! No way! I'm not standing by that flower! Ooooh! Yuck!" This was yelled as he was running to a land far, far away. Ha ha!



Jared, here is a picture just for you...Shannon, tell Jared if there is ever a time to check our blog, this is it:



...and low and behold, we nearly ran into Mr. Rowley (from Provo, UT) on the sidewalk as we arrived at the Gardens on Saturday. He was my brother Jared's favorite elementary school teacher. This guy has kept up with his students through the years coming to all their mission farewells/homecomings and weddings. Oh, if all teachers could be like Mr. Rowley...and all rose gardens had a playground.

Get OUT!

With the school year winding down, I get an itchin' for outings! As in "LET'S GO SOMEWHERE ALREADY!" Here's a quick taste of our latest Oregon adventures:

The Oregon Zoo

The Chimpanzee Maze is a whole lotta fun for one smack-a-roo...







"Spring Fling" party at Justin's school







OMSI

Yesterday, we met Aunt Nicki and Uncle Lance along with Lance's parents for a fun last-day-of-school afternoon.









I had to laugh! You see, I organized a preschool fieldtrip to OMSI for Tyler's group back in May. We visited the lizards and snakes and took a picture next to a saber-toothed tiger skeleton calling it a dinosaur. You guessed it, our topic for the week was dinosaurs...totally missed the PALEONTOLOGIST LAB in the back! Ha ha! Next year we'll have an awesome dinosaur fieldtrip!

Park Days (Relief Society mid-week activity)

Free Photo Editing Class

Check out JessicaSprague.com for more details, but here's a little summary from the site:

"Mark your calendar for June 22. That's the day registration opens for the FREE instructor-led class of 2009 - Photo Editing: Frame-ups & Special Effects! In celebration of our SECOND BIRTHDAY, JessicaSprague.com will host an incredible photo editing class you don't want to miss! You’ll even receive a stunning FREE KIT by our friends at Houseof3.com!

Curious how to use the digital goodies you’ve collected? Or how about creating scuffy, worn edges or rounded corners on your photos? Dying to know to add swirly borders to your pictures like you see in magazines and advertisements? Jessica will show you how easy it is to add beautiful accents to enhance your digital photos, as well as how to add special photography effects using Photoshop and Photoshop Elements.

This FREE two-week class begins on July 6, 2009!"

The cool part about this is that you will have access to all the lesson information to learn at your own pace. Whenever it is convenient for you! I'm totally signing up. This is going to be FUN!

So what do we do now?

Today marked the end of Tyler's preschool year AND the end of Justin's baseball season. So what's next? Ha ha! Start our countdown to the end of school for Justin! But one thing is for sure...we have had a FUN preschool year and an EXCITING baseball season! Tyler's preschool party was held at Out Of This World. Miss Jen put together a darling 20 minute slide show for the kids to document their preschool adventures this year. I had to upload the files to the blog separately and it is taking forever. So, I am just including one song worth for now. Enjoy! (p.s. Jen, I would LOVE to put a Blurb book together of these pictures!)



Justin's end-of-season baseball party was also held at Out Of This World! I felt like I spent practically the whole day there today. Oh right, I did. Here's Justin with his coach:



Justin was so happy to receive another baseball trophy to add to his collection of one other trophy. On the way home, he said he wanted to play soccer in the fall just so he could get a soccer trophy. I made a mental note to add a "My room is as clean as a whistle" trophy to his job/reward chart. Oh yeah!

Take me out to the ball game

Last week we spent a fun evening with Travis' good friend from high school and his family. Scott, Liz and Zac were visiting from Minnesota and we were so happy they fit us into their busy vacation schedule.



They brought along their almost 7-year-old friend, Aiden, and the kids had a good time playing here at the house before Justin's baseball game. Travis and Scott had a great time catching up! Just like old times, huh?



Liz, thanks for taking such great pictures of the boys playing at the game! It was fun to see you guys! You're welcome back anytime!

