Cousins, Fire Trucks, and Little Cheeks

We've had a fun week. On Thursday, my cousin Kristy and her family came to visit from Twin Falls. Savannah and Josh had school, but Sara, Aaron, Nate and I met them in the morning at the Discovery Center and spent time together exploring. We took a break for lunch and played at the park that's nearby. After eating and playing, Sara stayed with them to do more exploring, and I took my two little boys home for naptime. Thursday evening the kids had a wonderful time playing together. Kristy has three kids (Zoey 10, Clay 7, and Mason 3). My kids loved having them here. On Friday Josh and Savannah reluctantly went to school, but as soon as they got home, they resumed playing. While they were at school, Kristy and I took the other kids to the park for a couple of hours. It was great having them here. They headed back to Twin Falls Friday after dinner. After they left, Scott and I had a babysitter come watch our kids, and we went to an open house for our old Stake President and wife who are headed to Russia on a mission.

Saturday we took the kids downtown and had a picnic at Julia Davis Park and let the kids play for a while. Then we all went to the Discovery Center (because Savannah and Josh had missed going on Thursday). After the Discovery Center, we drove past Scott's dad's office to see if he was there (it's just a block away from the Discovery Center). As we turned the corner to the office, we saw a big ladder fire engine set up just across the street from Scott's dad's office. We pulled into the parking lot and the kids lined up on the sidewalk to watch. The fire truck had all four supports out and had the ladder extended about 70 feet in the air. It was pretty impressive. One of the firemen noticed this new little audience, and he walked over to explain to the kids what they were doing. They were just doing training (they do it on the weekend when there aren't people working in the office buildings). He told the kids everything they wanted to know. After a bit, they retracted the ladder back down, and another fireman came over to talk to us. He was carrying a red bag, which the kids soon learned contained coloring books, stickers, and temporary tattoos. The kids loved it. Then the other two firemen headed over, so we had four firemen, totally decked out in fire suits, there catering to our kids. And then one of them walked back to the fire truck, and backed it up to where we were and opened it up for the kids to climb up and sit in. They also opened up the sides of the firetruck and showed the kids some of their tools. It was awesome!!! These men were so wonderful to take the time to make my kids' day.

Today was church. It was one of those days that makes me not want to ever go back. In sharing time, they were doing a demonstration on tithing with apples, and had volunteers up at the front of the room helping. Aaron was one of those volunteers. In the middle of it, Aaron turned around, dropped his pants, and mooned the entire junior primary. His story was that he had an itch he needed to scratch. I was mortified when the primary president came to tell me. Scott pulled him out of primary and had a good long talk with him, and I don't think he'll ever do that again. But, how embarrassing!!! Word spread fast of what "the Howell kid did in primary", and all the other adults/parents found it hilarious (because it wasn't their kid that did it). I seriously just don't want to ever show my face at church again!