Somewhat Healthy

You know how prayers, especially meal ones, tend to have the same words with just the order mixed up a bit? Audrey has started something the last month or so. She says "And bless this food to be somewhat healthy for us". I asked her "Huh"?? Then she tells me, well we're having xxx which is _______ (fill in blank here... fatty / fried / dessert / etc). Basically telling me that since we are not just eating fruits and veggies, what we are eating is somewhat healthy for us - not 100% healthy for us. So we've decided to let it ride. Kind of makes sense and a nice variation from the prayers that are sometimes repetitious. Made me laugh a bit as kids don't stop saying funny things just because they become teenagers!!

Orchard Pairie Union Cemetary

 

I was able to go to the cemetary to see Dad's headstone after work one day. It looks very nice. I wish that I had a cloth to clean off Eugene's stone. Dad's is right next to his. Here is a view from the cemetary so those who have never been there can see what this country cemetary looks like. Small and maintained by the community.

Headstone

Because the ground was frozen and covered in snow when dad was buried, the headstone was ordered and would be placed later. Mom let me know yesterday that it is there. I plan to go up and see it in the next day or so, but here is a sketch of what it is supposed to look like.

School Project

Poor Audrey. She virtually spent her entire Spring Break working on this project. They had choices of which project to choose. She chose the map of the town where "To Kill a Mockingbird" took place. But on the teacher's notes it said, "more points if make it 3-d". So Audrey made 21 little houses and a tree and grass and rocks and a dump.. it was all very cool, but very time consuming.

Conference and Wedding

What a fun day. First we listened to Conference in the morning. I'm not sure which was my favorite, but I am looking forward to my Conference Ensign so I can review them all. I do love to listen to President Monson, Eyring and Uchtdorf especially. For our afternoon festivities, we were invited to a family wedding held downtown at CenterStage. So ended up having to put on nylons : ) Anyway, put on this springy pink dress and a fabulous pair of pink pumps with an ankle strap and open toes. John and I headed downtown. About the time we got to Spokane Falls Blvd, the hail was falling so quickly (about 1 inch accumulation in 5 minutes) and hard (thought the car would have scratches). Well, we parked the car a few blocks from the location as we did not want to pay for parking and street parking is free on Sundays. We were jumping puddles and generally trying not to get too soaked. We had never been inside CenterStage. It has great old architecture so was a perfect setting for the 20's themed wedding. The men had black pinstripe suits and the bride wore a cream dress that was just plain elegant. Many of John's siblings were there (of the 13, 8 made it) so they took some pictures afterwards. The best part of the afternoon was when my honey asked me to dance. I initially was a little shy (we had not danced in public for years), but did end up saying yes. How terribly romantic... we should do that more often!! Anyway, congrats to the bride and groom (Caryn and Joseph).

Easter Week

Let me start by saying, on Sunday March 16th, I was lamenting to my husband of how much I had to do this week and how little time I had to get it all done. But our Bishop had just challenged us to a Media Fast, so our family decided to get on board and cut out TV watching. Audrey thought we were sending her to the lions, so we modified it "a bit" and said no TV until 8pm each night (her bedtime is 9pm). So on Monday night, Audrey did not turn on the TV and did not mention the lack. However, I went upstairs and John has the TV on?! He said, "But it is 8pm!" and I told him that was for Audrey (the kid) not us (the adults). So he reluctantly turned the TV off and started to read. Here is my laundry list of things I was doing: Thursday VT Conference, Friday Easter gathering / dinner at mom's (to include candy outing and a potluck item), Saturday Ward Pinewood Derby (to include potluck item), Sunday play for choir for two numbers, play for Primary during Sacrament, play for Primary during middle hour, play for special musical number in Relief Society during third hour and, oh by the way, TEACH the Relief Society lesson!! This was on top of working 40 hours at Safeway and the usual cleaning, cooking, etc, and having my mother-in-law over for Easter Dinner right after church - we made all the food except dessert. Well, guess what? I was twiddling my thumbs by Saturday because I had gotten it all done, with time to spare, and a feeling of totally relaxation all week. I could have sworn that my days were 30 hours long each day, and all because I took the counsel of our wonderful Bishop Creagh. And so was able to tune into the rest of the blessings the rest of the week. By the way, my lesson was from President Eyring's talk "O Remember, Remember" urging us to find ways to recognize and remember God's kindness. What a testimony this week was! PS - Snow still, thus the picture of the flower being a trooper...

Visiting Teacher Conference

What a fun evening! Our Relief Society had their Visiting Teaching Conference with a Hawaiian Theme. They had 3 mini classes (Arah Kunz, Patty Creagh, Bev Jones), with treats at each, and then a final speaker (Mary Fox). Afterwards, Paula Ward gave us a lesson on hula dancing. Glad I went - and guess who my new VT'er is? Mary Fox. She came over just a few days later and was a joy to visit with. Her daughter is the cutest little sweetie pie. Jessie is also still my Visiting Teacher, she now just gets a partner - yeah for both of us!