What the WHAT!?

"What the what" is a phrase Donovan loves to use. It cracks me up every time. I don't think I use it often, but it really applies to this situation. Isla had her 2 month check up on Thursday. I have been guessing that she was smaller than Avery and Donovan (who were huge) by a little bit, but didn't know exactly how big she was. She's pretty rolypoly, but it's hard to guess. For reference, Avery was 14 pounds, 8 ounces at 2 months and Donovan was 15 pounds 8 ounces at 2 months. Like I said, huge. Well, much to my surprise, Isla weighed in at 12 pounds 2 ounces. What the what?! She's still in the 90th percentile, but this is the first kid I've even had on the chart at this age.
My chunky monkey. Despite being 2 1/2 pounds smaller than Avery and 3 1/2 pounds smaller than Donovan at the same age, she is obviously not going hungry:

My Donovan

Donovan finished preschool this week. He ended the year with a spring recital, where he sang "5 Little Monkeys" and "This Little Light of Mine" with his class. He knew all the words and was the loudest singer in the class. After the recital, he made sure I could hear him, I assured him I could.

I'm so proud of how much Donovan has grown this year. He was a bit timid at the beginning of the year, and was unsure about going to preschool. On the last day of school, he burst into tears and told me he was going to miss Miss Linda and he didn't want Monkey Class to be over with. He has the same teacher Avery had when she was his age, Miss Linda. I am convinced that Miss Linda is the closest thing there is to an angel on earth. She is the nicest, most soft spoken woman. Yet the kids listen to her and mind her. She's a magician! I can barely get one 4 year old to listen to me, yet she can get a roomful of 3 and 4 year olds to behave, and I don't think she's yelled once in her life. She's amazing. We'll miss being having Miss Linda for a teacher.

Donovan played soccer with some of the kids in the neighborhood this year. My friend Deanna put together a little team and did some drills with the kids each week. They loved it.

Hanging with his buddy Clayton:

Doing the silly dance after he made a goal:

Coach Deanna and the team:

Look what she can do!

This spring, Avery learned how to ride her bike with no training wheels!

She's had a pretty busy year. She is almost done with first grade and is getting ready for her third dance recital. Posing for the dance recital program with 3 of her BFF's:

Last month, our ward had a 2 mile fun run. Avery ran most of it. She doesn't look very happy here, but she really loved doing it. Look at the little super hero below. When I told him there was a race, he said "I know what I need, my cape!" He ran quite a bit of it too.

Avery also just finished up her soccer season. This year, she played on a with several of the neighborhood little girls. She's getting pretty good!


With her team. Yes, she is not wearing her jersey for the final game, we couldn't find it.

Getting to know Isla

I looked at the calendar today - how can it be that Isla is already 2 months old? Time has really flown by! We have had so much fun these past two months getting to know this sweet little girl. She is such a happy baby and is so snuggly, I could just hold her all day (and I often do!).

Some facts about Isla:
Her name is pronounced Eye-la
She love being outside, swinging in her swing, snuggling with anyone, her pacifier.
Her talents include smiling all the time, cooing, holding her head up and not sleeping through the night.

How have we spent the last two months?
Taking a first bath (she didn't like it, but has liked all the baths she has had since):

Our newborn photo shoot when she was a couple of weeks old:

Taking a nap with her pops:

Learning to suck her thumb:

Trying on Avery's first Easter dress:


Talking to her big brother:

Getting over her baby acne:

Hanging out with her best buddies:

Always smiling:

Just being cute:


And posing for pictures with Donovan. Every time Dono holds Isla, he tells me to take a picture:

I'm leavin' on a jet plane - 'bout time I'm going home again

It's been two weeks since I (Scott) have been home. It's been good for work, but it's been a long, long trip. At least I got to see some neat things while I was out. Here are some of the recent highlights from this leg of the trip:

The Cairo skyline, from the hotel lounge on the 18th floor.

Here's another one with a better view of the Nile river.


I'm not sure what this is, but I thought it was interesting. I never did get a shot of the Cairo Tower, which is pretty darn cool. I guess you'll have to Google it.

Cooler than skylines are the following, which we got to do on our last day here:




Here's how we got a better view of the pyramids:

My camel was grumpy. But the view was worth the bumpy ride with 'Chuck.'


We got to see the Sphinx, as well. Smaller than I imagined, but still very cool. I guess everything will look smaller next to the pyramids.

Great experience, but I'm glad to be on my way home, finally, where I can see Tiffany, Avery, Dono, and 'little Squish' as I'm tempted to start calling Isla.

Daddy's Work Travel

As many of you know, I (Scott) am traveling for work for two weeks, hosting a distributor conference in Cape Town, South Africa, and running a pilot for the Ministry of Education in Cairo, Egpyt. I just got to Cairo and have some down time, so I thought I'd post a couple of things from Cape Town.

For one day of our distributor conference we arranged a safari to a private game reserve outside of Cape Town so our guys are motivated to sell stuff so we invite them back to the conference next year. This is our truck.

We saw lots of animals, but it felt a bit like Disney's Animal Kingdom. All of the animals were in a big fenced in area and all the guides knew exactly where to go to find them. So not as adventurous as a 'real' safari.

And yes, hippos are still pretty boring, even in South Africa.

The giraffes are probably wishing there were more trees. No such luck in this area.

The rhinos were cool. The guide said these are white rhinos, and they'll give you a warning charge before they come after you for real. Black rhinos will just come and get you. Nice to know, if someone could tell me how to tell the difference before they charge . . .

Young elephant. We learned this one is right handed.

Lions. You'll notice the fence, which is one of the reasons it felt like Disney.


More lions.After wrapping up the conference, we had some down time before we had to catch our flight to Cairo (connecting through Dubai). So we explored Table Mountain, which is directly above Cape Town. It's the tall, flat plateau behind the city in this picture (one of my favs I took) looking up from the Victoria and Albert waterfront.

This is the lift house at the bottom.

This is the tram car, which takes about 5 minutes to get to the top - it goes very quickly. Thank you Visa.

At the top we met a new friend, the 'dassie.' Its closest relative is actually the elephant, if you can believe that. Acorn fell far from that tree, buddy.

And fans of the Red Box, you've met your match - meet SOCCERBOX!

I literally had to wait 10 minutes before I could finally squeeze in a photo. Maybe I can put one at the Safeway on Van Dorn - hello early retirement!

Stay tuned for photos from Cairo, which so far reminds me of Delhi: hot, dusty, and lots of traffic with little regard for painted lines. No motor rickshaws, though. Not that I've seen anyway.

I miss you guys, see you soon!