May 27, 2012

We only have 2 weeks left of school.  We're all so ready for that.  We're going to Visalia right after school gets out next week.  Bob is going for the weekend and then I'll stay with the kids until Wednesday or Thursday.  Then we'll have a few weeks at home for swimming lessons.  And then we'll be gone almost all of July.  We have a lot of fun things planned this summer.

Aaron had his end-of-kindergarten program on Friday. He was so excited about it.  He really wanted Bob to come too so Bob came home early from work to be there.  Aaron did a great job.  I wasn't having any sentimental feelings about anything as we got there.  But as soon as he started singing the first song and he smiled at me, I totally started crying and had to fight it the whole program. He looked like he did when I saw him in the temple when I was pregnant with him. Kind of a happy, goofy, kind smile.  That vision of him has helped me so many times.  I love to get reports of him from his teachers at school and church because they just love him.  They say Aaron is so good and obedient and can answer all the questions and he's so kind to the other kids. I'm so glad he can get control of himself when he needs to.  And if he has to let off some steam regularly I'd rather it be at home.

Baseball is done.  Rachel has one more tennis lesson. There's one more piano lesson. I'm so excited to slow down.

May 13, 2012

Today is Mother's day.  Bob got up early and made me chocolate covered strawberries with white chocolate drizzled on them.  And a big, nice breakfast. The kids made me nice cards and gifts.  Ruby went to nursery and did really well. They said she cried on and off, but she went in just fine and they never had to come get us.  Last night we put the kids to bed early and Bob watched a chick flick with me and we had ice cream.  It's been a nice day.

We've had Maeli and Cannon Dean staying at our house since Wednesday.  The rest of the Deans went to Boston and Washington DC.  It's gone really well. Our kids play together so well. That helps so much.

I started taking Restasis for my dry eyes.  I've been having such problems with my eyes.  Most days I can't even wear my contacts all day. I've been trying other things before this, but they've been bad really since Ruby was born.  But it's gotten unbearable over the last couple of months. I hope this prescription will help!

May 6, 2012

It's stake conference again.  Last night we went to the adult session.  That is my favorite conference! We also went to mexican food with a bunch of other couples for Cinco de Mayo first.  A few things I loved from conference were

• Love your kids into obedience
• See others as the lord sees them through temple worship
• Satan is attacking minds, thoughts and attitudes. We should look to the Savior in every thought
• President Stolworthy shared an amazing talk by F. Enzio Busche at BYU in May 1996
• Avoid negative thoughts: if you don't cut them out they will hurt you.  We need to practice ignoring negative thoughts.  I need to share this with Aaron
• By daily reading of the scriptures, we are protected. I need to share this with Danny

 I had a talk with Danny on Monday about the things I felt when I was praying for him that day.  He took it all in.  He's been reading his scriptures about 5 verses a day and his prayers must be much better.  The change in him has been amazing.  He's so much happier and kinder.  The next morning he got up early to fill water balloons for Seth and Ruby.  He hasn't been so moody and he's quick to apologize when he plays to rough with the other kids.  It's wonderful.  He's such a good kid.

Friday night I took Danny, Rachel and Aaron to the High School musical. It was Charlie Brown.  We had a great time.  We went out to Mcdonalds after and to Old Navy to get new flip flops.  It was fun to be with my big kids.

Bob and I got our cruise plans finalized.  We found this awesome 7 night cruise that goes to Honduras, Belize, Grand Cayman and Cozumel.  It was a little longer than we were planning on, but it's such a better trip than the other ones that just went to a few close islands.  We're usually so frugal with things like this, but we both agreed that this one is worth it and we're so excited.  And we're so grateful that President Jones is letting us use his flight vouchers.  I don't know if we would have gone for it if we had to pay for flights too.

Websites continue to be busy.  I've been working 10 hours a week for the last couple of months. That feels like so much more than my usual 5ish hours. I have such a long list of things that need to be done for the websites with converting them to Drupal and making everything work smoothly. I'm trying to get as much as I can done before school gets out because then it'll be so much harder.  And I don't want to have to work this much when they're home.