Sierra's home!

I don't actually have Ethan in a head lock in the photo :)

So happy, my house is filling up with all my little chickies.  Being a mother to grown daughters is such a joy.  Who knew?  They are a delight to me, so much fun and I am so proud of them.  Being a mother to my little ones is such a joy.  They keep me busy and are cute and smart.  I miss being a mom to a baby and toddler but have happy memories to look back on and now have the great joy of being a grandma....although funny Tate thinks I'm her auntie.  She and Dani were chatting about her grandmas the other day and she said she had 2 grandmas.  Dani said no you have Mimi.  Tate said I was her auntie like Sierra and Jenna.  I'm choosing to think it's because I am so young and fun :)

perfect day

Today Lu had her LEAN exercise class after school so I knew I didn't have to pick her up until 4:45 and I was able to swap driving directions with Debbie and H has a key so I decided today was the perfect day for an mother/daughter outing to the National Harbor.  We wouldn't have to rush and I wouldn't have to worry.  I have never been there, but have wanted to and it was the perfect day.  It was very nice out, sunny but cool.  Hardly anyone was there, we found parking right away and it was a lot of fun.  We looked at all the shops including the very cute peeps store, the silly pet apparel and accessories store and the stylish charming charlies. 

J bought a hat and I bought some new sun glasses.

We loved this cool dude coming up out of the sand and wanted to run out there and climb on him, sadly the beach was fenced off.  We did sit on the dock, climb on some drift wood :) and walk through the Gaylord.

Then we had lunch and it was YUMMY.  We both chose the mahi mahi on a potato crab mash with a sweet corn whatever on the bottom.  It was to die for!  We ate outside by the water, which was of course delightful

After that we stopped at cake love for a little dessert then headed home.  It was a perfect day.  I always laugh so much when I am with Jenna, she cracks me up.  On the way home I feared for our safety and had to tell her to quietly look out the window so we could stay on the road :)  she was making me laugh so hard.

dinner tonight

burgers on the grill, and corn on the cob, also cooked on the grill, watermelon and for dessert an apple pie that Grace made from scratch.  We had pink lemonade and ate on the deck.  It was lovely.

We had a nice day, full of church meetings, hugs from friends, a few card games and a lovely dinner al fresco.  What could be better?

pink cheeks

Happy Day! The warm weather is here!  Love it!  We had a busy Saturday.  First thing in the morning I went to the grocery store with the girls.  Then we came home and got ready for Lu's soccer game. 

The game went well, it was hot out and she got pink cheeked and needed a cool down treat after :)  Thank goodness the ice cream truck chooses to park in the parking lot and overpriced frozen confections were available to us.

After her game we came home and had just enough time to get Han to her DI end of season party and head over to Ethan's game.  It was a very exciting close match.  Lu played on the playground with Summer while he played which made her day.

In the evening we went to Brian Davies'  Eagle Scout court of honor. 

We ended our evening with a stroll at the wharf.  Han got to spend the night at Alyssas.  Jen hung out with H2 and Alexis.

Finally when everyone was home and little children were tucked into bed J and I put on a DVD of "Modern Family" season 1, which neither of us had seen and everyone raves about and we watched 4 or 5 episodes.  It was funny.

24 more school days left and then we can look forward to lots of pink cheeked, sweet treats, relaxing days!

rain rain go away

 We're still having chilly weather and some rain, mostly in the mornings. The afternoons are pleasant and beginning to smell like summer.  I am ready.  Well, I am always ready for summer.  We have important work to do...like finding a beach destination to visit. 

 Last week Dani and Sierra went to their cousins wedding, also mom and dad got to go.  I heard it was a lot of fun and wish I could have gone.  I sure to miss all the in laws I used to have.  So anyway, here's Tate and Papa dancing.  She had a blast.  I suspect he did too, he loves to dance and all his girls (from mom all the way down to the great grand daughter(s) now) love to dance with him.  It's fun :)  I love this picture. 

