April 11

Family "Homely" Evening was the night for planting.

and labeling.

Today this is what has come up so far. The big question is, can I keep it alive throughout the summer? I sure do hope so!

Sleepovers

Is there anything better than pizza, doughnuts, playgrounds, movies, bug hunts, and tea parties on a sleep over?

Signs of Spring in Scottsburg, VA

On our recent visit to Elder and Sister Allen's home we went on a walk and found...

Spring?...

Spring?...

Ahh! Spring!

Little Adventures

We like April adventures. It always takes awhile for the six of us to go somewhere, but once we are out the door adventures happen.

Little Adventures are the key word here. Recently we took a family outing to Goldie's school where Mike took the oldest three and went to several "kid classes" and I went to "parent" classes.

On a slightly bigger adventure we drove over to Arrel and Marcia's for general conference weekend. We had fun introducing Ammon to Christmas and then taking down their tree.

Josiah

I forgot I never added the music to this video, I thought you'd all like to see it, even if it is three years old.

Fickle, Fickle, March

It came in like a Lion and I think you are leaving like a Lion. There were only a few moments of Lamb-Like quality you provided.

So we stayed indoors and learned how to play games.

Games like, sitting in a box...

with brothers.

Oh March, you teased us with moments when we thought it was Tinfoil Dinner weather...

and then we had to come back indoors for Smores in a microwave.

During some of those indoor moments you gave us we just played with the camera and found this,

and this,

and this.

But March, we must tell you we are grateful for moments of sunshine. We love them, and encourage you to tell April to send less showers and clouds and a few more moments of Sunshine...Please tell her...for us!

Goodbye and Hello

The same week Ammon was born we let a car go. It just happened to be the first car that was "mine."

It even had my name on it - after I messed around with it a bit. I have so many memories with this Toyota Corolla that I had to share. It has bridged my life in the west all the way to the east.

My Grandmother, Helen Allen, went to the temple in this car with me and sat behind this seat belt. Every "granny" who got into this car got herself tangled in the belt as they tried to exit the vehicle.

In this seat Amber, Gregg, and Nathan enjoyed a Kentucky Fried Chicken Dinner as we nearly overheated the car trying to get up a mountain where there was a fun park we wanted to play in. They were so much smaller back then.

Then my mom and I drove over 2000 miles in this vehicle. When we arrived in Tennessee my professor greeted me with a hug and asked if I had moved in a Volkswagen Van with my two cats. Nope, just this blue car and my mama.

Mike started driving the car about two years after I became a mom and every once in awhile I would drive it if I was traveling on the rare solo trip. It started getting older too. It started to have plastic things break and we knew it was time to let it go, because it had been a college car and we needed a real family car. I did have a bit of a hard time saying goodbye. Mike laughs at me for that, but we got a new to us car. The funny thing about it is that it was my niece's college van.

So here is to goodbyes and hellos. I will miss my little Georgia Blue. And we give a big hello to the new family vehicle. It is one more sign that my family is growing.