... the family fishing trip.

This afternoon we were talking about sending Daddy fishing. We asked Rachael if she wanted to go, but she said no. At some point the afternoon, she changed her mind. She woke up her Dad from a nap and announced she was ready to go fishing, but first she would need to go potty and then change her clothes. So after a stop in the bathroom, she came upstairs and completely changed outfits. When I asked her what she was doing, she said, "Getting ready for fishing with Daddy!"

You can't bridle that kind of enthusiasm, can you? We packed up a picnic dinner and headed for the lake. Besides which, it was her best potty training day yet since I've been back from Nauvoo.



This is not actually the outfit she chose... she had a long-sleeved shirt on, so I swtiched her for her "fishing" shirt. Then I pulled her vest out of the closet (can you believe she owns a pink fishing vest? If you know her father you can.) This was her first opportunity to wear it fishing and she was pretty excited. She thought we all needed vests. And yes, she has a princess pole and princess shoes on. She's a pretty good caster, especially for a 3 year old.

Daddy hooked a panfish on his fly rod, and let Rachael help bring it in. The first fish she wasn't sure what to do, but by the second one she knew all about it and was really excited that "we CATCHED it!"

We really had a lot of fun! I'm certain we will do it again as a family activity... we spent over 3 hours at the lake, and everyone went home having caught some fish and with dry pants. Pretty good day.

We also got to see some baby mallard ducklings - so cute! And some white ducks found Rachael and I having our sandwiches for dinner. They are pretty brave - they will eat right out of your hand. I thought that was neat until they tried to eat Rachael's hand. Not quite so neat. She was a good sport, though, and it really didn't hurt very much.

... lunch with friends.

Today we had lunch as a Relief Society presidency because our president had her birthday yesterday. It was so much fun to get together with those sisters and just visit and be social! It seems like we always have so much work to do; it was fun to relax and be casual.

I'm grateful for the wonderful sisters I have had the chance to work with this past year in Relief Society. With our ward split in the near future, and our president & secretary in one ward and the rest of us (probably) in the other, it's time for change.

... and the BBQ redux.

Tonight we held our BBQ that was postponed from Monday. Not as many people as we thought would be there, but still lots of fun and great to get to know the neighbors. And the weather cooperated! Now if we could just do something about those loud cicadas...

... magnolias.

Apparently I really love all the spring flowers... the magnolias are, of course, no exception. Last year we had a late freeze in the spring that killed all the early buds on our tree, so we didn't get any flowers. This year we had an early freeze, too, but thankfully it didn't get them all. Obviously you can't tell from the picture, but they smell wonderful.

... cherries.

Bing cherries are here! Mmmm.... It seems like I need to make myself almost sick on them about once every year. Bring it on.

... another field trip.

Today Ryan took the day off from work, to extend his nice weekend. We went for a drive around central KY and found some new bugs we had never seen before.

Pretty butterfly.

Not quite so pretty, but interesting, millipede. It's about six inches long!

... and we remembered.

Not having anyone in the military or any family in the area, we went to one of the local cemetaries and took some pictures today, to remember those had gone before. There are cemetaries all over in this part of the country! My camera battery died, but I did find the headstone for Richmond's first WWI soldier to be killed in action. He died 90 years ago in France; they brought his remains all the way back to Richmond to be buried.

It was also fun to see that in this part of the country some people remember their ancestor's service to their country by marking the graves with confederate flags.

... at least we had a fantastic dessert.

Today we were suppose to be hosting the third annual Memorial Day BBQ with the neighbors. We have done it the past two years and it has gotten bigger every year - this year there were something like 25 people invited. Mother Nature had other plans... at 3:30 this afternoon it started raining and then poured buckets of rain after that. Oh well. I made a beautiful English Trifle, took some to the neighbors, and we got to enjoy the rest. Maybe we'll have better weather next year.

... at least we have done this before.

Today the stake president came to our ward and announced that in two weeks we will be splitting into a ward and a branch. It's not that big of a surprise; they told us this would happen over a year ago. In fact it was so long ago most of us had figured it was permanently on the back burner, but no longer.

It's always hard to go through a ward split, but I'm glad now that we have been through one before (almost two!) and that we know what to expect. And we will miss all our friends in the new Berea Branch!

... and she can dress herself.

The most notable thing about this entire ensemble is not that she's ready to garden, but that she dressed herself entirely by herself; right down to the socks, shoes and gardening gloves. I helped straighen out the shoes so they would stay on tight, and that's it. (And her underwear is on backwards, but no one can tell!)