Bishop

A few weekends ago I brought my friend Rachelle and went to the "Womens Retreat" to a cabin in Prescott, AZ with 20+ ladies from our ward. The car ride with 5 of us lady friends was so fun... HOWEVER... Within 5 minutes of getting to the cabin Bishop Haws comes up to me and says, "Can I have your car keys, your car has a flat tire"

NOTE: Even though it was an ALL womens retreat, in the church you always have a few men there, constantly staying out of our way, but ever present in form of personal bodyguards in case needed.

I love the church.

Bishop was so wonderful, he didn't even ask, just got right to work jacking my car up and changing tires for me. A few ladies were like, "Oh no, I am so sorry, are you stressed out?" I laughed and was like, "it is really not that stressful sitting in a chair watching Bishop change my tire and taking pictures of him"... ha ha.

Wouldn't you know I only got 4 pictures of the whole retreat, all of the Bishop changing my car tires, before my camara batteries died.

None of our lady fun on film.

But really, he is so wonderful, I am so thankful for the presence of leaders in my life who constantly urge and inspire us to reach higher and become better. (Funny the things people say that stick with you... years ago he said to us that when we are in the car with our children sometimes we need to just turn the radio off and talk to each other... I still remember that and often think of him saying that, then I turn my radio off and talk with my children. That is just one of many examples...)

My Day

Mothers Day with homemade gifts from lots of kids is just wonderful.

(This year Bruce bought me a corsage to wear to church)

I loved the picture Lily made of me riding a pony wearing a cowboy hat, and I loved the "worksheet" Logan filled out about me where he listed my favorite thing to do was snuggle with him, Emma's card was so sweet (and she didn't beg me to have another baby like she did in last years card)... But this year Dallin's card got the prize....

I seriously laughed for like 5 minutes when I read the card Dallin made.

Front:

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Inside:

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Back:

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ha ha ha

Happy Mothers Day to me!

Spring Formal

Ashlin went to Spring Formal on saturday.

Ashlin and her girlfriends made t-shirts for the day date with their dates name on the back. This shirt cracks me up because Ashlin's dates name was "Dallin" just like her brother.... ha ha, so if you see her wearing this... it is referring to her date, not her brother.

Getting Ready for the big night:

This cracked me up below, I had to get a picture of how Bruce and Dallin sat waiting for Ashlin's date to arrive.

Ashlin's 5 year old sister Lily honestly showed Ashlin multiple times how to walk down our stairs like a princess.

He came to the door by himself,

though they went in a group with like 5 couples.

They both looked so lovely.

Talent

Last week Emma and Logan had their first piano recital with Sister Borden.

Oh we love our piano teacher, she is fabulous.

Logan just started piano a few months ago and LOVES it. He is so incredibly disciplined and remembers to practice all on his own. He played in the school talent show this week as well. It was so cute that he wanted to, considering he just started playing piano.

I have to document here that Miss Emma and I decided on the way home from this below recital what she should do when she grows up: Music. I was surprised how Emma commanded that piano with her confidence, dynamics, crescendos and foot pedal. I told her as we drove home that she should major in music. I told her she has a darling voice, loves music, has a gift for it, is so good with people and would really be a great music teacher. The next morning she happen to have to write future goals for a school assignment and I noticed she wrote, "Music Teacher". If that happens, it was decided this night.

(Logan was so excited for the Recital...

all on his own he went and put on his suit)

I didn't even take a picture of her and Logan playing piano at their school talent show this last week. Emma played "Don't Stop Believing" (the Journey song). She did so good, I wished I would have recorded it.

The day of their recital Dallin came out with his guitar and played for me on the guitar Taylor Swifts, "You belong with me". I didn't even know he could. I made Emma come over and sing it with him. They sounded so good together. That night I made Ashlin and Bruce come and listen to them sing, Bruce didn't want to come over but I made him, promising him it was so cute.

It started off so good playing the guitar and singing together... until...

...Emma accidentally sang the chorus twice... then they started screaming at each other and Emma stomped away mad without finishing the song. Then I looked at Bruce and said, "See, wasn't that cute." ha ha.

Then Dallin was stuck with Logan to play with, who didn't know the song. He shouldn't have yelled at Emma.

But when cute Sophie gets older I just know that she will always be darling and never yell at her siblings. ha ha

My cute Boys

Can I post enough how much I love being a Den Leader for Cub Scouts!!!??

Last week to pass off a cooking requirement they came to my house and I taught them how to make homemade pies... homemade pie crust and all.

You can see the pies they made, they got to choose from (and pictured above in this order): Banana Cream, Blueberry, Chocolate Cream, Cherry

I even taught them how to make cute chocolate curls with a potato peeler and chocolate candy bar.

AAAAh, they are so stinkin cute.

Easter

The Easter Bunny is just so accommodating. I told the kids that since we have 8am church I wrote the Easter Bunny a letter and asked him to come during church instead of during the night. And he did. No rushing the morning Easter baskets over here. The Easter Bunny even had time to leave eggs all over the Living Room for a little hunt.

It was a nice relaxing afternoon. Bruce even let me sleep on the couch (since I stayed up late cleaning up after Ashlin's bday party from the night before, post of that below)... While I slept for 2 hours on the couch Bruce instigated on his own cooking and dying eggs with the kids, and took pictures... even of me sleeping.

Then the highlight of our Easter Day was my parents and sisters coming over for a big feast and hunt. This year the Poulsens in our ward came too. We loved having them.

Here they are lining up by the back door to start...

Egg Bomb Warning: I was so thankful that Bruce cooked and dyed Easter Eggs with the kids HOWEVER, we discovered after decorating 5 dozen eggs that they were not cooked all the way. I put one in the microwave for 30 seconds... hoping to find a way to salvage all the eggs... but turns out after 28 seconds it exploded in to tiny pieces all over every square inch of the microwave with one loud BOOM. My friend said her husband did that as a teenager and it blew the door off the microwave. Who knew?

16 Candles

Last week Ashlin turned 16.

She wanted to do a joint birthday party with her friend Brittany, who lives on our street. (Brittany was so gracious and thankful and helped for hours beforehand and after the party getting ready and cleaning up)

We hung up white lights outside and had a fire pit where the kids could roast hotdogs and later Smores (sound kind of familiar, like Dallin's party...)

They wanted to have "Just Dance" going on inside...

Funny story: All Ashlin's younger siblings were here running around during the party... they were so excited and everyone was so nice to them. In the middle of the party I realized I hadn't seen 5 year old Lily in a while. I felt so bad and thought she was probably nervous with all these big teenagers everywhere... I went to look for her... and where did I find her?? In the family room standing up doing "Just Dance" with the cowboy below and some other boy... ha ha. All these girls were watching her with big smiles and clapping and telling her how cute she was. She loved it. :)

Chris and Vanessa (below) have car pooled with Ashlin to 'A' hour all year... they are crazy. Before the party they brought over the hugest presents. I happen to be out front before the party and saw them walking down the rode pulling one over on a wagon. ha ha.

Everyone came in to see them get opened.

yep, a big mess...

Ashlin's present had ALOT of tissue paper and candy, and a note to go out front where she found a blow up swimming pool filled with goldfish. Go figure?

Happy 16th Birthday Ashlin.

Time goes too fast.