March

March

Since we are half way through April, I guess I'd better get our March happenings posted. One super exciting thing that happened in March was that Ailey's artwork was selected to be in our school district's art show downtown.  Very cool!!

We went to the art show and it was fun to see Ailey's artwork up on the wall. We went out to lunch downtown as a family to celebrate!!

Such a cute artist!!

Bryn got asked to participate in a writing/blogging group for 1st and 2nd grade girls for 6 weeks. She absolutely LOVED it and was so sad when it was over. The girls were each given writer's notebooks and were told to write down ideas and make observations about the world throughout the week. Then they would get to blog about it at their meetings, read peer work, and provide feedback on their class blog. It was awesome!! Bryn was so sad when it was over.

Brynnie blogging away!!

The nights that Bryn had her writing class were the same nights that Kameron had bagpipe lessons so it worked out great for Tyler to take Kameron to his lessons on those days, there was a carpool for Bryn, which was so nice, and that left me and Ailey with a few mother/daughter nights. We had a great time!!

The young men and young women in our ward combined this year and did a huge fundraiser and auction to earn money for camp. It was a huge undertaking of the kids and leaders alike but the night was a big success!!

Kam hard at work. :)

The auction was a success and it was fun for the YW and YM to work together.  Our family scored some great things: a profressional teeth whitening kit and other dental items (we had a dentist in our ward donate all kinds of great things). It was a good thing too because we also scored all of this:

A key lime pie and the most enormous pan of cinnamon rolls. The picture does not do them justice. They were HUGE!! Ailey and Bryn are cinnamon roll fanatics. I don't like cinnamon rolls but these were so amazing (and still warm) that I ate one and a half. That is REALLY saying something!! It was a fun night for two great causes!!

Tyler and I managed to grab a Saturday lunch date with this kid. He is SO BUSY!! It is unreal. I thought Reilly was busy in high school...she had nothing on Kameron. We snatch Kam up whenever we can and try to hang out with him as much as possible. We managed to lure him to lunch with Osaka Bowls!!

Ailey was a lucky girl this year and got... not one but TWO... Daddy/Daughter Dances!! This one was for the Activity Day Girls in our stake and it was another fun night of dancing!! They had a great time!!

The two cutest home teaching partners around!!

I love that they get to do this together. They are good home teachers too. They have gotten to know and love the people they teach. My girls have all come visiting teaching with me ( Kameron has too) when they were little and they loved going. If you will recall, the two things that bummed Bryn out about starting Kindergarten were that she couldn't go out to lunch with me and my friends and that she couldn't go visiting teaching any more!! Ha Ha! Even now if she finds out that I am going VT while she is in school she always says, "Aw! I want to come!!" I love that Ty and Kam have this opportunity to watch over and care for families in our ward.

There is nothing better than seeing our kids show love for others and develop a love of service. Good stuff.

Then my mom went into the hospital with multiple blood clots in her lungs and the month went into chaos. It was super scary and I am glad that she has come through it and continues to get better day by day. It isn't something that you recover from quickly. It takes months to regain your strength. I know that she is frustrated that her recovery is so slow. She isn't one to take it easy; she has things to do! But I am grateful that she is here and on the road to recovery.

St. Patrick's Day rolled around during my mom's health crisis and this was the sum total of my festiveness. Mint hot chocolate in a green mug. Sometimes that's the way it goes.

Kameron had his spring band concert!

After my mom was home from the hospital and improving, we managed to have a very belated St. Patrick's day dinner. Ailey and Bryn did all of the decorating for one festive Sunday dinner and Tyler and I put together a modified St. Paddy's meal.

Thanks girls!! They know how to set a festive table!!

Then our YW President announced unexpectedly that she was moving to the west side of the state immediately and our presidency got released. :( That was hard. Usually when I get released from a calling I am happy. Yay! This time there were lots of tears. I love our YW group...presidency and girls. We had a great time and have grown and learned so much together. I love serving in YW. It is my very favorite place to serve. I had a great run, loved these girls dearly, and my fellow leaders. Our last Sunday together was a bit of a sobfest on all of our parts. I was also pretty bummed that I don't get to be in there with Ailey who will join YW in June. But I am glad that I got to be in it with Reilly for a bit and hang out with Kam for combined activities too. That was great fun!

Then it was an early Easter this year:

This is one of my favorite Easter traditions. I write on our chalkboard what happens on each day of Holy Week. It is just something small and simple but my kids check the chalkboard each day and take a minute to reflect on what Easter truly is about and all that the Savior went through for us. I love it.

On Easter Sunday it was announced that our ward was dividing and that three wards in our stake would be affected and that we were all to attend a special meeting two weeks from then. Those were TWO LONG WEEKS!!

And THEN... My favorite author Pat Conroy died!! Seriously?! That too was a blow. I love love love Pat Conroy. If you haven't read The Prince of Tides yet you simply MUST!! Then go on and read every other Conroy book you can get your hands on...even his cookbook. They are glorious!!

March was a mixed bag of emotions for me this year. Lots of highs and lows. I hope that you all had a wonderful March...especially now that April is nearly over. Oh well. Onward!!