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
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