A LITTLE CONFERENCE, A little SPRING

We have enjoyed some days of nice weather the last few weeks--even enough for picnic lunches--it was just a shame the good weather VANISHED for Spring Break!
We did REALLY enjoy General Conference.  Maddie and I got to go to her first YW Broadcast mtg, which had great messages on this year's theme of the 13th Article of Faith.  It was fun to think of Mom, Katie, Sadie, and Bree all being there together in GA at the same time!

We loved having Nick and Laurie up w/ us for the weekend too--they seemed to have ENDLESS energy for Spencer's games and interviews, AND were always washing up dishes or picking up toys every time I turned around.  The messages at Conference were very restorative and healing. So many good messages and urgings to help others.   I loved Elder Richard's talk on pain, sighed all through Elder Scott's masterpiece on marriage/family, was so grateful for Elder Bednar's en"light"ening talk on revelation, and felt like Elder Holland's talk ended things w/ a great hug.  The children were SO good too, in taking notes.  I loved some of their observations like Emily's:  "Elder Scott said for men to say thank you to their wives," and w/ Elder Christofferson's message on chastening, she put, "someone getting cut down like a plant, but it was a good thing." They all wrote SOMETHING for all the apostles (just for the prize of a kingsize candybar!) and we had fun making donuts while the boys were at priesthood.  It is just SO good to hear from the prophets! I gained a stronger testimony of that after last conference--I was waiting and waiting to hear what Pres. Monson would talk on after all of those talks about the importance of listening to the prophet preceding him.  I remember feeling almost let down that his talk was just on gratitude, but determined to obey, I still decided to try and do better at my own thankfulness.  I loved how he taught us, the miracle of the loaves and fishes came AFTER Christ gave thanks-- and that miracles follow our gratitude. And lo and behold, what have I noticed the last 6 months??--that my blessings seem greater, my relationships stronger, and my attitude overall, so much better--it has been SUCH a blessing to be more focused on gratitude, AND such a boost to my testimony of the prophet.  (can you tell I just taught a RS lesson on gratitude last month??).

Since the weather has been so wintry this spring break, we had a different sort of schedule.  We started out cleaning out the basement storage/laundry room while we made room for a new washer/dryer (our dryer died last Friday), and got out spring clothes for all of the children.  (UGHHH!!!--quite the project sorting through old boxes of letters/yearbooks, etc., but SO good to be done!!!) We also got a FABULOUS deal on our washer dryer since a brother in the ward Brian hometaught is a Bosch salesman, and let us in to one of his connections:  whole set of front-loading high-efficiency machines for only $800! Still not our favorite way to spend money, but nice to be so greatly outfitted for such a bargain! Our other big purchase was a subscription to Netflix (actually our free month trial), and it was PERFECTLY timed for an indoor Spring Break! We've all had fun watching episodes of favorite shows at our leisure (Barney, Dora, Doc Martin, & Psych), and have had a few fun movie nights as well.  Wednesday night, Brent, Emily and Spencer (wanting to go camping!) braved the the 30-40 degree WINDY night to sleep in a tent in the backyard, and Thursday, I took the kids to McDonald's for a fun play lunch after all our hard work.  I took all but Brent (too grown up for a Children's Museum??) and Lucy (for a nap) to the Discovery Gateway--SL Children's Museum that we had a free pass for, and the photos show some of the fun they had there.  We celebrated Spencer's birthday that day, and delivered invitations for his party (tomorrow).  Friday, we took him to spend his birthday money, took Maddie to the fabric store (she wants to make a skirt), and enjoyed a date w/ Brian that night.  Brian's kept busy w/ that basement bathroom, and aside from sleepless nights w/ Anne, it's been a productive AND relaxing week!  We'll end w/ a great shot of Emily and Spencer on "Crazy Hair Day" at school--the last day BEFORE Spring Break: