Ballroom -- Spring Recital

Last weekend Sam and Conner had their spring ballroom recital. For Sam this event was a culmination of everything he has learned this year in ballroom. For Conner it was what he had learned in a six week pee-wee ballroom class. Their feelings about ballroom couldn't be more opposite. Sam loves ballroom. He has since he started about four years ago. He often tells me if he had to quit everything but one extra curricular activity, he would choose to stick with ballroom. Conner on the other hand HATES it! I signed him up last year for it and he didn't enjoy it. This year I had him do it again because they were short on boys. Conner got out of school every Monday about 20 minutes early so he could go to class. Even getting out of school early was not incentive enough for him to kind of enjoy the class. All the way to ballroom every Monday, he would inform me that it is child abuse to force him to do such things.

Last Saturday the spring recital was literally an all day event. They had dress rehearsal starting at 11:00. Because they were unable to secure a larger venue, it was decided they would do two recitals, one at 4:00 and the other at 7:00. Some of the older groups, like Sam's had learned three songs throughout the year. In order to cut down on time, it was decided that they would perform one number the same at both recitals but then one different song. I was torn which performance to go to because I really liked both of Sam's numbers. I decided that I would attend both performances. My mom said she would go to both of them with me.

Dress rehearsal started at 11:00. I knew they wouldn't finish by 2:00 but by 2:45 when I still hadn't heard from them, I decided to drive to the college to see if they were done. They weren't. My mom and I went to a couple of stores in order to kill some time. When we got back, I got the perfect parking spot. Sam and Conner were just walking out. It was 3:20 p.m. The doors for the first recital opened at 3:30 p.m. Sam and Conner were starving. Bryon, my dad, Logan and Natalie were on their way. We decided that my mom, dad, Logan, Natalie and I would get in line and go in and save seats. Meanwhile, Bryon would run home and grab my mom's camera and glasses as well as run Sam and Conner to get something off the dollar menu somewhere. The recital was beautiful. Conner danced to Inspector Gadget. Sam danced to Splish Splash and Thriller. Thriller was a number that his class and another ballroom class worked on together. They really had a fun time practicing and getting it ready to perform.

I figured that their performance should be about 1 1/2 hours. I had made a couple of salads that morning with the plan of grabbing some fried chicken on the way home, in between performances so we could eat dinner. The performance went just over 2 hours! I enjoyed every minute of it. However, it left no time at all to go home and grab something to eat. There is no way my dad, Bryon or the little kids will sit through one more performance. They go and buy Sam, Conner, my mom and I a hamburger off a dollar menu so it will hold us over until we can have dinner.

The second performance was just as spectacular. Sam the second performance danced to "I Won't Say I'm In Love" from Tarzan and Thriller. Conner, again, danced to Inspector Gadget. The little kids could sit with their parents after the performance. Conner came down and sat by me. He got so sick. I am not sure exactly what it was. He had to wear a felt coat for his costume. I tend to think it was a combination of being too hot in his costume and with all the stage lights and being overly tired.

I am so thankful to live in a community that supports the fine arts. There were 325 kids that performed. It is just amazing to me. I am so proud of Sam and Conner and for the hard work they put in this year and all they learned. I am so thankful to their instructors, Janie and Joy, who spend countless hours teaching them dances and routines.

Conner's First Pinewood Derby

Conner had his first Pinewood Derby on Thursday night. He and Bryon (and the neighbor) have been working on this car for about the past month. Conner was so excited!

Bryon found some Pinewood Derby templates online. He and Conner went through them and chose one. They then sanded the car down. A couple of weeks ago it came time to paint it. Conner wanted to paint it his favorite colors: yellow and blue. He also
wanted somehow to tie his favorite past time of reading into it. Bryon and I racked our brains trying to come up with something. We got an idea of Modge Podging the comics onto the car rather than painting the car. Conner loved the idea. He and Sam had a blast picking out some comics to put on it. The outcome was very cute. (Can you say that about Pinewood Derby cars?)

Our ward meets with another ward for Pack Night. There were probably 15 boys there to race. Conner won his first race by a landslide. Bryon and the neighbor were pretty excited! Conner then lost the rest of the races. Conner has the best attitude. They awarded prizes to the winners. After Pack Night, Bryon took Conner to the grocery store so Conner could pick out his favorite candy bar for a prize. I was so touched that Bryon thought of doing that to celebrate Conner's efforts.

My boss at work drives Corvettes. She and her husband have a couple of Corvettes. Conner went into work Friday to show my boss his Pinewood Derby car. Bryon was giving her a hard time and told her that next year she is in charge of helping Conner make a Corvette for the Pinewood Derby. She told Conner that she was not going to help him make one, she would just let him drive hers when he is old enough. Now Conner is counting down the days until he gets his driver's license.

Some Things Are Just Better Left In The Past

Have you ever done something so dumb, that you were hoping it would stay buried in the past (and secretly hoping it would soon be forgotten)? I know I have. I think probably more often than I care to admit.

My mom must have had karma today and know that the tension in the household today was getting a little thick and I needed a good laugh. Between a five year old son who decided again to check his ability to trust me and a tense morning spent with my husband trying to pick paint to finish up Sam's bedroom as a birthday surprise while he is with a friend for a couple of days (which might be a post for another day)I desperately needed a good laugh.

