I finally broke down and bought an "Electric Sweeper"--the fight against sweeping in this house is unreal, and considering it needs to be done every few hours on our beautiful, but SO expansive wood floors, I decided to give the $20 version a try. (I was holding out on principle for a while, thinking it totally unfit the way my 12 year old handled a broom, but since that wasn't changing, I thought maybe I should) Now, it is true that you get what you pay for, and this little dustbuster w/ a long handle is not the most powerful thing in the world, BUT our floors are still somehow SO MUCH cleaner!!!! We just pick up the big things it won't get, and now NO ONE complains about sweeping---even Anne begs for her chance. So, though not the most amazing appliance, it has made the most amazing difference (by small and simple things :).
We also had RECITAL MONTH:
(I was holding Lucy while I videoed, so hang on for the ride!)
Since the piano recital was Monday night, we made a FHE out of it, and had a treat of a Subway supper, w/ Krispy Kreme Report Card donuts (free) for treats.
Here is Anne playing her 4 note song of "See the Silly Monkeys" :).
Anne's FIRST violin recital (Maddie is sorry it's sideways) happened to be the night I was asked to teach a personality class for Relief Society (based on the Color Code book), AND host bookclub after that! Thanks to sweet neighbor Heidi having the girls over to play a lot of the morning, I was able to feel prepared and relaxed--I heard Anne's number, dashed to the church where my power point was all queued up, and then came home for book club! Anne LOVED getting to be in the spotlight--she now begins most of her practicing w/, "My name is Anne, and I will be playing..."
Here's a cute one of the girls making dessert--and all wearing aprons on Mother's Day :)--FABULOUS day!--the children are becoming GREAT breakfast chefs! Fruit smoothie, scrumptious omelet, w/ toast and trimmings--all in bed, and Brian made a wonderful ravioli meal w/ mushroom butter sauce for dinner--yummm. The men even substituted nursery, Primary, and youth, so ALL sisters could attend RS together, and enjoy some treats the last 5 minutes :).
We have been busy trying to get our yard ready for gravel, ready for garden boxes! Brian and I also took a quick trip up to Shelley, ID to pick up Grandpa's lathe, as he's cleaning out his shed. We left Friday afternoon, listened to an Agatha Christie on the road, visited w/ G&G, as well as Kenda and Cedrich (her grandson) a little, then got home just before midnight. Brian found a thermometer for his newly-acquired smoker (a neighbor getting rid of it) @ Smith & Edwards, so he woke up early before our great Regional Conference this morning to get it going, only to spill water from the steam bath all over the coals and throw the temperature off when he was putting in the meat---we cooked them slowly in the oven instead. Really delicious! Hard to believe we're down to the last 2 weeks of school already! Brent actually ENJOYED his required 6th grade dance (and didn't mind telling me he was pretty good at swing dancing AND had the girl that asked him to dance laughing a lot, as well as finding out her favorite color, song, etc.!! (after dreading it for nearly 2 years!)--he's already asking about when the stake dances are :), and Maddie thanks to her MESA club (math & science group), got a field trip to Lagoon on Friday, where she got herself psyched up enough to ride some real roller coasters w/ some of her fun friends. And though Lucy is now climbing out of her crib on her own, and still trying to cook by dumping out bags of craisins with containers of jam and scoops of sugar all over the floor, she still survives b/c of how cute we find her! She is such a character!--calling to everyone from the neighbors to the birds (to all of us!) to "C'Mere!," singing "Twinkle Little Star" and "I Love to See the Temple" and asking right when she wakes up, "Where Anne?" or "Where Mannie?" (which she has named Maddie & Emily, since Emily is some hard strange version of Eckabee) and so on. She LOVES Mochmo (cosmo), and ANYthing outdoors--quite the little personality!
We got to hear from Elder Bowen, Sister Burton, Elder Holland, and Pres. Uchtdorf today via broadcast for our Davis County 65 stake Regional Conference! Elder Burton shared his tender example of fellowship and friendship. Sister Burton urged us to face our lives towards the temple, especially for our children and ended w/ the quote hanging in the Nauvoo Temple's assembly hall, "The Lord has seen our sacrifice-come after us", Pres. Uchtdorf urged the young men to familiarize themselves w/ Chapter 3 of Preach My Gospel since that is what missionaries teach, and for the youth to attend the temple as often as possible, since they will remember there, who they are. Elder Holland silenced us all by talking about the power of the word, and yet how that power only comes if we are doers and not hearers of the word only. He asked us very specifically, w/o show of hand, of ONE thing we had changed in our lives because of what we heard at General Conference. He asked us twice!!-then quoted Pres. Uchtdorf and Pres. Monson from Conference in regards to the blessings promised as we apply the words that are taught. He really brought out that all of the teachings we hear are worthless, unless we DO something with them. Great meeting! (and great we survived 2 hours in one seat w/ all of us!).
Spencer is sorry he was not featured in any photos this session, it must've been because he was too busy passing off every requirement in his Wolf book, and by "every," I mean EVERY!!!
