Happy Easter

We had a great Easter.  I hope everyone else did.  The weather was so nice and we enjoyed some fun activities that week end.  A big one was that Neal and Andrew went on a Boy Scout camping trip.  They went to the Badlands to the northwest of us.  They enjoyed exploring and having fun with friends.  They left Friday morning and got back Saturday evening.  The kids didn’t have school Friday.  Ruth spent most of Friday with her friend Brianna.  Friday morning I took the kids to the park for an Easter Egg Hunt.  It was one that was put on by some friends in the High Desert ward.  It was fun to visit with friends and let the kids have some fun playing.

 Caleb discovered he could climb in our tree out in the back yard

Saturday morning we went to the church for a our ward’s breakfast and egg hunt.  The boys thought it was fun that they got to do two egg hunts.  I enjoyed the breakfast and visiting with other adults.  It was a beautiful morning to be outside again.  

Saturday was busy with yard work and house cleaning.  Then we had some fun coloring eggs.  Andrew wasn’t home, we saved some for him to color later.  I forgot to take a picture of him with the eggs.  The kids enjoyed creating some fun color with them.  When Andrew and Neal got home we had dinner, then after dinner the kids were excited to do their Easter baskets.  They like me to hide them.  I hid them in the back yard.  It actually took them a few minutes to find them.  I guess we have lots of bushes to hid them behind.  It was fun to watch their excitement.  I tried to go easy on the candy and bought them each a little stuffed animal.  They thought that was fun.  I also made an effort to write them each a personal note.  I hope that in the long run that might be more meaningful than a chocolate bunny.

Andrew was tired from camping, he was still happy to search for his basket

To back up in time, on Thursday I went to a Relief Society activity.  We did paintings.  It was a fun activity to sit together and visit with the sisters as we were given instructions on how to blend colors and paint a picture.  It was a good activity to try something new.  The more I look at my picture the more I like it.  It was a fun evening.

Sunday was Easter.  The choir sang in Sacrament meeting.  I sang in one number and played the piano in another.  I think it went well.  Ruth sang a descant part with another young woman and they sounded great.  She is doing well with singing high.  I also taught Relief Society that day.  We had a wonderful lesson on Christ and I really appreciated all the comments and testimonies shared.  The spirit was strong on Sunday and I am thankful I was able to attend church.  I am thankful for my Savior.  I know he lives.

I have enjoyed watching the garden grow in my yard.  The roses are growing.  We have one miracle iris blooming.  The peach tree we planted is finally showing signs of life.  I had wondered if we had planted a dud and would need to get it replaced.  I am glad that it is starting to grow.  This week end we are going to get compost to get stirred into the dirt for our vegetable garden.  I am happy that things are progressing.  I have been thinking of fun things for summer time and getting ready to enjoy a different schedule with my family.  The school year is rushing to an end.  They only have about a month left.

These dark tulips were the last of the tulips to bloom, I thought they were unique and pretty

One little iris flower decided to bloom.  I look forward to 

next spring when the bulbs can grow better.

The peace rose is the first one to bloom in the back yard

I thought I would take a picture of where our vegetable garden will be

The peach tree, finally showing some life

The roses by the front door

One more thing about this week.  The kids have enjoyed playing with all the plastic eggs.  The boys thought it would be fun to build snake nests, since snakes lay eggs.  They found all their stuffed snakes and little plastic ones and have played with them all week end.  I am thankful they are just toys.  Their snails are still alive.  Andrew cleaned out the jar and put in fresh dirt this week.  They are good about putting in new food.  The found that the snails really like cabbage.  I am glad that they can enjoy taking care of something so simple.

The remains of the snake nest that was still out this morning.

Life is Good

I am trying harder to write every week so the letters don’t get so long.  So many things happen every week that it is good to keep up to date with it.  Last Thursday I enjoyed going to my book club.  The ladies were fun to talk to and we had a great discussion on our book “The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind.”  I also thought it was interesting to hear about the other families and the struggles they go through with their children who feel entitled to things.  As they described their childrens actions I thought how grateful I am that Neal and I decided to go the simple route with things and don’t have those problems, like kids begging for the latest gadgets and always wanting to watch TV.  In fact I couldn’t remember the last time the kids had asked to watch anything. So on Friday we looked up new movies out on Netflix and we watched “The BFG.”  It was cute.  I read the book for the first time a couple of months ago and I enjoyed the movie.

