Easter Picture Feast

 This is at May's Kindergarten Easter egg hunt. I love going to see May at school! She is always so pleased to see me, and she goes around telling everyone, "This is my Mom!" It makes me feel special. Her friends like to tell me how good she is at this or that activity. The egg hunt was a little sad though. There were too many kids and to few eggs, and it was more like a mad rush to pick up eggs rather than a hunt. May was bummed because she only got one, but she felt better after I gave her a bag of chocolate eggs to share with her class.

 The next day we had a real hunt with Dave and Val's family. It was a lot more fun and satisfying for everyone.

 We went to a dry wash that flows into the canyon outside of Woodruff. It was a nice day and a fun place to hunt for eggs.

 Thomas had a fun time. He loves to climb anything and everything.

                                                Here's a sweet shot of May

                                             We love our cousins!

                                        Thomas enjoying a much needed bath.

                The next day we had a hunt at G&G Tenney's house with Mary and Meschak's kids.

                 Everyone came home with at least a dozen eggs with candy this time!

 Here is Thomas with brand new baby Ruth. He was so sweet! He sat there softly patting her car seat and looking at her for a minute or two. He seemed to just know that he should be gentle and quiet. Have I mentioned that Thomas has a heart of gold?

              Mathan took this cute candid shot of his parents.

 Easter morning! You can probably tell I was pressed for time. I wanted to fix their hair better and stage a better background but we had to get out the door. The choir did the Easter sacrament meeting and Mathan is the director so he left early and I couldn't be late. Mathan did a great job and it was really nice program.

Love my sweet kids! I need to get them all dressed up and have a better photo shoot! Sometimes it so hard to get them all in order and smiling naturally. It definitely takes more time than I had to get really good pictures. I can't imagine taking them with an old film camera and just hoping that they turn out. It's hard enough getting a good one with a digital camera.

Young Women!

After nearly seven years serving in the Primary I have been called to the Young Women! I'm excited and nervous and determined to make a difference. I'm going to miss all the sweet kids in the primary so much. I'll miss their sweet, unquestioning teachableness. When I was newly married I thought that Young Women's would be so fun, but as the years have flown I've come to realize the real challenge and responsibility that it is to work with the youth. They have so many hard choices to make everyday.
     I just finished reading "For the Strength of Youth" again after many years of dust have collected on it in my memory. That little pamphlet packed a punch for me this time! It is so vitally important for me to live those principles to the tee for the strength of my kids and for the girls I'll teach! I think every parent in the church needs a refresher course on it. If we as parents did nothing other than live exactly as that booklet says our children would be so much better off. It states our standards in a way that is so clear, there can be no mistaking how we are supposed to be living.
    I've been trying hard to look back and remember what it was like to be a teenager. Listen to me!  I sound like I'm 80 years old! Getting married and having kids blasted every adolescent feeling out of me. I don't thing I had many adolescent feelings before that anyway. I was thirteen going on thirty. I was careful, thoughtful and respectful for the most part. You can add this to the many reasons why I should have been born 150 years ago.  I promise I'm not bragging for myself, but for my parents. Plus it just isn't part of my personality to feel rebellious and misunderstood. That is how teenagers are supposed to feel, isn't it? Anyway, I'm trying to relate to what is happening in these girl's lives, some of which have been very different from mine. I'm already beginning to see how much I'm going to learn from this experience. Heavenly Father always knows how to help us grow. Go here to read "For the Strength of Youth"

Things I never knew until I had children

~ I never knew I could love someone so much at first sight.
~ I never knew what it was like to have emotions so close to the surface...all the time! I remember a time when crying was something I rarely ever did. Now I get choked up when I sing primary songs.
~ I never really understood how much my parents love me. I'm learning first hand what they went through for me. And I'm getting a small taste of how much Heavenly Father must love me.
~ I knew taking care of babies meant changing diapers and such, but I had NO IDEA there was going to be so many cookies tossed and diaper blow outs and times when the potty was just missed. You'd think that would have sunk in after all the throwing up I did as a kid!
~ I never knew what pain or sacrifice really were until I had kids.
~ I never knew I could keep so many plates spinning at one time.
~ This one is sad, but I never knew I could get so angry! I rarely ever got really angry before I had kids. I think all of my emotions went through the roof. The good news is that joy and love increased with the tears and anger.
~ I'm learning as I have more kids that you never ever have to divide your love. There is always more love for every baby that comes. Love is infinite.
~ I knew Mathan was great when I married him, but the kids shine a whole new light on his good qualities. I don't know what I'd do without a supportive, helpful husband who picks up the slack and gives me an example to follow.
We had a speaker at Stake Conference who said that God put us in families and gave us children to make Christians out of us. So very true.

