Today we found out it was Elder Hall's first birthday on his mission! He was turning 20 years old and on his way over for dinner with his companion and two other elders! I had just gotten home with the kids and we had about 30 minutes to get ourselves together and I knew that left me with not much time to come up with some sort of birthday treat as a surprise for Elder Hall. He didn't know we knew it was his birthday! In fact when the elders asked what we were going to serve for dinner the kids replied, "SPINACH!". (Its the answer I always give them when they ask me that question!)

No sooner after we pulled up to our garage and I was rushing to get things done before the elders arrived Arnold came in with a beautiful two layered decorated cake from our neighbors! All he said was, "Did someone order a cake?" I thought he was kidding until I turned around and saw the beautiful cake! I was in shock!

We couldn't believe the timing of our neighbor's gift! Their teenager daughter is practicing how to decorate cakes and she told her mom that afternoon that she wanted to make and decorate a cake for our family. She even put a scripture on it about SERVICE. How appropriate was that for our birthday Elder?

Before blowing out his candles, Elder Hall said he woke up this morning thinking that this would be the first time in 20 years that he would celebrate a birthday WITHOUT blowing any candles! You could tell he was really happy about his custom decorated cake from Miriam our neighbor's daughter!

The kids made Elder hall a fun Candy Bar Birthday card. It didn't really make any sense but Elder Hall was excited about all the chocolate he received from it!

So after all that was done we settled in to another wonderful dinner with the elders!

Reliving the past....

For Kenny's 5th grade field trip the class traveled 5 hours to Montevallo, AL to visit the American Village! Here Kenny is posing with a few of his friends in the church house that was also used as an assembly hall for the town.

Outside the bus on our first rest stop on the way to Montevallo, AL.

Having some fun at the rest stop on the way to the American Village!

Here the boys were asked to join the group that was heading out to fight for their freedom! The boys learned how to load and shoot a musket. How to stand in a fighting line and use their numbers to push back the opposing forces. It was fun to see how serious the boys took this "charge"!

Their commander ketp the boy's attention by filling them in on all the details of the "fight" that led ahead of them.

Here they listened and asked questions of a law man who was hoping to gain their support in helping the colonies break away from English rule! Kenny was given a question to ask and the group giggled when he read his assigned part! He was asked to say that he was married to a beautiful woman who was living with him in the colonies but was a member of the Church of England who they were all preparing to break away from. His concern was whether or not he would be able to "keep" his wife! Poor Kenny! He'll NEVER talk to girls now!!!!

Posing for a final pic by the replica of the Liberty Bell.

Tux's 7 week old pictures...

We got an update from the breeder last night on Tux's progress! He is growing up fast and starting to show his personality a little bit more! We can't wait to meet him!

His white spots are starting to come in more and we just love how it makes him look! His big brown eyes are my favorite!!!

Tux will grow to be about 10 inches high and around 7-10 pounds. Jessica is hoping he'll stay on the smaller end of the scale since she wants him to keep that "puppy" look!

Poor bat...

At first glance you may not notice the small visitor we had stuck to the front of our Landcruiser yesterday.

But after closer examination we decided he wasn't just hanging around...

We wondered what the bat must've thought when Arnold ran into him. Surely this is a sign that I am right when I say Arnold drives WAY too fast on these county roads!

Now we have the proof. Arnold is a speedster. And bats aren't fast enough to outrun him. Poor poor bat...

Elder Crawley's visit...

We love when our old missionaries come to visit us with their families after they've gone home from their missions! We never know when we say our final good-byes if we'll one day get to see any of them again...so when one comes knocking on the door in the middle of the afternoon...its a sure sign its going to be a glorius day! Thanks Elder Crawley! We loved having you visit! Come again real soon!

Driving Miss Daisy...

So after realizing that the only thing Lisa Nicole had to do to get her hands on the wheel was "ask" she decided she was going to drive us to church today. Keep in mind we live in the South. LDS Chapels are hard to come by. Thirty minutes one way to be exact! We weren't sure we were ready for this but we ventured out anyway!

Jessica pulled her buckle tight and couldn't believe I was letting Lisa Nicole drive with US in the car! She has driven with her dad many times before, but for us this was kind of a first outside of our comfortable 25 mph subdivision roads!

I wondered whether or not I should try and take pictures of Lisa Nicole driving in order to capture this historic moment...then I realized from the picture that she closes her eyes when she laughs and so I stopped that immediately. Driving while sight impaired is a big NO NO!

Overall it wasn't that bad of a drive! Except for that poor bird, the man on the side of the street, and that really nice new paint job on that one vehicle we sideswiped.... Just kidding! We made it there alive and this was definitely a "posed for" shot! I guess if I was going to make fun of Lisa Nicole I should at least be willing to let my hair down a little too. Who knows? The next drive to church may not be so smooth and I would have wished I had gotten a good picture to share...

Some friends are found in interesting places...

Yesterday the public school students had a teacher work day which meant a free holiday!!! Some of the youth in our Theodore ward joined the Semmes ward on a trip to the St. Mary's Childrens home here in Mobile.

The YM carried boxes and bags of clothes, toys, shoes, and school supplies that were collected by the wards to donate to the childrens home.

This is the group shot we took right before we went in to the room where we met the youth who live at the home and spent a couple of hours getting to know them and playing a few games with them.

Ms. Andie was our guide and she took a moment to talk to our youth about why St. Mary's exists and what situations cause some children to have to stay there. It was a good service project for all of us and wonderful way to spend the day off of school!!!!

Predator and prey...

This week Kenny's class is learning about Predators and prey in Science. He was given special permission by the principal at his school to bring his pet California King Snake "Taz" to school for show and tell!

Taz seemed a little nervous during the ride over to school but once we got to the classroom he snuggled under his wood cave and enjoyed all the attention!

During the show and tell Kenny taught the class about snakes and their habitat and how they survive in the wild. Each of his classmates were able to pet the tail of his snake and see him close up!

The most exciting part of the day was watching Kenny feed Taz a small white mouse! Most of the boys had never seen a snake eat so they were thrilled with the chance to see it live!

Apologies may be in order next week as all of Kenny's buddies insisted that they were going to go home and ask THEIR parents if they could get a snake! Oops! Sorry, but for the sake of learning sometimes you just have to "share"!!!!

Too cute to keep secret....

After years of begging, pleading, and not so subtle hints we have finally agreed to let Jessica pick out a new puppy for our family! After determining which breed would best suit our lifestyle we hit the internet for several weeks reading, learning, blogging, downloading and questioning loads of information on a breed called the Havanese.

We had never heard of this breed before but fell instantly in love with the look, temper- ament, nature, and size of this cute breed! We found several breeders in our local area who offer Havanese pups and found the perfect match for Jessica! After much thought and a bit of back and forth Jessica finally settled on "Tux" short for Tuxedo! A black male Havanese pup with a white spot on his chest and white tipped feet! He'll be ready for pick up Easter weekend! We couldn't be more thrilled for Jessica!!!!

More fun at the beach...

This has got to be the luckiest dog in the whole world! Who wouldn't want to be loved by her????

Doubles anyone?

Just serve already and stop flirting with the camera!

Lisa and Stephanie in front of the Orange Beach condos.

An Alabama snowman!

A weekend at the beach....

Lisa was invited by her friend Stephanie to join her for the weekend in Orange Beach.

Although the weather was overcast the warm temps didn't stop them from spending some time on the shore!