Teething--but check out the plants behind him!

 Floating bamboo sculptures on a lily/lotus pond.

One of the many potty breaks. Note the matching outfits in almost all our pictures, as chosen by Levi.

Congratulations to my parents who sold their Boise house on Friday! What miraculous timing! No storage needed and everyone moved in to new houses by the end of August! Hurrah! If you’re in Idaho, say hello to the new neighbors from Oklahoma who now have custody of those gorgeous trees.

I’ve been studying the references from the conference talks—which is amazing, but you can call me about it when you have lots of time (ha!)—and I found this beautiful promise from Marion G. Romney, as quoted by President Benson as quoted by Elder Cook:

                        I feel certain that if, in our homes, parents will read from the Book of Mormon                                          prayerfully and regularly, both by themselves and with their children, the spirit of                        that great book will come to permeate our homes and all who dwell therein. The                        spirit of reverence will increase; mutual respect and consideration for each other                         will grow. The spirit of contention will depart. Parents will counsel their children                         in greater love and wisdom. Children will be more responsive and submissive to                          the counsel of their parents. Righteousness will increase. Faith, hope, and                            

                        charity—the pure love of Christ—will abound in our homes and lives, bringing in                         their wake peace, joy, and happiness. (Ensign, May 1980, p. 67)

We booked every evening this week. We thoroughly enjoy our slow-paced summer, but we also appreciated remembering productive busy-ness. For FHE Monday, Levi chose to go swimming for the activity. They love the pool. They’re both mastering how to kick; every time Lincoln sees so much as a puddle he says, “POOL! Kick!” and then he starts scooping his arms, too.

In addition to Pioneer Day, Tuesday was our stake temple day. The stake presidency challenged everyone to do two ordinances that day if possible—if not, they invited all to do at least two during the month. We took the whole family on Tuesday, ate dinner at a park (Wes and I alternating with boys and temple), and soaked in the Spirit there. We don’t know many people still, but it was fun to recognize faces and hear about how packed the sessions had been all day. Obedience is a blessing in itself. The boys love the temple. Even Lincoln shouts out, “MORONI!” now. They wanted to touch the temple and dashed up close to the entry doors. Levi wanted to go all the way in (but stayed back because he was wearing his play clothes rather than his church clothes—a very distressing issue). The temple workers came to the door and waved. Bless them.

NREL celebrates 35 years of research this year. In commemoration, they sponsored a family afternoon/evening at the main campus complete with catered barbeque, free water bottles, speakers, and even (yes!) a professional balloonist (or whatever we should call people who tie balloons). He made a Thomas the Train with smoke for Levi and a dog for Lincoln. Lincoln untied his before we stacked back in the car, yet he loved every second of its existence. Levi cherished his until it shrank the next afternoon: then both of them jumped on it until it exploded. We finally saw where Wes works with tons of windows for natural lighting, recycled wood and pipes, and all sorts of energy saving construction stuff. Their main purpose focuses on energy usage (lots and lots of natural lighting in these buildings), yet they’re quite aesthetically pleasing as well. At least, in a functional, engineering, natural way.

We saw Joule in ultrasound again on Thursday. Last time he was about two and a half weeks behind his due date in measurements. Now he’s only a week and five days. The doctors wonder if the original due date might be a bit off since his development appears to progress normally (PHEW!). His head is about four days larger than his belly, but that’s within genetic reason—and these boys must have room for their dad’s intelligence! He’s moving all the time, quite aggressively, and weighs a little over two pounds. Chances are we won’t see him until the end of October or beginning of November. We’ll find out! It’s weird to think that we only have one more doctor’s appointment here before going back to Austin.

The boys and I went to the Denver Botanic Gardens with some friends Thursday afternoon since it was one of their annual “free days.” Usually, admission is around $15 a person. Levi walked four blocks uphill there, all around the gardens, and four blocks back to the van. What a trooper! He clutched his new NREL water bottle. There is only one building with public restrooms. We visited it three times in two hours, plus he used the potty just before we left and just after we returned. We didn’t see much, yet what we saw inspired us. Huge lemons. A tropical conservatory with plants that looked like fuzzy magenta feather boas. A little garden with plants from scripture: fig, apricot, Cyprus, etc. They’re currently showcasing bamboo sculptures which totally blew my mind. We loved it! My friend is a horticulturalist—so it made it even better. While I was driving (exceptionally well) in downtown Denver through one-way streets, Levi piped up from the back seat: “How are we ever going to get out of here?!?”

We adventured out to eastern Colorado for our friends’ baby shower on Friday. We know these friends from Texas, but their families live in/around a tiny, prairie-like, farming community called Idalia. The entire shower was John Deere themed and held in a gathering area in a church over 100 years old. The three hours there and then three hours back was worth it. Plus! Levi took a nap! We’ll do whatever we can do to encourage that. The baby is darling; we were so glad to see our friends. On the way home, we read some of Wesley’s mission journals and marveled at the miracles and the things that he forgot, the things he remembered in addition, and how his experiences continue to teach us. Such a priceless record.

We fed the missionaries last night. Lincoln loves them, high-fiving, throwing, and squealing. Levi doesn’t want to shake their hands, but he wants to sit next to them and talk to them.

In other important boy news, Levi aimed and sprayed all over Wes during bath time. This inspired Lincoln who did his best (quite substantial despite urinating before bath time). To balance out my disgust, Levi told me to wake him up with “lots of kisses and no tickles” and then demonstrated. We asked him where Uncle Royal is going on his mission and without hesitation he stated, “Ukraine.”

            “Where are you going Levi? Are you going to Ukraine?”

            “Noooo. I going to Japan!”

We’re not sure where that idea came from! Perhaps setting up “Axis and Allies” with Wes? Perhaps inspiration? He also went with Daddy to Ace Hardware where they have “little boy carts” and Levi would go anywhere and do anything happily pushing it along.

            Lincoln sings and sings and sings. He can say almost all the words articulately to “I Am a Child of God.” We often hear, “LMNOOOOO! PEEEEEEE!” Last night after his personal prayer he said, “MORE MORE!” and so he repeated word for word Levi’s prayer. Two new teeth popped out this week, too, which means we’re all sporting some bite marks.

Trains and dogs!

 We went for an afternoon walk today and ended up in the mountains!