Time Out For Women

 This year I had the opportunity to go to TOFW in Lethbridge.  I have wanted to go for years, and this year I just made it happen.  It was such a wonderful experience, and I can't wait to go again next year!.  Bree, Mom and I left Friday afternoon, and talked all the way down.  We were lucky enough to hear from some wonderful speakers, and hear Jenny Oaks Baker play her violin - she is an extremely talented musician! Bree and I stayed up way too late Friday night, and then had an early morning to get back in to Lethbridge.  Mom, Sandy, Sue, Larramie, Bree and I had a wonderful time.  My favorite analogy was in a talk by Emily Watts.  She talks about being on a segway, and how in order to move forward you need to be off balance and lean forward, if you lean back, you stop, and if you are perfectly balanced there is no movement.  She talks about how in life we need to be slightly off balance to be progressing, if we have total harmony and balance in our home, then we are not progressing.  It is such a good reminder for me.  It seems like I am always striving for balance, but I need to remember that as long as I am leaning forward, then I can m0ove toward progression.

My favorite speaker though came in at the very end.  Her name was Kris Belcher.  She has suffered immense hardships with her health, and she talked about finding happiness, and learning to laugh again.  She was a phenomenal speaker, and could have us all in stitches from laughing soo hard, and in the next minute crying because we were so touched.  It was a wonderful weekend, and I am grateful to everyone who helped make it possible for me to go, and for the memories that I was able to make, and the lessons learned.

Easter 2013

We spent some time saturday afternoon decorating Easter eggs with the kids. I am hopeful that in another year or two it will be a less stressful event in our home.  These 3 kids can manage to spill anything, and get paint everywhere.  Regardless, memories were made, and we had some great looking eggs.

Sunday morning Skyler was in our room at 7, like every morning, and he quickly had both of his siblings up because they were soo excited about Easter.  This year I did very little candy, and just looked for 1 gift, and then practical things that we needed anyways.  I used useful things for the baskets, Ethans was a pair of rain boots, Skylers was a storage bag for his skylanders, and Ryleys was a new helmet for this spring/summers bike and scootering.

I also spent a lot of time in the weeks prior to Easter working to teach the kids about the true meaning of Easter.  I feel blessed that my kids have such great primary teachers at church because they all really get what the celebration is all about.  Something I want to change - Next year I want all of the fun stuff done on Saturday so that Sunday we can really concentrate on the spiritual side of Easter, and what it is all about!

Easter Egg Hunt

 This year Bree organized a little Easter egg hunt, and I feel lucky to be one of the participating families.  We just went over to the field at the church, everyone supplied 10 eggs per child, and we set the kids free.  I love these shots of the kids with friends, and I love how casual and fun it was.  Maybe next year we will elaborate a little, but it was fantastic, and as you can see, my kids all loved it!

Egging houses

A family tradition that we have started with our kids is to fill some eggs with treats, and to egg someones house before Easter.  This year we did glow in the dark eggs, so we had to wait until past bed time for it to be dark enough to do.  Here are my 3 little Easter bunnies, all done up in their jammies, and bunny ears.

Basketball

Skyler played his first year of basketball, and he really enjoyed it.  He didn't have any of his friend on his team, but that did not seem to bother him at all.  He made some great improvements in his ball handling skills this year.  He is not the star player, but he can make a clean steal, and he love it.

Skating

Skyler and Ethan were able to go skating at the Olympic Oval for school again this year, and the family was invited to come along.  I debated going, since neither Ethan, or Ryley could skate unassisted, and I was not sure how I could manage them both on my own since Jordan was at work.  In the end we did decide to go.  I hardly saw Skyler because he quickly took off with his friends.  They had a bunch of skate trainers which helped me a lot.  Ethan made it around the Oval twice, and he was done.  So was I since my skates were 2 sizes too small.  Ryley on the other hand was not.  She did the Oval 4 times, 2 of which I spent running on the pavement beside her since she did not want to get off.  I have GOT to find a trainer and take theses kids more often!

New Job

 I have now quit working at the mission home as the cook.  I did it for the last 5 years, and it was hard to leave.  I decided to quit because I am now the new rep for Modest is Hottest and having fun with some great new clothes and accessories.  It was a lot of work initially getting organized so that my type A personalty could deal with the extra stuff in my house, but now we are all organized and running smoothly. I am enjoying it even more that I thought I would, and I can totally work around my family!