My Lovely Laurel's

Jessica, Melissa, Shandra, and Jenny

Last night we had an activity at my house for our Laurels. We had a lesson on Sunday about the Priesthood, so we thought we should say "thank you" to some of the Priesthood leaders in the ward (we chose the Bishopric). We all had so much fun together. They are such good and lovely girls -- I have never seen better! (or sillier!) :-) We were all laughing SO hard -- my cheeks hurt!

This is the card we gave with the cookies . . . :-) (computers and digital cameras are SO great!)

The girls just kept telling all sorts of funny stories -- I had forgotten how giggly girls are! We kept trying to get a good picture of all of us, and Jessica was smart enough to discover that I had a timer on my camera (duh to me!) No one wanted to be in the front though -- because it made our heads look huge! (He, he, Shandra! :-) )

Shandra is going for more sugar . . . :-) Yum, yum!

The finished product -- chocolate marshmallow cookies and smiles! :-) Who wouldn't want this group to show up at their door??
We had Jenny's dad take a picture of all of us at the front door. Pretty cute!
Armed with cookies, and ready to go make people smile!

It was so fun! I sure love my Laurel's! They are ALL such sweet, fun girls! :-) There is hope for the future!

Happy Birthday Boys!

It was Daniel's birthday on Saturday, and William's on Sunday. Daniel is 6 years old and William is 2! Amazing! 2 years ago I had the choice of having William on the 25th, or the 26th. I thought it would be wise to give them each their own day. I am glad I did! They are both my sweet boys. I love them both SO much! They are such good buddies! William thinks he is as big as Daniel, and he thinks Daniel is so cool. I am glad Daniel is worthy of admiration and he is a good example for his little bro. May that always be true! :-)

We took Daniel to the store to pick out a present. He was allowed to pick what he wanted (within reason). He took about 30 minutes, and then he decided to pick a few Thomas the Train friends (I think it was Gordon and Stanley). It was so cute, I would offer something "big" to him, and he would say, "No, it is too expensive." I reassured him it was ok, it was his birthday. (We never go to the store for toys, he was overwhelmed!) He picked something small and simple, even though he could have had something a little "grander" -- may he keep that with him always! :-)

William had his birthday on Sunday. We tried to treat him special, but he did not seem to know (or care) that it was his day. :-) We watched Herbie for FHE last night, as an extension of his b-day, and he loved it. He is a total car-lover. He enjoys trains too, but cars -- they are special! William is also at the beginning stages of potty training. He wore undies last night for the first time and "tried" to go potty a few times. I need to get a seat though -- so he does not fall in. :-) He always tells me when he poops, so we are getting there. I am in no real hurry. I do not mind diapers so much. When he is ready, so am I. I think I will wait to really go for it until after our Alaska trip. Airplanes and potty training do not mix! Clean-up on aisle four!

Happy Birthday Boys!

Bowling, Beauty, and Bugs

We went bowling on Saturday for Daniel's birthday. :-) It was so fun! We have not been bowling for a LONG time! Charles and I both really stank at the beginning, and we got better as we kept going. I was the winner. :-) The kids loved it!

The Yard...

Our grass is growing in nicely. There are a few places where we need to re-seed, because the water washed the seeds out. But for the most part, it is doing well. :-) We are planning to re-seed this weekend, and pack it down with peet-moss. It should not be too long before we can mow and play! It is truly so exciting to see it grow! It is amazing how much more sun comes through after having trimmed up the trees! I found some before pictures . . .

BEFORE PICTURE (last summer)

AFTER PICTURE (this Spring)

BEFORE PICTURE (before we moved in)

AFTER PICTURE

It is full-blown Spring here. All the leaves are on the trees, and the flowers are growing. It is so beautiful! All of the pink flowery trees are in bloom, and it smells so good! We have our own crop of tulips in our front and backyard. We did not know they were there, because we were not here last Spring. It was a nice surprise! :-) I go out and trim them for indoor display -- I love it!

A flowery bush in our backyard
A very pretty tree across the street. (My favorite kind)

Our grass is growing in the front yard too. We had some lawn in front, but a lot of dirt under the pine tree. The grass is special shade grass, and it is growing quite well. We filled in all the dirt with grass (and added the path). It is looking much better. :-)

BEFORE

AFTER

We recently hosed down our entire house, trees, yard, everything with a special (organic) bug killer. When we first got to the house the yard was filled with compost and TONS of dead leaves. I stepped in a pile of dead leaves and all these bugs fluttered out of the debris. At first I thought they were ladybugs, and then, upon closer inspection -- I found that they were Box-Elder bugs (fire bugs). They are icky, and they were EVERYWHERE! There were literally thousands. I wondered if we could ever rid of them -- but we have! There is an occasional bug that flies onto the house, and then shortly after meets it's doom! It is so exciting to us! We have also seriously decreased the amount of spiders that live in our yard. It is now a nice place to relax, rather than a scary place to venture into! :-) Hooray for bug spray!!!

