Saturday

We had a full schedule today. This morning Grace and Dad got up early, for a weekend, and went fishing. They spent 5 hours on the water and only brought back a sunburnt little girl but they both has fun.

Hannah had a picnic with the

Share Your Culture

Club from school. They had a good time.

Next on the list was Ethans soccer game. They lost, however it was pleasant soccer weather.

After soccer we went to meet R and G at the scout fundraiser 5k. They did a color run and it was well organized and looked like a lot of fun.

After the run I took Han to Cristianna's for a movie night/Bon fire. The rest of us went to Hong Kong Buffet.

Lastly we came home, had a visit for R. With the ward reorganization tomorrow will be a big day of people getting new callings. 

At 10 I went to get Miss H and that was our day. Lots of activities. Lots of good things.

park fun

Our good Bishop posted this cute picture on Facebook yesterday.  It's from a couple of years ago.  As chance would have it we had already planned to meet at the park this beautiful Friday night so we had to recreate the picture...which turned into just taking pictures :)

The Martines' were our first friends here in Maryland, I am very grateful for them and look forward to many more happy times together.

Lu getting a push from her dad

We played the park while Jeffrey had soccer practice.  Ethan and Eric made up a new game called volley soccer, where you play a volleyball like game only using your feet.  They entertained themselves the entire time with that great invention.

After the park we came home and had dinner. I made a fiesta themed dinner and everything was tasty and everyone was happy.  Jodie and Aubrey joined us.  After dinner we played Mexican Train and ate Colleen's delicious fruit pizza. It was a fun Friday night!

We were especially happy because it finally was sunny and nice out.  We had a week of rainy weather. 

Raining

It's been raining. I've been walking the dogs with an umbrella. Yesterday R went fishing after work, despite the drizzly weather. He caught two fish. 

This morning I went visiting teaching. Our message was about the Saviors role as Redeemer.

We shared this favorite scripture: 11 And he hath power given unto him from the Father to redeem them from their sins because of repentance; therefore he hath^asent his angels to declare the tidings of the conditions of repentance, which bringeth unto the power of the Redeemer, unto the salvation of their souls.

 12 And now, my sons, remember, remember that it is upon the^arock of our Redeemer, who is Christ, the Son of God, that ye must build your ^bfoundation; that when the devil shall send forth his mighty winds, yea, his shafts in the whirlwind, yea, when all his hail and his mighty ^cstorm shall beat upon you, it shall have no power over you to drag you down to the gulf of misery and endless wo, because of the rock upon which ye are built, which is a sure foundation, a foundation whereon if men build they cannot fall.

Tonight we are having chicken spaghetti for dinner. The kids have scouts/YW.

the weeks starts off well

Grace and her daddy last weekend

Monday is a pretty good day.  The start of a new week.  Jodie and I had a YW errand to do (we had to go to Costco to pick up the TREK poster for our building) so we made it a day and went to the movies first.  We saw Draft Day, which I liked. 

It's my carpool week so  we had to pick up the kids on the way home.  

It started raining yesterday around 3 30, and it's supposed to rain all week.  This is a bummer because we missed riding and soccer.  It was nice because we could go to Target all together for some things Hannah needed and then we had dinner at home and FHE before it was late. 

For FHE we talked about Prayer.

I love this from the Bible Dictionary on prayer:

As soon as we learn the true relationship in which we stand toward God (namely, God is our Father, and we are His children), then at once prayer becomes natural and instinctive on our part (Matt. 7:7–11). Many of the so-called difficulties about prayer arise from forgetting this relationship. Prayer is the act by which the will of the Father and the will of the child are brought into correspondence with each other. The object of prayer is not to change the will of God but to secure for ourselves and for others blessings that God is already willing to grant but that are made conditional on our asking for them. Blessings require some work or effort on our part before we can obtain them. Prayer is a form of work and is an appointed means for obtaining the highest of all blessings.

After I cleaned the kitchen while R & G walked the dogs and E and H did homework.  

It was a movie kind of day for me, at night after we got Lu to bed we watched "The Secret Life of Walter Mitty" which was cute.

gerbil update: Kristine died.  This was epically tragic and now we are searching for  replacement rodent.  

Sunday

I am a poor photographer.  I should have noticed the shadows on the girls faces.  Still their smiles are beautiful! 

We had a big meeting at church today to realign our ward boundaries. Our ward is now much smaller, and the Lexington Park ward grew.  Change is always hard.  We will miss worshiping weekly with many of our friends who are now in the other ward. We are growing though and I know this was down prayerfully and with much thought and consideration.

After church we had a belated Easter dinner at the Ray's. It was a lot of fun.  We always enjoy getting together with our little LG families and spending some time together.

Busy dad

After work today super dad was double booked, he had a daddy daughter dance to attend and a scout camp out.  It took a little juggling but it worked out.  He went to the camp site and set up his tent before coming home.  Then came home and got little miss.  I drove Ethan to meet the other scouts and they took off (in pouring rain) for their adventure.  Meanwhile Lu and her daddy danced and ate and had a wonderful time together!  We have amazing activity day leaders who go all out and they made it a special evening.

While they were all occupied Hannah and I went to Joann's, Marshalls and Panera.  We had a fun time together.  We met Gracie at the church when their evening was over and R took off to meet the boys.  E requested that he make his famous apple cobbler so they did that.  I haven't heard how everything is going but I think they'll have a good time.  It stopped raining and it's a bunch of boys out in the woods so how can THAT go wrong? :)

In other news today is Abba's birthday.  He is awesome, huge shout out!  We love our Abb's.  I knew R would grow up to be a great man when I met his dad.

Also other news Clayton graduated from BYU today!! Yay Clayton! We're really proud of him and his hard work.  They are moving to Niagra Falls NY this summer.  Jenna graduates this summer. Busy, exciting times!

Mid week

I decided to enjoy an island memory and make a Jamaican dinner. We had jerk chicken and rice and pineapple and bananas. It was very yummy!

Jodie and I walked the dogs today. Grace had chess. Ethan had scouts. For YW Hannah had an outdoor blindfolded obstacle course to enjoy.

Spring is in the air!

Grace finally got her much longed for gerbils. Living with a future vet is a messy affair:)  Welcome Kristine and Mercedes to the zoo.