Turtle

One of the nice things about living in Grove is that the lake (Grand Lake) is right there. If you go out of town in any direction it is going to lead you to the lake. Even though it is not, it kinda makes Grove feel like an island. I don't know if it is just an Oklahoma thing or if we live by the lake but you will often see turtles in bodies of water and on the road....well, trying to cross the road....which leads me to a childhood memory. I have always loved turtles. I don't know why. It's not like they are cute or anything but since I was old enough to drive I have had this fascination with "saving" turtles. If I would see one on the side of the road and especially if I saw one in the road, I would pull over pick it up and move it to the other side! When my dad found out I was doing this, he told me that every time he heard about me "saving" a turtle that he was purposely going to kill one! He didn't like me in the road like that with passing cars. All of us siblings have a joking and fun relationship with our father and so I just told him that if I get hit by a car and die doing it then he can have a turtle carved into my tombstone in remembrance.

On Saturday, the missionaries called to tell us that they found a turtle and wanted to know if we wanted it. I didn't want to keep him but I definitely wanted my kids to see the little guy and then us release him. So we kept him for a few hours and then went to the lake. Here is a picture of Hyrum telling Mr. turtle to go into the lake.

He didn't move so we took him out...

....and he decided he didn't want to have anything to do with the water and headed off towards the woods.

The kids were quickly not interested in our turtle friend anymore once they knew water and rocks were in the same vicinity. Brigham has been real interested in recycling things and so we used this opportunity to clean up the lake while we were there. We turned the turtle box into the "clean up the lake box." We stayed until it got dark, went home and gave the boys a much needed bath.