Grateful Sunday

Our Sunday walk last week. It is hard to squeeze in a walk after dinner and before dark when we often don't get home from church until 6:00. But it's always nice when we can.

This has been a great week. I am so blessed and we are very happy. Today, I'm grateful for:

• my sweet little family. I am grateful that we are all healthy and able. I am thankful that my kids are good students and are generally nice to each other. Ask me again in summer if they are still that way. Ugh, summer siblingness gets difficult around here. Please tell me I'm not alone.
• the gospel of Jesus Christ. I feel so blessed to know the things that I know and to rely upon my testimony often. I have lately had the opportunity to talk with a good friend about the truths of the gospel, and to be in the position to share the things that are most precious to me is really wonderful. And kind of scary. But I am thankful for it anyway and pray for more chances to share my faith.
• a date with Neal last night. We have been trying for weeks to find a free weekend to go out. I am so glad we did. I could be anywhere and be happy as long as Neal is next to me.
• the Young Men and Young Women who took over the last hour of Primary today. Our Bishop wanted all of the adults to be in the fifth Sunday meeting, so we rather reluctantly turned the Primary over to a bunch of teenagers. But they came through, and I heard great reports. 
• carpet cleaning! Mike came to stay at our house last week while attending a conference in Dallas. Although he probably has never experienced the kind of road construction which pervades every last corner of the metro area, he was still cheerful and nice to have around. (I would have given up and stayed in a hotel near my meeting site.) He is repaying our hospitality with carpet cleaning courtesy of the local ChemDry franchise. They come tomorrow. Woohoo!

Chapel Groundbreaking

Our church is building a new chapel in a nearby community. It is actually closer to our house than the building we currently attend, and I have a feeling that, eventually, it will be where our ward meets. Our stake is bursting at the seams, which is a good thing. (I just hate when wards change!) We will have to see what happens after the building is completed, but that won't be for almost two years. So we shall happily go along our way, enjoying things as they are now.

Yesterday, they broke ground for the new building. We had organized a rag tag Primary choir from the stake, and Audrey, Parker, and I attended the ceremony.

Audrey and her pal, Julia, hanging out in the shade.

Camping

When Audrey heard that her friend, Madie's family was going camping last Friday night, she was determined to go along. She has never been camping. In her whole life. Which was a tragedy of the most epic proportions. Neal agreed to take her, and off they went. They camped near a local lake and had a great time. These photos are from Neal's instagram account.

Next time, she wants to camp "in the woods." We'll see what we can do.

Parker turns nine.

Our sweet Parker turned nine today! We spent most of the day working in the yard, poor guy. He had 2 1/2 hours of baseball practice this morning and got to play with a buddy in the afternoon. Daddy Jeff and Gail came up for a sushi/hibachi dinner at Kobeya, followed by the cake of Parker's choosing. I think it was a pretty good birthday! At least it was Saturday . . . 

Parker completed his Wolf Scout requirements and earned his Wolf patch last week. Here he is pinning the little mom pin on me (under the hat) at pack meeting.

Parker is an awesome kid; I am so proud that he is ours. He is also the only child of mine who received any of my genes. He has my freckles, my facial features, my teeth, and my mosquito-attracting blood. :/

Love you, doodle! Happy Birthday!

Corpus Christi

Audrey's Destination Imagination Team, Kinexx, won first place at their regional tournament in February, which earned them the chance to compete at the state level. The competition was held in South Texas, on the coast, in Corpus Christi. Neal took all three kids with him to the event, leaving me time to spend with Natalie--kidless! It was a win-win for everyone. They had a great time. I took all of these photos from Neal's phone.

 They stopped for lunch at one of our favorite Mexican spots, Chuy's, in Austin.

 The beach!

 Parker's beach hair. He has super dense, coarse, wavy hair. I can only imagine how hard it was to get it clean again!

The opening night's events were held on the aircraft carrier USS Lexington.

Pin trading!

The appraisers looking over the team's presentation and materials during judging.

The Awards Ceremony. Team Kinexx earned ninth place out of twenty teams. Their Instant Challenge score was the highest among all of their competitors, but the judges must have scored eight teams' presentations higher. Alas. They were proud of their performance, but the journey ends here this year. They are determined to make it to Globals again next year. If we can survive another DI season, that is!

Time With My Bestie

My dear friend, Natalie, came to visit me last week and we had such a grand time. I visited her in Virginia last year, and we plan to alternate locations each year, which is oh so fun. The first day she arrived was a crazy one; we dropped the kids off at the Rangers game with Neal and then made our way to the temple. Afterward, we enjoyed a late dinner at La Madeleine, which was our favorite dining spot when we lived in Houston together. The next day, we did some local shopping and watched Parker and Miles play baseball. Friday morning, Neal took the kids to Corpus Christi, TX for the State DI competition, which meant that Natalie and I had the rest of the weekend to do as we pleased! It was so strange to be at home but to have no mothering to do! We had a great time.

