So much has happened and I am so behind!  We went to Utah and witnessed wonderful things and then we drove home with Atticus and had a special time with him.  And then we got busy here and time has flown.

To start with the Utah happenings, Henry was baptized!!  Yay for a wonderful little boy.  It was so fun to hang out with the family and get to know the kids better and just play with them and see them interact.  Henry got a ripstick for his birthday and got pretty good on it in just a little while.  He was willing to let his sisters try it out too.  It's different from a skateboard in that it wiggles in the middle so that you can make it go without a slope.


He also got a Zelda game and was moving right along with it.  He finally got to grow up and experience older things in the game.  He was excited about getting Epona and doing things with her in the future.  I remember going through that game and watching Erin and Heather do it and it's still a joy to experience.  And then Saturday he was baptized!  What an honor for a dad to be able to do that for his children.  We have such wonderful blessings.  Just last month James was able to baptize Atticus.  The Priesthood is such a great blessing not only to the whole earth, but also to individual families who can have such a sweet intimate joy through the holy ordinances.

What a sweet family!  It was great to see extended family there to be happy for him and congratulate him for his good decision.  And in standing around eating the goodies Raylyn provided afterward, we all decided to have lunch together on Monday!

I love every one of these people so much!  And also the ones that couldn't be there.  It was such a satisfying day.

After the lunch we invited ourselves to see Kathy's new apartment.  She has moved into Salt Lake proper and is so very happy with her new place!  It's just across the street from the park and is cozy and clean.  And the best part is it's lots less expensive to live there and she still can have her two dogs.  There's off the street parking and a nice little grassy area out front for the dogs to run around in.  She is still moving in and deciding what she really needs and what can go.  The really amazing thing is that she let boxes of books go!  Just shows what we can do when we are motivated.  We also got rid of a multitude of things when we moved and it actually feels cleansing.

And here is beautiful Grace who is no longer living with her mom.  She is an adult now and living on campus at UVU with roommates.  It will take some time for Kathy to get used to not having children with her.  I'm still getting used to it!

Sunday we got to go to Collinses' ward and witness Scott becoming a Deacon.  That was a sacred moment for us all.  Again, I say what a wonderful, miraculous blessing the Priesthood is on the earth and in the lives of families who can receive the blessings available through it in a sweet, personal way. At the invitation of the bishop Brian gave Scott some valuable counsel about what it means to him to bear the priesthood and Rachael witnessed how much it meant to her to have the priesthood in the home.

Then we got to go hang out with Bennetts for a while and experience their family.  Heidi had just gotten her ankle fused and was still pretty cautious with her damaged appendage.  She ventured out in the wheelchair to go to the lunch and it seemed to work pretty well so for the 4th of July we went to a neighbor's house to watch fireworks.

Attie had a good time playing with friends and waving around sparklers and running from the sparks emitted by the fireworks being set off in the street.  Heidi and James have such nice friends who were very welcoming and friendly to us interlopers.

I just have to say what a wonderful support James is to Heidi in all her ups and downs with this damaged ankle.  It has been years that it has been a drain on her energy and her ability to go and do and he has always been more than helpful and caring to her and her needs and Atticus' needs.  What a wonderful manly example to his son to always be willing to help when it's needed!  A perfect example of priesthood in action.  That is basically what Brian said to Scott.  The priesthood is an opportunity to help and bless those around you.  Even when you don't feel like doing it.  Even when it's inconvenient and you are tired.

And Scott also exemplified that spirit when we came to spend the night at their house with Atticus.  I know he as a 12 year old wanted to do a lot of different things with his friends, but when we had Atticus there he was more than kind and solicitous to him.  He showed him how to shoot his pellet gun and played with him and was ever so patient when it was time to go to bed.  

Here is Atticus shooting Scott's pellet gun at a target.  He had a wonderful time feeling so big and doing grownup things.

During the day we did errands with Kristin and got to visit Brian and Kinsie and see how they have fixed up their house.  Kinsie is very creative and the two of them are really talented and have done some beautiful and imaginative things to make their house welcoming and warm.  It looks like a happy place to live.
Then we went to see the horses who were doing a friend a favor and eating down his field.  The grass was shoulder high to the horses, but I imagine they will take care of it in time.

