A Month's Worth of Pictures

It's been way too long since I posted.  This last month at work has been the busiest I've had at work since I started there, and things have been crazy at home too.  So, I thought I would take a few minutes this afternoon to sum up the last month in pictures.  For some reason, this first one is posting on the left instead of the center.  It's just been so interesting the way the weather has changed.  I took this first picture one day in the morning last month, and then the second picture the next day as I was waiting for the bus.   

Isn't it amazing how quickly the weather can change in the spring?  I love this second picture, with the sun shining down onto the plaza and the temple in the distance. I love working at the Church Office Building--it is such a beautiful place to spend so much time!

A few weeks ago Jon, Holly and Dad came and installed two new facuets for us.  (Holly came to help earn a Girl Scout badge).  Jan and I talk all the time about how it would be so much harder to be single if we didn't have our family close by, and all so willing to help.  I love this picture above.  I also love the picture below, where Dad is showing Holly something about the circiut breaker.

Last month was also our birthday.  I didn't get very many pictures this year, but thought I would post some.  This one below is from the family party we had on the Sunday before our birthday.

On the Saturday before our birthday, we went to Chuck-a-rama with Seth and Karla--since we share a birthday with Ethan, we always try to see him on or near our birthday.  We had a great time.  I am always so glad to get to spend time with my family, and we reminisced about earlier times at Chuck a rama (see this post, which has pictures of the infamous time at Chuck-a-rama when I got blue drink spilled all over me).  Our boys were a little crazy when they were younger (but always so cute!).  They were so good this time, and we had so much fun together.  Somehow I forgot to get any pictures--other than the one below, of the trees outside Chuck a rama.

Later that afternoon, we went to the park with Dan and Ems.  We met a nice couple with a really cute dog.  It was actually a sweet experience.  I was dealing with my normal birthday sadness, having another birthday without my husband and family.  This couple was so nice, and so cute with their kids, pushing them on the swings and playing with them.  But, when we asked about their kids, the man said, "We wish they were ours.  We don't have any kids, so we borrow the neighbors kids."  For some reason, that really touched me, and helped me realize that there are so many other people who are struggling with challenges, and that God is aware of all of us.  Here is a picture of the nice man with his dog--Matthew loved "Cali."

On Sunday, our actual birthday, I had another sweet experience.  I was just so hoping that in Church I could be around children.  We sit with the Second Counselor's wife, so I knew we would have darling kids with us during Sacrament meeting.  But it turned out that I was able to hold her newborn son all during Sunday School (because her nursery aged daughter was having a hard time).  Then, in Relief Society, I got to hold a darling red-headed 8 month old.  She was getting restless, and walked over next to me, so I picked her up and was able to hold her the rest of the meeting.  Just another little evidence that God is so aware of us and our needs.

On Sunday night, Melissa made dinner for us, and Ems made my favorite German Chocolate cake.  Our family is always so good to us on our birthday!  Here are some pictures from that:

  

As I said, I've been so busy at work that I've hardly had time to take lunches.  However, one sunny day I decided I had to leave for at least 1/2 hour.  Temple Square is so incredibly beautiful in the spring, and I had to get some pictures before all of the beautiful spring flowers were gone.  So here are pictures from my lunchtime walk one day a few weeks ago.   

 

  

  

  

Aren't the flower around Temple Square just amazing?  As I said before, I am so blessed to work at such a beautiful place.

This picture is, unfortuneately, of flowers at the hospital.  This last weekend was crazy.  Mom went into the hospital and had to stay for a few days.  Thankfully, she was okay, but I still hated having her there.  But it was nice to get to spend time with her and Dad.

We had dinner with Adam and Stace last Sunday night (and celebrated Brayden's bday). It was great to get to spend some time with just them for a few hours.

  

 Then we went to visit mom in the hospital again, and I got this cute picture of Logan and Truman.  They are getting so big!