If I were a frog...

I would have a happy life living in Justin's frog wetland habitat!


Justin worked so hard to build his habitat (all by himself!) out of clay and playdoh.

"My Frog Wetland" by Justin

I have 3 frogs in my habitat. A bullfrog in the grass. A red frog on the bridge. A brown frog in the dirt. They blend in with the wetland. There's a waterfall! and a stream! There is a hill! I have a cattail and pond grass! and...and...and ROCKS! There is a stream then a waterfall then a pond! There's a path and a lot of dirt! I love my wetland! I love the frogs and the stream and everything! It was so fun!!!!!!!

Books That Teach and Comfort

My brother-in-law, Jeff, came up to Portland this weekend for another medical conference and stayed two nights with us. Amber sent two good books up with him that I think will really help Justin (and the rest of us!) work through the grief of this past week. I'm sharing them with you in hopes that is helps someone else through a tough time.


"What Happens When People Die?" by Timothy Robinson
This book takes the simple approach to our Heavenly Father's plan. Every living thing has been placed on this earth by our Father in Heaven and every living thing also must die. The book discusses where our spirits go after death, as well as the second coming and Christ's Atonement for us. The book is easy to read and understand even though the subject is deep and complex.



"Tear Soup" by Pat Schwiebert and Chuck DeKlyen.
This book tells the story of a woman named Grandy who has just suffered a big loss in her life, and so she is cooking up her own unique batch of "tear soup." Tear Soup gives you a glimpse into Grandy's life as she blends different ingredients into her own grief process. Her tear soup will help to bring her comfort and ultimately help to fill the void in her life that was created by her loss. Tear soup affirms the bereaved, educates the unbereaved, and is a building block for children.

At a loss for words...

We found out on Sunday that Justin's little friend and his sister were murdered over the weekend. So sad, but true. The police say the father shot them before taking his own life. This little boy was on Justin's baseball team and played with Justin in the first grade vs. second grade boys' recess soccer matches at school each day. They lived just two blocks away from us. I keep thinking about how his little sister was dropping tree leaves on my head just last Wednesday at the baseball game. Both kids are gone. We are just in shock about it.

At school, they told the kids ALL about it. I was hoping they would try to soften the details. Justin doesn't know what to do about it. He has been acting out physically against Ty. He ran and hid from Travis when he came home from work on Monday. Justin told me that everyone he knows is dead now. I didn't post about before, but Justin's bus driver died about a month ago. He told me then, "If she really died, I'm going to explode." Sigh. A lot of emotion for a big 7-year-old boy.

Today we went to the funeral for Tyler and Kylie. Justin really felt connected to this friend and we felt like it was important for him to attend the funeral to help gain some sort of closure. It was so sad, but I'm so glad we were able to go. The service was at a Lutheran church in Beaverton. I had never been to a funeral at a church besides ours. I wasn't sure what to expect. It was comforting to learn that they also believe that we will live again with God after we die.

As a parent, it was heart-wrenching to think of this mother who lost her only two children and ex-husband under such tragic circumstances. Justin and Tyler were so reverent in this SILENT sanctuary room. Tyler's little whispers seemed so loud. I realized that even though I would say our children have learned to be reverent, we are used to the low hum of children during our meetings. Justin paid attention the whole time and said afterwards that he liked the slide show with pictures of the two kids set to music. There was no funeral procession at the end of the service. Everyone gathered in the fellowship hall in a reception line to greet the family and have refreshments. Tonight when Travis tucked Justin into bed, he said he was still thinking about the funeral. Justin is already planning to visit the cemetery another day.

I am so thankful for the gospel of Jesus Christ in our lives. The knowledge that we can be together forever with our families is such a comfort at times like today. When life can turn on a dime, I know it is our faith in God that will see us through. It is my prayer that Travis and I can help our boys to learn where to turn for comfort during their lives.