Soccer Saturday

After spending the night in Heber, Micah was on a soccer team so we went to watch him play. I actually got an action shot of him kicking the ball and a few of Christian deciding to model various stages of taking off his shirt. No Saturday at the Zabel's would be complete without hitting the garage sales. I took the three oldest boys home with me to mom and dad's afterward where we all were going to spend the night. We also went to see the movie African Cats together.

The welcome sign at Brett's new school. He's got his work cut out for him!

Heber Hurrah!

I left work early to drive up to Heber for Jenny's birthday. We went down the canyon to Vivian Park and unloaded all their bikes. While Jenny and Brett drove down to the bottom of the canyon to drop off one of the vans, I fished with the three youngest boys. I haven't gone for ages, but figured out how to cast their lines for them. Micah caught a fish within one minute of me casting his line and I got some pictures for him. Everytime I did Christian's line he would say, 'Oh thank you' in a very matter-of-fact voice. It was very cute.

When Jenny and Brett got back, we all got on the bikes and headed down the trail for a five mile ride. We stopped at Bridal Veil Falls and the boys hiked up the falls a bit. At the end, we ate dinner at the park, played on the playground, ate birthday cake, and did football and superman on the grass. It was a fun night!

Christian and his very own fishing pole. Oh thank you!



Micah's fish





Love this tandem bike!

My skills at riding while taking a picture were amazing!



Cinco de Mayo

I had to bake two cakes for our work's social committee in celebration of Cinco de Mayo. They were delicious as were the other tres leche cakes and the nacho supreme fixings. Especially the melty cheese. Mmmm! I was sent home with some of the leftovers and made some tasty toasted cheese sandwiches for dinner!

Elder Kikuchi Devotional

Elder Kikuchi is going to be released at our next General Conference so he gave his farewell devotional for our department today. He related his conversion story and then gave a powerful witness and testimony of the Savior. It was so touching! I also like seeing all the general authorities that we had seated across the front of the room and realizing how international it was - Elder Zivic (Argentina), Elder Gibbons (U.S.), Elder Baxter (Scotland), Elder Kikuchi (Japan), and Elder Walker (Canada). Very cool!

Amy and Amanda popped by tonight for a bathroom run while they were in the area. They were waiting for another friend before going to get an iced 'hot chocolate' and convinced me into going out to dinner with them...their treat! I had to drive as usual, in Amy's car, but I don't mind being chauffeur. I took them to Hatch's afterward for the chocolate that they wanted. They convinced me to taste a bit of the drink and then laughed their heads off at the face I pulled. What can I say, it was BITTER! Yuck! I had to put something into my mouth immediately afterward to get rid of the gross chocolate taste. Still cringing!

New Office Space

We are officially moved in to our new office space. While the quarters are a bit closer than I'm used to from our last spot, I get my first glimpses of window since being on this floor. I can look out the window from my computer and look directly at my bedroom window...and wish that I'm there right then...but it is very nice to know what the weather is like before I have to walk home in it!



Picnic in the Park

Lisa and her kids are only in town for a few more days so they came up to have lunch with me. We headed over to a little park close to work and had ourselves a picnic. Grant was completely worn out so he slept almost the whole time, but Matthew loved having his shoes and socks off so he could be dipped into the cold stream. It was also the nicest weather we've had yet this year so it was a lovely afternoon!



In Protest

There was some kind of protest today about immigrant workers' rights. It sounded like a huge mob outside my apartment, but when I looked out...there weren't really that many people. But they sure could make some noise!













Osama bin Laden (not to be confused with Obama and Biden) was killed today during a stealth mission in Pakistan. When Jodie sent me the text about it, I initially thought it read Obama died. It was very surreal to think we were without a president for that moment in time. While I believe as it says in 1 Nephi that it is better that one man should die than a whole nation dwindle in unbelief, I do think there should be certain limits to the celebrations and parties that result from that death. Americans are not viewed well internationally...let's not give them any more ammunition!