In the morning early we loaded up and took off for Texas.  Atticus slept in the back seat for a few hours till it got late enough to wake up.  We made really good time but still stopped every couple hours so that we could move around and get some exercise.   Don't need anymore blood clots.

Atticus was a wonderful traveler.  Even when he ran out of things to do he was willing to try something else that kept him busy.  We listened to the Harry Potter book, Prisoner of Azkaban during most of the trip and it was interesting enough to keep his attention but even when he was bored he was a good sport about traveling.  It took two whole days.

We finally arrived home around 6 in the evening and immediately went swimming at the neighborhood pool with the Barneys.  Lara and I even got in the water to cool off.  It was a nice warm Texas day.  :o)

  Atticus LOVED the Barney kids and loved swimming.  This was the best of everything!!   We swam every day and went to the movie to see Finding Dory and then stopped in to visit with Sam as he was working at Whattaburger and had treats.  He played on the swing in our backyard and watched his videos and played his games and we watched the movie Prisoner of Azkaban since he had heard the story read in the car. I told him to hide his eyes when the Dementors came, but he loved seeing the movie again now that he had newly heard the story.  Sunday he went to church to his own aged Primary class and came out happy and exuberant.  Monday was a sad day when he had to leave.  We went to visit the Barney kids one more time, and then went to the airport.

It was fun to have him and sad to see him go, but there's always next year and the next and the next, right?

So that about catches us up to now.  Dad worked in the yard a few days getting things watered and the grass raked and mowed and trimmed so that it's pretty again.  It has been pretty warm and dry so that the plants have been thirsty.  It's nice to see them perking up again.

Thanks so much to all who hosted us and put yourselves out for us while we were there!!  We so appreciate you and are so grateful for you every day.  We pray for all of you, for your happiness and welfare and safety every day.  We are so blessed with our family.  In the temple we talk about having joy in our posterity and surely we do have it and wish it for each of you.  We love you.

For our anniversary we meant to see the movie Jungle Book but we were too tired.  We just went to Jason's Deli for dinner and went home.  It was a good tired so we were happy.  It was very rainy too, and that also makes me happy.  I guess I love rain.  I love to hear it on the roof at night and I love to hear the thunder rolling around.  It makes me feel cozy and safe and comfortable.  Of course, that's when I AM cozy and safe and comfortable.  When we have to run around in it and get wet and cold it's a little less fun, but still there's the looking forward to the comfort soon.  :o)

We attended my cousin's funeral this month.  He is one of the last of my relatives that I remember from when I was little. I'm really sad that he is gone.  He had Alzheimer's but he was still Gene.  He was my mom's favorite because he loved the same things she did.  He was to my mom as Dad was to Auntie Barbara.  It was good to get to go to the funeral.  It was closure and it was good to visit again with some of the other cousins.  They are my family even if they all have each other and don't need me, I still need to feel connected to them.  His sister Doris is still there and she actually acted like she would like to get together some time with us.  It would be nice to renew acquaintance. I enjoyed her when I was younger because she was pretty and dressed well and knew lots of girl things that I didn't and wanted to know.  My mom wasn't into girl things.  Maybe we can get together one of these days.

It's raining today and I'm happy, but there was just now a terrible crash and bang thunder that sounded like it was just in our backyard.  That's not the comfortable kind of thunder.

The fun thing that we did recently was go to visit with the Evanses and Erin at Lake Michigan.  I hate to tell you that all my life I have thought that the long loopy lake was Lake Erie but sure enough it's Lake Michigan.  Lake Erie is one of the nondescript ones to the southeast.  When I was in elementary school we sang the song Erie Canal and I always envisioned the long loopy one.  Maybe one of the teachers told us that was Lake Erie.  Yes, surely that's the reason.  :o)  

Do you see at the very bottom of Lake Michigan where Indiana meets Michigan?  That's about where we were in Michigan City, Indiana,  It's a little resort town with lots and lots of houses that face the lake with big wide windows and probably lots are rented to visitors like us.  They are on a hill so that everyone has a great view of the lake.  We had a beautiful 4 story house with all accommodations:  dishes, pans, some cooking ingredients, lots of towels and comfortable beds for about 20 people if you count the sofas.  

