Today my baby met her Kindergarten teacher, Mrs. Cammack. She is sooooo excited to start school. My little girl is all grown up, almost. I'm not just a teacher anymore...I'm a teacher with a child going to school now. I'm excited too.
Sitting in her desk. She's in the 2nd row for now.
Sitting up tall. We practiced. Ok, so I've been HORRIBLE about updating this blog lately. I guess motherhood keeps me busy among my other callings in life. Updates on the family....Jake is still working as a Network Administrator, hates the commute but it pays the bills. He's redoing our sprinkler system in the backyard before it gets too hot in the Arizona summer. He just got a new calling in church as the 13 year old Sunday School teacher. I, Alisa, am in my 13th year of teaching. This is my 7th year teaching 2nd grade, but am excited to be moving to 1st grade next year. Looking forward to a challenge. I have two new callings in our ward, well one is just an "assignment" which is to be on the Girls' Camp Committee, and my official one is Cub Scout Committee Chair. It's quite funny because when I got released as Primary Secretary I said I would never accept a calling in YW or Scouts, well after several months of having no calling look at me now. I'm actually excited for some change in my life. Zowie is just growing sooooo fast. Just recently Jake and I were talking about how much her vocabulary has increased and how much of a talker she has become. She has made leaps and bounds since she has become a part of our forever family. We love her so much! She wants a baby brother or sister so much and prays daily for them, without our mentioning it. I asked her one day if she asked Heavenly Father when her new baby brother or sister was coming. She said, "Yes, he said "Behold, be patient."" She loves having the missionaries over for dinner, loves loves loves her chickens, and loves singing primary songs. She says that one day she's going to marry Peter Pan, in the temple. She says the cutest things.
We got some new baby chicks born on March 17, 2011. We got 9, crazy I know, but so fun. 3 New Hampshire Red, 3 Barred Rocks, and 3 Buff Orpingtons, all brown egg layers. We'll be extending our current coop where 2 full grown hens live right now to make room for more.
Zowie's first sport other than dance. She had a short 7 week soccer season, but she learned a lot. She really came a long way from a stander and starer to a runner and trying to get the ball. She was sad when it was over, so we'll be signing her up again in the Fall. 
Zowie kicking the ball
For Zowie's 5th birthday, I made 2 cupcake cakes. I started running out of time and had to finish them pretty quick, so they aren't as good as I wanted them to be. This one is a flower with skittles and licorice.
This one was suppose to be a turtle, but couldn't make the shell the way I wanted to because of time so used skittles instead.Our ward had a Breakfast with Santa. We had yummy pancakes, sausage, doughnuts, muffins, and bagels. It was very nice. They had several teams doing a gingerbread making contest. Zowie helped of course......eating the candy. She does that very well!!!
We got to wear our jammies!!
Waiting in line to see Santa. She got impatient.
Finally!!! This year she got more into Santa. 
Telling Santa that she wants a Barbie truck, one that she can drive herself. Not gonna happen, it will be much smaller....for her barbies!!
My beautiful girl!!We went to Trunk or Treat Saturday night this year for Halloween. We did the "Wizard of Oz" theme this year.
Dorothy and the Wicked Witch
The cutest Dorothy EVER!!!!
Toto and Dorothy
Jake wasn't able to get the Tin Man costume put together in time, so he's the "Wizard"
Zowie wasn't scared of me and she even kissed me. That was a surprise. Who would want to kiss this face?!?!Our chickens are getting bigger!! One of our Rhode Island Reds started laying eggs!! Jake and Zowie were taking a nap. I went outside to check on the chickens and found our first egg. I was soooo excited that I woke Jake up and showed him. When Zowie came down from her nap, I told her about the egg. She got dressed and went outside herself to go check the chickens. She came back inside excited and yelling, "Mom, I got an egg." Sure enough, there was another egg. She loves checking to see if there are eggs. We'll see how long that lasts.
This is Chicken Nugget, the one that's laying eggs
Chicken Nugget is in the back. Lady Speckles is the Gold Laced Wyndotte in front of her.
The white one is Freckles, the Delaware. We have another Rhode Island Red named Toodles.
Here's the first egg!!! We bought almost 41 acres of land in St. Johns. We've never made an investment like this before and it's exciting!!! There are large Juniper trees, but no pine, bummer. Oh well. It's at 6000 feet elevation and it gets some snow in the winter. A nice place to get away in the summer.
We saw this huge hole in the ground. We think rabbit, but not sure.
There was a game trail through our land also. We saw elk/deer/cow droppings and foot prints everywhere.
There's also a ton of Indian pottery everywhere!!! I love it.A gal in our church who lives close by teaches dance classes for the little ones. So we decided to put Zowie in it and see if she likes it. We want to expose her to many sports and activities including music (my husbands area) and see what she likes the most. Miss Lindsay teaches her once a week for about an hour. I love that she teaches her ballet, tumbling, cheer, and tap all in that same hour. It keeps the kiddos interested with their attention span so small. So far, Zowie seems to enjoy it.
the warm-up
ballet
uh oh, she caught me, more balletZowie goes back to school sooooo early. It's still July!!!! Oh well, next year, she'll be on the same schedule as me. My baby will be in kindergarten next year.
My nephew Grant stayed with us for a little while 
Zowie with her teacher Mrs. Albert, and 2 aides Mrs. Angel and Miss Mary
Zowie and her preschool teacher, Mrs. AlbertPrepare for a long post.....We took a 2 week roadtrip visiting my 2 sisters and visiting our church's history sites. It was a lot of fun.
Zowie and Zoe (cousins that are a month a part) playing together during Grant's baseball game
eating pickles, Zowie didn't like them
Grant at bat
The spiral staircase at Loredo Chapel in New Mexico
MAJOR hailstorm in New Mexico, had to pull over
looks like snow
my sleeping baby
Saw many huge blades to a windmill being transported on the freeway
Winter Quarters temple in Nebraska
Winter Quarters temple
My little pioneer
Zowie holding a handcart
Kansville Tabernacle
Liberty Jail
Soooooo much corn in many, many states
Jake and Zowie in Far West, Missouri (where the four cornerstones to a temple are)
A mill stone from Hauns Mill
Adam-ondi-Ahman
Mississippi or Missouri River, I forget (we crossed both a few times)
Sears Tower in Chicago (don't want to ever go back there again, crazy traffic)
Chicago Temple
My new niece, Avery. In Michigan visiting my sister Crystal
My cute nephew Rosswell
My other cute nephew Elliott
And another cute nephew, Donovan
Having fun
We all went to one of the lakes, I think it was Lake Michigan, but not sure
Zowie the mermaid, I did each child into something different
Detroit, Michigan Temple
Kirtland, Ohio Temple (not owned by our church, The Community of Christ still owns it)
The Johnson Farm, those steps by the door are the steps where Joseph Smith preached the next day after being taken away during the night and being tarred and feathered
Avery
Avery's blessing dress, my mom made it
4th of July in the backyard
light sticks
Carthage Jail, see the bullet hole? This is where the bullet went through Hyrum Smith
The the same bedroom, this is the window that Joseph Smith fell out of after being shot, he fell to his death
standing next to Joseph and Hyrum at Carthage Jail
Outside Carthage Jail, the 2nd story window is the one Joseph fell out of
Nauvoo, Illinois Temple
In Nauvoo
Gravestones of Joseph, Hyrum and Emma Smith
St. Louis, Missouri Temple
Dodge City (Get the heck out of Dodge!)
Albuquerque, New Mexico Temple
Albuquerque, New Mexico Temple
