Butterfly Garden

Just a few weeks ago we ordered caterpillars through the mail so Natalie could "grow" her own butterflies. She couldn't have been more excited when they arrived!

After a few days of eating food that comes already inside the container, her five caterpillars grew at least 5 times in size and then within the week hung themselves on the special paper inside the cup. Once all 5 caterpillars were in their cocoons, we were able to open the cup, take the paper out and hang them in their new home.

Kind of creepy looking if you ask me! They even started to wiggle (a defense mechanism) which scared me and made me scream! I'm such a baby! Natalie even was confused with my reaction.

Approximately a week later they emerged!

We cut orange slices and made sugar water to sprinkle on flowers we picked for them to eat from.

It has been a week since they came out of their cocoons and we decided they deserved to get out of their cage and fly away. Natalie really enjoyed releasing them (I mean catching them and then letting them go).

For those of you who might be interested in doing this yourself, we bought the kit at Target (not sure how regularly they stock it) and then ordered the caterpillars through www.insectlore.com. It was really easy to take care of them and Natalie absolutely loved the whole process! Actually, so did I!

Audrey's Blessing Day

Audrey was given a name and a blessing by her dad on August 1, 2010. Joining her dad in the circle from the Aidukaitis family was her Grandpa Aidukaitis, Uncle Lee, and Cousin Brenan. From the Narducci family was her Grandpa Narducci, Uncle Nick, Uncle Seth, and Uncle Morgan. Family friends/relatives also joined the circle including Manny, Sean and Shem Banda. Needless to say, it was a BIG CIRCLE full of people who love Audrey - and what a great feeling that is!

Other family members that attended the blessing include Great-Grandma Narducci (Noni), Uncle Anthony, Aunt Patty, Uncle Frank, Aunt Vicki, cousin Emily, Aunt Shalyce, cousin Rilus, Aunt Becca, cousins Lucas, Madison, and Lauren, Aunt Christa, Aunt Diana, Aunt Mandy, cousins Kylee, Amanda, Madison and Adam, Aunt Amy, cousin Sasha, Aunt Alisa, cousins Spencer and Ashleigh, Aunt Jenni, cousins Kyana and Gavin, Aunt Kristina, cousins Cadence and Easton, Jared Jarvis, and Angela, Lana, Chad, Rachel and Elijah Banda. The bishop remarked that he thought we had more visitors than ward members in attendance that day.


Here are pictures of us just before going to church.



Little Audrey was sleeping on my bed right up until we left. What a little angel!


After Audrey's blessing we went to Mike's sister's ward for little Lauren's blessing. Lauren is her cousin that was born 4 hours after Audrey was. Unfortunately I didn't get one picture of her in her beautiful blessing dress worn by her sister and mom! How sad! If anyone has pictures to share with me, please do. :)

After Lauren's blessing we went to the Narducci's house for a BBQ. Here's a glimpse of the yummy food prepared for us that afternoon.


And here are pictures of some of my family that came for the special day.

Grandpa and Grandma Aidukaitis

Aunt Amy

Aunt Alisa and cousin Ashleigh

Cousins Ashleigh and Sasha

Cousins Madison and Kylee

Auntie Manna, Uncle Lee and cousin Amanda (Amanda is holding Lauren!)

Cousin Adam

Aunt Kristina

Proud Dad!

Later that night Grandpa and Grandma Aidukaitis and Aunt Amy came over to our house to say bye. They drove down from Utah and were leaving in the morning.

What a wonderful day we had together with our family and friends. Thank you to everyone who was able to share this day with us. Especially those of you who drove 20+ hours round-trip to be here! We are so grateful for our family and realize how wonderful it is to be able to share these special moments together. I love my family - immediate and extended - and am so happy that families can be together FOREVER!!