Then, on Monday, I got an unexpected call from Mike that Janelle was in the hospital for an emergency appendectomy.  So I drove down to meet the girls after school, and got to spend time with them. That has been the best part of the last few weeks, even though they've been so busy--is that I've been able to spend time with so much of my family.  Dave and Mel invited me to bring the girls to their house to roast marshmallows...on their deck, if you can believe it.  They got some cool new deck furniture that allows you to have a fire in the deck table.  We had lots of fun--despite getting marshmallow on faces, hair, etc.  Here are pictures: 

Well, that's about it for now.  I've got to go finish my Saturday's work.  I'll try to post more often.  But hopefully I've made up for my silence with so many pictures!

General Conference!

Once again, it has been a long time since my last post.  As usual, I have just been so busy.  Somehow it seems like every night I have something going on, and then, of course, I have to write in my journal when I get home (I still haven't posted to show how my journals that I printed turned out.  I really am going to do that one of these days), so I never find time to post to this blog. I really wanted to post about Johsy's baptism last Saturday.  We were so excited that he decided to get baptized, because he wasn't sure he wanted to for awhile.  Jan did a post about that, so you can find her post here.  It was such a sweet baptism, and I was so happy for Joshy.

On Friday night we had an Easter egg hunt, and had all of our little kiddies there.  It was really fun to see all of them running around the yard--but I haven't had time to go through my pictures of them yet.  When I do, I'll try to get to posting some of them (but with my track record lately, I can't promise I'll get to it).  I just love spending time with all of my little nieces and nephews!

I did want to do a post today though, becuase I just had such a wonderful weekend with General Conference.  I LOVE General Conference--it is always such a spiritual feast, and I just feel so good and happy and blessed, and so much hope that God is in watching over us and that He will be with us no matter what happens in our lives.  I always feel so much gratitude for our leaders, who sacrifice so much for us.  And, this time, I felt so grateful for their personal touch.  I got to take two of my nephews to conference this time, and it was so special.  Actually, I took Ethan on Saturday morning, and Janice took Joshy on Sunday morning.  She's going to do a post more about Joshy, but I will mention some about him a little later in this post. 

Ethan slept over at our house on Friday night, and then we got up early to go to conference together (Jan had to work all day Saturday).  He was so good, and I was so grateful that it didn't snow.  We didn't run into any traffic, and got to Temple Square by 8:00.  Here is a picture of us in front of the temple.

Since we got there so early, we were able to get seats on the front row, at the very end.  I was so glad about that, because I wanted Ethan to be able to see the brethren as they walked in.  I had brought a conference packet for him, with little activities, and that kept him busy before the session started.  He especially loved the page where he could mark off what color tie each member of the Quorum of the Twelve and the First Presidency were wearing.  It was a good way to point out the Quorum of the Twelve to him. I  also had the leadership chart that they print in every conference Ensign, so every time we saw a member of the Seventy that I recognized, we marked them off.  I think we marked off about 35-40 of them (I don't recognize all of them, and some may have come in the other side). 

Finally it was almost time for the session to start, and we knew that the First Presidency would soon be coming out.  They came walking out of the tunnel, and Ethan was excited to see what color ties they had on.  He said, "Oh, lets see.  There are two red ties and one blue tie."  But the neatest thing happened as they came walking past where we were sitting.  President Monson looked out at the audience and saw Ethan.  He said, "Oh, look at that little boy," then, to Ethan, "Are you going on a mission someday?"  We both nodded yes, and President Monson smiled and said, "Good." 

I was just so amazed that President Monson took the time to notice Ethan and talk to him.  It was such a special moment!  But I had to laugh when we sat down and Ethan repeated again, "Two red ties and one blue tie."  I don't think he realized how neat it was that the prophet talked to him.  So I said, "Ethan, the Prophet just talked to you and asked you to go on a mission!  That is so amazing!"  Later during the singing, I had Ethan look around at the 20,000 people sitting in the Conference Center, and said, "All of these people would love to have the Prophet talk to them, and he talked to you!"  So then  he was really excited about it, and talked about it all day.  I told him later that someday when he goes on a mission he can tell people that a prophet of the Lord asked him personally to go.  I didn't have my camera out, but found this picture on the Deseret News.  I think this is just as President Monson is saying, "Oh, look at that little boy..."