Thank Heaven For Little Boys

 Can I just say how much I love this sweet, tender hearted, little bundle of boyishness? Not a day goes by that I'm not struck with how different he is from my girls. Last night we had a nice April shower that left several shallow puddles around town. As I was locking up the library this afternoon, Thomas toddled down to the car ahead of me and, before I could get to him, he had walked right through a puddle.

Now you may be thinking...So what? That's a typical thing for a little boy to do. And you'd be right. Mud and little boys go hand in hand. At first I groaned, but then I had to laugh. For the girls, this would be just cause for weeping and wailing. They hate mud and shun it like the plague, especially May. Then there's Thomas, who just slogs unconcernedly through the mud to get to where he's going. I got such a good laugh out of it! Lets see how well I handle a few more years of little puppy dogs, pollywogs and frogs.

Monday Memories: The Conference Edition

         In honor of a wonderful conference weekend, I thought I'd document some of my conference memories. Growing up I loved general conference...for all the wrong reasons. We didn't have to go to church! Not that I didn't like church. I just didn't like all the dressing up and sitting still for three hours. Conference felt like a holiday. A celebration. Instead of waking up to mom calling us to get a move on, we woke up to the smell of Dad's waffles or roll up pancakes and the tabernacle choir singing on our staticy old radio. I loved that radio. It was one of those heavy, boxy 80's radios with a silver finish that was fading to gray. It had lots of switches and dials and round speakers with black plastic mesh over them. Best of all it was always splattered with some sort of cookie dough.
    There were a few rules at conference time, but nothing stringent. You had to stay in the piano room and listen for the entire session, but that left your hands and eyes free for puzzle building or cross stitching or, as I hinted above, cookie baking.
Yes the kitchen, dining room, and  piano room were basically one big room, so snacking was a part of conference. One year Ben and I made menus and took orders from everyone. Granted the menu was as limited as our cooking skills. It had milk, water, and PB&J with variations, and maybe a cheese crisp. We even strapped on our roller skates (that was pushing it) and pretended to be car hops. This lasted for like one order and then we decided waiting on David and Anna was more like slave labor than service.
The saturday sessions were even more fun. Sometimes we would pack a lunch and get in the car and listen as we drove up the mountain to look at the aspens changing color in the fall.
     I don't know when the excitement of not going to church changed to excitement for listening and feeling the spirit, but it did. I remember when President Benson died and I felt like I'd lost an old friend. I sat close to the radio, hanging on every word, thinking, "What now?" I was relieved when another old friend was sustained as the prophet. They were all my friends! I could hear how much they loved me. I recognized their voices. Some gravelly, some lilting, and even some monotone, but they were familiar to me. Familiar, because I listened to them twice a year for eight hours, but even more familiar because I could hear my Heavenly Father's voice through them.

The Zoo!

 We met up with Medsil and Mead's families at the Wildlife World Zoo and Aquarium in Phoenix this weekend and had a wonderful time. The weather was so perfect down there! It was just right, even in the afternoon.

The kids had fun feeding the animals. We were able to get quite close to a lot of the animals and have a good view. In this case we got a little too close. This lama thought Ellen's bows looked tasty and tried to eat them! We rescued her and her bow but didn't get a picture.

Here are my ducks in a row. Note Ellen's tousled hair.

Here we are feeding the giraffe. The girls weren't to keen on its long curly tongue, but it was quite a thrill for them even if it was a little scary. We got a ton of animal pictures and videos. I'll have to post some more later. We had such a fun time and really enjoyed all the animals and the aquarium was really neat too. You could easily spend all day there, but we ran out of gas after five hours. The girls were on their feet the majority of the time and they still had enough energy to play on the playground before we left!

Hannah Mae

Last week was May's spring break and I started the break by taking off with my family to visit Ben and Amy and Anna and Carl in Provo. Little Hannah Mae was being blessed and we were moving all of Anna and Carl's stuff up for them. Mathan stayed home with the kids, because McKay had just gotten home and he had responsibilities at Stake Conference. Oh, and our kids don't travel that well. As in screaming and whining and car sickness and numerous bathroom visits. It was a short trip so we both agreed that it would be easier on everyone to have the kids stay home. I was kind of excited for a break from the kids but man I missed them! I feel like such a fish out of water without my kids around me and especially without Mathan! I think next time I'd rather brave taking the kids along rather than splitting up like that. I stlll had a nice time and I was glad to see everyone! I tried to stay busy helping and I loved doing that! It's nice to have your hands free to help with cleaning and babies and whatever needs to be done. So often I'm busy looking after my own kids and I just can't be of much use to anyone else. Hannah was so beautiful in her blessing dress. It was great to get to hold and rock her. It was good to see Anna and Carl too. I hope that thing work out well for them and that they learn to love their new home!