Mothers Day 2015

My favorite things about Mothers Day:
- Breakfast in bed on Saturday morning. (It's all about making it a Mothers Weekend, not just a day!)

- my 2 boys singing in sacrament meeting. Actually, just Noah singing...Xander just mouths the words and looks like he is being sentenced to a death by slow torture while he stands up there
 - handmade cards and pictures
 - questionnaires filled out by my kids stating my age is 52, my favorite color is pink, and my favorite food is macaroni and cheese. Nice!
 - David making dinner: delicious teriyaki chicken, rice, and veggies. (Where's my mac and cheese?)
 - lots of hugs and snuggles from my cute kids
- spending the day with my family (honestly, Xander's face is just priceless in this picture!)

Our New Scout

8 is such a great year - one gets baptized and also joins scouts! Noah was thrilled to finally put on that scout uniform and attend scouts each week, just like he's seen Xander do for the past few years.

One afternoon I found him on the back deck, whittling away with his new pocketknife. He told me he was whittling because he's a scout now so he knows how to do these things.

Between weekly den activities and work at home with me and David, Noah has been able to earn several belt loops and his Bobcat (which he will receive his award for in August). He was so excited to earn these belt loops that he told David he now needed a scout belt! What a cutie!

Hopefully this excitement and joy for scouts will continue in the years ahead.

Spring School Events

Springtime always ushers in fun school events - concerts and Honor Roll recognition. I was highly impressed with how far along Xander has come with his saxophone; the band sounded really good! Receiving some last minute instruction from his music teacher, Mr. Bruns.

Xander and one of his sax buddies, Ashur.

With three kids involved in different activities, David and I find ourselves dividing and conquering far too often these days. For Xander's concert I had my little sidekick Noah with me.

Savannah's concert I ended up doing on my own which actually turned out to be quite an enjoyable experience. It's always a step up attending the middle school concert and I thoroughly enjoyed the pieces they played.

Unfortunately Savannah was a bit hidden from me so I really had to work to get a few decent shots of her.

Next up were the Honor Roll assemblies and wouldn't ya know it? Savannah and Xander had theirs at the exact same time though unfortunately not at the same place. Divide and conquer, people! David went to Savannah's since he missed her last one.

A handshake from the principal...

grumpy face to Dad for taking her picture...

and then all smiles with friends.

We are so proud of her for keeping her grades up once again!

I was over at the elementary school to see my Xander receive his certificate.

Way to go, X man!

Love that cheesy grin of his.

Xander and his teacher, Ms. Valentin. She had her baby the next week!

X's Baseball Season

Xander was so excited for baseball this year! Unfortunately he struggled for the first part of the season but so did the rest of his team. We lovingly called his Rockies team the Bad News Bears. They had a lot of younger players and they all tried really hard but they ended up losing most of their games.
 Xander played positions all over the field and made plenty of good plays and catches.

It was hitting that gave him problems. However, about half way through the season, after several early Saturday morning practice sessions with me or David, he started getting his groove back and started connecting with the ball.

It's much more fun to get a nice hit to get on base than just being walked. But hey, however one can get on base is great, right?

He even got a few good slides in.

He always loved playing up at the Cal Ripken fields; they are pretty nice but quite the drive to get there!

My cute baseball player!

This season his coach also had him pitch almost every game. He did a great job and was able to strike out a bunch of players throughout the season.

His best game of the season included 2 innings of pitching with 4 strike outs, an out catching a line drive that came straight to the pitcher's mound and then throwing the ball to first base for another out of the player that had started running to 2nd and didn't get back to 1st in time, and another throw out to 1st. He was literally responsible for 5 of the 6 outs in 2 innings. Plus, on offense he drove in several runs off of 3 great hits.

In the playoffs his team ended up losing which really bummed Xander out. Oh, well, we'll just look forward to next year!

A Weekend at the Temple

The temple is such a special place and I am always so grateful when we get to spend time there. On Friday evening, May 1, the youth of our ward had a youth baptism trip and David and I made sure we tagged along.

Our numbers are much smaller now but the Spirit was just as strong.

Our beautiful young women!

There are always so many gorgeous flowers at the temple but I had never seen this kind before and was in awe of its colors. (This picture does it no justice...it was exquisite.)

As we were leaving the temple we ran into the youth from the Bynum Run ward. Everyone ran to each other and gave each other hugs; it was like we hadn't seen each other in years. There were smiles all around and such a happiness to be with each other at this sacred place, doing the things that we should be doing. It was an amazing experience. As one brother put it later in a testimony, it was, on a smaller scale, a feeling akin to what Alma felt when he encountered Ammon and the other sons of Mosiah returning from their mission and the joy they all felt being together once again.

The very next day David and I headed back down to the DC temple, this time to witness the sealing of one of my young women from a few years back, Charlotte Coleman. David made sure he took the exit where I could get my favorite shot of the temple - as one drives up and over a hill on 495, all of a sudden there is the temple, rising with the clouds.  It truly is magnificent!

Charlotte and Matthew, the new couple!

Days like this are such happy days!

Family Fun!

The River Adventure was not the only fun we had while the cousins were here; when family is here, almost every moment is filled with fun and laughter, even meals!

I had a little potato salad helper!

And the cats had an admirer.

Monster High time...

and lots of card games!

All this fun can wear a person out!!

A rip-roaring fun game of Heads Up, 7 Up!

Ryan looks thrilled while Heidi is definitely ready to party!

This game was a blast to play in elementary school and it's still fun now! Who knew?

Being spiritually fed during a wonderful Family Home Evening about the widow's mite.

Another classic pose by Dr. Clark.

The kids loved seeing an actual "widow's mite" given to my parents from a friend who just got back from Jerusalem.

Ciara loved this crown and pretty much wore it the whole visit.

Dessert time!

Yeah, I pretty much adore her!

Cousins are the best!

These guys are pretty silly together!

Whoa! David actually got somewhat of a hug before the Clarks left.

Cousins aren't the only family we have fun with. Both sets of grandparents stayed extra days so the kids got to soak up some time with them. The kids LOVE when Grandma and Grandpa get to watch them play sports!

And Xander had a great time making strawberry jam with Grandpa Pierce!

Oh, if only we all lived a little closer but for now we'll treasure all the time we get together.