Bluebonnets and Pine

We happened to catch the bluebonnets in bloom.

Life is beautiful.

Stop and Smell the Flowers

I love Texas Spring!!! It starts in February and continues until July...then it's time to plant the fall flowers. Yep, we have flowers in the fall and winter! I will miss this.

Our house is crazy with moving plans and packing. To answer some of the questions that have been flooding the phone lines....Here are our current plans

April 9th- Mom and girls fly home

Uncle Richard flies down to help Dad

April 10th- Dad and Richard load the truck, clean the apt, drive north.

April ? - Dad and Richard arrive safely at our destination

Even when life is crazy I need to remember to stop and smell the flowers!!!

Ben's Hummingbird

This beautiful bird was carved by Ben. Job well done!

FHE- Choices

Family Home Evening

Opening Song: Hymn #136 I know that my Redeemer Lives

Opening Prayer: Anne

Lesson: The Atonement and Resurrection of Jesus Christ allows us to make choices.

We showed the girls a picture of Jesus Christ praying in Gethsemane and a picture of his resurrection. Because Jesus atoned for our sins and was resurrected we can return to live with Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ if we make good choices and follow the teachings of the gospel. It is important to learn to make choices and accept the consequences of our decisions.

Activity: Grace was given two choices (Jelly Beans or Starbursts). Grace chose jelly beans. Daddy was given Starbursts. Grace was allowed to choose the 2 jellybeans she wanted to eat.

Closing Song: Hymn #136 I know that my Redeemer Lives

Closing Prayer: Grace

We changed our family rules to...

I choose to obey.

I choose to be nice.

I choose to use good manners.

My mission companion started blogging recently and I really enjoyed seeing her FHE activities on the blog. Thanks Rachel C. for the great idea.

Pictures Pictures

Anne enjoyed our spring festivities too!
After an egg hunt the kids planted flower seeds they found inside their eggs

The closest we came to a group shot with the children

Tucker, Grace, Grant, and Owen

Grace found an egg, sat down and ate the contents before getting a new one.

She didn't find very many eggs!

Grace did find a cupcake at one of our parties this weekend! That was after she jumped in the pool with her clothes still on!

Grant filled the eggs for the egg hunt.

Edwin and Grace blowing out the candles on our Happy Match Day Brownie Pie!

Thanks Susan for a delicious dessert.

We sang Wheels on the Bus while we rode the bus! How many times do you get to do that?!?

Drew gets his Match Day Letter.

(It's the only one I have for you Ashley! Hope you like it)

Edwin getting his Match Day Letter. Thanks for waiting to open it with eveyone!

John and Edwin....What a duo!

Susan, Grant, Grace, and Tucker.....eating snacks and waiting.

MATCH DAY!!!!!

TODAY'S THE DAY!!!

WE are moving to .....

IDAHO!!!!!

We matched in Idaho for 1 year and then we will be moving to Iowa for 4 years!

We are very excited to be closer to our family.

We have enjoyed Texas, but there's no place like home!!!

IDAHO HERE WE COME!!!!!

Still Waiting....

What creates this much excitement....?

Flying a kite by yourself of course!!!

It a rare thing to have wind so Edwin opted to buy a kite on a whim....it was a good investment. We've been flying kites while we wait for Thurs to come. Ah yes, blessed Thursday is nearly here and we will post our big news about residency! For now we will reminisce about our time at the zoo while we watched the baby elephant play with a tire and the baby orangutan climb in and out of a box! It was a great day to go to the zoo!

Protesting TLC Program!

Edwin and I were up late with our little Night Owl and happened to catch a new series that is starting on TLC called The Secret Life of a Soccer Mom. The advertisements for the show looked super cute and I thought "that looks like fun!" The series is about stay-at-home moms who are given the opportunity to work out of the home in their dream job for 5 days. The family was told that they were being filmed while mom went to a spa retreat for the week and dad gets to do all of mom's responsibilities. The episode we watched was a mom of four who wanted to be a police officer like her husband. When they got married they agreed that he would work and she would raise the family at home. They have a happy life together, but she still wants to know if she has what it takes to be an officer. She is enrolled in as a police cadet in California and is given a series of physical tests (including being sprayed directly in the face with pepper spray) and has the opportunity to ride along with another officer for the day. Yes, we enjoyed watching the program...until the end. Mom goes home to the family and tells them what she's really been doing for the week. The family watched video clips of mom as an officer. They were shocked to see some of the things she did, but they were glad she was safe and okay. All is well with the program up to this point. Then the shows host says "we have a surprise for you and mom doesn't know about this either." They proceed to offer her a place at the academy with a scholarship! They tell her she has to make a decision immediately and so they film mom and dad trying to make a major decision that will ultimately change the entire family. NO ONE can (or should) make those kind of decisions under pressure! You could see how much mom wanted this tantalizing opportunity and how much dad was opposed to it. He said he didn't want his wife to see the things he saw and experiences as an officer. I felt like the program was really about breaking up a happy home. It's terrible to me that a TV program is deliberately preying on stay-at-home moms and creating conflict in the home. Edwin and I were both quite upset at the end and it's a program I just can't watch again. Moms have it tough....it's the way it is. Some moms work because they have too. Others stay home even though they greatly miss the work force. Some moms work for their own interests. Whether working or not I feel that most moms want what is the best for their families. We don't need outside forces to entice us to do ANYTHING that is contrary to the happiness and success of our families. Here's a link from some random blog that put things together nicely http://www.careerandkids.com/the-secret-life-of-a-soccer-mom/

