New Blog Address

I will continue to do blog updates, but they will be at a new web address:

Paul Family Blog

Enjoy!

Back in Cedar City . . .

While Lincoln and Marina have been playing in Maine, there have been some fun changes at home. First, are photos of Lincoln and Marina's carrots and cucumbers. They planted them before they left, and they should be ready to eat soon when they get home! The yellow flower on the cucumber plant is where the cucumber will grow. Here is a photo of Lincoln's new bunk beds in his room. The furniture is re-arranged so he can have the "love sac" (giant foam bean bag) in there too. Marina's room has not changed a lot, but now she has curtains on her windows and a ceiling fan for her light. We (the house, Ryan and I) are very excited for Lincoln and Marina to come home!

Memorial Day Fun

Lincoln and Marina went to their grandma and grandpa Paul's for Memorial Day weekend. They packed every minute with fun! On Saturday morning, they went on a hike in the hills around Mountain Green with their cousins. Here is a picture of the cousins just before the hike. (Marina with her cousins Will and Julia). Lincoln loved the hike and became the 'king' of the hills, rock piles, and concrete blocks that he found. Marina liked to be carried for the hike but liked to climb things with her brother.

That afternoon, we went to visit their other aunts, uncles, and cousins. They had fun on the swings and with the tetherball at "Grandma Valene's" house. The rest of the weekend was spent with cousins and family. They played at Lincoln Lake (in the Paul's backyard), saw Night at the Museum 2 (which they both loved!), and had lots of good food.

They spent lots of time in the car, but were very good about it. This is Lincoln with a toy top that he got on the last day of school. Lincoln completed the first grade with flying colors! He received the Presidential Fitness Award (which he loves to point out was signed by Barack Obama) and was promoted to the second grade. Marina loves dolls, stuffed animals, and clothes in any combination. This is her doll that she can dress in lots of different outfits. She also likes to dress her stuffed animals and change her clothes many times every day. Marina loved seeing her baby cousins. She got to hold baby Petra (she grinned the entire time) and play with baby Kyle (who can now crawl). She is very affectionate and gentle with babies. She also talks for days afterwards about how cute they are.

Marina now has a rock friend called Rocky, of course. She carried him all the way to Salt Lake and back. She is very concerned when she thinks she may have left him behind. She does a great job taking care of him.

Lincoln and Marina are very excited to fly to Maine tomorrow. They'll be there through August 11, and can't wait to go. They are so excited to see all their grandparents on the east coast. They will have a great summer!

Whew! What a Week!

The first grade is winding down for Lincoln.  This week, he had his first grade program.  He did a great job showing what he had learned this year (he's the one in the red striped shirt if the photo resolution doesn't really cut it).  Lincoln has five days of school left, and he is very excited to finish the first grade.  He is also very excited to spend some time in Maine this summer.  Lincoln got to go camping with his dad this week too.  They put a mattress in the van to sleep (Lincoln thinks that is more fun than a tent), and Lincoln slept really well.  He spent almost two hours playing King of the Hill on a dirt pile with some other kids, and  brought a lot of that dirt pile home with him.  

Marina has been having fun with lots of different things lately.  She has an incredible imagination, and most recently has used it to create a best friend.  Marina's friend is Sara.  Sara is in high school and has two kids (!!) named Emma and Ethan.  Marina found a scrap of material and wanted to have a bow (pictured) because she is a princess.  Marina also decided that she was a horse (her favorite animal) and ate her dessert accordingly (pictured).  She now knows all her letters and can't wait to practice them more.  She is also very excited to spend some time in Maine this summer.  

Public Speaking? No problem!

Lincoln and Marian both gave talks in church in the last two weeks. Lincoln spoke on April 26. Lincoln prepared his talk with only a little help, and he practiced it too. He talked about Nephi and his brothers and how the Lord may ask us to do challenging things, but he will always help us do them. He did a great job! He is a natural public speaker.

Marina talked on May 3. She insisted that she did not want ANY help with her talk. I asked her several times what she was going to talk about. She usually said baby Jesus. I tried to coach her in the story of Joseph, Mary, and Jesus going to Egypt. The morning of the talk, Marina said she was going to talk about baby Jesus and the animals at the zoo, but she would not practice her talk. She 'wrote' her talk down (a paper full of the letter M, her favorite), and carried it to church with her. She insisted that she needed no help in delivering her talk. Here is her talk, as close to verbatim as I can remember.

"I am going to talk about the baby Jesus, right?" (looks at me, waits for an answer) "Right. So Jesus was a baby and when he growed up he took the angels wings. The animals live at the zoo cuz that's their home and they live there. Some animals live in the jungle becuase that's where they live. But the other animals live at the zoo. That's it." Then one of the ladies told Marina to say amen. So Marina said, "I don't wanna say amen," gave her best pouty face, and walked away.

All in all, it's clear we have two great public speakers in the family!

Lincoln and his cousin Petra

We're Off to See the Wizard . . .

Lincoln and Marina saw the play The Wizard of Oz last week.  Lincoln saw it with his class, but wanted to go again with his friends Mackenzie and Savannah.  Marina loves the movie, and was very excited to "go see Dorothy."  (sounds like 'Dorofy!")  The entire morning before the play, Marina made pictures for each one of the characters.  She even made one for the witch.  She kept saying, "The witch is scary, but she doesn't scare me!"  At the play, as soon as Dorothy walked on the stage, Marina yelled, "Hi Dorothy!"   (So much for our talk about theater etiquette!)  Lincoln, of course, watched the play attentively, and enjoyed it.  Marina was living the play with them.  When the wicked witch was defeated, Marina asked, "Did we win?"  When Dorothy was sad, Marina said, "She needs her friends."  Lincoln's favorite character was the lion, and he thought the tin man's costume was the best because he looked like a real tin man.  Marina liked Dorothy and the Tin Man the best.  She likes the song Over the Rainbow and when the scarecrow danced.  When it was over, and the actors left the stage, Marina promptly burst into tears, because she wanted to invite them over to our house.  Lincoln  said of the play as we were leaving, "Cooked to perfection!"  

Now, Marina has a message for Dorothy -  "Dorothy, I love you.  I love you too."  Marina is now reenacting the tin man, lion, and scarecrow getting their heart, courage, and brains.  This has been a regular occurrence for the last week.