The most awesome thing ever -- dead bugs! YES!!!

I will keep posting the progress, mostly for me. :-) I love to see the fruits of our labor. It was a lot of hard work, but it is paying off! :-) I cannot wait for the sound (and smell) of the lawnmower! Vroom!

Sunny Sunday

We spent the day with our friends, the Holdens. It was an amazingly beautiful day. The weather was just perfect! Erin and Ryan brought over the most excellent steak I have ever had! After dinner we went for a long walk (the pedometer said it was 6 miles) and we threw rocks in the river. The funny thing about the Holdens is that they went to Gonzaga Law too, but we did not know them when we were in Spokane. They moved into our ward here, and Erin and I are in Young Womens together, and Sammi and their daughter Quinn are in the same class at school. I see Erin pretty much everyday when we pick up kids. I call her my fair-weather friend, because we will go outside and chat and let the kids play when it is nice outside. Erin is also my visiting teacher, so that works out nicely. :-) I also see Erin in the morning when I go out for my run, she passes me on her bike. Anyhow, we had lots of fun with them!! I will post some that Erin took as well.

This is why I call him "Silly Willy". :-) Also, notice the tulips, they are from my yard! Hooray!
Sammi and Quinn taking a little break
Posing for Erin's picture
Erin found this great tree, and we thought we would take advantage of it! :-)

Hanging out down by the river. The parents were also trying to prevent any injuries due to rock-chucking! There were some close calls!
Willy liked his little tree chair
A cute bunch of kiddos :-)

These next pictures were taken by Erin . . .

Willy loved smiling for Erin :-)

A bunch of hot and sweaty kids

Sammi was just hanging out in the tree

Sammi is pondering the deeper meaning of life.

Daniel loved climbing in the tree, he was a little monkey.

This picture is pretty funny. Nicholas is a little comedian. :-)

Willy just kept putting on the cheese for Erin, it was cracking me up!

Thanks for the pictures Erin!!! :-)

Beppy is Getting Married! :-)

So, pretty soon, there will be a new brother-in-law in our family! That is right! Beth is getting married! Hooray! James is his name. The wedding is set for June. We are all so excited for her! These are the only pictures I have for now, but I am sure there will be more to come. Yea Beppy! We love you!

Amazing!

You have got to go to this link and watch the whole video. I saw it on CNN. It made me cry! :-)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9lp0IWv8QZY

(it would not let me embed the video, just copy and paste the link, and it will take you to youtube)

It is worth it!

Easter

Sunday was such a beautiful day! I spent the day before utterly sick and lame. We had plans to get together with some good friends (the Holdens) for dinner and fun. I started feeling sick on Friday night, and I just could not shake it come Saturday. I did not want to cancel, but I just kept dragging myself around the house, and I could hardly imagine entertaining in that condition. So I had to make the lame phone call, and cancel. I HATE doing that! Our friends are SO great though, they offered to have Sam and Dan over to their place to do Easter eggs and food. The kids were happy with that idea, and so was I! While they were gone William took a nap, and so did I! I still felt ill all day, and Charles spent the day hanging a new gutter on the house. I would try and help, then I would feel like throwing-up! So I would retreat to the couch to try and keep from losing "it".

The other day I ran twice, once in the morning and then again with Charles and the kids at night. That same night William was up until the wee hours of the night coughing, and he ended up in my bed with Charles on the couch. So, I had run twice, and also reorganized the kids room (which was scary!) and then -- no sleep! I basically exhausted myself to sickness. But it was weird because I felt GREAT while I was running/cleaning. It just caught up with me I guess . . . I am not as young as I used to be! :-) Anyhow, so on Saturday night I was pretty much certain I was not going to church, I just felt so gross! Then as we were saying our family prayers Sammi said, "Please bless mommy that she can feel better so she can go to church tomorrow." Well, I thought it was cute, but I worried -- It seemed it was more likely I was going to be at death's door, rather than opening the church door's! So, I struggled all night, uncomfortable, tossing and turning -- feeling horrible. I even took NyQuil just for the help-you-sleep factor! My body was on fire, my insides were churning, if I stood up I was dizzy. Then after closing my eyes for awhile, I woke up drenched in sweat -- I mean, it was like someone had been running a sprinkler on my body! I was soaked! When I woke up in the morning, I felt so much better. I felt alive again, and the fatigue was gone! I was so happy to go to church! Prayers are answered! :-)

It was such a beautiful day too. The weather was perfect. Church was great. I just really enjoyed the whole day. It was amazing how much better life seems after feeling like death! It made me appreciate the meaning of Easter that much more. I also got to watch my grandma's graveside viewing ceremony video (Thanks Johnny!). It was very meaningful, and special to witness. It was so nice to be able to see it, even though we were not able to be there in person. As my dad said, "She lives!" I am certian she lives. I am so grateful to have that knowledge. I am so grateful for my Savior. I know He lives. Sometimes I just burst at the seams thinking about how grateful I am for a loving Heavenly Father. Especially when I look at my family -- my true and eternal joy!