Look at that water!  Doesn't it look like the ocean?  And we were even on the narrow end!  It was shallow for a long way out so the kids could play easily in it.  When I first put my foot in it I thought it would freeze!  The water was really cold!  But as I stayed in the water I became accustomed to it and eventually I could go in and simply feel refreshed.  There were lots and lots of little rocks along the shore that the kids enjoyed picking up and even some mussel shells.  I found a clump of mussel shells attached to a piece of seaweed.  I thought at first it was a craft of some kind that someone had put together but as I looked at it I realized it was natural; the mussels had attached themselves to the seaweed and then died.  

Dad had hurt his back the day before we arrived so we stayed home for several of the family excursions but we did go to Chicago on the train with them and visit the Shedd Aquarium.  The train ride was fun and the aquarium was a really interesting place.  They had EVERYTHING there.  My favorite place was the penguin area where the attendant sat in the area and the little penguins came up to her and asked to be petted just like puppies.  

Those two little penguins stood at her feet and waited for her attention.  She rubbed their necks and held them.  It made me happy to see them feel loved.  

And then there was a children's play place where our kids played on the rocks and slide and shelters like penguins. 

I just realized I didn't take a picture of James.  :o(  He had a good time there too.  It was a good place to run around and let off some energy.  We even got to pet some stingrays.  

Everyone loved having Aunt Erin there to talk to and play with and explore with.  She made the whole week's visit a joy to the kids.  She was always willing to play games and laugh and tease.  She even had a sleepover in her bedroom with all three of the older kids.  They pushed the beds together and watched a movie and had popcorn and then when the movie was over they had more fun.  But they did eventually go to sleep.  She has the imagination to always think of interesting things to do next when they got bored.  Check out Susan's blog   http://bobbyandsusan.blogspot.com/

for more pictures of the interesting things they did.  I liked it when they went out in the front and lay on the walkway looking for the first star to come out.  Such a clever idea and a cute picture.  And of course they were always talking with her and she with them.  She treats them as equals and never talks down to them.  

Now we are home and back to routine.  We had a good weekend, celebrating Father's Day with the Barneys with dessert and a game at their house that evening. 

Today this is our pretty little tri-colored crape myrtle bush in the front with heavy flowers filled with the rain.  It's mostly pink but it also has white and some purple on the far left.  Dad cut it off in the fall so that the blossoms would be lower so we can see them.  They were so tall we couldn't see them from the house and they didn't get much sun so they didn't get many flowers.  Now they get sun and are full of flowers and visible from the living room.   I love crape myrtle because it was the first flower I ever loved.  It's pink like a little girl loves and it has small frilly flowers like lace.  It makes me happy every time I see it.  And do you see how Dad's lawn is growing in the spot where we took out the tree?   Pretty soon it will all be filled in.  

 Now we are looking forward to visiting Utah soon for Henry's baptism and Scott's ordination as a deacon.  How did they grow up so fast?  And we will get to see everyone else in the area, of course.  What a treat!  

Lots of good things lately!  Mary graduated!  Dad turned 79!  And we will have our 52nd anniversary this week!

Mary graduated from the NRG Stadium in downtown Houston.  There were 600 graduates and lots and lots of friends and relatives.  It was a really nice graduation with short, interesting speeches and Mary crossing the stage early in the program.  Jon bought her flowers that thrilled her.  She kept saying, I feel so special!  And of course she certainly was.

Afterward, we drove around (since we were already downtown) looking at where Jon works and where Mary will go to school next year:  The University of Houston.  She will be in the dorms.  It is a huge school!  Then Jon took us all (their family, the elder Barneys, and us) to a Vietnamese/Chinese restaurant Mary had chosen where I tasted Pho (pronounced Fuh) for the first time which is a really tasty soup with veggies.  We had ordered so much food we all had it again for dinner on Sunday.  And it was still delicious.

