adopted by ranchers and Fluffy’s first date

When a man is kind to dumb animals, I always say he has got some good in him.
― Owen Wister, The Virginian: A Horseman of the Plains

Adapted from a letter to Elder Baker, dated 5/29/17. . . .

I will try to tell you briefly about an eventful and interesting week. On Monday, we had Fluffy's BD dinner and party. Rosebud fell asleep right after school and slept for several hours. Between that and work on setting up the bunny palace and planting the big evergreen, the celebration ran really late but it was so fun! Rosebud gave the sweetest FHE lesson spotlighting Fluffy, and the strawberry meringue cake was a smash hit. Also we played a game and he opened presents.

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Tuesday we had an adventure with Grandpa's red truck. I used it to pick up the kids from school so that Ham could bring home his aquarium from school and so we could go to Hector's Hay and Feed and pick up 3 bales of straw to stack behind the bunny hutch (wind shelter, hopefully).

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Wednesday was Daddy's last day of work until the end of July! Woohoo! He is going to look for some non-contract work but for now he's free as a lark for the first time in years. It is so nice! Uncle Duff and Aunt Lori and B and A arrived in the afternoon -- they came to visit for Lori's sister's HS graduation. It was so fun to hang out with them and Nana and Grandpa treated us all to dinner at Eva's.

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. uncle duff (in his last year of optometry school) teaching DC how to do magic eye :).

Thursday Uncle Duff offered to take the kids to their last day of school, and that was a fun bonding time for them (especially regarding having the radio on). Little B and I helped my Dad to plant the garden and it brought back delightful memories of Tucson childhood days. Rosebud's caterpillar hatched! She named it Swirl. Nana taught me and Uncle Duff and Ham a new card game called Trash (it’s kind of therapeutic, actually). Nana and Grandpa left to fly to Oklahoma. That evening Fluffy sang in the seminary choir for Snowflake Stake Seminary Graduation, held in the Main Street Chapel for the first time since about Nana's graduating class. :) We stayed up very late visiting afterward.

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Friday the framing on the house began! It was pretty chaotic out there because the concrete guys were still working on the outside, waterproofing and installing the french drains, so very loud, and the wind was crazy-high, blowing dust like you wouldn't believe. It was happy, though, to see so much progress going on at once. That evening Daddy and I had a very fun date, playing tennis at a park in town until the sun set, then having a yummy dinner at El Cupidos, then watching some Great British Bakeoff and having ice cream.

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Saturday was zauber interesting. It was the Flakes' day to do calf-branding, and at the service auction we had purchased the opportunity to help with it and have lunch afterwards. There was a bonus attached -- Rocky Mountain oysters -- but all of us declined that (ew). It was truly amazing to see real cowboys at work and to get to "help." They let us try everything we wanted to. We tagged ears, gave shots, and branded. Fluffy, Ham, and Rosebud rode horses, too.

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In the evening Fluffy went on his first date! With me! It was so fun! He had planned it very well, and was a perfect gentleman, opening my door every single time we went in or out. Also he was very fun to talk to. We ordered a pizza, then drove on Taylor's Lovelake Rd (near where you were baptized, I think) while we waited for it to be ready. We ate at a park – Fluffy had planned ahead and brought plates and water bottles. Next we went to 5-Mile Draw and hiked down into the canyon while the sun set. We saw a beautiful caterpillar that I've never seen before. Then we drove the temple and sat by the waterfall and talked and talked for a long time. And last we went to McDonalds and Fluffy bought us chocolate-covered ice cream cones! So happy!

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Sunday was nice but I was groggy all day because I slept in too late. :( Daddy played in sacrament meeting to accompany R Flake singing My Heavenly Father Loves Me. It was really lovely. I had a spiritual experience in choir practice after church. We are singing Sally Deford's setting of The Lord is My Shepherd, and Bro. Flake had Daddy pull out his violin and play the obbligato while we rehearsed it. The words of the last verse touched me so deeply. I felt how much the Lord has blessed me, and how much the Savior loves us all!

Thy mercy will follow me all of my days,

And in thine own house thou preparest my place,

With blessings unmeasured my cup runneth o'er,

Oh, what shall I ask of thy providence more?

I feel so grateful for the care He has always given me. He truly is my shepherd. I want to serve Him better!

I love you, son.

Love,

Mommy

Quotable

Ham talking to our cat Puffball: "You want to go outside? In your glitterbox?" (Unfortunately this is the sandbox, as opposed to a regular litterbox).