My mom started out the conversation by saying, "I want to read you something and see if it reminds you of a time in your life." That in and of itself told me the experience I was to recall wasn't going to be good. I just wasn't sure exactly what instance she was referring to. It only took her reading me the first paragraph to have an instance pop into my mind.

I am NOT going to go into specifics about my situation, other than I will say the writer's experience was very eerie in how similar it was to our own experience. I thought the author's words capture the experience mighty well.

The following is an article my mom found on ksl.com.

"When your neighbor unexpectedly shows up at your doorstep and the first thing they say is, "This is going to be just as embarrassing for me as it is for you" chances are the conversation is destined to be an awkward one.

Something that comes along with the joys of home ownership is the getting to know our neighbors, for better or for worse. Many of us have had to engage in the occasional awkward neighborly conversation, "Hey, your dog pooped on my lawn again" or "your teenager drives by my house a little too fast for comfort."

But I confidently declare that non can rival the awkwardness my husband and I recently went through when confronted by our backyard neighbor about a certain, um, concern.

In the moment Mrs. X approached me a couple weeks ago with "this is going to be just as embarrasing for me as it is for you" my mind was racing. What is she about to say next? What could we have possibly done to bring about such a discussion?

The next sentence she uttered will forever go down in family history. “I don’t know how else to say this, but the fogged glass in your shower window isn’t as fogged as you might think it is.”

Wow. Gotta say I wasn’t expecting that!

It took me a few seconds to compute what she was saying. Once the implications set in I wanted to curl up in a little ball and hide. Our master bathroom shower window to which she was referring is on the back of our house directly facing our neighbors. Our yards aren’t enormously deep, so you get the picture (no pun intended).

Shocked and mortified, my husband and I stewed over her claim for hours, well, more like days. Actually, we are still stewing a little. How long had this been going on before they finally decided to confront us?

I was too thrown off guard to ask that during the conversation and now bringing it back up would be too awkward so I may never know. (However, if that certain neighbor is reading this you can always respond with a comment because it might be less awkward than calling to talk about it in person).

Anyway, back to that night.

We wanted to test her claims, so one of us stood in the shower while the other went outside to see just how bad it really was. Sure enough, the glass looked much less fogged looking in than out. Hardly fogged at all if I’m being perfectly honest. And this had been going on for eight months! Why had we trusted the glass company? We were ready to demand for our “fogged glass window” money back!

Then my husband recalled what might have been the straw that broke the camel’s back.

The night before the conversation he had taken a shower, with the light on no less, and had decided to clean and scrub the shower including the tile ceiling of the shower while showering. To reach the ceiling he had to stand on the bench to do the scrubbing.

Dun dun dun. Oh, our poor neighbors."

I did find it comforting that we aren't the only ones who thought fogged glass was supposed to be, I don't know, say foggy! To help keep what happens behind fogged glass PRiVaTE! All I can say we were brand new to a neighborhood and after hearing this devastaing news I was convinced we were putting the house up for sale and moving far, far away from that neighborhood. Bryon convinced me to stick it out. We went onto live about eight years in that neighborhood and some of our best friends came from the people we met there.

I challenge anyone that can beat this story to give it a shot!

What if Your Blessings Come From Raindrops?

I couldn't sleep last night. I think it has a lot to do with this cold that I have. What is there to at 3:00 a.m.? Catch up on all your friends blogs, right? I came across this song on a friend's blog. It really touched me.

'Cause what if your blessings come from raindrops?
What if your healing comes through tears?
What if a thousand sleepless nights,
Are what it takes to know You're near?
What if trials of this life,
Are your mercies in disguise?

On the Nightstand

I love to read and I LOvE a good book. The problem is in finding time to sit down and read. At dinner group last month, we got talking about some good books to read. I came home and immediately requested a long list from the library.

When Natalie got sick a couple of weeks ago, it provided me some much loved reading time. The book I started reading was called "House Rules" by Jodi Picoult. This is a book about a boy with Asperger's that is fixated with forensic analysis. He is always showing up at crime scenes and trying to help the police in solving the crime. Then he soon finds himself being charged with the murder of his social skills tutor.

I really enjoyed this book and had a hard time putting it down. Being the mother of two special needs children, one of them who struggles severely socially, I found myself relating to the mother in this book. While the book is fictional, I thought the author did a fantastic job of doing her research on Aspergers.

What is on your nightstand or one of your favorite reads?

Family Trip To Coeur D'Alene

Last weekend we took a family trip to Coeur D'Alene, Idaho to support Conner who was competing in the State Boys Gymnastics Meet.

We left Friday morning about 11:00 a.m., our time. Bryon was the only one from our family that had been to Coeur D'Alene and it had been a while since he had been. I had heard how beautiful it was and was so excited to see new sights. We have a built in DVD player in the van. I was nervous about the kids watching too many movies on the way up and back. They were excellent! I think they only watched one movie on the way up. Sam and Conner did play with their DS's. We didn't even have to stop once for a bathroom brake so that was a bonus! We went up through Dillon, Butte, Missoula and on to Coeur D'Alene. We stopped in Butte, Montana for lunch. We decided we wanted to breakaway from the chains and decided to try to find a local restaurant to have lunch. We found a pasta place on our GPS that sounded good but got there only to find they weren't open. Then we decided to have lunch at Paul Bunyan's. It is a little (and by little I mean our whole family filled the restaurant) sandwich shop. We enjoyed our lunch and then got back in the car to drive the rest of the way. Those that know me, know I don't do a lot of driving but I did offer to drive. I drove from Butte until we stopped for gas in Missoula. We stopped in Missoula, Montana to fill the car up. We ran into another family filling up with gas that is from the same gym we were.