Wonderful

The Word of the Week: This week's favorite word is WONDERFUL!

Here are a couple of phrases from Grace in the past two hours

"Carrots for me to eat! WONDERFUL!"

"My pink coat with flowers for me to wear outside! WONDERFUL!"

"A yummy, crunchy cookie! WONDERFUL!"

Ah, it really is a wonderful life!

Anne has been able to wear ponies for several months now, but her hair is finally thick enough to hold them through church and two car rides. Cute Little Ladies!
Anne is helping Daddy do his morning Exercises!

Here is the real reason we have a laundry basket!

It is exciting to do things on your own. Anne loves to play in her bed since she has discovered she can pull herself up! What a Happy Girl!

While We Were Waiting

Anne tells it like it is!

We are waiting for Match Day (the day Edwin finds out if he has a job and where we will be moving). Some of the things we have done this past week include, visiting family (we are so glad Susan and her family live so close now!), shopping for necessities and pricing out some future expenses, curing corned beef for St. Patrick's Day, Enrichment Activity preparation and set-up, auto maintainance, and an array of other miscellaneous tasks. Anything to keep us busy while we wait, wait, WAIT!!!!

The Final Days on the Island

This week started off with decapitating our Sunday night dinner. It was a bit more than I bargained for, but Edwin and I managed to get things cleaned and ready to go. We discovered that we are a good team. I was faster at deheading and removing the shells while Edwin's strength was removing the vein. What a team!!

Aunt Susan made some delicious food for us! Hopefully the recipe will be coming soon!

I have developed holes in my favorite shoes and with some encouragement from Edwin I went shoe shopping. We were in the store long enough for me to walk down the isle when I realized Grace was quiet. I turned around to discover this....

Grace wore those lovely blue shoes the entire time we were in the store! Later that same day I was in the stationary section of another store when I turned around to find Grace once again on the floor. There was a card eye level for Grace and there she was frustrated that the pretty shoe wouldn't stay on her feet! Poor kid! Good try though!

I think this shoe craze is more than a cute little addiction!

Aunt Karen gave us this great self-hardening model clay with paints and a book of sculpting ideas. We had a great time painting the objects over and over again. Grace was particularly proud of her snail and pancake (can you tell what everything else is?).

In a one bedroom apartment there weren't enough beds for everyone. Anne's spot on the floor.

Grace's spot was in the living room on the floor. She looks so cute with New Baby, Baby Doll, and Teddy. However, it's a bit crazy when she wakes up in the middle of the night and carries all these toys plus her two favorite blankets into bed with us! Make room for the circus because she's not going to bed without any of them!

When didAnne get so big? She has discovered she can pull herself to a standing! She crawls, scoots, and now stands. Nothing is safe any more! Her tongue is always hanging out when she's excited about something and boy oh boy, what's more exciting than discovering the toy box by yourself?!

This is Miss Kathleen. She gave Grace a peppermint candy every day we visited! She was a good friend to us and I'm so glad she had a room for us to stay in while Edwin went to school.

This is Edwin's class. We went to dinner at Dr. White's the last week we were there. Everyone had a great time and the food was fabulous! Thanks Dr. White and Molly for hosting a great party! We really enjoyed our time on the island.

*****

It is home again, Home again for us. We have 3 more weeks before we find out where residency will take us. The anxiety is mounting for everyone and we hope this time passes quickly. For now Edwin will study for an upcoming test, I will plan a prepare an uncoming dinner event for church, and we will begin packing the nonessientials.

I already miss the ocean. We'll have to get outside A LOT!