Conference Weekend

Emily and I spent the weekend in Utah to attend the Young Women's General Conference.  We flew into Salt Lake Friday morning.  We went to the new City Creek Mall.  It had just opened up the day before.  It is an outdoor mall with live music playing all around.  We had a lot of fun looking around and finding fun stuff to buy. 

If you look closely you will realize this statue is a person.  They had different ones all over.

We ate lunch/dinner at the Cheesecake Factory that was located in the mall.  Neither of us had ever eaten anything there besides cheesecake.  The food was great, but very filling.  We were so full we not only needed take home bags, but we were too full for dessert.  Friday night we went to the Broadway production of Beauty and the Beast.  It was so fun. 

In front of the Theater

The stage before it started

The rose that was sitting on our seats when we came in

Emily had performed in a shortened version of this same production when she was in Jr. High and so knew and loved a lot of the music.  I thought they did a fantastic job.  It was very enjoyable.

Saturday we spent the morning trying to find some LDS fabric I needed for a quilt which we did eventually find.  We hiked to the top of Ensign Peak.  It is not a hard hike, but the view from the top is beautiful. 

The view from the top of Ensign Peak

When we finished that we drove to my sister Andrea's house and met her new baby Ashlyn.  It was so fun to see her and hold her.  Then we went back down to Salt Lake with Andrea, Lindsey, and Lindsey's friend.  We had tickets in the top balcony (there is more than one balcony).  Just walking into the conference center was amazing to me. 

Andrea, Lindsey, Emily, and Nicole

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There were so many girls with their parents or leaders coming in, and to think of how many other mothers and daughters were watching the broadcast around the world was truly amazing to ponder.  There is definitely strength in numbers, and you could feel of the strength of all these Young Women.  The meeting was wonderful.  The other thing that surprised me were how many people were in the choir.  I see it on TV all of the time, but to watch all of them start filing in was also amazing.  It took quite some time to get them all in and seated.

Sunday we got to watch Andrea's husband James give Ashlyn a name and a blessing.  We also got to see a lot of family.  My parents came up for the blessing and so did a lot of my mom's side of the family.  It was perfect timing to have her be blessed that weekend, and it made the perfect ending to our trip.  After the blessing we hurried off to the airport to fly home.  This was a wonderful trip and I am so glad I was able to spend it with my daughter.  I am so thankful she kept reminding me that we needed to go since we missed her going when she turned 12.

And Then There Were Three

The week after Easter I brought home eight cute fuzzy little baby chicks.  The kids were so excited!  Emily had been wanting chickens forever, and Ryan and Abigail loved the idea of having a new pet.  I bought a water trough to put them while they were little.  The man at the store assured me they would be happy in the water trough for a few months which made me very happy because I knew it would take a few months to get their coop built.  Each child chose a baby chick to name and have as their own.  Emily got four since she wanted chickens the most.

Ryan with his chick chickadee

Abigail with Cheeka

Justin with Billy Bob Joe Junior James IV

Tyson with Mahonri-Moriancumer

I don't have a picture of Emily with hers, but their names are Daisy, Buttercup, Chirp, and Tubaloth.

Emily's are somewhere in here.

Everyone was really enjoying the little baby chicks.  I loved being able to look out the window and see how they were doing each day.  After about two weeks they really started to grow, and by week three they were no longer cute and fluffy, they were starting to get feathers.  Not only were they getting feathers, but they were learning to fly.  One day when I came home from helping out at the school all of the baby chicks were out on the patio exploring.  I put them back in and they happily went and began eating and drinking.  They started getting out and exploring and coming back in and it didn't bother me because they really didn't dare go to far.  When I got home from picking the kids up one day one of the baby chicks was gone.  Everyone searched all over the yard, but it was nowhere to be found.  We decided we better make a make-shift chicken coop until I had time this summer to build a real one so we moved the play house to the dirt, cut out a little opening and built a little chicken run.  This seemed to be working well.  The chickens made it through a storm with no problem and I was beginning to think maybe we didn't even need to build a stronger coop.  Two days ago we went out and four of our chickens were gone.  After more investigating the children discovered they hadn't escaped, but had been attacked and eaten by something.  We are not sure what got them, but they are no longer with us. There is no sign of a break-in, no footprints, but lots of body parts.  There were some tears shed and a burial and more work on our make shift coop.  We will build a more secure one once school gets out and we have some time, and then we will get more chickens.  For now we have Mahonri-Moriancumer, Tubaloth, and Buttercup.

EASTER

We have had a wonderful Easter weekend.  Abigail had an Easter egg hunt on Thursday at her preschool class.

 They started the party by hunting eggs.  I showed up five minutes late and they were done.  Abigail was happy to show me the twelve eggs she had found.

 They had a relay race with eggs.  Abigail was being very cautious with hers, but it still fell.

They then got all together and had a lesson about why we celebrate Easter.  I am so glad that we live in a Christian community.  Abigail went to gymnastics and came home with an Easter book mark that said He Lives.  I love Lubbock for this reason.

Ryan had his school Easter egg hunt on Friday.  It was also pajama day for all of the kids who had reached their AR goal.

Ryan had no problem finding his eggs either.  They made cute bunny Easter baskets in class

They could only put non food items in their eggs, Ryan came home with all kinds of interesting treasures.

