Memorial Day

Every year, the Beck family goes to 4 different cemeteries to visit the graves of loved ones who have passed on.  Clara was named after 2 of these people that we get to visit.

This was also the first year that Clara really understood what a cemetery was.  I was a little leery considering her recent obsession of death.  But that really does seem to be over since she laid down in front of any headstone that she liked and begged me to take a picture of her pretending to be buried.

Clara had run off at one of the cemeteries and I found her like this.

And the last picture is of our little family standing in front of Jeremy's grandparent's headstone.

After all the cemeteries, we headed to Aunt Melissa and Uncle Eric's house for a bbq, which I failed to take any pictures of.

After that bbq, we came home and had my family over for dinner and a movie.  Turns out, we didn't end up watching a movie, but we sure had fun visiting.  (I failed to take any pictures there too.)

Springville Art Museum

Clara's preschool class took a field trip to the Springville Art Museum this week.  They had a special exhibit with pictures of animals, which is what the preschool topic has been.  They had pamphlets there that explained about each picture.  The kids just thought it was a map and had a blast finding the picture to each artwork they were looking at.

The other cool thing about this exhibit is that they had things for the kids to make their own art.  Clara ran right over to the drawing section, and even hung her picture up.  When I told her that if she hung it up, she couldn't bring it home, she got excited and said, "That's ok.  This way EVERYBODY can see it and be so proud of me." 

 

Her picture is the one she is standing right beside.  There is a hand that is saying "I love you" in sign language.  There is a monster who is licking Clara, and has yummy treats on his tongue so that he won't eat Clara.  There are clouds with a sun, and then grass with LOTS of rocks underneath it.

The other kids had fun attempting to make origami animals.

Here is Hyrum with his origami puppy.

And here's all the kids in Clara's preschool class:

Also this week, our good friends came over with with twin baby boys to play with us for a little bit.  Clara LOVED those two little boys - almost to death.  It makes me so happy to know that she'll love this little boy that will be joining our family in a few months, even though she still claims to hate baby boys.

After they left, Clara has once again started singing, kissing, hugging, and talking to my tummy to be able to do all those things to baby brother.  See this post for another story.

Dance Recitals, Mother's Day, and Summer Fun

When our neighbors got a new pool this week, they invited Clara over to try it out.  As you can tell, they all had a lot of fun.

Saturday we got to go see our nieces in their Dance Recital.  Even though it was 2 hours long, Clara LOVED it.  She kept asking me when she could dance on a stage!  She had a seat next to the aisle and she kept getting up and dancing in the aisle, trying to imitate all the girls as they danced.

 (Ashlyn is in the front - second group from the left)

(Alyssa is the last one on the right.)

The first thing Jeremy did Sunday morning was make sure I opened my gifts.  I love how excited he gets to give me things.  Here's my wonderful family with their gifts to me for Mother's Day.

Great Week

I LOVE our house.  We have the best neighbors and the best neighborhood.  I love how it's a quiet street, so I don't have to worry about too many cars driving by.  We hang out with all our neighbors quite a bit.  As the kids come out to play, they will congregate together, and then the moms can all visit. 

A neighbor girl got out their air pump to put air in her bike tire.  All the other kids took turns playing with it.  I love Clara's determination that she is working so hard!

When it was someone else's turn, for the air pump, Clara started coloring.  I'm amazed at how long that girl can color for, and how good she is!

On Thursday during preschool, Clara got to ride her bike at the park.  They had talked about transportation all week and were talking about which is the fastest.  To put their talk into practice, they ran/walked around the entire park, and then rode their bikes, timing each type of transportation.  Clara fared pretty well in the running/walking part.  However, she came in dead last in the bike one.  She was devastated that she was so far behind and couldn't catch up.  After crying because she "lost" (even though it wasn't a race,) she cheered up and said, "I'm the fastest girl here!"  Here's a picture right before they started riding their bikes, and as you can see, Clara is the ONLY girl!

We also were able to attend the temple this week.  A cousin of Jeremy's is going on his mission soon, and thus received his endowments.  I love getting to spend time in the temple with family.  It was such a wonderful day.

• Clara was explaining to me how our rain gutters worked.  "First the rain goes there (pointing to the roof part.)  Then it comes down here, into this black thing, and then into the ground!"  When I told her that I was impressed that she figured that out all on her own, she said, "It's because I have a brain!"