april around here

Nathan and Sawyer had a great time playing in a spring hail storm. Crazy kids.

Dave and I went out to dinner and then to see Captain America at the theater with our neighbors. We feel very blessed by the great people we get to live by.

Ben is now wearing underwear and continuing to delight us with his sense of style.

We enjoyed General Conference. Megan and Tim came over on Sunday morning and made crepes for us. Delicious. I managed to stay awake through 3 of the sessions but finally succumbed in the last. I am really glad they publish the talks so I study them again and again.

Spring Break was the second week of April. We stayed home and had a rather boring week. Oh well. Sometimes that is just the way it has to be. We did go to the aquarium at Emma's request. Unfortunately it was so crowded it was hardly enjoyable. We get to go back sometime this summer. Hopefully that will be a better experience.

We woke the boys up to see the lunar eclipse. They were too tired to be very impressed. At least we tried.

Dave served as a delegate at the county convention.

We went to lots of baseball and soccer games. Lots.

Our ward had an getting to know you activity for the adults. They requested pictures of us in our 20s for a slideshow. No one could believe it was Dave in this first picture. In truth, he hardly ever looked like that but it is such an awesome picture. Oh, we were so young and skinny once!

Dave ran another Thanksgiving Point half marathon. This year it was in the pouring rain. I don't think this will ever be my idea of fun but I think it is so great that he does.

I was able to get together with a few folk dance friends since one of them came into town. I am so blessed by the amazing friendships I still enjoy so many years later. It doesn't matter that we live miles apart or that we rarely see each other. We just pick right back up. We ate dessert at The Chocolate in South Jordan and talked, cried and laughed until it closed.

Keri, Michael and Josh came over for dinner the last Sunday. We had a delicious Asian buffet because Josh and Emma requested Orange Chicken. After dinner, Anne was brushing everyone's hair. Even Michael's which is in a buzz cut. She still got mad at him when he "messed it up." We thought she made Keri look particularly lovely. :)

playing in the leaves

I asked Emma to rake up the leaves in the front yard. She enlisted the help of her friends, Eliza and Allison. They raked them all into a huge pile and then proceeded to throw and kick them back all over the yard. They had a lot of fun but the yard ended looking exactly how it started. I guess I needed to specify that the job entailed raking AND bagging the leaves in the front yard.

Emma and friends

I was itching to take my new camera for a spin so I asked Emma and two of her friends to model for me. This camera is a beast and I have a lot to learn still. I think we will get along just fine though in the end. And can I just say that my daughter has totally awesome friends? I am so very thankful that she has surrounded herself with such wonderful friends.

 

friends in the park

We met another homeschooling family in our ward at the park on Wednesday. Just a quick picnic. Talking. Kids running around. They couldn't stay long but I stayed for awhile to let the kids play. There was another family there and the mother looked somewhat familiar to me but I couldn't place it. Finally she said, "Are you a folkdancer?" I was still trying to place her because all I could think of was that she sounded just like my daughter's Irish dance teacher. So I said that name and she laughed and said that is her sister. Then it all came together.


It was Johanna Edlinger who had moved to Utah just three days ago. It was really fun to see her and catch up a bit. Turns out she is a homeschooler too with four kids who are all about a year younger than mine. We exchanged contact info so hopefully we'll meet up again sometime. What a nice day at the park.

time flies....

It's amazing how time can sometimes get away from you. I haven't been doing anything too crazy or exciting but I looked and suddenly its been ten days since I updated the blog. Man. Lots of catching up to do. Since I can't come up with a cohesive way to recap, here are random tidbits.

I was able to enroll the three older kids in swimming lessons all at the same time. They loved their lessons and they loved the fact that it got us to the pool nearly everyday for two weeks. Sawyer doesn't like the water all that much. He gets in for about five minutes and then spends the rest of the time crawling around the pavement. My favorite kind of swimming is when Dave comes to join us for Family Home Evening and he swims with all the kids while I read a magazine by the side of the pool.


There has been a lot of playing with friends and cousins. We enjoyed a visit from some of our Boise friends. How lucky to have friendships that continue over time and distance. All the kids got along really well. They covered the porch in mud, played a lot of house and Three Bears imagination games. Sara and Tessa got Emma to pull her other front tooth out (and when the Tooth Fairy forgot to come AGAIN, they told her that sometime the Tooth Fairy does that). The bigger accomplishment is that they got Emma to wear her hair in a French braid one day and pigtails the next. My Emma, who will never ever let me do her hair, wore a braid all day. And looked totally cute too.

I went up to Park City last Monday to take pictures for the Linder family reunion (my sister's husband's family). It was a great opportunity for me to work with a crowd in a not so ideal location. I learned a lot and it was fun. I took more on Friday by the temple. Again not an ideal location but it worked. I think they were happy for the most part and I am grateful for the experience. To see some of the pictures go here.

I got to sing with my sisters in my ward yesterday. We missed you though, Merrit. I like Keri's recap. We totally didn't think to take a picture. Sad.

After church we had what I called Experimental Chicken, cooked in the crockpot, which turned out okay. The boys entertained themselves with the computer and video games. Emma and Josh went rock hunting. Keri and I laid around and talked about how to rearrange her whole house. I came up with a brilliant plan. Dave snoozed. And Michael did his best to gain favorite uncle status.

Emma and I drove up to Salt Lake later that night to watch High School Musical 2 at Keri's. We were all really annoyed with the sing-along subtitles. The first half was rather ho-hum but the whole thing was redeemed in the second half. I loved the baseball number. And I admit my heart did a little pitter-patter watching Zac Efron. Except for his eyebrows.

Today I face about six loads of laundry, a kitchen floor that is crying out to be mopped, and one last day of summer frolic. Tomorrow is the beginning of our crazy fall--two kids in soccer, Irish dance, violin, Kids Company, football season (Go Cougars!), and two kids officially to homeschool. Bring it on.