Friday Jon treated us all to dinner for Dad's birthday.  Dad chose the Tin Roof Barbecue for dinner.  Everyone was really pleased with the food and the live entertainment.  It was raining like crazy but that didn't dampen the good food and good company.  Sorry my pictures are fuzzy, but you get the idea.

And look what Lara gave us!  We killed our mixer trying to make divinity.  It just gave up.  ( I was later told that you should never try to make divinity on a humid day!)  So we needed a new mixer and since it's close to our anniversary I thought we could finally get a good one, but she had one already that she wasn't using and she gave it to us!!  What a treat!  It makes me so happy to finally have a KitchenAid mixer!!  We plan to celebrate our anniversary by going to see Jungle Book and eating at Jason's Deli.  We will go after the temple on Wednesday since we will be busy the rest of the week here and there.

Today is Memorial Day and we are taking it easy around here.  We will go watch the kids swim later today and then maybe take a nap.  :o)  It's nice being old.

We had a happy surprise a couple weeks ago when Kathy and Grace came to visit!  What fun to get to see them and hang out together!  We drove around and explored different places around here that we haven't been before, watched movies, watched the lizards and squirrels on the deck, talked and talked and talked.  A perfect visit!  Feel free to drop in on us anytime all of you!  I wish I had taken some pictures.  I don't think of it till it's too late.

The man has been keeping busy around here.  Today he's out mowing the lawn and sprucing up the front.  His grass stolons are taking hold and looking really good.  They may fill in that piece of lawn by the end of spring.  The trees are all leafing out and looking green and pretty.  I love the green and the sunshine on the trees and grass.  He also fixed the gutter along the garage so that there won't be water pooling in it to encourage mosquitoes.  He still goes to the peanut butter factory every week to either help with production or clean the equipment.  This is a one year mission he has been assigned.  He enjoys it.  

We are still serving in the temple every Wednesday and it's beginning to become a part of us.  I have heard people extolling the temple before and I didn't understand how they felt, but now it's beginning to make sense to me.  I got to serve this Wednesday on our regular shift, then subbed for other ladies Thursday, Friday and then again on Saturday this week.  I was tired by the end of the week, but I had such a sweet peace after being there that long.  And the very best part of that service was that I got to help with the initiatory for a young woman getting her own endowment before leaving for her mission.  What a supernal blessing for me to be able to do that for her!  I can't express how much I love being able to do what we do.  

Last week was also the awards week for the high school.  Mary received a National Merit Scholarship award.  She is second from the left.

She also got to play in the last concert for the year in the orchestra.  They played good music--which means music I like :o)--and then they showed pictures of all the graduating seniors on the big screen.  It was a nice evening.  The teacher/conductor is very good, but he graciously gave credit to the junior high music teachers and rightly so.  Some of our Beehives in jr high can really play beautifully.  Two of them brought their viola and violin to our little class talent show and were just playing around afterwards in an impromptu duet together and they were excellent!  I was truly in awe of their skill.

Sam also got an award.  He received the male sophomore class merit award.  We are happy for him and how he exemplifies so many good qualities.

And Sarah is once again involved in swimming.  She has practice every evening after school and swim meets every Saturday.  It's time consuming for her and for Lara but she loves being with her friends.  She has improved her technique and her swim time this year already.  We get to watch her in her events and cheer her on!

Da is still doing well in her reading.  We are more than half way through the book and she is remembering most of what she is learning.  She still confuses b and p.  But I can't even imagine trying to decipher her language.  It just looks like curlicues to me.  I think she is doing remarkably well.  Her goal is to get her driver's license.  When she finishes the book lessons we will get a driver's manual and work through that.  She is already trying to read notices and signs she sees around her and that is a big step forward.  

We are now looking forward to the middle of June when we will get to visit with the Evanses and Erin in Illinois!  What a happy anticipation!  I really do love being us right here and right now!

Yay!  We did get to go visit with Adam again and had a great time.  It was so good to see him and it was fun to visit with Lara along the way.  The trip seemed much shorter this time.  We had lunch at a Sweet Tomatoes in town there.  
I love that he got to come.  I wouldn't mind if this is a recurring thing for a long time.