Friday, we shopped in Dallas. I took Natalie to some of my favorite spots (Little Bean, Milk + Honey, Zara), and we found a couple of new ones, too (Garden Cafe, Gypsy Wagon)! That night, we soaked in the atmosphere at Cowboy Chow in Roanoke, after visiting my favorite little bookstore, The Book Carriage.

We visited the Fort Worth Botanical Gardens on Saturday, grabbed lunch at a cute bistro on the South Side of town, then went to the Stockyards for some historic Texasness. Each night, we came home to a few delightful episodes of Downton Abbey, which Natalie had not yet seen. Hooray for Edwardian England!

I am so grateful for Natalie in my life. We share so many interests and opinions and I know that I can always trust her to be my friend and to take my side. Everyone needs a someone like that. Until next year, Natalie! (Unless we can hook up in Utah this summer!)

Grateful Sunday

Happy Easter! We had a beautiful Easter Sunday. It started out very rainy, but turned out to be perfect by the time we ended up hunting eggs after church! Today, I am grateful for:

• my quick recovery this morning. I woke up suffering from severe dizziness and could hardly stand up without tipping over. I felt nauseated and have no idea what was going on. I think it might have something to do with my allergies, the abundance of yard work we did yesterday, and the fluid in my ears. Whatever it was, I felt terrible and wasn't sure I was going to be able to get dressed, let alone teach Sharing Time later in the afternoon. But a few silent prayers and another hour in bed and I was able to move on with the day. Weird. I'm also thankful that Neal didn't have meetings today. That would have made it all the more difficult!
• time spent with Jeff, Patience and Baby Nelson yesterday. Nelson is 7 weeks old and growing up so fast. I am glad we got to have a little time with his family and snuck in a few snuggles.
• an impromptu dinner with friends on Friday night. We couldn't have planned it better, it was fun to reconnect with such a great family.
• baseball season!!
• the temple. I'm so lucky that I am able to make it there so often these days. There is nothing like the peace that is found there.
• my compassionate, understanding, and tender husband. I am so grateful to be married to such a wonderful man.
• Natalie's trip to Dallas, which begins on Wednesday! We are going to have such fun.

One more Easter photo. An action shot from the egg hunt . . . 

Sunday in Weatherford

I look forward to Conference weekend for so many reasons, most of them are Primary-related, but it's also nice to have the whole day to spend together without the stress of church! Church can be lovely, don't get me wrong, but it also is the day I feel like I am at work more than any other. Alas. :)

Last Sunday, we drove down to Weatherford to spend time with Daddy and Gail. Their property is so beautiful, and I love their quiet neighborhood. Daddy cooked us lunch and dinner (yum)! Between conference sessions, we took a nice walk and enjoyed the sunny Spring day.

The boys on the old chuck wagon out back.

Taking a drive on the mini John Deere. They love this thing.

Party Time

Audrey's birthday was back on March 18th, but we told her she could have a "friend party" this year, since we skipped it last year. A couple of Fridays ago, we got some of her girlfriends together. But first, she had a horseback riding lesson with Ashton, her new instructor. We meet at a house down the road and borrow horses from our friends, who live there. Audrey rode Champ and then gave him a quick bath before turning him back out to pasture. Whereupon he immediately rolled around in the dust. (It keeps the bugs at bay.)

At 6:00, nine of Audrey's friends came over. We had pizza and root beer and opened gifts. Then, we drove over to an art instructor's home, gathered in her studio, and chose pictures to paint from her books. Everyone chose an animal.

Once everyone was mostly done painting, we sang to Audrey and enjoyed her requested cake: yellow with chocolate frosting. Fun times with some great little girls! (Not so little anymore, I guess.)

Spring at our house

I haven't been much of a blogger since we returned from Arizona. Since I stopped blogging at A Room Somewhere, I spend so much less time at the computer (which was the point), but I have to make a more concerted effort to post here now! Will do better.

After Twiggy died over Christmas, we knew we wanted to get another bird for Audrey. She had a hard time sleeping in her room once Twiggy was gone, so Parker had to sleep in there, too, just so she could get through the night! Poor Auda.

Neal started researching birds, and we thought about all different kinds, but ultimately settled on getting another Pacific Parrotlet, but a different color variety. Sweet little Tico is just a baby, and is very pale blue. He and Audrey spend a little bit of time together every afternoon, and he gets a little less skittish every day. We are so happy that she has a birdie friend again.

Miles rejoined his teeball team, the Padres, this season, and has been knocking the ball around like a pro. He has also been wearing his short pants that Santa brought and we just might all die of the cuteness. During his game on Saturday, he wanted to try hitting with his wooden bat (which is, thankfully, allowed in teeball). We told him that it's so much heavier than his metal bat, it might be hard to get a hit. But he insisted. And whacked it both times.

Last Saturday, we were working in the yard (as usual), and it was getting pretty darn hot. Hot enough that the kids thought they should jump in the (freezing) pool. They lasted about ten minutes, but were so excited to swim! We're ready for summer now!

The other day, we were killing time at the park near a golf course. Between the park and the golf course was a pretty ravine, with a stream at the bottom and Audrey was so itchy to go explore. Private Property, though. Boo.