What Goes Around...Comes Around

Sammy on Mary when she was about7 months old. Today, Mary on Joshua (6 months old).

Joshie...6 Months Old Already

Joshua is 6 months old today! He is such a joy. He is quick to smile and very content to crawl around and get into things! His favorite place to be during breakfast is on the floor under Mary's seat because he has a feast on all the food she drops! His giggle is infectious and all it takes for a smile is to look at him. When the day is rough or I am frustrated by something all I have to do is look at our sweet little boy and his smile makes everything better. I love this little man. He is our
"chubbers" (thanks Alanna for the nickname that has stuck!).

Spring Time

The weather has really warmed up around here and the kids keep begging us to let them play in the sprinklers and put the sprinkler under the trampoline. Well, we caved on Saturday and let them get wet. They were running in the sprinklers in the front yard with their neighbor friends and then they went into the backyard and turned the sprinkler on under the trampoline. They had so much fun. Spring said to me, "Mom, go get the camera and take a video of us!"

Mickey's Dining Car

I had dinner at Mickey's Dining Car. This is the diner that is in all three of the Mighty Ducks movies. The diner has been open 24 hours a day, 7 days a week for the last 65 years.

Mall of America

I went to Mall of America today. It is the biggest mall in the U.S.A. There is an amusement park in the center of the mall. The park has roller coasters, and all of the other rides that you might find at any other park. The neat thing is that it is all inside. I found a large LEGO store. There is a large clock in the Lego store that is about 20 feet tall. One of the worker told me that it is made completely of Legos, it took over 800,000 legos, and 25 people about 2.5 month to build it. In front of the store there are tables set up for kids to come and play with legos. I had dinner at Bubba Gump Shrimp Co. It was cool. After dinner the waitress asked us to answer some trivia questions about Forest Gump.

St. Patrick's Day

I am a day late in posting about St. Patrick's Day. Our neighbor called us yesterday morning to see if Thomas or Spring had green collared shirts for school, since the dress code requires them to wear a collared shirt. We did not and we were actually in the process of trying to figure out what to do for them to have green to wear. Well, our neighbor came to our rescue and let them borrow green shirts and attire for school. The kids were very excited. They were also excited to have green pancakes for breakfast! We didn't have the traditional corned beef and cabbage since Joel is gone and I am probably the only one that would eat it. We will have to have that later when Joel gets home from Minnesota!

CandyLand

I had to go out and find a charger for my phone (I packed my charger in a bag, it just happened to be the wrong bag). I probably walked a mile and found a Macy's store. I went inside and found out that they did not have an electronics departmet. I asked where I could find electronics, I was directed to a Walgreen's. The whole time I kept thinking to myself, where is Walmart or Target when I need it? Walgreen's came through and I found a charger for my phone.

While I was walking back to the hotel I found a candy store named CandyLand. Out in front of the store were statues of some of the Peanut's charactures. I had to take some pictures and go inside. I felt like a little kid. They make a lot of the candy on sight.

Planting our Garden

I am trying to plan things for us to do in the afternoon to keep us busy since Joel is gone. The afternoon and evening is the most difficult time for me when he is gone so it helps for us to have fun things to do that break up the afternoon. So, today we planted our garden. We planted tomatoes, zucchini, green and red bell peppers, strawberries, and flowers. We all had a great time. Thomas and Spring are really getting to the age where they are such big helpers. They worked really hard. Sammy and Mary had a great time playing in the dirt and it didn't take long for a dirt fight to ensue between the two of them.

Sammy was so excited to plant stuff that he could hardly contain his enthusiasm. He brought an orange from the fridge and covered it in dirt so we could grow oranges. Then, he heard Thomas and Spring talking about planting strawberries so we could make jam. The next thing I saw was Sammy walking out from the house with a can of freezer jam. He was going to plant it in the dirt too so we could "grow strawberry jam" in our garden. In Spring's words, "I don't think Sammy gets what planting a garden is all about." We all had so much fun and were so filthy that we came in and had showers and baths before we even ate dinner.

The icing on the cake tonight was when Joel called us and wanted to be put on speakerphone so he could read scriptures with us before going to bed. It was a really neat experience and we all loved it. It was almost like he was here with us for a few minutes. When we were done Thomas asked, "Dad, can you call tomorrow night and read with us again?" I am grateful Joel takes the time to do those special things even when he is traveling for work.

Swimming with Sammy

This morning I was letting the sprinklers run for a few minutes because fertilizer had been put on the lawn. Sammy came outside to join me and he had changed into his swim trunks so he could run through the sprinklers. It was a nice day outside but not yet nice enough for that. I couldn't convince him of that, however, so I let him find out for himself. He didn't last very long at all. So, then he came inside and started jumping off of the stools like he was diving into water. It was pretty funny. He ended up wearing his trunks all day long although I did make him put on a shirt.

St. Paul MN

I am on a business trip in St. Paul, MN. I am here for a seminar put on by our chemical supply company. Here are some pictures of the hotel that I am staying in. We were given a tour of the city today. We visited the state capitol building and the 4th largest Cathedral in the United States. It was fun to learn a little bit about this area. Everyone was telling me how cold it was going to be here this week. The weather has been abnormally warm and is forcasted to continue throughout my entire stay. I miss Jennifer and the kids. I thought this would be a good way for them to know how much I love them and let them see a little bit of what I am doing here.

The fountain in the lobby where all of the ducks swim and play in the water.

You can see one of the feathered residents of the hotel.

View from the 5th floor landing just outside the door to my room.

