Sunday

We slept in a little. Forgot it was fast Sunday and Sierra made waffles. Went to church. Went to some extra meetings. It rained a little. The end:)

Fashion Show

Emma, Heather, Hannah, Megan, Alyssa, Kathleen, Gabby, Sariah, Julia
missing from the photo: Susie

Hannah was asked by the stake primary to organize a fashion show for the activity day girls.  They had a stake activity for the girls today and at the end was lunch, and the modest fashion show. 

It turned out really well.  We had some cute decorations, pink and purple helium balloons & gold arc.  Hannah was the MC and she did a great job, the girls all modeled 3-4 outfits and they looked very pretty.  I think the little girls enjoyed it a lot.  The other adults there were very impressed with how articulate Hannah was, and what a nice job all the young women did.

As soon as it was over Rob and Hannah headed down to the temple.  Our ward had a youth baptism trip planned and she wanted to catch up and enjoy the day with them.  Grace and I stayed to clean up and then we had our own afternoon plans.

new whale pants

Meanwhile I took Grace, who said she loved the stake activity day morning very much, shopping for a birthday present for her friend Amanda. Then she went to the party. It was at Mulligans.  Amanda has been quite sick this year and has missed a lot of school.  She and Grace are really good friends and I am glad she could go.

Tonight we will all go to Joyce's 85th birthday.  Fun and busy day.  

Update: birthday party was tons of fun! It was great seeing everyone again and catching up with the family! They played their instruments and had dinner and cake and fun!

Friday

This morning I found Percy on his perch. It's the first time I've seen him sitting there. 

After we got everyone off to school Sierra and I went to the movies. We saw "Mother's Day", and we both laughed and liked it.  We ate popcorn for lunch.

Grace goes to swim team every day. She likes it a lot. 

These two went out for Indian food with some friends. This pic was on Hannah's Instagram, which means it's public:)

We facetimed the grandpeople and had a fun little chat.

Double header

Grace's fish science project went south due to a high fish mortality rate. Now she's doing tomato plants. She has 6 and is feeding them either water, milk or Gatorade and seeing which grows best. We think it will be water.

Sierra and I had Chinese for lunch. Also we did a lot of laundry. I'll miss her when she goes home.

Rob got home from Ohio. Mr Percy liked the suitcase and took a nice nap in it.

Sierra watched the kids and did all the chauffeuring so I could go with Rob to the temple. I did 2 endowments while he did his shift. The first one had about 5 women in it. (About the same amount of men). The second was in Spanish and there were well over 100 women (probably 60 men). What a difference. It was a good day, it's always good. Sometimes I go and it's good. Sometimes I go and really feel instructed and edified. Today was such a day, lots of insights and "ah ha"s, nice for me.

Disney

I went to Disneyland with Sierra. It was awesome, that is all.

tuesday morning

I just got everyone out the door.  Can I just say that watching them get ready for the day take a Herculean act of patience.  Especially Grace.  She finds so many things to distract herself with that I almost can't stand it.  I usually have to busy myself with chores in her vicinity so I can keep pestering her to do this and do that but not actually watch her.
Also may I just say that the last two mornings I have got to clean up pet vomit.  Yesterday it was Z, today it was P.  And one of the hamsters looks to be on his last leg and one fish tank has got to go, it is stinky.

baker

Yesterday mom and dad left.  We had a wonderful visit with them.  They were so helpful and also so fun to have around.  We went out to lunch on their way out of town.  Now they are visiting Anna for a few days.

Also yesterday we made cookies.  Hannah volunteered to make some for Sister Pincocks baby shower . And then she was busy so Sierra and I made them.  They turned on cute but I think I need some different tools because my piping could be better.

Sunday was a good day.  I had to go to the Somerset Ward ward conference so mom and dad came with me and Sierra took the kids to our ward since Rob flew to Ohio to do some work stuff for a couple of days, which worked out great because it happened to be Abba's birthday and they got to spend that time together. Anyway the ward conference was really nice.  We met with the yw presidency during Sunday School and had a nice visit with them, then we meet with the youth and that is always fun.  It was my turn to speak for part of it and it went fine as well. Then we had sacrament meeting which was just lovely.  They had a beautiful musical number and Bishop Richardson and Pres. Crawley both spoke.  Both talks really touched my heart.  I am so grateful to be a member of Christ's church and to have such wonderful opportunities to feel and be taught by the Spirit.

Bishop Richardson spoke on the parable of the 10 virgins.  He talked about how all the virgins were members of the Christ's church, and all were good people who did what they needed to do.  They were all there with oil in their lamps waiting for Him to arrive.  But some were wise and some were foolish and what was the difference?  And was he wise? (speaking of himself and inviting us to to think of ourselves).  The bridegroom (Christ) tarried and took longer than expected and some ran out of oil.  What was the difference?  What helped some to endure all the way to His coming, to not run out of oil (faith/testimony/).  He suggested it was love.  The pure love of Christ.  Love for Him, love for others around us as we serve them, love of the scriptures, love of doing what is right, love=charity.  

It was food for thought for sure. 

President Crawley spoke powerfully of keeping our eye on the Savior.  Of staying the course and not being swayed by anything, including our fears that we are not doing good enough.  A common problem is self doubt, of shame in our sins and the feeling that we can't do it.  These are tools that Satan uses.  God knew, and knows that we are imperfect, that we will make mistakes, and that we are weak and flawed.  That's why He provided the atonement.  That's why we NEED the Savior.  He is good enough, and HE shares that goodness with us.  It is only Satan whose lies tell us we can't, we aren't worthy, we aren't good enough.  Where there is faith there can not be fear so we we need to have faith in the Savior, Jesus Christ, and in His atoning blood.  Every day we repent and we try our best and we have faith in God's plan.  

It was a lovely talk and a lovely meeting.  

And tonight we have the baby shower, and Grace has talent show practice after school, and we still have Sierra staying with us for another 6 days so that's super fun.  Grandma Joyce's 85th birthday party is Saturday and Sierra stayed to attend, which is lucky for me because we get an extra week with her:) 

Saturday

We made waffles for breakfast. Our favorite mix is the kodiak brand and it was yummy!

When I am old and gray and living in a nursing home I am going to miss mornings in a crowded bed. I love it. The kids and the dog and the hubs and the cat. It's awesome!

Papa and Grandma went to Daisys to help her out with some stuff and to visit with Chuck. The rest of us went to see the jungle book, which we liked. Then to the grocery store. 

When we got home Dad and Sierra went biking.

Ethan had a friend over.

Hannah went out with some school friends to the bookstore and to eat cupcakes.

In the evening we went to the high priest stake social. It was very nice. They had a 50's style quartet, a tasty dinner, great decorations and we sat with mom and dad, Wes and Nellie and Tami so that was fun