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. :)

Easter and a priesthood ordination

Easter Sunday dawned bright and beautiful this year. We colored eggs this morning. Only 3 dozen this time. Not nearly enough to satisfy everyone but what am I going to do with 6 dozen hard boiled eggs?

I miraculously managed to find everyone Easter finery the day before and everyone cooperated willingly for some before church portraits.

The week before was Fast Sunday. The Primary president came over that morning and had encouraged Slade to share his testimony. He expressed to her that speaking in front of people was very hard for him. She asked him to pray about it. He insisted quite adamantly all morning that he was not going to share his testimony. No one was pressuring him but he let us know repeatedly that he wasn't going to go up there. However, in the middle of the testimony meeting, he stood up and went up on the stand, leaving us all in shock. He bore a really sweet testimony and was impressively calm as he spoke. The rest of us were in tears of joy and amazement. It is a wonderful thing to see your kids growing up!

Slade was ordained a deacon after our church meetings. When the bishop asked him if he would like to share his testimony, he declined stating that he'd already done that last week. He was ordained by Dave with the bishop, Grandpa Daniel, Uncle Tim and Uncle Michael in the circle. Funny side note: I had given Dave a blue checked dress shirt to wear. He looked really nice but had a very hard time doing an ordinance in a shirt that wasn't white. Dave's dad was in a bright, Hawaiian shirt too. Despite all that, I think the ordinance was still effective. Anyhow, I thought it was neat that Slade was ordained on Easter. I think he'll always remember that.

We had most of the Daniel family over for dinner and an Easter egg hunt. Yes, Ben is wearing a dress. And he was wearing a ballerina outfit that morning. We are hopeful he'll grow out of this phase soon enough.

Easter is always a wonderful holiday. I am so thankful for my testimony of the atonement and resurrection. He is what bring true joy and peace to our lives. In our sacrament program today, the choir sang This is the Christ, a favorite of mine. I love the words of the chorus. True words, indeed.

This is the Christ.

This is the Christ, the holy Son of God,

Our Savior, Lord, Redeemer of mankind.

This is the Christ, the Healer of our souls,

Who ransomed us with love divine.

slade is 12

Slade turned 12 on a beautiful spring day this year. His "Yes Day" consisted of playing screens nearly non-stop all day. He did pause the video games briefly so he could open presents and then take his new roller-blades out for a spin.

He requested a suit for his birthday as well. No more polo shirts for this twelve year old.

We went to Keri's for dinner that night. Colin and Amy were also in town. We had hamburgers, Slade's favorite. Colin was nice enough to jump with the kids on the trampoline. Also we got to hear their happy news of a little one on the way.

One of these bellies in not like the other but two are like each other. Yeah!

I made this delicious chocolate cake for dessert with a berry sauce, reminiscent of PF Chang's Great Wall of Chocolate. It got a little melted and bumped in the course of transportation but was still so yummy.

Slade at 12:
--loves to listen to fantasy books, rarely will read them himself but is starting to do that a little more
--is taking fencing lessons and finally seems to have found a sport that suits him
--still likes to snuggle and hold our hands
--can be really witty and funny at times
--is still very stubborn and easily frustrated but is learning to handle difficult situations so much better
--has one good friend who lives across the street and doesn't seem to care about having more friends
--loves to roller-blade around the neighborhood
--would play on the computer/Xbox all day long if allowed
--is growing so tall

baby #7 gender reveal

My told me many years ago when I was a teenager that I would have 5 boys. As the ultrasound technician said today, "Well, it looks like Grandpa does know best." Indeed, it would appear that my dad is a prophet because this baby is a boy. Finally, I can say without any sense of guilt that this baby is the last one! We told the rest of the kids with balloons and blue food this evening. No one is very surprised but it appears that everyone is happy.

march around here

I've waited a really long time to see a picture like this:

He still listens to books all the time but has never liked the act of physical reading. He saw someone reading this at play practice and asked if we could get it. I've never been so happy to buy a book.

At 17 weeks, I had to take an early glucose test because I had gestational diabetes with Ben. I really hate drinking that drink. Disgusting. I passed. Barely. My number was 133 and the limit is 140. Methinks it is a high possibility that I will fail the next one I have to take at 28 weeks.

We took Nathan in to the podiatrist. He really has trouble walking and running as a 9 year old should. The doctor told him he looked like an old man. The doctor thought it had to do with rapid growth and gave him orthotics. He also had a wart removed. Hopefully, we will see improvement soon. He is a really active kid and it would be great if he could move more easily.

The American Heritage Youth Chorus that Emma sings with had a joint concert with the American Heritage Philharmonic Orchestra. It was a really amazing performance. Obviously very well rehearsed. I love seeing youth using their talents like that. I wish I had been able to get a better/longer recording.

Baseball season has started. I was rather silly this year and signed up both Sawyer and Nathan. I thought that soccer and baseball seasons would not overlap that much. Wrong. Because soccer started late this year, they are completely concurrent. This means 4 baseball games and at least 3 soccer games each week. ACK! Sawyer played t-ball last year and is doing machine pitch this year. As with most athletic things, he is a natural. Nathan has never played baseball before but he seems to like it despite his low skill level. Dave has been catching and hitting with the boys a lot at lunch and in the evening. I think they especially love that.

Slade has passed Emma in height. Emma knew it was coming but she isn't very happy about it.

player's showcase in las vegas

I got to take Emma to another soccer tournament this month. Instead of renting a camera lens, this time I rented a car. Interestingly enough, the car cost about the same to rent as the lens. What? We left on Thursday afternoon. Once again, I was amazed at how enjoyable a car trip can be with just a 14 year old. Certainly its a lot easier. We shared a hotel room with a teammate and her mom. The hotel was a lot nicer than the one in Mesquite and consequently a lot more expensive.

Emma and Annie show off their scraped up knees and fabulous soccer tans.

They lost 3 of their 4 games unfortunately and we think Emma probably got a concussion in one of the games. She should have stopped playing but she didn't tell anyone that she had blacked out. They also had to play their last game on Sunday which was nobody was happy about. There were a few girls who went home instead of playing so they ended up with no subs on a hot day. After the game, I made Emma and her teammate go into the first LDS church we saw so that we could take the sacrament. They were embarrassed to be in their uniforms but of course that didn't really matter. We were totally entertained by this 4 year old boy in the foyer. He said, "Mom, I'm just so happy" as he was bouncing around. We found him totally hilarious but I sure felt sorry for his mom. After that, we drove home, making it back around 8 that night.

robin hood

Another successful Deerfield Elementary School play is in the books. This year it was Robin Hood. Slade and Nathan both participated. Slade was Much the Miller's son, one of Robin Hood's Merry Men. Nathan was on the bad side as one of Guy's Guys. Again, I helped with choreography and photography.

It is a wonderful thing for our kids to participate in these plays every year. We saw Slade go from a 4th grader with major stage fright to a 6th grader who had a speaking part. I'm so thankful for awesome people who share their talents and collaborate on such a fantastic show year after year.