Upon arriving in Coeur D'Alene, we checked into our hotel. We stayed at Days Inn. Several families from the gym were staying at Days Inn. We enjoy staying at the same hotel as most of the team. Days Inn wasn't located on the lake. Actually, I think it is about as far from the lake as you can get in Coeur D'Alene. The desk clerk suggested a place called Tomato Street for dinner. We loved it! It was such a relaxed atmosphere. There was butcher paper on the table. The waitress came by and scribbled her name (writing upside down). The kids thought that was so cool! They could draw while we waited for our dinner. They also provided the each of a packet of pasta and Play-Dough. They could make pasta necklaces or mold creations out of Play-Dough while we waited for our order.

Conner had to be at the meet the next morning by 8:00. Once we got back to our hotel, we basically went to bed. The next morning we hurried to get ready so we could be at the gym by 8:00 a.m. It was just starting to snow as we left the hotel. The gym was located in Hayden, about four miles from our hotel. We ended up in a full blown blizzard by the time we got to the gym. The post below tells all about Conner's meet. After the meet, we drove back to Coeur D'Alene and had lunch at Chili's.

Before we left Rexburg, I had found a grand way to save money. At restaurants.com, I noticed that you could get gift cads for discounted prices. I typed in Coeur D'Alene, several restaurants appeared to choose from. Some of the restaurants had an 18% gratuity added to your final bill which made the gift cards not that great of a deal. However, I found one restaurant that didn't add gratuity. The only stipulation they had was for a $25 gift card you had to spend $35. I was so excited! I ordered this gift card online. It was a $25 for $10. When I was checking out online, I noticed a promo-code that if you entered you could get an additional 70% off. I was stoked! I was going to feed my family a $35 meal for only $13 out of pocket.

After lunch, we decided to drive by the selected restaurant and scope it out for later that night. We typed the address into our GPS. We followed to the GPS to our selected destination. My stomach about sunk when I saw a picture that resembeled the picture online. There was one huge difference: the real place was all boarded up! About the time I am realizing this, Bryon says, "Is that the restaurant all boarded up?" We got a good laugh out of my smokin' good deal!

There is a place in Hayden called Triple Play. They have a ton of different things to do. We decided to go there after lunch and check it out. We ended up going swimming. They have a huge indoor waterpark. There are three waterslides, a kiddie pool and a giant wave pool. We had so much fun! There were two other families from the gym that ended up there the same time we were. Conner thought he was so cool haning out with his friends. I think I cramped his style by making him check in with me. We literally spent all afternoon at the pool.

For dinner, Sam and Conner wanted to go back to Tomato Street. While Bryon and I loved it, we wanted to try something different. One of the lifeguards recommended a pizza place called Mackenzie River. The kids ordered off the kids menu and Bryon and I ordered a pizza to share. It was sooo yummy! It hit the spot.

When we got back to the hotel, we noticed one of Conner's coaches and a few families were gathered down in the room where the continental breakfast is served. Bryon and Conner went down to get popcorn and see what was going on. The kids and I soon decided to go down and join everyone else. We had so much fun haning out with the other families. There was a hot game of cards going on. Being a card shark, I jumped at the chance to join in. Bryon and the kids ended up going back to the room about 11:00. I ended up playing cards until about 1:00 a.m.!

Sunday morning we got up and got ready to go. There is a continental breakfast offered at the hotel. About the time we were down trying to grab a bite to eat before hitting he road, so were several other families.


I told Bryon I didn't drive all the way to Coeur D'Alene not to spend some time at the lake. Before leaving on our trip, we were told about a darling children's book called "Mudgy and Millie". It is about a moose and a mouse that play hide-and-seek through Couer D'Alene. A scuplor then scuplted five life size statues of Mudgy and Millie and they can be found around Couer D'Alene. Sunday morning we read the book with our kids. We then went downtown to find the moose and mouse statues. Our children really got into it and we had to find all FIVE statues.


Our little treasure hunt took us right down by the river. It was beautiful there. As you can tell by the picture, it was cold. After our little treasure hunt, we headed for home.

Bryon wasn't feeling well. He thinks he got a little too much water sliding the day before. He drove to Missoula where we stopped for lunch. We ate at Mackenzie River again. I had a salad this time. I didn't enjoy it as much as I did the pizza the night before. I then drove from Missoula. We had decided earlier, to take the scenic route home. We had decided instead of driving through Montana again, we would turn off at Missoula and go home through Salmon. This was a very pretty drive. I hadn't been to Salmon before. I am not sure it added very many additional miles but I feel like it took longer because of the speed limit. On the way home, the kids drank more pop and so consequently we had many more potty stops on the way home. At Leadore, we hit a complete white-out where I couldn't even see the side of the road. It was there, I decided I was done driving and Bryon and switched off again.

It was a great weekend. I was so thankful for the chance we had to get away as a family.