Friday evening Ruth enjoyed visiting with her friend Brianna.  Brianna is in our ward and also in most of Ruth’s classes at school.  They have enjoyed getting to be friends.  Brianna had a foot surgery recently and still down and can’t go to school.  Ruth has gone over a few times to visit and help her with her school work.  Friday evening I think was mostly social.  They enjoy the same kinds of books and like talking about them.  In fact right now they are collaborating on writing a story together.  They have the document on Google Docs and they both add to it.  It is amazing what they do on the computer these days.  Ruth does a lot with Google Docs with her school work.  Teachers have them submit work through it, that way they can work on it at the computer labs in the school and at home, without using a device to save on and carry around.  It really is amazing to me.  Especially since I remember using a type writer when I was a student at BYU!

I did a lot of yard work this week.  I got the rest of the iris’s planted.  They don’t look that great right now.  But I am hopefully that they will grow and next spring we will have many beautiful flowers.  I also got the kids to help me in the yard with weeding, they didn’t even complain that much.  I really appreciate their help, they get so much done in their required 30 minutes of work outside.  I am working at planting perennials in the yard that will attract insects to help our fruit trees and eventually our vegetable garden.  I planted a rosemary bush.  There are rosemary bushes all over here.  Right now many are flowering and Caleb calls them “humming bushes” because the bees love them.  A few weeks ago Neal worked hard to clear out the last of the big rocks from our garden area.  Then he worked in the front yard to clean up and add to the rock boarder.  It looks so nice now.

The tulips by the picnic table, it is fun to see the different colors blooming

I planted the iris in a few locations around the back yard, where they will gets lots of sunshine

Our front yard, the boys like hoping from rock to rock

The front porch area, I had just watered, so there are wet spots.

The side of the house where Neal worked on the rock boarder, the kids also like to ride bikes around so you can see the tracks in the gravel. 

The rosemary bush is the one on the left

Saturday morning Neal, Andrew and Spencer went to their model train club.  They enjoy that and are learning so many things about how the trains work. 

Saturday evening Ruth and I worked to make a double batch of egg rolls.  She wanted them for her birthday dinner and I knew they would take too much time to make on Sunday.  We had fun working together and they turned out wonderful.  That evening the weather was perfect too and we ate our dinner outside.  I am enjoying all the tulips in the garden right now and it was fun to sit outside, eat and enjoy the view.

Sunday was Ruth’s birthday!  She was so excited about her birthday.  We let her open her gifts in the morning.  That way I could give her the outfit that she had tried on last week when we went shopping and I went back to buy.  She was surprised that I had bought it and was happy to wear it to church Sunday.  We measured her on our board and she is officially taller than me now by almost an inch.  She enjoyed going to the Mia Maid class with all her friends.  She enjoyed the attention that was given her.  I also got many compliments on my hair cut.  I guess when you make such a drastic change people notice and say something.  

Notice I have shoes on

Ruth was very happy to have a birthday, she is growing up so quickly

We have enjoyed playing board games as a family this week.  Friday, Saturday, Sunday and Monday we all played a game or two.  The boys had fun making up an easier version with the Risk game.  I am glad that we have so many games and we can enjoy that time together.

Tuesday morning I enjoyed helping in the school library.  The librarian was out of town and her substitute was Laura.  Laura is in my ward and we seem to talk to each other a lot on Wednesday evenings while we wait for our kids to finish their activities.  I enjoy being around her and we had fun working together Tuesday morning.  She did great as a sub.  She just started doing substituting this year.  She said that it has been good and she is learning a lot.  Neal has suggested that some day when Caleb is a bit older I might enjoy doing the same.  I have enjoyed being involved more in the school than I did in Texas.  It is nice to be there. I really like being in the library.  I am so thankful I decided to do it.

Today is a beautiful spring day.  I am trying to take longer walks and do more active things.  I am thankful for a pretty neighborhood to live in and feel blessed.

