Sister Beck

I just had a wonderful spirirtual experience. On Sunday Night I went with a couple of my friends to a special meeting held for all the Spanish speaking sisters in our area. Sister Allred the first counselor in the Relief Society General Presidency and Sister Beck the President of the relief Society General Presidency spoke to us. Sister Allred's talk was good and very well prepared, but when Sister Beck stood up to speak I felt an instant connection with her. I didn't know that her Father was a mission president in Sao Paolo Brazil while she was a young girl. She spoke Spanish with a Brazilian accent and for some words she used the Portuguese word. I took notes on both their talks. You really can't put it into words the spirit that was there.

The meeting was at the UVU institute building and the counted 1450 women present. we were near the back and it was really neat to look over the audience and see a sea of dark hair and hear the buzz of excitement in spanish.

Friday Morning

It's Friday so that means science, cooking lessons, and art. The kids slept in and woke up looking for those pumpkin muffins made from Trader Joe's mix. They discovered that there was only 1 left because Daddy really liked them last night. So, the girls and I decided to make some more this time from scratch. It's fun to bake and cook with the kids. They love to mix and stir and create. We made applesauce spice muffins and they are very good and pretty healthy. We did save 2 big ones for Daddy. Harold got up just in time to make scrambled eggs. He whipped the eggs, seasoned and cooked them. They were so good and moist. I taught him a couple tricks so his eggs would turn out moist and retain their bright yellow color. Hannah and Haley made juice and set the table. It was more like brunch by the time we were done. What a wonderful way to spend the morning!
My house is back to being messy. I left it looking pretty good. The floors were clear of toys and the laundry was put away or taken with us. Oh well. We're glad to be home and to be able to do our own things in the space we have. We have a ton of dandelions in the yard. I'm going to have to go out and spread weed and feed. It's such a drag that ugly things also grow.

California

We're back from California! We had a great time. My Mom had her 76th birthday on Easter Sunday. We went to Monterey and got to go to the aquarium. They are focused on Sea Horses right now, so we got to learn a lot about sea horses. We also got to go go on a tour at the Jelly Belly Factory in Fairfield and on a tour of the State Capitol Building. We went to the Fisherman's Wharf and saw the Sea Lions and ate fresh sour dough bread. The best part was picking up Ashley at the airport. I misssd him so much. We didn't see each other for 4 full days but it seemed like an eternity. He was lonely without us. He said the house seemed so empty without us. My daffodils have bloomed and my tulips have started to bloom as well. It is so warm out today. It's just a beaurtiful day to live in Benjamin.
Today is Tuesday now and we jumped back into school. It went well. Hannah has e new math book and calendar. She filled in the counting strips and got acquainted with her new calendar. Henry got a new book and worked on the letter Q today. He has a cool letter book that I made for him. Harold went to piano class. It's nice to get back to the daily life. The kids and I love the structure.
Well, I've gotta go take care of stuff now.

Going to California

We are getting ready for our trip to California. We are excited to see the cousins there and to celebrate my mom's birthday with her. We just had Henry's birthday party and he is so excited to be turning 6 tomorrow. Our bags are mostly packed and the kids are so anxious to get to California. It's gonna be rainy on the way there, but it should clear up by Saturday. Ashley won't be gone very long , but we'll stay for over a week. He'll be busy with work and we'll get a much needed break from cold Utah weather. We actually had a great day yesterday, we even had dinner al fresco. I'm so glad that Henry and I took the time to walk around the property looking for bird nests yesterday afternoon. It was fun. He rode his bike without training wheels for a few seconds and we were very proud of him.
When we get back we will probably get started on a garden area for this year. It'll be fun. I'll miss Chip a lot while we're gone. She barks a lot at strangers, but she loves us unconditionally. You can learn a lot about devotion from a dog.
Well I'm gonna go now. Harold has to get ready for scouts. It's so windy, but they'll still have fun.

my kitchen will take forever

We're so excited to have more family living close by. The kids and I have been doubling up on school in preparation for our vacation to California. We're excited to go somewhere warm and to see my Mom and Dad and Connie.
So, last week I hopped on the counters and painted that area above the cabinets on the ceiling there were 2 spots I couldn't reach, so I'll have to figure out how to do it. I'm not sure footed at all so that was a big deal for me to walk along the narrow part of the counters. It's going to take me forever to finish all the work around here. It's a good thing that's the one thing I do have. It's given me a chance to figure out what color to paint in that space above the cabinets by the ceiling . I think I will paint it some kind of brown. The backsplash tiles I saw at Home Depot have red yello and brown and they were gorgeous. I still don't like the shade of yellow that Ashley chose. I like my yellow better. That can be painted over eventually if I want, but I think the backsplash in the kitchen will tie it all together, whenever I'm ready. It will probably be after I choose the brown for the kitchen and paint it. Then I have to find accessories to go on my cabinets. I took down the country ones and I'm just keeping a couple of those. It'll be nice when it's done. I still have to finish the kids bathroom downstairs. There's a bunch of wood and stuff that I'm not sure how I'm gonna put it up. The blue in there is way nicer than the grey. Anything is nicer than grey. I'll probably see if I can get the floor tiled when I do the backsplash. I'm not sure if it's possible, with that stamped cement in there. What were they thinking? The crevices get gook and stuff stuck in there. Yuck! I gotta go.