Boys State Gymnastics Meet

Last summer Conner was asked by his gymnastics coaches if he would like to compete for gymnastics. He would be a Level 4. This would mean that he would travel throughout the state competing in gymnastics. It was a one year commitment. The gymnastics season starts in January. His first meet was here in Rexburg. In February, we traveled to Boise to watch him compete at Gem State. Last weekend was the culmination of the whole season.

I felt like we and Conner had done all that was possible to get ready for the state competition. Conner put in some extra time in the gym working on getting ready. We paid for three private lessons, in order to help him better prepare. Conner has six elements he competes on: the high bar, the rings, the parallel bars, the floor, the mushroom and pommel horse, and the vault. He is pretty strong on all of the events except the pommel horse/mushroom. This is really two different apparatus but it is scored as one. Conner does really well on the pommel horse but struggles with the mushroom. The mushroom literally is just that: a round apparatus that is about two feet high.
The goal of Level 4 is to spin around the top of the mushroom three and a half turns without touching down. This is a very difficult task to master. The reason for learning this skill is so that they can prepare to do actual turns on the pommel horse. Most of the Level 4 boys will do one turn touch down, one turn touch down, one turn touch down and then a half a turn. There is a full point deduction every time they touch down. When Conner was doing his private lessons, I talked to the coach about spending most of the time working on fine tuning his other routines and just leaving the mushroom alone. The coach explained it that most of these boys skill wise are all about the same. They will usually only win an event by the smallest margin. The place where they can really pick up points is on the mushroom doing their three and a half turns. He really worked Conner on the mushroom. We even brought the mushroom home one night for Conner to practice on. Conner even took the mushroom to school one day to practice on during recesses. It wasn't very often that Conner could do more than one turn without touching down. When he did, it wasn't pretty. He would really struggle after his first turn to not touch down. We left for Coeur D'Alene knowing we had done all we could do.

Conner's competition was set for Saturday, March 19 at 8:00 a.m. The gym they competed at was a newer gym. However, their equipment wasn't new and was actually pretty rickety and wobbly.

Before I go into his individual scoring, let me just say that the total possible on any apparatus is 16.0.

Conner's first rotation was the rings. He scored at 14.4. This was a pretty good score for him. His second rotation was the floor. The floor tends to be one of his strongest. I don't know what happened, but Conner started off in the middle of his routine and his coach had to call him back to start over. He then tipped over on what is called a "candlestick". It is a very easy element. He ended up with a score of 13.2. The next rotation was the mushroom and pommel horse. I wanted to hold my breath.


He did the most beautiful mushroom routine that he has done all season! He went around beautifully twice without stopping. Then he went on and did his one and a half times around. It was beautiful! He pulled off the second highest score on the team and his personal high on this apparatus with a score of 12.1. Their next rotation was the high bar. Conner did a beautiful but ended up sitting down on the landing. His score on the high bar was 13.7. It was then time to vault. He scored a 15.2 on the vault! I would have to look but I also think that is a season high for him. The final rotation was the parallel bars. He did a nice job on those and scored a 13.8.

Conner ended up placing third in the state overall. His team also took first place in the team division.


We are so proud of you, Conner!

Here I am again! No I didn't fall of the face of the earth, although I often think it feels like that or a merry-go-round that is going full speed and I am hanging on for dear life not to fall off. I didn't do either one. I just haven't visited the blogging world much this past year. Last year I decided who wants to read about my boring life anyway??? Plus I thought I would be a little more personal if I just tried to more faithfully write in a journal. Well I failed miserably at both! So here I am back to blogging.

I am not even going to try to catch you up to speed about our last year's events. I am just going to start new. I have just a few things on my mind that I have been thinking about lately that I really have wanted to get down.

We had a wonderful Christmas holiday. We were so blessed to have my parents come and spend Christmas with our little family. My parents haven't been with us on Christmas morning when the kids opened their presents or see what Santa brought. Ever since they told the kids they would come up this year, if there wasn't too much snow, my kids have been ecstatic! I have never seen kids pray harder for no snow than my kids did for about that month and a half. Also my kids were almost more excited that grandpa and grandma were coming up than they were about Santa coming. We had a wonderful Christmas and a fun weekend spending time with my parents.

I remember when I was younger thinking that my parents were so smart and knew all the answers. Okay, it definately wasn't my teenage years. We all know during those years we doubt everything our parents say and think that everyone else has to be smarter than our own parents. I am finding now that I am a parent myself, I definately don't have all the answers. I am truly amazed at how much I learn from my children. Lately the quote that keeps going through my mind is "and a little child shall lead the way." I have learned so much from my children through the years. The other night as I thought about the past years events and some of the things I learned I realized I learned a great deal of them from my children. Here are some of the things I have learned.

The power of prayer and having faith that our Heavenly Father hears and answers prayers. Conner has taught me this lesson over and over again this past year. Conner doesn't just believe this, he KNOWS it. Sam (our oldest) has a dog that can be very hyper. It is Sam's daily job to feed his dog twice a day. This summer, Conner started asking Sam if he could go out and feed the dog. Sam was more than happy to let Conner go out and do this job. One particular morning I was in the kitchen while Conner was out feeding the dog. We have a set of french doors that go to the backyard. The curtains on these doors were open and I happened to walk by the door about the time I saw Conner kneeling on the step with his arms folded, head bowed and lips moving a million miles a minute. This was one of those tender moments that I think will be forever etched on my heart as a mother. When he came in, I questioned him what he was doing. He told me he prays everytime that he goes out there to feed Molly, he prays that she won't kill him. I had to chuckle. But it has hit me hard about his knowledge of the power of prayer. He asked to do this job ever day knowing that the dog might jump on him and hurt him and yet he KNEW that if he prayed our Heavenly Father would protect him and keep him safe. Another experience was this fall upon realizing that everyone had left for school and work and realizing he was home alone, Conner said a prayer and then hopped on his bike and rode the five miles to school. (This is one story that I will blog in more detail later.) He KNEW that if he prayed to his Heavenly Father, he would be guided and our Heavenly Father would help him get to school safetly.