Quilting and Conference

It has been a good week.  Last Wednesday we enjoyed being with the Cub Scouts for the Blue and Gold dinner.  The boys decorated cakes with the theme of National Parks and did an awesome job.  Spencer did a cake with Yellowstone and the mud pots.  Neal helped him figure out a way to have real bubbles in his “mud” (which was Hershey’s syrup).  Everyone was impressed he had bubbles in it.  Spencer also earned some awards.  He is very close to getting his Bear rank.  He enjoys doing cub scouts.  Last night he met with his den and did some wood working. His leaders said he did great with it and could tell he knew how to use a hammer.

Last Thursday we had the missionaries over for dinner.  It was nice to have them here.  In our conversation something came up with how to pronounce a word.  Neal was teasing Caleb a little with tricky words.  One of the Elders said we needed a dictionary for that.  The kids got out our full sized unabridged Random House dictionary, it is huge, like you see at a library.  We got it from Neal’s grandma, it was printed in the 1960’s but is still fun for the kids to look at.  They set the dictionary by the Elder and he laughed and said something like “now that is a dictionary.”  We enjoyed the evening with them.

I was able to borrow a quilting frame from a friend and neighbor and got it from her Friday. I set up my quilt and was ready to work on it while I listened to the church General Conference over the week end.  I was able to do all the quilting during the week end.  I am making a quilt to match the boys to have on the extra bed in their room.  I have a simple block pattern, the squares are 10 inches and I just quilted around them.  I used the same kind of batting I used before that is rated for quilting 10 inches apart.  So it went pretty quickly just doing straight lines like that.  I am glad I got it done in one week end because it took up a lot of space in the front room, mostly the frame with the long boards sticking out.  Now I need to get it bound and then I can use it.

I enjoyed listening to conference.  It was all uplifting to me.  I loved all the messages about Jesus Christ, keeping our faith in difficult times and about God’s plan for us.  The kids did well being quiet and listening to a lot of it too.  It is nice we can watch it in our home. 

Saturday afternoon, between sessions of conference, Ruth and I went shoe shopping.  We ended up going to the mall and found what she was looking for.  She wanted to buy a new pair of black canvas Converse.  She was happy that we found them, in black, in her size.  As we left the store I asked her if it was worth taking care of the chickens.  She smiled and was happy to have bought the shoes.  I am glad that she has earned money and can buy something she wanted.  While we were out she also had fun trying on a skirt and looking at dresses at a store.  She likes clothing and wants to look nice.  

It was a pretty afternoon after the rain stopped.  The boys had fun listening to their yells echoing in the open space. 

Monday evening Andrew prepared a game for our family night.  He had carefully counted out and bundled 20 slat blocks for each of us to use.  Then he challenged us to build the tallest tower we could.  We all enjoyed the activity.  I thought it was a fun game.  I decided to use it for Activity Days last night.  I related it to President Monson’s talk from conference about reading the Book of Mormon and building our testimonies of the gospel of Christ.  We reviewed his talk and then I let the girls play with blocks.  They had a great time.  I am always happy when  I teach and they kids enjoy the time there.

Yesterday I got a hair cut.  I have been thinking about doing something different for awhile.  I did it.  I had her cut it shorter, yet long enough that I can still pull it back.  She gave me layers too.  I like the way it turned out.  Caleb was mad about me cutting it.  After school when he saw me he threw up his hands and then hit his legs and yelled out “You cut your hair! I told you not to do it.  Oh, I am having such a bad day.”  He was in tears as he told me his bad day of having someone put some plant material down his shirt at recess and that I would cut my hair.  He said how much he loves my hair and liked it long.  I sat with him and talked until he calmed down.  Even though he said I looked silly he decided it was okay that I changed my hair.  It was really quiet funny that he was so effected by it.  I wanted to get a picture of it and so I tried doing a “selfie” with the ipad camera.  The picture turned out okay.  

Today we have some sun shine.  We have had some cooler weather and rain.  It is nice to have the sun out.  My flowers are blooming and it is a pretty time of year. Caleb also lost another tooth.  He was happy that it came out.  Now he has a big hole that he can stick things through.  He likes eating craisins and said he can push one through his hole without opening his jaw.  Caleb also did well with his first round of testing for the gifted program.  He did well enough that he will have further testing.  I am hopeful that he will get into the all day program. 

Saturday evening Ruth had fun going to a birthday party for her friend Katie.  They ate pizza, played games and watched a movie.  I am thankful she has good friends.

Caleb likes his new green pants too

I took a couple of pictures in my yard this morning

I thought my little apricot tree look cute