Mom is 43!

Sidenote: its so nice to have a daughter exactly 30 years younger than me...
I can keep track of my age so easily!

This year I received (and gave) presents that focused my attention on becoming more like my Savior.  Each year I'll try to do better!



My mom, Blythe, Evelyn, and I assembled hygiene kits for Lifting Hands International.

And Bob gave me a beautiful addition to our pictures of Jesus Christ collection.

Helping with yard work

This past Saturday we worked as a family to help someone with their yard.  Leslie was busy with her CPR certification class and the twins went on a 10 mile hike to prepare for their 50 mile this summer, so it was just Bob, me, and the "little" kids.  They helped so much- it probably helped that we let them use ginormous clippers to cut and trim bushes and trees.

Reuben helped move rocks

Gideon loved sweeping the porch

 The kids helped trim bushes and trees!

And this is what it looks like when you mow the lawn in El Paso!

This is the Place Memorial Park

We had a great time! We helped oil some horse bridles and then enjoyed a free day at the park! The kids loved the train(s), panning for gold, petting animals, and riding some slow ponies in a circle.

This past week...

Day of Service
By Jonas

Saturday was the stake day of service. We collected a lot of food for Golden Harvest Food Bank. We had a lot of fun doing it. We put up flyers on Wednesday and collected the food on Saturday. The back of our van was full. We collected over 10 tons of food throughout the stake! That is very cool!








Faces
By Leslie

We made silly faces on Sunday. On our computer we were able to take the pictures. There were different styles including stretch, squeeze, and swirl. Some pictures were on accident and others on purpose. Try to figure out who is who. There is one of every person in the family. Have fun laughing.

Peaches
By Owen

We have peaches on our peach tree. There are 10 peaches. They are green and orange. They are 1 ½ inches. The tree has leaves on it. It used to have pink flowers on it. But now it doesn’t. I’m so excited. Soon we are going to have our own peaches.







Earth Day
By Troy

I like Wall-E. I like the movie Wall-E. We planted sunflower seeds and strawberries. I hope we have strawberries for a snack.








A Smattering of Thankful Fors…
By Micah

I’m grateful we were able to plant sunflowers and strawberries. We played with animals and cars this week. We could have a fun time. We read Fablehaven. We also could play outside because Mom and Dad fixed the fence. And that we could play in the house and that we could make up a song. It is called “Everybody sings a song”. Dad and I made a little story last night about a mouse and a monster. The monster was afraid of the mouse. The monster had to yell loudly. It was on the computer, and it was louder than any scream, and I had to plug my ears for that.

Breakfast in Bed...

For me!

The kids surprised me with a sweet breakfast in bed. They brought me toast with jam and a cup of milk. They decorated a shoe box for my tray and brought homemade cards saying, "Sleep well!" on them. (They even cleaned up the kitchen!)

The occasion? The kids know I haven't slept through the night for months now, and they wanted to give me an easy day.

They are so sweet...the best kids a (tired) mom could ask for!