Another principle Conner has taught me is the power of faith. I think the above experiences also display a lot of faith on Conner's behalf. This Sunday we moved our church time from 9 to 12:30. This Sunday, being the first one of the month, was also Fast Sunday. Now for some reason fasting is one of those principles that I really struggle with. I believe in the power of fasting and prayer but fasting is just very hard for me. We don't even ask our kids to fast until they turn eight. We then try to work them up gradually skipping a little more and a little more so that by 11 or 12 they will be able to fast the complete 24 hours. Well, Sunday morning the kids are in the kitchen and we are telling Sam it is Fast Sunday. When we ask Conner what he wants for breakfast, he said he was fasting. I was shocked. I tried to explain to him it wasn't necessary until he turns eight. Nope he was convinced. Well about 11:30, I cut and apple for Logan and Natalie to hold them over until after church. I then went to reach for another apple to cut for Conner. Honestly, I had kind of forgotten about Conner fasting and also I had thought that by now he would realize he is hungry and decide to throw in the towel. Not so! Conner proudly reminds me that he can't have an apple because he is fasting. Wow! We head out the door for church. This year we have Sacrament Meeting last. The first time I saw Conner in church was as he came into the bench for Sacrament Meeting. He throws himself on my lap and announces how starving he is! Not two minutes later, Natalie is sitting there eating some Smarties from Primary and offers Conner one of her Smarties. Conner turns to her and said he wasn't taking her candy because he is fasting. I sat there in awe! The faith of a child. It is truly amazing!

Then there's Logan. When he talks of Jesus it gives me chills. I know that because of his life experiences, he knows Jesus in a way that I could only hope to come to know my Savior. It makes me want to get to know my Savior better.

I could go on and on of the things my children have taught me. These are just a few that have weighed on my mind lately. "And a little child shall lead them."

Around Christmas time this year, it seems to be that I have seen the word "Believe" a lot more than usual. I have really thought about that word. I have a favorite blog that I love to read. She is an adoptive mother, just like me. She wrote something about this word that touched me deeply. I would just like to share it. She said:

"believe.
it's my new word.

believe that there's a plan.
believe that Heavenly Father loves you.
believe that He only gives the good gift.
believe that there is light.
believe that you can make it.
believe that you are a survivor.

believe.

believe in the sealing covenant.
believe that it is more powerful than time.
believe that it is more powerful than DNA.
believe that it is more powerful than death.

believe."

It was beautifully written. I couldn't have said it better. It touched on so many things I had been thinking about. This little post made me dig deeper. What do I believe in? I believe in all she beautifully stated. I also believe. I believe in my Savior Jesus Christ. I believe that He atoned for my sins. I believe He loves me. I believe He carries us through our trials.

I believe in the Church of Jesus Christ. I believe we are led by a prophet of God. I believe in temple covenants. I believe in eternal families. I believe in The Book of Mormon.

I am a Believer!

New Puppies

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Spring Break

Well Sam wanted to go somewhere "warmer" for Spring Break. It doesn't take much to be warmer than Rexburg, Idaho! I told him while we couldn't afford a trip to the Bahamas or anything, we definitely could go to Burley for the weekend.

On Friday night we hired a sitter for Conner, Logan and Natalie. We took Sam and went with my parents out to Oakley to see "Oliver." It was very well done.

Saturday morning the kids dyed Easter Eggs. Later that day we went to Storybook Park. It is one of the kids favorite places to visit while we were in Burley.

My parents have been called to serve in a Single's Branch in Burley. So Bryon and I took Conner, Logan & Natalie to church in the good old Burley 3rd Ward (the ward I grew up in). Sam stayed behind to go to church with Grandpa & Grandma. It worked out well. Their church starts one hour later than Third Wards. So once we were gone, Sam got to play the Easter Bunny and hid the Easter eggs and put out the Easter baskets. He had a great time. When we all got home from church, we did the Easter Egg Hunt, had dinner and then went for a drive over to Shoshone Falls. The falls are beautiful this time of year. I personally hadn't been there for quite some time. It brought back a lot of memories for me. Growing up, we would go over every Saturday before Easter. We would have a picnic and roll eggs down this gigantic hill. They have walking paths around there too. I was still having problems with my leg but Bryon took the older boys on some short hikes. Because it was Sam's birthday the following day, once we got back to Burley, we had cake and ice cream and Sam got to open his presents from his Grandpa & Grandma Roskelley.

With it being Spring Break and Bryon and the kids didn't have school on Monday, we spent Sunday night in Burley. Then Monday morning, we got up and left for Burley shortly after my parents left for work. What a great time we had in Burley on Spring Break!

