Busy Spring Time

The month has gone by so quickly.  We are winding down to the end of the school year, only a month left. The kids have been doing their state testing and will be glad when it is over. Ruth also found out that the high school does end of course exams up to the last day of school. I guess it is a good reminder that she isn’t in elementary school any more. She is busy with all the group projects and things that need to be done before school is out. This is the last week of early morning seminary. She has done so well at getting herself up and ready every morning. I think she will be happy to be done with the early mornings for a while. Last Saturday morning she got together with a group at a park to do some filming for a project. They read “The Odyssey” for their class and had to write up a scene to act out and then film it. I think they had some fun with it. Ruth is busy with work and seems to enjoy helping the kids and being responsible to go to work. She also likes the pay checks.

Spencer and Andrew have fun with going to train club. They enjoy their trains and have fun running the HO scale train that is working in our family room. Andrew has a list of things he wishes to buy and wants to keep working on the N scale train layout.

Spencer dressed up for fun

On Saturday the 14th Caleb was invited to a birthday party for his friend Charlie. He was so excited to go. They were meeting at Charlie’s home and were told to bring their favorite stuffed animal. Since the they live so close Caleb wanted to ride his bike over. I had Spencer ride over with him, to make sure he got there. Then Spencer went over to Jonathan’s home to play. When the party was over I asked Andrew to ride over to pick up Caleb and come home with him. All three boys came home together. Come to find out Spencer and Jonathan had gone to the school grounds to ride their bikes around and the birthday party group had gone to the school grounds to film a movie about their favorite animals. They all joined up and Charlie's mom let Spencer and Jonathan join the party. They all had a great time.

Charlie's mom is also Ruth’s Young Women leader and Ruth enjoys working with her. Last night they went shopping with a couple of the other young women to get things for an activity this week.

Last Friday evening Neal and I had a date night. We went out to eat dinner at a nice quiet Greek restaurant. We have been there before and like their food. We then went to a friends home for a musical concert. Liz and Tammy did some classical music at Liz’s home. Liz played the piano beautifully and Tammy joined for a couple of songs on her violin. I enjoyed listening to the music. We enjoyed visiting with them afterwards and got to know them better. They are friends from church, in the neighboring ward, and I have also gotten to know Liz through book club. As we sat and listened to this concert it made me think of Jane Austin stories when people sat listening to the young women play and sing at the piano. It was a nice evening.

Last Saturday was a busy day. As I already mentioned Ruth went to the park to work on a class project. Neal and Andrew went to a place called CLN Kids that helps struggling families. The ward had organized a service time to help clean up the facilities. Neal and Andrew worked in the play ground doing some spring clean up and maintenance of the yard. When they came home Neal and I, with the boys, went to the Tram trail area for a hike.  Ruth wasn’t able to go with us because she had to go to work that afternoon.  We met with friends, Thane and Judy, and enjoyed a visit with them. We hiked up the hill side, some of the group went all the way to the first tram tower.  I sat and visited with Judy half way through because it was a bit steep for both of us. We had our lunch and visited and enjoyed the pretty spring day.  It was a bit cool to start with but ended nice. After we left the Tram area we went to the Balloon Fiesta Museum for a Maker Day Faire activity. At a school activity over a month ago we won a prize of a free family pass for the Maker Day Faire. We spent about 2 1/2 hours there and could have spent the whole day. They had many fun activities set up for the kids. I think their favorite was the rocket building and learning how to pick locks. They also learned how to make paper darts and now our house has pieces of darts all over. We enjoyed seeing all that we could. I would like to go back to the museum some time and really look around at their exhibits. I haven’t been there before. It made for a long day and we were all tired out when we got home.

The boys enjoyed climbing over the rocks

It ended up a  nice day, but started out cold, so I dressed for it

at the tram tower

The boys having fun a the Faire. Below, Caleb was in the little pool having 

water balloons launched at him, he wasn't ever hit with one though. 

That evening the boys still had some energy and were being silly with stuffing their shirts with pillows and pretending to be sumo wrestlers. It was entertaining to watch them bouncing off of each other. They were being careful and not too rough. It was our evening entertainment.

They were both in the air on this shot.

