Tent rocks, Zoo Feild Trip, and Church clothes

(we started taking pictures of the kids in their church clothes and we got some of just the sisters and Alana kept pushing dayna out of the pictures and wanted some of just herself)

(now that is better....she sure is our fiesty one!!)

Another week has come and gone and we're already a week into a new month. We are down to the last few weeks of Dayna's kindergarden year and now we're facing the reality of having a first grader! Wow, these kids are growing up so fast. In world news we finally found Osama Bin Laden. It will be one of those moments in world history where you'll remember where you were when you heard the news. I remember going to a sisters house for lunch with my companion in the town of Libertab in Buenos Aires when she said "Have you seen what they've done to your country" she invited us in to see the images of the towers smoking and crumbling in New York. That was an interesting time during the mission. Our country has grown a lot since then, and finding Bin Laden seems to have brought closure to a lot of people out there despite the continual battle against terrorism.

This week Janelle had the challenge of watching a couple of boys during the day in addition to our clan. One of the office managers from the company came down from the Farmington area to train our office manager this week. Of course I volunteered Janelle to watch her kids while she was at the office. Janelle does great with kids, she has more patience than I could ever dream of having. It was a challenge and at times she felt defeated but I saw her bounce back and really care for the kids, she did a great job, and I'm glad she's been blessed with many talents and gifts that allow her to care for and love children. Janelle hasn't been feeling the greatest as of late, so that made the week even more difficult with a couple of extra kids that required a lot of energy. On Thursday afternoon the office manager had one of her close friends in the area look after her kids and that allowed Janelle to attend a school BBQ with Dayna and her class, and then on Friday Janelle went to the zoo with Dayna and her class. So needless to say she had a busy week.

                       TENT ROCKS

Saturday came around and she woke up and looked into a hike that we've been talking about doing, and she said that its best to go early before it gets too hot, so we grabbed a bite to eat and we took off towards our next adventure. Janelle had heard about a hike to the tent rocks, they are located in a small pueblo called Cochiti, near a man made lake named Cochiti lake. The hike was awesome, the kids started out excited and ended tired, especially Lani. But all in all they did a great job

 We hiked a total of 3 miles through some very narrow canyons and some pretty steep terrain. The views were amazing, it seems like you can see forever in this part of the country. Once we made it to the top and took in all of the views the kids started to get pretty tired. It was heating up, it was probably around 80 degrees by the time we made it to the top. The hike was not a loop, so we had to retrace our steps back towards the car. I knew we were in trouble when Dax said "Why aren't we to the car yet" about 2 hundred yards into our return trip. But then Dax started to chant the rhythm that would save our trip down. "Hut two three four, pick it up two three four, hut two three four, keep it up two three four" I think we can thank Jungle Book for that one.

Well Dayna finally picked up on it and we flew back down the canyon. Alana wasn't the happiest hiker on the way down but she managed. We all made it to the bottom and cranked up the air conditioner in the car. We went exploring the area a little bit and checked out the lake and golf course, it seemed like a really nice little area, its located between Albuquerque and Santa Fe.

When we made it home Janelle and I kind of passed out for a while, she would most likely say that I passed out for a LONG while but any way, we got up in time to watch the Kentucky Derby as a family. I had picked Animal Kingdom and Nehro as my top two in no particular order and I had persuaded Dayna and Dax to cheer with me for those two horses, Janelle picked Mucho Macho Man, who ended up in third, so all in all we were rooting for top three horses. It was a fun race and the kids get into shouting and cheering mode whenever they see the replay on ESPN, they start to shout GO Nehro! GO Animal Kingdom! We finished the night off with dinner at Red Robins and mile high mud pie for dessert. Janelle has her first ultrasound tomorrow, so that is exciting news!

Well that sums up our week, Happy Mothers Day to all of you moms out there. We have been so blessed to have such amazing moms in our families. I know that my mom has made more sacrifices than I'll ever know or understand on my behalf and for my brothers too. Janelle does a great job with our family, she puts our kids first, and loves them with patience and sympathy. Thanks to all of our moms, our family is what it is today.




Love



Jon, Janelle, Dayna, Dax, and Alana