General Young Women's Broadcast

I was determined not to let my bum leg slow me down! Two days after my fall, I went with the Young Women and other Young Women leaders from our ward to Salt Lake City to see the Young Women's Broadcast. What an awesome day!

A man in our ward owns a bus company and donated a bus and driver for us to take to Salt Lake so we could all ride together. On the ride down, we about froze to death until we reached Pocatello. I guess on a bus there are valves that need to be open in order to generate the heat. Well, it took us to Idaho Falls to realize that the valve wasn't open. So we stopped once for him to open the valve. By Shelly, it was still not getting any warmer inside the bus so another stop and another phone call was made to figure out there was more than one valve that needed to be opened. It took to about Pocatello for the bus to heat up.

Our bus driver dropped us off at Temple Square. We then proceeded to walk to The Beehive House. That walk was up a gradual incline. I had a hard time trying to keep up! I was beginning to wonder just what I was getting myself into and maybe staying home would have been a good idea!! Too late for second thoughts. We had too many young women to take in one group and so we broke up into two groups. It had been several years since I have taken the time to tour The Beehive House. I think the house is beautiful.

After The Beehive House, we walked to The Joseph Smith Memorial Building. There we ate our sack lunches in a large cafeteria in the basement. After lunch, we went upstairs and watched the Joseph Smith Movie. It was awesome. I have seen the movie before but could watch it again and again. It really brings a great appreciation for Joseph Smith. It also makes me love Emma for the sacrifices that she made.

After the movie, we walked back to Temple Square. We didn't have time for a tour but we went up and saw the big statue of Christ that is in one of the Visitor Centers.

We then caught the bus and went to Hire's for dinner. It was a fun place. They are famous for their root beer but also serve homemade french fries. It was delicious!

After dinner, we went to The Conference Center for the broadcast. The doors opened quite a while before the broadcast. We got there shortly after the doors opened. We spent the time before the broadcast taking pictures and just visiting.

It was so amazing that when President Monson walked into the room, you could have heard a pin drop. What an amazing experience! All the talks were fabulous!

On the bus ride home, we spent the first part, talking about what parts for the fireside touched us. It was awesome to hear the young women talk about what touched them. Fast Sunday the following day was one of the most powerful testimony meetings I have attended in a while. Testimony was full of young women talking about how this trip had changed them. What a sweet Spirit filled our Sacrament Meeting that day.

Later Sunday night while attending a Bishop's Youth Discussion, the bishop thanked me for the sacrifice I made to go. It was not a sacrifice for me at all to go with these Young Women and Leaders that I love. To me it was a wonderful experience and one that helped strengthen my testimony.

The Fall

I hope you will excuse me. I haven't blogged in FOREVER! I misplaced the cord to my camera that I download pictures with it. I found the cord this morning. Since blogging is kind of like my journaling of major events in our household, I hope you won't mind as I backtrack and write about a few of those major events in our household over the past month.

I don't know if you have ever had a moment where you are trying to process something in your brain and you start reacting before your brain totally finishes processing. I had one of those moments today.

I had been in Idaho Falls at an appointment. I had Logan with me. I didn't get away like I had expected and so my good friend, Linda Gibbs, picked Conner and Natalie up from school and was watching them at her house. I went and picked them up as I was coming into town. I knew Linda had to be to work and so we were in a bit of a hurry. When I got there, I unbuckled Logan and he came in with me. Conner was all ready to go but Natalie didn't have shoes on. So upon leaving Linda's house, I start trying to figure out if I should carry Natalie down the steps and to the van or if I should just let her walk down the steps and then I would carry her to the van. My brain had decided that the steps were clean and dry and she could walk down the steps and then I would carry her to the van. However, I immediately leaned forward and went to carry her. That split second of indecisiveness was enough to through me completely off balanace. I fell forward. We must have also fallen sideways because we ended to the side of the stairs in a bed of lava rock. Me right on top of Natalie. Linda had been behind us and rushed to pull Natalie out from under me. Anyone who knows me, knows I don't like people to know I am hurt and I usually jump up screaming that I am okay. Not this time. I laid in the bed of lava rock screaming out in pain. Once Linda had gotten Natalie out of the rock, I notice that she is bleeding profusely. So Linda takes Natalie in the house to get her cleaned up. Thanks so much Linda. Those of you who know me know I don't deal well with blood or puke! Conner and Logan are standing there looking at me, scared. Natalie had left a lot of blood behind. Her pink coat and princess backpack were now more red than they were pink and there was quite a bit of blood on the sidewalk. I was still laying there in the bed of lava rocks trying to figure how I was ever going to get out of there. I tell Logan and Conner to carry Natalie's things to the van and I will be there in a minute. It took everything I had in me to get up and hobble to the van. Linda finished cleaning up Natalie and brought her to the van. I start heading home. I tried to reach Bryon at the school. He wasn't available so I left a message on his voicemail. You see I had had trouble sleeping lately and would be wide awake at 3 or 4 in the morning. This particular morning I had been up since 4. My appointment in Idaho Falls had also been very emotional for me. Anyone who knows me also knows that I love a little power nap in the afternoon. So I told Bryon that I had had a little mishap and was going to go home and have a power nap. I had a month's worth of groceries in the backseat. I told him I would carry in the refrigerated and freezer stuff but would need his help unloading everything else upon him getting home. But do not call me, I would just see him when he got home in a couple of hours. Well my mind quickly changed upon getting home. It took me a good 20 minutes to hobble from the van into the house and Natalie's nose had began to bleed again. Bryon came home and loaded Natalie up in the van to take her to Community Care. He asked me if I was going to go with them to have the doctor look at my foot. I do not like to go to doctors and try to avoid them at all costs. I told Bryon, "I am badly hurt NOT dead!"

