To Women's Conference I Go!

Today will be spent getting ready to leave my family for 4 days for my annual trip to Women's Conference at BYU. Lots of laundry, errands and packing to get done but it's worth it! This is my 6th year going to Women's Conference and it's something I really look forward to!

Ninjas

I was just heading to bed when I heard some odd noises coming from outside. "HI-YA" was the most common thing I was hearing. I thought the boys had gone up to the high school but nope they were in our front yard playing Ninja. A game I couldn't quite figure out. I asked them if they made it up but no it was something they had learned in PE.

Booking Through Thursday

5 books this week bringing me to a total of 67 for the year. I guess I'm not slowing down at least not yet. I'm addicted to cleaning and running errands while listening to a good book!

The Blessing of Funerals

One great blessings of funerals is the bringing together of family.
We left early yesterday for a quick trip up to Spanish Fork canyon to attend a funeral. We had a great day enjoying the company of family.

The highlight for several of our children was getting to ride on Uncle Daren's Harley.

We enjoyed an afternoon spent visiting with family.

The kids had a great time with their cousins on Derek's beautiful property up Spanish Fork Canyon. Kylie was absolutely filthy from head to foot. Everything done at Uncle Derek's is usually casual dress, it's a good thing since I'm not sure Sunday clothes are meant for the great outdoors.

We arrived home late last night exhausted but grateful we'd made the trip.

The Passing of Faith

A picture is worth a thousand words...
This is our niece Amber holding her precious daughter who was too good for this earth.

I absolutely adore this picture and all that was captured in this moment.

Faith lived only a couple days on this earth but had a wonderful influence in bringing family together and drawing us closer to the Spirit.

She had the most beautiful little casket handmade by a family member. She was buried in a beautiful spot in a family cemetary.

New Calling

I've had 2 of the funnest callings in church. Activity Days Leader and youth Sunday School teacher. Fun you say? Seriously teaching the 14 & 15 year old class was a blast! And activity days although a little crazy is a great calling.
Yesterday I was released from those callings and put in as a counselor in the Primary. Thinking about it I realized I've never really served in the primary (I've served 18 months in the nursery, several years in scouting & numerous times as a substitue but haven't been a primary teacher or in the presidency that I can remember, at least since I was in college).
I'm excited for my new calling. We have a great presidency and yesterdays presidency meeting flew by. I didn't have a watch and was shocked when I got home and realized I'd been gone for 3 hours. I'm guessing everyone else realized we'd been there that long but I had no clue it had been that long. To me that's the sign of a good meeting.

See Kim Run!

Yesterday was the Annual Hershey Track meet for the elementary school. For once the weather was perfect, not freezing cold nor broiling hot. It was also so nice to only have 1 child the right age to compete. It meant the entire day did not have to be spent in the bleachers. Kim ran the 200, 400 and A team relay.

Booking Through Thursday

I wonder when the reading bug is going to wear off?
I keep thinking I'm going to slow down on the amount I'm reading & listening to.
So far it hasn't happened. In fact my pace seems to be increasing. I'm surprised at how many books I made it through this week. I usually don't sit around reading unless I get in an hour before falling asleep. During the day I listen to audio books while being the mom, housekeeper, errand runner, etc. There was a night this week I woke up at 1 am and was wide awake. 3 hours later I had finished a book but was still wide awake. That at least added to my number of books this week.
For every book I read I seem to find another 2 or 3 books to add to my list of books I want to read. There will never be enough hours in the day to read everything I want to.
I read 6 books this week and listened to 2 for a total of 8 books this week and 62 books so far this year.

Lots of cousins

We were lucky to have visits from both Shaun & Mike's families this past week. Shaun stopped by Thursday on his way to CA and on Monday on his way home. Mike stayed with us Saturday night on his way home from their vacation. It's always great to have family visit!

All Star Hoops Basketball

Bryce is playing basketball with All Star Hoops (formerly Border League). He's improved a lot during the last month and has got much more aggressive in the way he plays. I enjoy watching their games.

Welcome to this World

Our niece Amber has been pregnant with twin girls. They were sharing a placenta and had Twin to Twin Transfusion Syndrome. The odds of both girls being born alive were not very high. Thanks to great medical care, a very determined mother and a lot of prayer and fasting, yesterday both girls were born alive.

Hope is 1 lb 11oz. and reports are that she is doing well.Faith is just 1 lb. and struggling.

Our thoughts and prayers remain with them and those who are caring for them. What a miracle to welcome such tiny babies into this world.

Booking Through Thursday

Well there is one thing in my life that I've been keeping up with.... READING! Or more accurately LISTENING to audio books. I don't have much time to actually sit and read but I love audio books! I love that it makes housework fly by and seem much more fun. It makes driving enjoyable. And of course it makes exercise less painful.
I'm blessed to have a great library nearby and to have access to an online library where I can download audio books for free. 54 books in 14 weeks means I'm averaging almost 4 books per week. That total is going to slow down because I'm about to start some bigger books that will take me a long time to get through. There are a few classics that I want to read or listen to. One of them is 46 hours long on audio which will take a couple weeks to get through.

Bright Blue Miracle by Becca Wilhite

Shiver by Maggie Shiefvater

A Crooked Kind of Perfect by Linda Urban

Gregor and the Prophecy of Bane by Suzanne Collins

The Heart of a Healthy Marriage and a Happy Family by Wally Goddard

Fairest by Gail Carson Levine

Easter Celebrations

Brett & Bryce did dye eggs too. They were playing with friends when the younger ones dyed their eggs. So no pictures of them :(

The Easter Bunny found us this year.

The younger 3 were up really early. You can tell Brett & Bryce are growing up because sleep won when versing Easter egg hunting.