In other news, my wonderful bentwood rocker finally bit the dust.  I sat in it and leaned back and the frame split.  :o(  Made me very sad.  I like to sit in it in the front room and look outside while Dad is on the sofa.  We talk and make plans and the other sofa seems so much farther away, somehow.  I was bemoaning the loss and the man said, why don't we get another one?  So we shopped at the Goodwills and looked online but they were nonexistent or too expensive.  So he said, why don't you try Craig's list?  I did and there were two!!  One for $45 and one for $95.  I texted them both and put the amount on the contact name line so I would know which was communicating with us.  I got a text from the $45 and we went to see it and paid them the $45, put it in the car and drove away.  We got down the street and I got a text saying she had asked $95 and we only gave her less than half!  I guess I got the numbers mixed up when I entered the phone numbers because it was truly a beautiful chair, just as the ad described the more expensive one, so we went back and paid her the rest.  We were lucky we had enough between us to pay it.  But we got a beautiful chair and are very happy.

The man had to cut up the broken one to put it in the trash.  It was a fine friend and it made me sad to see it go.

And now we have another one that also makes me happy.  She said she paid over $200 when she bought it new and it does seem to be well made, not just a WalMart special.

Another thing that I am happy about this week is that I thought I had gotten toenail fungus when we girls all went to get pedicures at Thanksgiving.  I finally took off the polish a week ago and saw white spots on my big toenails!  They looked just like the beginning of fungus I looked up on the web.  Made me VERY unhappy.  I got an appointment right away and got the results back yesterday and the dr said whatever it is, it's not toenail fungus.  He didn't say what it was, but when I was there in the office he said sometimes pressure on the toes can cause similar things.  Whew!!  Dodged another bullet.  I REALLY don't want that stuff.  So the plan is to keep the toes out and dry all summer.  NO closed toed shoes.  And no more pedicures!  It's always a gamble and I don't want to take that chance at this stage of life.

Yesterday the man had volunteered to sub for a brother in the temple and so I went along to do some things while he was there.  I did some sealings, two endowments and some initiatories for our family names. It was a relaxing, sweet, beautiful day.  It felt luxurious to just go and do whatever I wanted to do and have the time with no rush or expectations.  One of the endowment sessions was for a girl who was getting married soon and I realized it was a girl whose parents are in our ward!  Her mom is probably Lara's best friend.  What a surprise.  I thought it was pretty special that the brother conducting the session was the grandfather of the bride to be.  And obviously it was arranged that way.  I had to think about it a while.  You would have realized it right away, right?

As far as the Reading classes are going with Da, Kathy recommended a book called Teach Your Child to Read in 100 Lessons or something like that and I got it and it makes me happy.  I am using it with Da now and I feel much more confident.  I feel sure she will be able to read in a few months and I didn't feel that before.  It was such slow going with not much progress.  And I was unsure about how to introduce more sounds as we went along.  This book gives me a script and all I have to do is follow it and it works well.  Da is smart and very cooperative so I expect success.

Now that it's warm weather the man is working in the yard more.  We took out one of our front trees and he planted stolons of grass to fill in the spot.  They seem to be taking hold and doing well.  He cares a lot about the yard.  Also along the front of the house where we weeded and realigned the plantings it was bare and he did the same thing there.  So he is feeling good lately.  He likes to sit in the back and watch the squirrels jump around in the trees and the lizards crawl all around the garage and deck and flirt with each other.

He teaches the new member lessons on Sunday and is good at it.  He always has stories that keep their interest and new viewpoints to the same old stuff everyone knows already.

We are trying to lose our winter weight and are having mixed success.  We both want to lose about 10-15 pounds and have each lost about 5 or so.  Gotta keep on it and it will work.  We started on Sparkpeople but Dad didn't like keeping such close tabs on what he eats.  He and I both figure if he just stays off the evening snacks he will be pretty good.  We will see.  If we get too strict we don't want to do it, right?  So he has dessert when we have the missionaries over and serve something, but he doesn't have seconds and thirds later.

So that's about all that is happening with us.  We are happy and healthy and grateful for all of our precious family.