Here is Bryce (who looks just like his dad), Brittan and Sierra.  Cute cousins!  In my head Bryce is still like 9 years old, actually he's all grown up with 5 kids of his own.  Crazy.  When Dani and Brittan were babies people thought they were twins.  I used to keep him while Valerie worked and we'd go everywhere and they were the same size and both little blondies so it was natural. 

Subbed today.  Special ed.  Subbing tomorrow on May the 4th be with you day.  Bub wants to celebrate so I need to think of something.

Yesterday as soon as we got the kids off to school Jen and I headed off to meet Carol and check out our girls camp site for the summer.  It's in VA a couple hours from here and we had a fun drive.  It was nice to get to know Carol better.  The camp is awesome and I think it's going to be great!  Can't wait.

We got home in time for the kids to be collected, then they had friends to play while I fixed dinner and headed out the door again to visit the WP I and II wards.  I have two more wards to visit and then I've hit them all.  It's been fun to get to know the youth and leaders all around the stake.  I am a little awkward at it, but I supposed I'll get better.  Becky came with me and meanwhile Kitty met with Jared (the YM Pres) and they planned our stake youth activity for next week.  I'm excited to hear how that turned out.  I am looking forward to that to, it will be Hannah's first stake activity and it's going to be lots of fun.

my hero

This little girl has had a pretty nice life.  She was a little blessing to me and has always been a delight.  She is cheerful and adventurous.  Here she is in Ireland looking out over the ocean.  Lucky, ducky.    Next week she's moving back to Utah.  She is ready for her next chapter.  I know she has many adventures ahead of her and will continue to make good choices and be a blessing to those around her.

In no particular order here is a small list of some of the neat things she's been able to do.  She took violin lessons, and played in the Ft Worth Youth Orchestra and her high school orchestra, she took piano lessons, she took ballet lessons, she danced on the Boswell high school drill team, she was on the swim team, was a brownie, raised a goat, was in student government, has lived in 4 states and made lots of friends, studied many neat things in school, read lots of books, went to seminary, lived in a dorm, went to sea base, went white water rafting, been kayaking, has gone caving, has travelled to Belgium, France, Romania, Moldova, Ireland, England and many many states, went to EFY (twice) and scout camp and girls camp and science camp, she's played on a soccer team, worked in an orphanage and for special Olympics and as a sentinel for baby sea turtles and took part in "Christmas in April".  She surfs, runs, bikes, swims, sings and shops.  She had pet turtles, birds, dogs, cats and fish.  She's been to Disneyland, Disneyworld, Magic Mountain, Knott's Berry Farm, Williamsburg, Nauvoo, Big Kahuna's, King's Island and Sea World.  She's swam in the Atlantic and the Pacific oceans, a great lake and many smaller ones :)  and the list could go on and on.

Many of these great experiences have been because of my hero, my husband. When he married me he willingly and gladly became part of a big (relatively speaking to an only child) family and jumped in with both feet to do the best job he knew how.  He has sacrificed a lot, worried a lot, prayed a lot and been there for good and bad.  I really appreciate him making not only my dreams but my sweet girls dreams and now our own three little ones dreams come true.  Today, like many many other days he put in 12 hours at work.  When I called to ask him to pick up E's prescription on the way home and to break some bad news to him he told me how much over time he made this day... and I said (here comes the bad news part) "oh good, cuz I am out of $ and need you to move "x amount" into my account and oh btw, J needs to pay $450 in rent....today.  He sighed (quietly), said "Lucy, you got some splaining to do" (just kidding) and said okay.  He always saves the day.  He buys cars and cletes and movie tickets and braces.  He goes to concerts and games, recitals and open houses.  He stays up all night, cleans throw up, stands in crowds, makes ice cream, camps, digs out splinters and all other and assorted duties that befall him and it makes me love him more and more each day.