Zoo Boise

My nephew, Jericho, had his 2nd grade field trip to Zoo Boise today. Jericho is autistic so his teacher asked my sister, Holly, if she would come to the zoo just in case things didn't go perfectly. She was supposed to meet him at the zoo, but he refused to get on the bus when it was time to leave the school, so she quickly drove to the school to coerce him to get into the car to go to the zoo. She found him at the computer looking at zoo animals and the conversation went like this:

"Hi Jericho," She said.

"Do you want to go to the zoo?"

"NO"

"Do you want to stay at school?"

"NO"

"Do you want to go home?"

"NO"

"What do you want?"

"Com-pu-tor"

He didn't want to go to the zoo, because he didn't want to miss out on his computer time. Silly boy! Holly and Miss Andrea came up with a plan to get him out the door. They let him play on the computer for 10 minutes. Miss Andrea set a timer and they put together a visual schedule. (A piece of paper that says what will happen next--like a list you can cross off.)

First--Computer

Then--Go to car with snacks

Zoo

School

When the timer rang, he crossed off computer. They showed him the list about every two minutes, as he worked on the computer. He looked at the next thing on the list, made some noises about how he really didn't want to do it. Then, he picked up his snack and walked to the car without one melt down!

Holly always amazes me with her patience and the way she is able to talk things through with Jericho and explain things in away that makes sense to him and motivates him to act.

Meanwhile, Matthew and I were getting ready to meet Aunt Holly and Jericho at the zoo. We had to drop daddy off at the airport first.

We made it! Zoo Boise isn't the greatest zoo in the nation. At this age, Matthew doesn't mind and in fact I am just happy if I can tell that he notices the animals at all. He was much more aware of his surroundings this time which was exciting!

The Jeep - one of the best spots at the zoo. Especially for little boys!

Matthew gets his turn to drive!

The giraffe slide - hot spot #2!

Jericho makes it down the slide.

Matthew at the top of the slide. He always held the line up as it took him a while to decide that he was really going to go down. I had to have the little girl behind him give him a little nudge to get going.

A visual of the huge slide next to my little man!

Loving Jericho's chew toy. This is a toy Jericho uses - it helps calm his nerves when he is in an unfamiliar situation or place.

Keeping an eye on that goat!

Decides he is brave enough to touch the goat.

Aunt Holly helping Matthew feed the goats.

Hanging out on the tiger.

Dipping fries in Idaho!

So, we now live in the great state of Idaho! I really never though I'd say that. I never imagined living here and I honestly felt sorry for all the people I met that grew up in Idaho. Like it was the middle of no where po-dunk state. Everyone I meet here has moved up from California. We didn't even take any pictures of us moving in. We had plenty of guys from our new ward show up to move us in and I seriously think it took less than an hour to unload the truck. They were wonderful and I'm sure highly motivated to get the work done quickly so they could go shooting for their Elder's Quorum activity. Yes, we definitely live in Idaho. Matt politely declined the invitation to go shooting although I told him he was welcome to go :)

Here are a few pictures of Matthew at Five Guy's dipping fries in ketchup for the first time. He would dip, dip, dip, and then suck the ketchup off the fry and dip again! One day he will learn that the fry is actually really tasty!

Bonding

Today my friend Tina helped me go get seed packets for a project I am in charge of for the upcoming Church-sponsored Youth Prom. Matt and I are sharing one car now. We have sold two cars in the last month, preparing to move to Idaho. I caught this picture of Kellan and Matthew in the backseat holding hands. So sweet!

These are the seed packets I created as party favors for the youth. They are filled with roasted/salted sunflower seeds and chocolate covered sunflower seeds. A line from a primary song is included inside:

Faith is like a little seed: If planted it will grow.

These took hours to create and I am so grateful to Tina, Ashley, Joe, and Matt for all of their hard work in helping!

Baby Bodmann!

Today we went with Aunt Mary to her 20 week ultrasound. We found out she is having a girl! The first granddaughter on the Steen side. We are super excited for Mary and Mark and can't wait to meet her in September!

We found a home!

Matt came out twice while we were out West. He flew out with us to Idaho and then he came back a few weeks later to Idaho to go look out houses. We decided we wouldn't buy anything unless we were totally in love with it. We really thought we would end up renting for our first year out here and then look for a home over the course of the year. We looked at a lot of short-sales, but decided we didn't want to play the waiting game with the banks. We happened upon this home which we both really loved. We had also met with a builder and I was getting excited about being able to pick out my own finishes and the thought of having a brand new home in a great neighborhood was really appealing to me. We decided to put an offer on a home and Matt and I agreed that if it wasn't accepted we would build. To our surprise, they accepted and only countered to change the closing date to a month earlier than we had anticipated moving out. We were able to work things out with Matt's work and our landlord in PA to move out the end of April.







We are really happy to have found this house. The home is basically a rambler with a bonus room above the garage. The previous owners spent quite a bit of money putting upgrades in and making the home look brand new. Neither of us were too keen on fixing up a home, so we are happy to have found a home that is move-in-ready.

Spring Trip Out West

Matthew and I spent a few weeks visiting with family and friends in Idaho and Utah. Here are a few pictures documenting out trip. I am getting super lazy at taking pictures :)

We went four wheeling with the Casos family. Matthew was a good sport hanging out back at base.

Capri and Matthew

Matthew just loves Jericho. He thinks he is pretty big stuff sharing the bathtub with J-boy!

In Utah now: Matthew hanging out with his cousin Ruby who is 4 months younger than him.

Big smiles!

Matthew hanging out with his cousins, the Proulx boys.

Heather's girls: Katie, Brooklyn, and Presley after making delicious chocolate dipped strawberries.

Yes, they were really good!

Had to get a picture with Grandma Shipley!

I was so excited that my trip coincided with my friend, Kristin's wedding. These are girls I worked with at Ann Taylor. Miss them so much!

With the gorgeous bride!

Celebrating Aunt Melissa's birthday at the clubhouse.

Melissa and Sam getting ready to blow out the candles. She's a beauty!

Dishing out the cake.

Getting Acquainted With Snow

We got plenty of snow this week. Not as much as we did last season, but definitely the biggest snow of the year. I decided to put Matthew's snowsuit to good use and go to the park during a lull in the storm. It was super cold and I bundled him up with two layers underneath his suit to make sure he was nice and cozy. His poor little cheeks, chin, and nose were so red that I couldn't bare to keep him out long.

What is with all this white stuff?

MKSIII & MKSIV

I think this was taken right after he stuck his face in the snow. He found out just how cold it is!

Matt making a big snow ball.

Matthew being pulled around on the shovel sled.

Mommy & Matthew

I think I'm ready to be done.

It was just too hard to walk in the snow, so Matthew decided to crawl in it.