Sabbath day

Grandma and Grace make brownies

Z likes Papa

the boys take down the flag after church

It was a nice Sunday.  The talks at church were very good.  Everyone was in a good mood.  I went to WP2  New Beginnings, which was very nice.  R has been sick again and H and E had a lot of homework.

Saturday

Friday night we all went to Ethan's soccer game. They tied and it was an exciting game to watch.

Saturday morning we made a big family breakfast. Grace played with a lot of the neighborhood girls. In the afternoon Hannah went to a special fireside with Brad Wilcox and then a multi-stake dance. Laura posted this picture on Facebook. 

Emily Z came to baby-sit and mom and dad and R and I went to the temple. It was very nice.

time with Papa and Grandma

It's been so nice to have mom and dad here the last couple of days.  They arrived late on Wednesday night.  Thursday we went to our ward scripture group, then out to lunch, then to Amy's house to staple Trek packets, then home again, then I had a meeting.

Today we went to Walmart and out to lunch (they are spoiling me!) and then home and then we watched a movie, and went to Ethan's soccer game, and then to Red Robin and Hannah went on the youth temple trip.

And we've walked the dogs and sat and talked and Papa played battleship with Lu and we've stood around the island eating cookies and laughing.  We've read scriptures together and I introduced mom to instagram and FaceTime....I'm saving pinterest for later :)   It's been good.  

I'm glad they will be here a couple of weeks. It's great to have some time together.

2006

 This morning we have a two hour delay.  These are my favorite days.  I don't want the kids to miss school but starting our day at 5:30 is brutal.  7:30 is awesome!  Hannah and Ethan are gone and Lu is in the bath . Of course taking a picture of a 9 year old in the tub is not appropriate...but finding a picture of a cute 1 year old in the tub is! She was such a sweet little baby girl.  She loved to give kisses and play with her dolls and to swim like a little mermaid in our backyard pool.  She was clever and liked to do things herself even then.  Love my little Grace.

Yesterday we wanted to go to IHOP because I had a coupon for $10 off.  It was a no school day, snow, and we had been home all day long.  I ran out of laundry soap and Hannah had some headphones to return to Target so we headed out around 5, when the roads were good and melted and planned to meet R at IHOP totally forgetting that it was Fat Tuesday.  When we pulled in there was not a parking space to be found.  Finally we did get one and walked into the restaurant to find it packed, standing room only in the waiting area.  What's going on we asked.  Free pancake day.  Not wanting to wait 75 minutes for pancakes we left and went to Plaza Azteca instead.  We had never been and were all very happy with the dinner.  We had a very fun time talking at the table and eating tasty Mexican food.  Earlier in the day Grace and I had watched a wonderful BYU devotional and I shared with the rest of the family the stories we had heard.  Grace helped.  It was about listening to the Holy Ghost.  Sometimes we have great dinners and great conversations where everyone is happy, participating and receptive.  Often it is not the case but last night was and I was very grateful.

Old picture of Ethan putting on the "Armor of God", we've been teaching the same lessons for many years.  And we have all been slowly learning them.  The good Lord is very patient with His children. More patient than I am with mine.  I have a lot of learning left to do :)

Snow day

My multi talented friend Darlaina made this picture of our neighborhood today. The snow is sparkly and white.

We had a good day. We watched some movies and cleaned the basement. Ethan  played with John and Grace played with Arden.

Ethan's been begging me to make cinnamon rolls so we did. They were good but frankly I have never made some as good as Tori's.

R was home and we had a nice day together. I like the rhythm of my life. It's not too frantic.

Tonight we ate some recently caught sea bass that was delicious! and some home fries. Yumm

And happy news we prayed ourselves a camp nurse! Yay!! The hardest spot to fill.

Oscars

Hannah wanted to have some friends over to watch the Oscars. Shannon and Alyssa came and the girls made popcorn and sat on the coach watching and loloking at the outfits. They only got to see the beginning since it was a school night. There was a lot of laughing and running around going on so I think they had fun.

Dad got back from his trip. We were all excited to see him and anxious to hear how it went. They had a very good time and are ready to go again!

Also it's snowing and it's March!

Fishing trip

Day two on the water. They went out farther and had a good catch.

82 fish altogether.

The only story I "heard" via text was that R caught a shark that was 3-4 ft long (many sharks were caught) and it bit the guy in the orange overalls in the leg and ripped a hole in his new pants.

Meanwhile at home we had a cookie booth morning followed by a trip to ikea, which everyone agreed was fun. 

Then we went to the temple because I thought there was a special performance at the visitors center tonight...we were 3 weeks early. Instead we looked at the Liz Lemon Swindle paintings on display and watched some "I'm a Mormom" vidoes. Then we got in the car and the children fought and we went home.

It's really frustrating when they fight over stupid stuff, and it's all stupid stuff.