Sunday was Andrew’s choice for a treat and he decided he wanted to try chili brownies. He made up a recipe of brownies and we split the dough into two pans. One pan he stirred in a half teaspoon of ground cayenne pepper. Neal, Andrew and Spencer all enjoyed the chili brownies. They said the pepper taste was there but not real strong. I passed on trying them.

I guess with all the excitement we got a little worn out and have had some illness this week.  Caleb had it first Sunday. He was congested and then got a fever. He went to bed early and slept it off. Monday he felt fine. Tuesday Spencer came home from school with a fever and stayed home today. He is doing better but still very congested. This morning Andrew woke up saying he was congested and tired. He still went to school because he had a big test today. I hope he does alright. I am feeling very tired and have a slight sore throat. So I guess I have it too. I hope it goes away quickly. I hope Andrew doesn’t get it too much because he has a boy scout camp out this week end.

This morning Spencer and I had some entertainment watching a big crane deliver a hot tub to the back yard of our next door neighbor. I was worried it was going to hit the roof of their house, but the crane did its job and got the hot tub dropped down into their yard.

Andrew finished the puzzle for me. I was just not working on it much and one Sunday morning Andrew sat and finished it. He enjoyed doing it too. A piece was missing, but after all I did get it used. It is a pretty picture. I think I will give puzzles a break for awhile. I am trying to play the piano more frequently and working on the hymns and a few classical pieces I use to be able to play that I enjoy.

We are enjoying some nice spring weather and if feels good to have the windows open. I like this time of year.

The mountain looks pretty from our yard

Ruth's Birthday

I had some time this morning and thought I would write and keep up with my journaling of the family events.  Last week Neal was in Arkansas for a couple of days for work. I don’t mention that he is gone beforehand, just for my safety and not wanting people to know he isn’t home. He got home Friday morning and had the rest of the day off. We went to a plant nursery and were able to buy a red currant bush. I was wanting one because we had one growing up and I love the juice for jelly and pancake syrup. We were looking around and had asked one worker if they had it and he said no. We were just looking and then asked someone else if we could what currants and berries they had. He took us back into a corner where they had a few golden currants and gooseberries. We were talking to the man and just looking and then we found a pot that the colorful tag had fallen off but the sticker on the pot said it was a red currant. I was excited about that. They did have one and we were able to get it. We were able to get it planted later in the day too. There are already some new little leaves forming on it, so I hope that it is happy and makes many yummy berries for us. Neal and I also stopped and bought a burger for lunch and enjoyed our date time.

Saturday was a nice day. We had time at home to work on projects. I got outside and worked, I even got the kids outside to help with weeding. In the afternoon Neal and Andrew went on a bike ride with Andrew’s friend, Aiden. They had a great time. Andrew crashed and skinned his elbow and tore his pants, but it was still fun.

Sunday was a busy day. The time goes by so quickly as we are fulfilling our church assignments. Ruth went with one of young women leaders to bring treats to a girl in their class. In the evening Neal took Ruth to a Stake fireside where they talked about preparing for missionary work.

Monday was Ruth’s 15th birthday! She had a fun day. I got up early and made her pancakes. She leaves for seminary at 5:50, so I really did get up early. But it was fun to do something for her. Neal went to the high school to volunteer helping the physic students with Rube Goldberg projects. He was working with a group as their mentor to help them complete theirs. He was there the whole school day.  Spencer and Caleb’s classes walked over to the high school to see the projects. I walked with Caleb’s class. It was interesting to see. If you don’t know what Rube Goldberg projects are, because I didn’t know it by name, they are chain reaction things. The high school kids had to have 10 steps in theirs. It was fun to see all the creativeness in them and how they would work. We had a fun afternoon and evening with the family. Ruth was happy and enjoyed being the center of attention. We even took time to look at her baby pictures. It was a good day.

I gave her a portable CD player and speaker

Yesterday was a nice day too. I helped in the library in the morning. Spencer and Caleb went bike riding with their friends Otis and Charlie after school.  They got into the sprinklers at the school and Spencer got his feet soaked. This morning his shoes were still wet, so he had to wear his sandals to school. He didn’t mind. The weather is so nice and it definitely is spring.

Caleb had fun with his stuffed dogs.

I found a bunch of pictures of Spencer's Lego projects on the camera

this morning, I picked out one to share. He loves Lego and

has been enjoying taking pictures.

