Friday!!!!

Yesterday was fun. Carissa and I went to the zoo with the Smith's (Sarah) and her kids. Beceausethe kids didn't have school it was crazy busy, and the parking was unbelievable. There is a new exhibit for lions. It was pretty cool. We got to see the baby elephant too. It wasn't really cold but cool enough that the animals were all moving around. The lorakeets bombed Roz. It was quite funny. They all went ballistic, probably because of a hawk, and flew right past Sarah, who ducked and moved, just in time for the dodo to hit Roz. The polar bear was in the water swimming and the tiger pacing around his cage. Pretty fun day. We got home late in the afternoon. We cleaned up a bit and then started to clean out Blake's room. It is totally empty now. I was going to start putting Cason's things in there and have changed my mind. I now think Samantha should move upstairs. She could have her own bathroom and wouldn't be in mine so much. I wouldn't have to repaint anyone's room. I would just move up the top bunk bed and still let Cason have Blake's big bed downstairs. His bed would still go. I texted Jeff and he wanted me to wait until they got home. It will take a lot of will power to just wait. I want it done now. I don't want to have it in limbo all weekend. BUT, I'll wait. SIGH!
Wednesday when Blake went into the MTC, Jeff and Cason took off for Cason's hunting trip. I heard the good news yesterday, Cason got a buck. It is a spike but Jeff said it was funnest day hunting he has ever hard. They are staying today to see if Addison can get something.
On the dog front, Blaze is still alive and kicking. (We thought she would be dead before Blake left.) She wandered off to our neighbors back yard yesterday, that stinker. I wonder how long she will hold on.
I sent the first package to Blake 2 days ago, so today he should be getting it today. I have a calendar already set up for sending packages. One every four days, and I have them almost all ready to go. I left most of them open so that if I want to add something I can just stick it in. Everything I am sending is either consumable, or he can just throw away. I hope he shares everything he gets with his district and companion. It should make life a little more fun. Nothing really important or expensive, just fun and goofy. I hope they put a smile on his face.He is getting crazy straws and thank you notes today. I was amazed by so many people's generosity. I new we had great friends but really didn't expect so much support. I hope he sends you all thank you notes, but I also want to say THANK YOU, and that I seriously have the BEST friends. THANK YOU for supporting my family!!! I have also put together an MTC countdown package that I will be sending to his companion, I have a VERY LITTLE plastic container, labeled of course (I thought that would make him laugh), for everyday. I still have 17 left to fill and then I will send it off. I hope that his companion will have fun giving Blake his little prize for the day and enjoy it with him. If you have any ideas please tell me!! The containers are only 1"x2", so think really small. A lot of them have candy, but I have balloons, a home depot tie tack (Orange and black for Halloween), pistachios (we have those here all of the time), big rubberbands, a really small puzzle, jingle bells, bouncy balls, punching balloon things, etc. I can't wait to hear from him. It is driving me crazy not knowing when his e-mail will show up.
So before we went to get Blake set apart Jeff gathered everyone in the living room and we sang a hymn and then he said Blake wanted to do something before he left. Blake solumly walked over to Samantha and got down on one knee in front of her and opened up the phone and gave it to her. It was quite funny. The passing of the kids phone. The joke goes on though, because he put a code on it, which he hadn't done before. We can't crack the code and we may not hear from him for a week. In the mean time, Samantha left for SanFransico early yesterday morning with the cross country varsity team. She took the phone with her just in case Blake wrote me on Fri or Sat, and I would text the code to her friends phone. So I hope Blake remembers to send me the CODE for the phone.
I have gotten on an e-mail list for Russian missionary moms and met Elder Miller's mom. Everyone else's missionary, so far, is in the field already. Elder Miller went in the MTC in Aug. It is great to ask questions and have them give me advise about mailing packages and the pouch.
Well I better get up and take care of the dogs. I still have a lot to do today. I think I am going to order the rest of that gravel so I can finish the front yard, since I can't work on the room changes. Life is wonderful!