Natalie ended up with two little stitches on the side of her nose. I am still paying for my little mishap. The very next day, my foot was still not doing any better. I have had a broken foot before and felt like I hadn't broken anything. However, this happened on a Thursday and on Saturday of that same week we were going to be taking our Young Women to Salt Lake to attend the General Young Women's Broadcast. I was going even if I had to go on a stretcher. I knew we were going to be walking all over Temple Sqaure in Salt Lake City. When all the kids were at school on Friday morning, I took myself to Community Care. They x-rayed my foot. Sure enough it wasn't broken but just very badly sprained. The doctor told me he was going to give me an air cast. I told him I was glad because on Saturday we were going to Temple Square and I would be doing a lot of walking and was hoping to get some support for my ankle. Upon hearing how much walking I would be doing, he opted to give me a walking boot. I wore the walking boot that day, Saturday to Salt Lake, and Sunday. By Monday I figured my ankle was feeling pretty good and I wouldn't wear the boot for all the little puttering around the house stuff I do. (The doctor at Community Care never told me how long I had to wear it). However, if I do any sort of exercising or walk any sort of long distance, that sucker swells up the size of a watermelon! On Monday I went to the doctor for a list of about 10 things I was hoping to talk to him about. While I was visiting him, I mentioned in passing about my fall. He looks at my ankle (which was NOT one of the 10 things I went to talk to him about). He found out I had a walking boot and had worn it only for a short amount of time. He told me I am to go back to the walking boot for a good week if not two!

Disney On Ice

My Favorite Things

Last week I took Logan down to Primary Children's Hospital for some Genetic testing. We really didn't have any concerns when we made the appointment we just wanted to rule some things out. Also Logan's eye doctor at the Moran/Primary Children's Hospital wanted us to have it done. Other than just being long, the appointment was fine. The doctor sees no reason to see us for another three years. At that time, Logan will be entering the school scene and will want to see how he is doing academically.

I invited a friend to go with me. I hate going by myself and I really worried about navigating around Salt Lake City. We did some shopping on Wednesday and I found some new Favorite Things that I wanted to tell you about.

First of all we went to Tai Pan Trading. I LOVE THAT STORE. I could have spent a ton of money in there. I refrained and only bought a few things. Don't worry I plan on going again this weekend when we go down for Disney on Ice. Last time we were in there, Bryon talked me into buying these red containers. While I loved them, they didn't match the color of my living room at all. I finally talked Bryon into donating them to the D.I. Since then I have been on a quest for a metal magazine rack. I found one and I love it!

While I was there, I found the cutest fruit basket. While I hadn't been looking for one, we really needed one. We have this wicker basket that sits on the counter. It desperately needed to be replaced. So here is my new fruit basket. I love it and it fits perfectly under my cupboards.

I have a wreath hanger that I put out occasionally. I have always wanted a wreath made of Easter Eggs. I found one that I couldn't pass up. I think it is adorable and Bryon even commented that he likes my new wreath. That is always a bonus!

All of this shopping was wearing us out. Brenda told me about the delicious caramel apples that they sell there. I actually broke down and brought one home for us to split. While we were looking for caramel apples, we went to the food court in Tai Pan. They sell Gelato there. While I have heard a lot about it, I had actually never tried it. It was delicious! I had Pink Grapefruit. I thought I was in Heaven! It is actually supposed to be better for you than ice cream. Plus it is served at a warmer temperature than ice cream, so no brain freeze. For me that is a HUGE PLUS! On our return trip to Tai Pan this weekend, I promised Bryon and the kids that we would stop for Gelato. I can hardly wait!

Don't worry I am almost done on my list of new favorite things! I have been in a Ross Dress For Less a couple of times and have never found anything real great. However, Brenda, swears by Ross's. So a stop at Ross's was definitely on my list of stores to hit while we were shopping. We found one. While I didn't find any clothes to buy, I did find a cute Liz Claiborne purse. But my favorite find there was a set of candlesticks. I have been looking everywhere for a set of three candlesticks to sit on my fireplace. I can't find any that I like. (Well I have. My mom has a set that I love but she isn't parting with them anytime soon!) So Brenda found these adorable candlesticks. I know there are only two but I am going to find something a little smaller to put with them to make my cluster of three. I also found a really cute container for my kitchen table. That will have to wait for a later post. I am going back to Tai Pan this weekend to get fake fruit to put in it. I think it is going to look awesome.

My last favorite thing is food. Brenda and I got talking about where we always eat when we go to Salt Lake. I actually took her to one of my favorites on the way down. We stopped in Brigham City and ate at the Maddox Drive In. She has never been to The Mayan. It seems like we go there almost everytime we are in Salt Lake with the kids. She bought Disney On Ice tickets for next weekend. Our families are going to meet up and go to The Mayan before going to Disney on Ice. I know they won't be disappointment. One of their family's favorite places to eat while in Salt Lake is P.F. Changs. P.F. Changs has a little less formal restaurant called Pei Wei. We went there for a late lunch/early dinner before heading home. It was delicious! My family loves Chinese food and we plan to eat there this weekend while we are in Salt Lake. But my favorite thing by far was the delicious lettuce wraps. They were to die for. My mouth is watering just thinking about them. I am on the quest to find a recipe for them to see if I can make them in my own kitchen. Stay tuned to my food blog to see what I was able to find.

