What I love most . . . .

Andrew's been out of town all week and I've been missing him a ton! I've been pondering what I love most about him. And, without a doubt, it's how much he loves our children.

Can you see the bunny ears above Adam? Guess who taught my sweet Ally that kind of humor? You guessed it, my funny husband. He's also taught our kids to work hard (at times, I'm guilty of being the "let me do it for you, sweetie" kind of parent), he's taught my boys to help out around the house (FYI - Andrew's better than me at both dishes AND laundry), he's taught them church and church activities are important (the other night Andrew encouraged Nicholas to participate in a cub scout service project rather than his baseball game and ya all know how much Andrew LOVES baseball!), he's taught our girls to be strong (he wrestles, plays catch and goes hiking with the girls just as much as he does with the boys). Speaking of hiking, the backyard of our new house is, well, a forest. And, it backs up to . . . more forest. See below.


After we moved, Andrew started a new tradition of taking the kids one on one for a Sunday walk through the trees and having a little father/child interview. Nothing formal, he just checks in with them and makes sure everything is going okay at school, church, home, etc. The best part of these walks is I get little treasures when they return (i.e., wild flowers!) My sweet husband teaches my children to love, and remember, their mother.

It's not Father's Day or anything - I'm just missing my hubby and reflecting on his greatness. Must be something about that "absence makes the heart grow fonder" thing!?!?!?

Spring Break

I was literally counting down the days until Spring Break this year. I couldn't wait to have a whole week to spend with my VERY favorite people in the whole-wide world . . . my family! I was especially excited to be heading to the Tri-Cities to see my grandma. She recently had knee-replacement surgery. This woman is my rock. She's always been there for me both before and after my mom died when I was in high school. I was so lucky to live just a block away from my grandparents and spent many an afternoon sitting at my grandma's table enjoying home-made cookies. Anyway, my grandma is in her late 70s now, but has been in excellent health. A matter of fact, my grandpa mentioned that after he gave her a blessing to help her knee heal, he hadn't given her a blessing in over 40 years because she hasn't needed it (they've been married 60 years this summer!) My grandpa also has been very healthy (no surgeries, no hospital stays, nothing . . . .)Thank you - thank you - thank you for the word of wisdom!


Anyway, my true joy came last week watching my children serve their grandma. I was a little nervous about how my kids would react to her because usually when we go to grandma's house she has lots of fun activities planned and loves to entertain the kids. This time my children did the entertaining. They fell all over themselves bringing her drinks, painting her pictures for the refrigerator, writing her poems, etc. I also had the opportunity to give my grandpa a little break by being the one to take my grandma to physical therapy and to get her hair done. And, Andrew was a gem keeping everyone laughing with his jokes.


After visiting grandma, me, Andrew and Natalie jumped on a plane to Salt Lake City for general conference. We have a tradition in our family that when a child turns 8 they get to go to Salt Lake with mom and dad for general conference. I have definitely noticed an increase in spirituality in Natalie since she was baptized last month. She really enjoyed all the sights in Salt Lake and tells me her most memorable moment was seeing our prophet, Thomas S. Monson, enter the conference center.

It was a great spring break. Now, my life will revolve around the jog-a-thon I'm in charge of for my children's school and spring sports (we try to pack as much as we can in during the spring since we're right in the middle of snow-skiing season and water-skiing season!) We have 3 kids in soccer, 1 kid in baseball, 1 kid in gymnastics, 1 kid in ballet, and 2 in piano. Not to mention their church activities. The good thing is that this will all be over in a couple months and then Andrew and I can claim our sweet children for ourself and whisk them off to the lake!