Catching Up!

Wow, it's been a while!  Okay, to catch up:

Our bunny has not been seen for a while.  However, we have a new occupant under our house: a snake!  (It's not what you think: that snake is too small to eat anything bigger than a frog.)

Hannah saw it first as it slithered around the house and then slid up under the siding.  We can only hope that it then dropped down into the crawlspace rather than into the wall...shudder.

Next Hyrum saw it just under the door frame of the front door, sunning itself.  I guess I'll wear closed-toe shoes and take a big step entering and leaving the house!

Yesterday we were babysitting and the oldest boy was outside showing Hannah and Hyrum how to find snails, slugs, bugs, and other creepy crawlies under rocks.  I stepped inside for a minute, then came back out to find them all gathered around the fence, poking something with sticks.  Sure enough, they'd found a snake.

It could be worse.  My aunt and uncle once lived in a town in Montana with lots of snakes.  They would occasionally find snakes inside the house.  Ours is staying outside where he belongs.  So far....

Hmm, what else?  Oh, Rusty and I are playing a game called "the Game On diet" with a bunch of people from the branch.  Yes, it has a diet component, and yes, Michelle generally distrusts diets of all kinds.  But this one is very reasonable, so I agreed.  It's a well-rounded game, where you earn or lose points for eating healthy meals (five a day!), drinking tons of water, exercising 20 minutes a day, kicking a bad habit (not related to food or exercise) and starting a good habit.  It's actually fun because you form teams and compete for points.  You have to communicate with each other daily to cheer on your teammates and trash-talk your opponents...but since we are all going to church together we haven't really bashed each other.  ;o)  Rusty is seeing results, and Michelle is at least more motivated to do the stinkin' dishes every day (one of my habits)!

Oh, another thing!  The Kansas City temple is open for tours right now.  Very exciting!  We spent Easter with our friends in Olathe, then we all went through the temple tour the next day.  It is very beautiful, and very exciting.  The open house was extended an extra week because so many people have come to see it.  Hyrum was trying to run around and touch everything, but he was pretty quiet.  Hannah LOVED it, because it was all so "pretty!"  My friend asked Hannah if she wanted to come back to the temple when Hannah got married.  Hannah looked up and said, "But I can't drive yet!"  ;o)  I hope the kids remember their tour.  I have vague memories of touring the Portland temple with my family when I was nine.

Rusty is scrambling to put together some videos for the open house of our new meetinghouse here in Wamego next month (I think).  He interviewed branch members and wants to play the videos during our open house.  The community has been watching the building go up with interest (hey, it's a small town!) so we hope we get a good turnout.

Okay, I've rambled enough.  We hope you all are doing well!  Take care!