Well we went to Utah and are back again and how do I describe how much WONDERFUL FUN it all was?  We got to visit with everyone and even friends so that we feel filled with happiness.

It was so good to see Atticus baptized.  He is such a sweet, wonderful little boy.  And a new cub scout!

There was a roomful of people and most of our family were able to come to see Atticus.  Colin even came to video the group and let some people talk to Atticus on the video.  We didn't do it because I usually cry at things like that.  There were yummy treats and it was so fun to get to see everyone there and visit with James' family. He has some relatives nearby that his mom and her husband were staying with and they came and made the occasion even more special.  James' mom is a great lady that I like a lot.  I wish now that I had taken more pictures, but I spend too much time visiting and having a good time to think of it till it's too late.

We stayed with Heidi and her family which was nice.  We got to see Atticus more than we would have otherwise.  Here he is eating boiled peanuts with his dad.  It's a southern thing.  He loves them.  I remember that Dad told me he liked them but he swears that he has never tasted them.  What's happening to my memory?

We got there Thursday morning and Heather picked us up at the airport and took us to put our stuff away at Heidi's and then we went to lunch.  We hung out with Heather and talked about her plans to move here in the fall.  She will pack up everything between now and the last of September and have it all ready to put in a Uhaul that she and Dad will drive here.  He will fly out to patch up her wall where they attached the TV when she moved in.  She is good at cleaning so she should get a lot of her deposit back.
Then in the afternoon we went to meet who could come to the Chuck a Rama dinner that Heidi and James had arranged.  It was great to get to see Kathy and Lisa there and visit some.

Friday we had lunch at Mike's house and got to see him and his family.  What a great family!  I love being with them.  Raylyn is now RS president and doing a wonderful job as we would expect.  That's a job just made for her and her talents and sympathies.  Mike is happy in his job and the kids are growing too fast!  Aubrey is a teenager now!!  And beautiful.  Ella is still in clogging and happy as usual and Henry seems to be much more confident and happy and adjusted well to his diabetes.  It was good to hear what they have been doing.

In the evening we met Erin and went to dinner at the Med, a little Mediterranean restaurant where we had sumptuous food.   It was good to catch up with what she is doing and see how great she looks and feels.  She has been working hard at taking care of herself and it is paying off.  She inspired us to try harder and so now we are hoping to lose some inches and get stronger before the summer with all its yard work.

Saturday morning was the baptism!!  Good to see everyone there.  What a great day.  So very satisfying in so many ways.

And then we went to Roy with Kathy and Lisa to a barbecue at Lisa's mom's house.  We got to meet all her family!  What nice people.  We had a great time getting acquainted with everyone and eating more than we should have.  It was all delicious.  And we also got to see Tyler and Grace there too and visit a little.  Grace is gorgeous and looks happy and Tyler is just as gracious as he always has been.  There's never enough opportunity to get in enough visiting.

Sunday was church and dinner with Bennetts.  For dinner James made cheesy grits along with other things, but I ate way too much of the cheesy grits!  Oh they were good!  And we got to visit more.  For a special treat in the evening Atticus wanted to play a game that I can't remember the name of that was fun.

Monday we went to see Kristin and hang out till lunch.  We learned all about what her family is up to and then learned that Kelli Riley is just around the corner from her there in Alpine!  When all the time I thought she was in Heber.  They get together regularly.  At noon we went out to meet the Rileys at a restaurant.  What fun to see them again!  They have moved to Utah and are staying at present with Mike in Syracuse which is just above Salt Lake.  They are finally retired but Bro Riley will be working with Mike in his electrical business.  Mike has started his own business now.  Sis Riley is looking for things to do with herself besides hang out with grandchildren.  It has taken me a long time to decide what to do with myself so I have total sympathy with her.  I think I have found some good things to do now and am pretty happy with them.  But you have to decide for yourself what is meaningful to you.  No one else's ideas work.

Monday we went to the Oasis for lunch and had wonderful food!! I love that place.  And then Heidi and I went to the fabric store and got some things to make her some tops and skirts, and then time got away and I left her in a mess with a shirt try-on half done.  But she was better at getting it figured out than I was so I think she will be fine.  We got on the plane and came home.  And it was over.  What a very special, satisfying time we had.

