Blessings

Life has been busy.  Has it really been three weeks since I wrote?  I thought I would back up and tell a little about the busy things going on.  I will go back to April 22nd.  It was a nice day and perfect weather for our activities.  In the morning Neal, with the help of a friend, Thane, went with Thane’s pick-up truck to buy some compost.  They unloaded it and Neal was able to mix it into the dirt in our garden area. He also pulled out lots of large rocks.  I am amazed at how many there are, they just seem to keep coming. Things got busy that week and I didn’t plant anything.  But it was okay because on April 29th it snowed.  I was glad I hadn’t planted any tender young plants.  On May 6th I finally got out there and planted some seeds with the boys help.  Now I just hope that they have a chance to grow, I have seen some birds in the area.  I have some starts I bought I the store and will get them planted this next Saturday.  It is nice to think that I finally started my garden here.  It has been a lot of work to get it ready.  One other thing I did to prepare it was prune the bushes that are next to it so they didn’t hang over the area.  That was a big project too.  The weather has been pretty good this week, some rain and a bit cooler but sunny too.  

The white area is the garden

we enjoy the view of Sandia mountain from our yard

planting the garden

We have had more social times too.  On the 22nd after the yard work was done we went out to eat with the Thane and his wife and enjoyed some visiting time with them.  That afternoon I took Spencer to a birthday party for Jesse, who was in our ward, his family just moved to Utah last week.  We enjoyed the party.  It was at a park and Spencer enjoyed playing with the many friends there and I enjoyed sitting and talking to the adults.  That evening we had Ruth’s friend’s family come over.  Brianna, her parents and four siblings came over.  We had dinner with them and the kids played.  The adults got out a game of Yahtzee and enjoy playing it together and visiting.  It was a nice evening. 

The following Saturday Caleb went to a birthday party for his friend Xan.  I went with him to the bowling alley.  He had fun with his friends and did okay with bowling.  I am glad that he can enjoy doing fun things and having such great friends.  Ruth still enjoys hanging out with Brianna and was with her again yesterday afternoon.  Andrew and Spencer enjoy their scouting activities with their friends.  

Andrew brought home a cool art project he did for a class.  I liked it and took a picture.  It is a train driving in the night, it is a collage made out of pieces of paper.  I am not sure what the assignment was for but his teacher liked it too.  He can be so artistic.  He enjoys cooking too.  Last Saturday he got up before me and fixed the family crepes and scrambled eggs for breakfast.  

The boys enjoyed making little tents in the front room last week.  They had lots of stuffed animals with them too, to make it cozy.  They enjoy playing board games together and I try to play with them too.  We have had some fun games of “Ticket to Ride” and “Yahtzee” lately.

On Wednesday April 26th we had our Pack Meeting for cub scouts.  Neal was in charge because the cub master was out of town.  He decided to do carrots as the “treat” for the end.  We kept them whole and just peeled them.  We had a fun reaction to them.  The kids thought it was great to eat a whole carrot and the parents thought it was nice to have a change from the sweet treats.  The group ate about five pounds worth of carrots.

We had a ward temple night on Friday the 28th.  I was able to go early and hear a short talk from a member of the temple presidency to us before the regular temple session.  It was nice to be there.  Neal joined me for the session.  It was a full room and I am glad we were at the temple that day together.

Monday May 1st Caleb had his gifted testing.  I had to take him to a school district office for it.  There were about 20 or so kids being tested that morning.  The parents were told they could leave as the test would be about three hours.  I did some errands in that part of town and read a book until it was time to pick him up.  He said he thought the test was mostly easy and felt he did fine.  We will hear back from them with the scores next week.  He really wants to be in the gifted class because he would like school to be more challenging.

Last week I helped a lot with the school book fair.  I enjoyed being a part of it.  I enjoy helping in the library.  Yesterday I was there helping with the end of school inventory.  It keeps me busy at times but it is good to be involved.

Last Tuesday evening was a school bike ride.  Neal, Spencer and Andrew participated.  They rode about six miles.  They enjoyed the nice weather that evening.  They got a little key fob as a token of their efforts.

I went to a book club last week.  We read an interesting book called “The Blue Tattoo.” It was a biography of a white girl, Olive Oatman, who was kidnapped into an Indian tribe back in the 1850’s.  The Indian’s tattooed the women and Olive was tattooed.  Then she was rescued back into the “white” world and the book discussed how she adjusted.  It was interesting.  I enjoyed our discussion of it too.

Last week end was our Stake Conference.  I enjoyed the messages.  I also enjoyed the extra time we had as a family Sunday afternoon.  Ruth and I worked on family history together and Neal played with the boys.  

This week Andrew started a swimming unit in his PE class.  He is enjoying having time in the pool that is by the school.  Last night Caleb had his first grade music program.  He was excited about it and did a good job singing.  

I also wanted to mention that my nephew Zach graduated from Georgia Tech University last week.  I am proud of him accomplishing a hard thing.  My mom was able to go with Zach’s family to the graduation.  

I am going to back up to something that happened that really made my life busy.  On April 24th Neal was in a car accident.  He was cut off by another driver making a left turn illegally.  I am thankful his injuries weren’t worse, he has had a sore knee.  The accident wasn’t his fault, so the insurance is paying for it all.  The car was declared totaled and basically we sold the car to the insurance company. Neal worked hard to do car research and went out looking at cars after work every day.  Last Friday Neal and I went looking at cars together.  We talked a lot about cars and what to do.  It has taken a lot of time out of our already busy schedules.  Last Saturday we bought a Honda Accord. We found one that was a manual, which Neal liked.  I thought it was pretty easy to drive too. I think Neal will enjoy driving it and it will be a car that lasts a long time for us.

I am thankful for the safety my family enjoys.  I feel blessed.