Last night I enjoyed going to a Relief Society activity and Book Club discussion. It was a busy evening but I enjoyed the time visiting with other women. I took a few pictures of things in the yard this morning. I am happy the iris’s have started to bloom. The apple tree blossoms smell so good. I like spring time.

Above is the apple tree, below is the pear. I like the 

smell of apple blossoms better than pear.

above is the small apple tree, below are apricots forming, 

I will need to thin them out soon.

The iris's are pretty and smell good. 

The purple trees are blooming. 

The red currant bush

Caleb's Baptism and Spring Break

We had a great spring break. It was rather busy but so many good things. I will start telling about things back to March 22nd. My mom and my sister Rachel flew into town that afternoon. We were excited to see them. Neal picked them up at the air port and they arrived home about 15 minutes before I needed to go to Pack meeting with the boys. Caleb was very excited to go to Pack meeting as a cub scout, not just a little brother. He was so happy to be in his blue shirt and wanted pictures taken. It was a good pack meeting. Spencer earned the NOVA science award. He has great leaders that help him do fun things.

Friday morning Rachel and Mom walked to the school with us and then I had a day with them to visit. It was great. We decided to go out to eat lunch and then see a movie. We choose the movie “I can only imagine.” It was a great movie, I highly recommend it. We had a fun time together and I am glad I had that time with them. Friday evening we went to a Stake Messiah Sing Along. Ruth went with us. It was a nice performance and fun to try to sing along in the chorus parts. While we were gone Neal’s parents arrived. They were driving down and had a long day of it. I am thankful they were doing well enough to come and be with us for our special event on Saturday. It was good to see them. We had lots of fun with all our visitors. The house was a bit crowded with four extra adults, but we loved it.

Me with Rachel and Mom in my back yard. 

Saturday was our special day for Caleb with his baptism. Neal’s brother Dallin and his family also drove down from Utah to be with us. They arrived in the early afternoon and we all had fun playing and getting ready for the evening. The baptism was at 4pm. It was a Stake baptism, but Caleb was the only child in the Stake getting baptized, so it was nice to have a small group there. We had our family and friends from church who came. It was a special meeting that was filled with the spirit. We went back to our home for dinner and visiting. We invited our friends, Thane and Judy Schaffer to the baptism and dinner and enjoyed having them with us too. The evening was fun for everyone as we visited and at the end many of us watched the movie “Coco.” That was a nice family movie.

Ruth had fun playing with her little cousins.

Rachel and Caleb

Before the baptism when they were all in white

My mom with Caleb

Our family with Neal's parents, Mom and

 Rachel, and cousin Micah

Sunday Dallin’s family came over again to play before church (they stayed at a hotel over night.) We went to church together in the afternoon. Ruth and I sang in the choir for some Easter music. We enjoyed another evening of visiting at the house. Andrew had fun showing his working train to the family. My mom and Neal’s dad worked a lot on my puzzle I had out and I am thankful for their help. I was a bit stuck with it because of the odd shaped pieces and finding it hard to motivate myself to even work on it. Andrew also worked on it during the week and now it is over half done. I think I can finish it now.

Squishing on the couch

Andrew and his train set

Monday officially started spring break. The kids were happy to not go to school and enjoyed playing with cousins for a bit in the morning while Neal and Dallin did a bike ride in the foothills. Then Dallin’s family left to drive home. The rest of us decided to take a drive around the mountain to the east side. We stopped at a little museum called “Tinkertown” and enjoyed looking at the curious things there. Then we drove up the mountain road to the summit of the mountain we see from our back yard. I think it is great we can drive to the summit of a mountain. The look out is great, but it was cold that day and we didn’t stay long on top.

View from the summit of Sandia peak. 

Our house is somewhere down there. 

Monday afternoon we decided to watch another movie Rachel had, “The Greatest Showman” I enjoyed it. That evening we had a nice family night with everyone. Tuesday morning the Hubbard’s left to drive home. We had a little time with Mom and Rachel before they left in the afternoon on their flight home. It was good to have them come.

The kids playing

Wednesday morning we packed up and went camping. We drove south and camped at a camp ground close to Las Cruces called Aguirre Spring. It was a pretty place. That evening it got cold with gusts of cold wind. I had come prepared and did stay warm. I had a hard time going to sleep because the wind would come and hit the tent and shake it. I was glad when it finally calmed down and I could sleep.

