*****Tomato Horn Worm*****

In our new backyard the previous owners had some tomato plants that they obviously didn't take much care of. The kids were exploring the yard and were excited to find a "caterpillar". I immediately recognized it as the pests they were. For anyone growing tomatoes you know you do not want to find a tomato horn worm anywhere near your garden. Since I didn't care much about the plants I let Megan and Cameron each keep one in a jar. Each morning and evening they would pick tomato leaves for them. It was amazing how quickly they grew. By the end we only had one horn worm left. It was very fat and starting to turn a brown color. I thought it was dying. We asked a woman at the Houston Museum about it. She said that horn worms change under ground. We looked it up online and sure enough she was right. The kids filled a jar with dirt and placed the lethargic caterpillar on top. Within a few hours it dug all the way to the bottom. A few weeks later we came home from scouts late. I wanted the kids to go straight to bed, but they are masters at finding a way to stay up just alittle bit longer. Megan looked into the jar and said, "Mom, the caterpillar turned into a moth." Sure enough the moth had crawled from the dirt and was sitting on top of it with wet wings. Cameron pulled it quickly out and let it crawl all over him. After 30 minutes they let it go outside. I'm sure to have tomato horn worm problems next year!

Texas - Summer Fun

The first few weeks in Texas we didn't know anyone and the kids were tired of helping me unpack. Each afternoon I took them out somewhere. Many times we went to the community pool just down the street. This helped us beat the heat and the kids had a lot of fun together.

"Pan - Cake"

Moving is always such an adventure. After the trouble we had with our movers we were just grateful to eventually get our things. For Doug's birthday our things hadn't yet arrived. I wanted to make him a cake, but I only had a frying pan. I remembered Jeanette making a pizza in a frying pan and thought I would try it out. The cake looked funny but was actually pretty good!

Megan wanted to decorate the cake and begged me to buy the letters that go on top. I let Nathan and Megan decorate it. I laughed when I saw what it said. I asked Nathan how he had decided to write "you're the man". He said that it was the best way he could think of to use up as many letters as possible! I really enjoy the kids as they grow up!

My first crack at it!

After a wonderful internship and experience in Boston this summer, we came back to Ithaca, NY a week after the birth of Malynn Jaroldeen Monson at Mass General. We saw all the sights and sounds of a Boston summer (the perfect time to be there, especially the 4th of July), but we are so happy to be HOME in Ithaca again. We really love it here; the ward, the people, the beauty, the school, our friends, the fun; and we are so sad to be going in May. It is going to swing around before we know it and I don't want to say goodbye to any of it (except for maybe the being really poor and living in an apartment that is more similar to a dorm room).

This month has been crazy busy with Matt trying to get back into the swing of school and devoting all of his "extra" time to the real estate competition team he is on, and me trying to get used to an extra body in the house. Malynn is actually an angel baby, making the transition pretty smooth and even enjoyable. The kids love her and are very gentle and sweet with her. She already is sleeping from about 9pm to 5am and then back to sleep until 8am or so. Another thing that has happened this month was Sienna's first school experience. Only 20 some odd years to go right? She is in a public pre-K program at the elementary school. She gets on the bus every morning at 7:30 and home at 2:20 with a short day on Fridays. She absolutely LOVES it! I don't think there is any other child that is more compatible with school! Oh, and mom loves it too :)

Wow, we have a blog?!?

I didn't know we had this blog site until Bryan mentioned it tonight. This also means I haven't read anything that anyone's put on here; so, I'll be busy catching up as well as wondering if anyone will read the nonsense I'm now writing.

Bryan and I had a fun evening. We first went to the Boston temple for a session and then went to a restaurant to watch the Celtics/Laker's game #3. It wasn't looking good for Boston, so we're now back home.

This picture was taken by a good friend in the ward. I thought the expression on the face of Sienna said it all.

Palmyra...

A few pictures from the Palmyra trip...