Grandpa Dean's 85th Birthday Party

Bryon's Grandpa Dean turns 85 this month. My mother-in-law and her siblings threw Grandpa Dean an 85th birthday celebration. It was held at a church in Idaho Falls (It had to be at a church to accomodate us all!). If I counted right we were only missing one or two grandchildren. It was amazing that we could all be together. Even Bryon's brother, Todd, flew in from Tennessee. We had a wonderful luncheon with roast, mashed potatoes, gravy, green beans, rolls, and salads. After lunch my mother-in-law handed out cute little coloring books she had made for all the great grandchildren about their Great Grandpa Dean. Then we watched a 30 minute video she made from pictures of Grandpa Dean. My mother-in-law really went to a lot of work for this birthday celebration. We sang Happy Birthday to grandpa and had chocolate birthday cake and ice cream.

I am so glad for the opportunity I have had to get to know Grandpa Dean over the past several years. He is a wonderful person. He is such a hard worker. He is always willing to help his children and grandchildren with various work projects. He is a true American hero. He served our country during World War II. During that time, he was taken as a prisoner of war. He has a scar on his back where he was struck with a bayonet. The great grandsons think that is very cool! I am so grateful for Grandpa & Grandma Perry's support through the years. No matter what the occasion, they always made an effort to attend special functions. I love going with my family to spend time with Grandpa at the farm. I have enjoyed the many times we have gone up in the willows for an old fashioned hot dog roast. I am so thankful that my children have had the chance to get to know their Great Grandpa Perry.

Grandpa, we love you!

Pictures From Grandpa Dean's 85th Birthday

Draper Temple Open House

After Katie's baptism, we left my sister's house on Sunday afternoon and drove to Spanish Fork where we spent Sunday evening with Bryon's sister, Alicia, and her family. We had a great time visiting. The kids loved playing with their cousins.

Monday morning we got up and went to the Draper Temple Open House. The temple was beautiful. After the open house we went back to the Stake Center for a cookie and bottled water. A lady there offered to take our picture in front of a huge picture of Christ. Here are the pictures from that. I always catch a lot of flack because I am not in the picture very often. My mom often comments about how can I know if I was actually there if I am not in any pictures. So here is proof that I was actually at the open house!

Attending this temple open house has made me do a great deal of thinking. My children are adopted and so have had opportunities to go to the temple to be sealed to us and the older ones have had the privilege of going to the temple again to watch as their new siblings were sealed to us. But more than this I have thought what a wonderful time this is for my children. I remember growing up and attending the open house of the Logan temple (when it was open after having had some remodeling done). We also went with my cousins to the Boise temple open house. However, that is about all of my temple experiences until I was old enough to do Baptisms for the Dead. Besides being sealed, my children have had the opportunity to go to the open houses of the Rexburg, Twin Falls and now Draper. We have plans to attend the Oquirrh Mountain open house later this summer. What a great opportunity for them to learn about the sacredness of the temple. When we were in the Draper Temple as we entered the Celestial Room, Natalie said, "Wow." She was in awe. She kept looking around. The Spirit bore witness to me that she felt the Spirit in that sacred room. I hope all of my children will be able to remember the special feelings that they have felt when we have been in the temple together as a family. I hope this will increase their desire to live their lives worthily so that they too may one day receive the blessings of the temple in their own lives.

I am so thankful for the blessings of the temple and for the blessing of Eternal Families.

Katie's Baptism

Our family left here on Friday, January 30 to attend the baptism of our niece and cousin, Katie. Sam had ski school on Friday. We hated to have Sam miss ski school and so we let him go up with the school and then we drove up and got him out of ski school an hour early so we could be on the road a little earlier than if we would have had to wait for him. Conner was so freaked out all week about driving at midnight. I hate driving at night and so I knew most of the driving would be up to Bryon. I did promise Conner that I would stay awake to keep Bryon awake. I am proud to say that I did not sleep a wink in the seven hour drive to Richfield, Utah. However, I am not so sure Bryon was thrilled to have his "co-pilot" awake the whole time!

Saturday was such a special day to be able to see our niece and cousin, Katie, baptized. She looked so pretty in her new dress. She is such a beautiful girl and there was such a sweet spirit there. It was so much fun to be all together with my family. Like my sister mentioned, she can't remember the last time we were all together, usually we are missing at least one husband.

After the baptism, we went back to Lori's for a delicious luncheon and then we went swimming at the community indoor swimming pool. We had a blast!

Sunday we got up and went to church with Lori and her family. My sister, Lori, leads music in the primary. I went with her and filled in as the pianist. It has been a long time since I have been in primary.

Congratulations Katie on your baptism. We love you so much and are so proud of your decision to be baptized.

Connerism

On Friday I was frantically finishing last minute details for Conner's birthday party. I noticed that his hair was sticking up. I asked him to go in the bathroom and comb it. He said, "Mom! It's not like I am going on a date or anything. I am just having some friends over for my party!" I about died laughing! That's a typical boy for you!

Conner's Birthday Party