I am staying in at the Embassy Hotel. If you notice the top right corner of the mirror, I have placed the drawing Spring made for me while we were driving to the airport.

The lobby is a huge atrium. The water fountains have ducks that swim around in them.

Golf Lessons

Thomas has been wanting Joel to take him golfing for a couple of months now. His interest began when he started to play golf on the Wii. Then, when he realized he could earn a beltloop for golf his interest really took off. We recently learned of golf lessons for the kids at our city's golf course. Lessons are on Saturday mornings for an hour. He has been to 2 lessons so far and he is really enjoying it. He has worked on chipping and putting. Then, yesterday, he got to hit balls on the driving range. He really liked driving. His wrists have been sore though. It is fun to watch him and to hear him explain all he is learning. He is already talking about wanting to take lessons again next month as well.

A Glimpse into our Life

Lately, Mary has been very attentive to Joshua...well she always has been I guess. Maybe I am just noticing more of it now. Joshua can sit, crawl, roll from his tummy to his back...but he can't roll from his back to his tummy. When he gets onto his back he looks like a turtle with legs in the air and helpless. Whenever Mary sees this she goes over and nonchalantly rolls him back onto his tummy and walks on. It's like she doesn't even have to think about it. She also has learned to open doors which causes a problem when Joshua is napping. She will sneak away and go into the room he is in to play with him. It doesn't bother her if he is asleep because she just wakes him up so they can play.

The kids continue to love playing on the trampoline. A couple nights ago they went out after baths and were having a great time. We looked out to see Spring's hair standing straight up from the static. It looked really cool! They all love to take Joshua on the trampoline with them as well. It is fun to see them all play together.

Why Mormons Build Temples

"Throughout history, the Lord has commanded His people to build temples. Temples are literally houses of the Lord. They are holy places of worship where individuals make sacred promises with God." I am so grateful for temples today and for the joy and peace and knowledge I gain when I am inside this holy place on earth. What a testament it is to me of God's love for us that he allows us to build temples here on the earth. It is the only way for us to be together eternally with our families. That is true joy.

Memories of Grandma Mona

My Grandma Mona passed away on Saturday, March 7th following a stroke. I am grateful I had the opportunity to know and share time with her. She is such a giving person and was always doing something for someone else. She was short in stature yet she stood tall in her service to those around her. My mind has been reflecting on memories I have of her over the past few days.

1. She always sent a birthday card to us and never missed a single one. This continued on with my children as well and also for our anniversary. She never missed a single birthday. In fact, over the past year she has even sent multiple cards for the same birthday which made the kids smile. She was just getting prepared for all the birthdays she would miss once she passed on! :)

2. I remember her typed letters to us on her old typewriter. She always typed the letters because her handwriting was difficult to read. She wrote me letters often while I was away at college especially.

3. Her packages of itty bitty homemade cookies sent to me while I was in college. She is the only person I know who would take so much time to make such small cookies. She always sent them in the lining of cereal boxes too! She is a very frugal woman!

4. I remember as a child helping her put out birdseed for all the birds that were always on her porch and patio. This is something our children enjoyed doing with her as well. She also loved to garden.

5. She is a wonderful cook. There was always dessert when we were done as well...even if we didn't eat all our dinner. She loved to serve everyone and seldom sat still for very long during meals.

6. She always insisted on cleaning up after dinner and doing the dishes by herself. She had a dishwasher but that was just to store dishes in! I was so humbled and grateful in the past couple years when she began to let me help her do dishes after dinner.

7. Her homemade bread...it made wonderful toast in the morning.

8. She loved our children. It was a great blessing to watch her be a grandma to our children.

9. She took care of everyone around her and put everyone's needs and wants before her own.

10. "I'm fine...just fine!"

Surprise Visit with Grandma

My parents made an unexpected trip to California last Friday afternoon. My Grandma had a stroke and was not expected to make it through the weekend so they came to see her. After a few hours of being there with my Dad and his family, my mom called to see if she could come and stay with us for a day or so. Of course, we were so excited and happy. I wish I could have had a picture of the looks on the kids' faces when we told them Grandma was coming to see us. Saturday afternoon we loaded the kids up and drove to meet Mom halfway in Modesto. She had been up for over 24 hours straight so we didn't want her driving the entire way to our house alone. It was so fun to have her here with us. I really enjoyed having her with me at church on Sunday. It made Sacrament Meeting much more enjoyable. The kids had fun playing Bingo, Phase 10, and hide-and-seek with her on Sunday afternoon. My grandma passed away late Saturday evening so my mom left Monday morning to go back to get my dad and start their drive back home to Washington. Knowing she wouldn't be here when the kids got home from school she took the kids out to breakfast before they went to school. This was such a treat for the kids. How blessed I am to have a wonderful mom that I love so much. I admire her so much and I am so grateful our children have her as a grandma. It was really hard to have her leave but I am so grateful she was willing to drive so much extra to come and see us for a day or so. We look forward to seeing my dad, grandpa, and other family in a few weeks when they have the memorial service for my grandma.

A Day with Grandma and Grandpa

We drove to Fairfield on Friday evening to spend some time with Grandma and Grandpa Biggs. We stayed until Saturday evening so we could be at church for Sunday. We enjoyed spending the day with them. Tammy and Ty came over on Saturday morning for breakfast and then we went to their home to see all the changes they had made to it. Joel and Grandpa took the kids to the park to play for a while. All the kids really enjoyed playing outside. Grandpa helped Thomas and Spring make a birdhouse and bird feeder and then Grandma helped them paint their houses. They can't wait to hang them up and have birds eat from them.