Back into the routine with temple Wednesday mornings, literacy with Da Wu on Thursday morning, and then stake conference this past weekend.  We learned some disturbing information about pornography at the conference.  They said children as young as 5 to 8 are receiving pornography from 10 and 11 year olds.  So young!!  What a destructive epidemic.  It's so important to be careful with our children.  One family told the stake president they knew their son was safe because they had so many protections on their electronics, but then later learned that he had been walking down the street and using the neighbor's wifi to download porn and then he would watch it later in his bedroom.  The only protection is to help them understand how destructive it is and how to avoid it.

On a happier note, Dad substituted for a temple worker Friday and I went too and before his shift started we did 13 baptisms and confirmations and the same 13 initiatories and then I did two endowments while he was working.  What a wonderful day!  I was full of joy the whole day.  I didn't used to enjoy the temple but now since we have started working there I do really feel so much joy when I am there.  It's a pleasure to walk in the door and spend the day helping people and feeling the joy there.  That's one way I know that Heavenly Father and Jesus are supremely happy beings.

Another thing that we learned was that the Riley's old friends the Haineses are now in our temple presidency.  What a surprise!  I wondered briefly when I heard their names. I didn't really think it was possible, but it is.  I'll have to mention it to Sis Haines one day.

And the very good news is that we get to see Adam again!!  He is back in Dallas doing more training and we get to go see him tomorrow!  Lara will be able to go this time too which we are glad for because of her delightful company of course, but also because she can be the guide through all the streets and traffic with her trusty gps.

The talk didn't kill me even though I felt like I was going to faint.  Why is it so scary to talk in front of nice people?  And it was fun to hang out with Barneys for Pi/Pie day.

Dad's cough is still hanging on but he's feeling so much better we aren't worried about it anymore.

The party at Moshan and Monsour's house was fun with many of our ESL students there.  It was Norouz  or the beginning of Spring for them.  They have a special table with the specific things on it to represent the things they want to come in the new year.  Candles, mirror, certain seeds and spices, fruit, eggs, flowers, and so on.  And it was fun to visit and eat everyone's dishes.

Our Easter was meaningful and satisfying.  I was to give the lesson to the Beehives that day and had been preparing the lesson on "how do we show our faith in Jesus Christ" and it was a wonderful experience preparing and reading and trying to see what would be the right thing to present as I teach.  I gained a deepened appreciation for my Savior and His love for us and His great, merciful gift.  We just can't do enough in our lives to show our gratitude, but we can trust Him to know what will make us happiest and trust that He understands when we try to do as He says.

Lara invited us over for dinner and we had a lovely meal and a happy visit.  I made a bunny cake for dessert that was fun.  Jon can't eat eggs so we substituted garbanzo bean juice for the eggs and the cake was tender and tasty.  Instead of coconut on the bunny I shaved some white candy coating and it came out curly and really pretty.  I think there was as much icing and candy on it as there was cake, but that's okay too.

The day before we had made chocolate marshmallow eggs with Sarah and her friend.  I made the whole batch of marshmallow and I had forgotten how much it makes.  We had marshmallow all over the place and when I poured it into the molds it came out fast and there were some mutant eggs to deal with, but no problem.  We put chocolate on them and they were fine anyway.  It's fun to do happy things.

And the most wonderful thing happened this week!  Adam came to Dallas on a business trip to help train some people in the office that will be opening there soon and we got to see him!  It has been way too long since we have seen him and it was worth the trip to Dallas to get to have dinner with him and visit some.  We went to a restaurant that he had chosen from the ones in the area.  It's called the Magic Time Machine.

It was a fun place with the wait staff dressed as cartoon characters and a sassy attitude.  The waitress we had was Joy from the movie Inside Out.  She was really cute and fun to watch.  Perfect choice for our little meeting.  It was so GOOD to see Adam.  He looks great and is happy and successful in his new job and responsibilities.

We are looking forward to seeing everyone at the reunion that is in the works now.  It isn't fun to be away from family.  And it's SO good to be together.  We are really excited about seeing all the Utah family next week!