I also found this picture on the Deseret News of the audience during the Saturday morning session.  I was wearing a red sweater, and have my arm around Ethan.  I put a blue circle around us, and also a circle around where President Monson was as he talked to Ethan.  So neat!

Ethan did so well during Conference--he listened and did the activities in his Conference packet.  And I just loved being so close and able to soak in the Spirit that was all around us.  I love conference!

Here is a picture of Ethan and I after the session got over. 

Since we left home at 7:30, I figured Ethan would be pretty hungry, (and knew I would!) after conference, so I decided to take him to the Conference buffet at the Roof.  It was a lot less expensive than normal since it was during the day, and I knew Ethan would love sitting right by the temple.  He did, and he loved the food as well.    He especially loved the chicken enchiladas, and some raspberry cream dessert that he ate two of.  :)  I loved being there with him, and getting to look out at the temple and the Conference Center, and talk about how much we loved conference.  I think I'm going to make The Roof a tradition every time I take my kiddies up to Conference (we have a couple more turning eight this year, and many more in the future).

Here are some pictures of our lunch.

I had such a great time with Ethan, and felt so grateful to get to have tickets becasue of my job, and to get to spend so much one on one time with him. I  hope this is an experience he will remember all of his life.

As I said, Jan will be doing a post about Josh since she went with him, but I want to write a little bit about it.  We hadn't originally planned to take Josh--I tallked to Stace about it a month or so ago (and I think I asked Josh as well), and we just felt like he needed some more time to prepare for sitting that long. But on Friday night after the Easter Egg hunt, when he found out Ethan was coming to our house to sleep over and then going to conference with us, he started totally crying, and said he really wanted to come. I felt so bad, but knew I couldn't get another ticket so late. But Janice came up with the brilliant idea to take him on Sunday morning.   She was going to give him her ticket, but since she wasn't able to go on Saturday with me and Ethan, I told her he could have my ticket, and I just watched it in the Legacy Theater while they were in the Conference Center.  Here is a picture I got of them right before they went in.  Joshy was SO excited!

As I said, Jan will write more about it--but just a preview--Joshy was so good the whole time, got to shake Elder Nelson's hand--and, President Monson talked to him as well!  Watch for Jan's post for more details!

I just wanted to post a few more pictures of Sunday afternoon. Stace came and picked up Josh after the morning session, and then Jan and went to the afternoon session together. The picture above is one we had someone take of us before conference started.  I also took a picture (below) from our seats this time. This picture actually looks farther back than we were--we were able to see the First Presidency really well the whole time--and I love watching especially President and Sister Uchtdorf.    They always look over at each other and smile.  I also put a picture below of the tunnel the brethren come out of, which is right near our seats.  I love watching the brethren interact--they have so much love for each other.  Again, I just feel so blessed to get to attend Conference in person!  

  

And finally, here is a picture I got from the Deseret News of the brethren interating after Conference.  I love that President Monson and Elder Holland are joking together.  After this picture, President Monson met his daughter Ann and then stopped to wave to everyone.  People were taking pictures, and he joked that he'd better fix his suit so he looked good. 

I just have to say that I thought the talks for this whole Conference were so inspiring. They always are, but they seem to get better every year. I especially loved President Monson's talk about death, and the story he told about the 15 year old boy who died. That boy's father works in our office, right down the hall from me, and is such a good and humble man.  I loved hearing the Prophet of God talk about his experience.  It made it so much more personal to me. 

Also, one of my friends at work did a neat post about conference.  Her mom is President Monson's secretary, and she did a post about waiting for her mom while her mom worked with President Monson on his talk.  I thought it was such a cute post (she's really witty), and also touching to see first hand the work and time President Monson (and my friend's mom!) spend getting ready for conference.  You can find it here:

I'm so grateful for our leaders, and for the sacrifices they make to help all of us learn and understand God's will for us.  We are so blessed!