We had a big two-ward Easter egg hunt on Saturday.  I took Abigail and Justin and Jeff took Ryan and Tyson to their soccer games.  The Easter egg hunt was a lot of fun with cookie decorating, bounce houses, and lots and lots of Easter eggs to be found.  

Although the Easter egg hunts are exciting and fun, nothing can compete with the oppertunity of going to church and worshiping on Easter Sunday.  

It was a beautiful Spring day.  Our yard is full of blossoms and green grass.  After a season of nature being dead, I love to have everything green again.  It makes my spirits feel so renewed.  

 We don't always had beautiful spring weather here, a lot of times it is windy and dusty,

 but today was absolutely beautiful.  The birds are out singing

 There is a smell of blossoms in the air

 and none of my kids complained about getting their pictures taken.

 Emily spoke in Sacrament meeting today and did a wonderful job.

I taught a lesson in Primary on the Resurrection, although the lesson didn't go as planned, my testimony was strengthened as I prepared it.  What a miraculous event that took place almost 2000 years ago.  I am so thankful for my Savior, and I am thankful for Family.

An Eventful Week

This week was quite busy at our home.  It snowed all day Sunday, we got a phone call Sunday night saying school was delayed (yes!) we let the kids stay up late playing a family game since they could sleep in for a few extra hours, then at 6:30 they called to let us know school was cancelled (oh man!).  We love it when school is delayed, but when it is cancelled we have to make it up, and it didn't help that they called at 6:30.  I ended up getting a stomach bug and couldn't hardly stand up all morning, but the kids had fun in the snow.

The baby bird the kids were feeding on our back porch

The mom that came to eat too

Building a snow fort

snow fort complete

The snowman they built

As you can see from this last picture, the snow did not last.  This was about 11:00 a.m. roads were clear by around 9:00 which is why we didn't want school cancelled, but we are glad the kids had fun while it lasted.

Valentines day was on Tuesday.  I had parties all day.  Justin's was in the morning they had breakfast.  I had a crepe bar for the kids.  It ended up being really fun and I think the kids all loved them.  A lot of the kids had never eaten a crepe before.  I have no pictures because I was too busy running the party. Abigail's party started at 11:15.  They sang some songs about love for the parents, it was really cute.  I made Abigail's outfit with my new sewing machine.

Abigail and Molly showing me their rings in their mouth

Singing their love songs

Abigail in her love bug hat

Abigail

Ryan's party was last.  They had ice cream sundaes, decorated a picture frame, and played some games.  I just did the games in his class.  I used the same games we used in Justin's class. 

Ryan showing us how to tango with one of his Valentine gifts

We had two basketball games Tuesday night so we didn't even have our nice Valentines dinner, we all ate in shifts.

Ryan in the dentist chair

Wednesday Justin, Ryan, and Abigail all went to the dentist.  It was Abigail and Ryan's first time.  They both did really well.  They let me hold Abigail which helped her. 

Thursday Emily had a tennis tournament.  She made it to the consolation championship game, but it started to rain so they cancelled the rest of the tournament.  Friday we had two basketball games and our neighbors birthday party.  Saturday we had two more basketball games, an indoor soccer game, and Abigail had a birthday party to go to.

Today we are ending the week with a Bishops Fireside at our house.  It hasn't been easy getting the house cleaned up and ready since I haven't been home much, but we made it. 

BYU Cheerleader

Abigail wants to be a cheerleader when she grows up.  I don't know if she will always have this dream, but it is interesting to watch her because she loves to cheer people on.  The other day she had on a cheerleading costume and was practicing her cheers while standing on someone like the cheerleaders do.

Abigail as a proud cheerleader

Abigail decided she needed two people for a pyramid

Now she looks like a "real" cheerleader.

If you look in the back ground you will notice BYU is playing basketball on the TV.

Ryan's Birthday Party

At the end of January Ryan finally was able to have a "kid" party.  I have decided for our family and our busy schedule during the holiday season we need to try to have Ryan's birthday before Thanksgiving, otherwise it ends up being the end of January when we get around to it.  Ryan decided he wanted to have a party at the rollerskating rink.  We have an old one that is kind of ran down, the advantage of this one is they don't care what you use on it so people are welcomed to use scooters, bikes, etc.  Ryan loves to roller blade, but a lot of kids his age don't do this yet, so we were glad you could do other things.  The other nice thing about this rollerskating rink is it is the same price for up to fifty people so we were able to invite his friends and their families.  We all had a wonderful time.  Here are some pictures from the celebration.

Ryan and Archer getting ready to race

Ryan, Archer, and Laney (Laney loves Ryan, we laugh because you can tell even when they are sitting down there is a big size difference).

opening gifts

opening gifts

Abigail's Independence

Most of my children have been very independent and done things on their own at a very young age, Abigail has not had as much of a desire to be independent.  Since she is the youngest I don't think I have encouraged it as much, but I realized I needed to start.  I think children are happier when they can accomplish things on their own, so I have been working with Abigail more.  I have been successful with some of my efforts and not so much with others.  One thing she has learned to love to do is make her own lunch.  She can get her tray and put a fruit, a main course and a dessert on it.  Her favorite thing to make is a pizza with a hamburger bun.  Here are a few pictures of her making and eating it.  Her face shows just how proud she is. 

Spreading the sauce

putting on the cheese

watching to see when it is done

enjoying her lunch

a proud chef