Me at the camp ground, we went for a short hike

I was reading out loud to the kids and didn't realize 

Neal took this picture, but I was warm

Caleb loved climbing this tree at the camp ground, he was in it a lot

Thursday morning we drove to White Sands National Monument. We had heard a lot about it so we thought we would go explore something new. It was different from anything I had seen before. Although it reminded me of an ocean beach, minus the water and shells. It was beautiful with all the white sand dunes. It was also bright with the sun reflecting off the sand. It was a beautiful day, we had a high about 75 degrees. The kids loved rolling around in the soft sand. I mostly sat and read while they played. But I did do a couple of the short hikes to see things.  One thing people do there is use sleds to slide down the sand dunes. We brought some card board but that didn’t work. Caleb was being his friendly self and started playing with some kids near by. Their family had sleds and when they left they gave one to Caleb because they said they were on their way home and didn’t need to keep it. Caleb was excited and had fun trying it out. We spent the day in the sand and then went back to our camp site.

Can you see their names in the sand?

They had fun getting buried in the sand, it was soft and clean

going for a little hike in the sand

Friday morning we went back to White Sands and let the kids play a little more (also Neal played, he had fun with it too.) They all tried the sled we had been given. Neal, Spencer and Andrew took a hike through the dunes and were gone for a couple of hours. Ruth, Caleb and I hung around the picnic area, reading and playing. About noon we saw a family from our ward, the Graham’s, arrive. It was fun to visit with them. Neal got back with the boys and Andrew had fun playing with the Graham’s boys. We had our lunch and got packed up to go home. The Graham’s took over our picnic site, since it was in a good location and things were getting busy. We drove home that afternoon and everyone was tired out. It was good to sleep in my bed again that night. Saturday we spent doing laundry, cleaning up from camping, and watching General Conference.

Saturday and Sunday was the LDS General Conference. It was neat to sustain a new President of the church, Russell M. Nelson, and two new apostles. I am thankful for the leadership of the church and the great talks that were given. I look forward to reading, and listening to the talks again. Sunday was Easter. Saturday afternoon the kids colored eggs. In the evening, after Neal and Andrew came home, (they had gone out to dinner with friends and then to the church to watch the Priesthood session) we did our Easter baskets. I usually hide the baskets outside, but since it was dark, I hid them inside. The kids had fun looking for them. I didn’t do anything fancy with their baskets this year. They had requested that I just give them chocolate, so I did. Sunday we focused more on the real meaning of Easter. We took time to read scriptures with the kids and watch conference. It was a peaceful week end.

Monday morning the kids headed back to school. Except Andrew went a little late. First thing Monday morning I took Andrew to the orthodontist and he got his braces on. He was nervous about it but everything went smoothly. His mouth has been sore this week. Monday evening he was having a hard time eating dinner, even though I though I made something soft for him. Neal suggested that we could blend it up and then he could drink it. He liked that idea and that was easier for him to eat. Last night I blended his salad for him and we were remembering the movie “Wall-E” when we joked about his “salad in a cup.” He liked the green smoothy and agreed with me that it is important to get his vegetables, even if he can’t chew very well right now. I hope that his mouth starts feeling better soon, but at least our blender is working for him.

I have enjoyed watching spring time come. It is that time of year when I like to take lots of pictures in my yard to see the pretty flowers. The trees are blooming and I had the first tulips and daffodils bloom this last week.  I like spring time when everything comes back to life after a dull and colorless winter.

Neal and Andrew refinished this old picnic table that 

Neal's parents gave us, it looks so nice now.

the pansies I planted last fall have bloomed again

The pear tree is blooming with daffodils under it

The apricot tree. Notice all the rose bushes, I can't wait for them to 

bloom because then the back yard smells amazing. 

The apple tree is starting to bloom with tulips under it

The iris's that I transplanted from a friends yard last spring are 

growing and a few have flowers forming, I am excited to see them bloom. 

Pretty perennial flowers I planted last year

The purple flower trees are almost in bloom, 

below is the peach tree in bloom

The crepe myrtles don't look like much right now, 

hopefully they get leaves soon

I love the phlox by the front door, it smells amazing

The Japanese Maples have got their leaves and are looking pretty