Boy's sleepover--really late! (with pictures fixed)

I started downloading the pictures for this post on Sunday, but haven't had any time to finish it since then.  I kept hoping I could finish it on the bus, but I've had a really hard time getting internet access on the bus this week.  But this afternon I finally was able to get it come up.  So I am hoping to get this done today on the bus on the way home from work.

We had our boy's sleepover last weekend and it was a little crazy, but really fun.  We actually have less boys than we do girls, but our boys are younger (we had two 2 year olds), so it was a little bit more work to keep them all happy.  But we sure loved having them all over. 

We did the same thing that we did at the girl's sleepover.   They each had heard about the journals they would be getting from their sisters, and were so excited to get them.  Thankfully, this time I had my published journals to show them (I still haven't done a post about that.  I will take a picture of how they turned out one of these days and post them on my blog).  I was able to show them how I had pictures of each of them in my journal, and they loved seeing them.  Then I read to them from my eight year old journal just like I did with their sisters, and then passed out their journals.  They had so much fun decorating them--they went to town on the stickers!  Here are some pictures (note: the second picture of them with their stickers somehow moved to the bottom of the post, and with my laptop tracker mouse, I can't get it to move back up.  So please scroll down to the end of the post to see the other picture, then come back here.  :)  UPDATE: I was able to move it up now--having a real mouse makes it so much easier!

We, of course, did the weighing and measuring just like we did with the girls.  Here are some pictures of that:

And here is my compilation of all the boys holding their journal. Aren't they cute?  (2nd Note: I did the compilation really fast the next morning, so I have Joshy and Brendan mixed up--Joshy is actually a month older...)  WAIT!  Where is my compilation?  It was just here a second ago!  I'm telling you, this is the hardest post I've ever done.  I'm going to have to put it on when I get home.   Okay, now I'm home, and here it is:

Our two year olds had a hard time about this point--little Camden, on the right, was missing his Mom, and kept crying every time he saw the door she went out.  Matthew kept wanting to watch "Green Tractor" on You Tube.  So I took them both back for about 1/2 hour and watched You Tube videos, which helped calm them down.  Here is a picture of them:

I did still manage to get some pictures of the cookie making.  We couldn't get all of our boys to line up on the counter like the girls did--some of them wanted to run around screaming instead of making cookies (they were playing with a bear we got for the Year 2000, which counts down and then laughs.  They were pretending it was a bomb, so would throw it down and go running.  I hope our downstairs neighbors forgive us for the pandelerium...)  But we did get some cookies made.

 Hmmm... I did have a picture of all of them decorating cookies, but it looks like it somehow got deleted.  That's the problem with doing a post on the bus.  I'm afraid if I don't finish it now it may never get done.  So I'll see if I can remember to come back and put the picture in later.  They sure had fun (eating more sprinkles and chocolate chips than they actually put in their cookies).

After the cookie making we watched Robin Hood, and then put out the wall to wall air mattresses and finally got them all to sleep.  They are generally easier to get to sleep than the girls, but this time it took them a little longer to go to sleep (we only had seven by this time--our two year olds went home).  Thankfully they all slept well--these pictures are some that Jan snapped when she woke up at midnight.  Aren't they just darling!

The next morning I made a double batch of waffles, and they had fun decorating them with whipped cream and sprinkles.  Jan got a few pictures, since I was busy making waffles.  Oh heavens.  There is something wrong with the internet on the bus.  It just put the second waffle picture at the bottom.  I think this is the most convoluted post I've ever done.  Well, have fun scroling down again.  (Update: I got it fixed, so it is here now).

After breakfast we cleaned up, and the boys watched our  traditional 32nd birthday video, starring all of their dads.  They just love it, and had to run all around, as usual, during the part where Jon is chasing Seth all over our house.  These are still video shots, so pretty blurry, but still show how cute it was.  Notice that a bunch of them are writing in their journals.  I'm so proud!

Well, that's about it for now.  We sure had a fun sleepover!  I'm so glad that they all live close, and that we can do this a few times a year. We are so blessed!