End of school / Memorial Day / Yard / Theater / Etc.

Wow...lots to blog about and get all caught up. Here are a few pics from Holly's Kindergarten Graduation. It was a cute little program & they even had little caps & gowns. I can't believe how grown up she is getting. Here she is with her teacher.

Proud of her certificate

Getting ready to sing with her class

For Memorial Day we went to This is the Place Park and had a great time! It's like a little Nauvoo - with lots of replica buildings, people in character, lots to learn & lots to see. Here my Dad is in the barbershop getting a "shave." You can see Mark smiling in the mirror :)

There was an old Z.C.M.I building they relocated from Manti - it was a functioning store, full of nostalgia toys, candy jars, & lots of tempting stuff!

One of the highlights was the petting farm - they had the tiniest little baby animals - so cute! Ella fell in love with the baby bunnies

These little newborn lambs were so adorable!

In the "Deseret News" building the kids got to help work a printing press - it really worked!

Not to mention pony rides...so fun & I loved that they didn't charge extra for them

Holly looks right at home on a horse

Well after so much fun there has to be some hard work, right? This past weekend this was our adventure...cutting down the massive poplar in our backyard. We loved this tree - it gave us great shade and brought lots of birds to the yard...but it was getting too big & seemed to be starting to die, so decided to get it out before we get our yard all landscaped. I'm sad to lose it, but guess it was the smart thing to do. Why didn't we have the construction guys do it before our house was even up? We thought it would live longer. One of those times when you kick yourself. Oh well.

Mark & my Dad started cutting off branches and were planning to do it themselves...until they really got a handle on the size of the tree (and the danger involved) & we enlisted the help of a crane. Thank goodness - this tree was huge! More than 60 feet high with two huge main trunks. Not to mention our house, a fence, the neighbor's house, and our new playground were all withing "damage" distance. Here you can see Mark up in the tree hooking up the ball.
After the first part was cut off - this was so stressful I couldn't even watchA shot from across the street - you can see how tall the tree was

Glad that's behind us! Now, on to trenching for sprinklers. Ugh!

Well then, how about a little more playing (literally!)

After the tree came down we headed up the the Hale Center Theater with Josh and Holly to watch "Treasure Island" to celebrate the completion of a good school year. It was so amazing! We all loved it. The set was incredible - even 20,000 gallons of real water off the side of the "ship" where pirates were falling in and splashing the audience. Lots of special effects too - would highly recommend it! Thanks Jessica for taking care of Ella and Ammon - they had a great time with your girls!