May!

Oh little blog, it is hard to find time for you lately! Is it having 4 kids? Is it the ease of Instagram taking your place? Is it my crazy church calling? Yes. To all of it. But I still love you!

May has flown by and we have had a lot going on. Such a pretty, happy month! But it started out quite wickedly this year. After commuting on his bike for several days already in April, my hubby was not letting a few dark clouds and some cold air get in his way come May 1st. But he was not loving his choice once the snow majorly dumped on him on his way to work.

He's so popular--KSL featured this picture on their noon news program that day!

The beautiful Madison Jane got baptized on May 3rd. She and her cute cousin Henry (Horsley) were blessed on the same day 8 years ago so Cec and Cath arranged to have the two of them baptized the same day too. They held the baptism on Friday night at Cec's stake center and just with all the Smith, Horsley, Calder and Freiss families and some close friends we pretty much filled the chapel. It was such a wonderful night and if you couldn't tell we adore that Maddie so much. She is just so much like a big sister to my girls and she's one of Caroline's bestest friends.

 

The day after the baptism we had our Stake Temple Walk for all those participating in Trek. We walked from our stake center just up the hill from our house all the way to the Oquirrh Mountain Temple (6+ miles away). Because we began so early in the morning we decided to just lug our kiddos along with us and make a fun adventure out of it. And we only went there whereas the youth had a little break and then walked all the way back too. 

 

At the stake center before we left, I gathered up some of my YW and made them take a picture with me (they loved posing for me at 7:00 am :)  My cute neighbor Janessa and her hubby are a ma and pa on trek too so she came with her little crew while her hubby was out of town! I was super impressed. She made it a few miles before her littler boys fell apart and wouldn't sit in the stroller any longer. Joseph and I never would have lasted that whole trip without both of us taking turns pushing the kids and holding Luke and Livs. Seriously, how did those handcart pioneers make it across the plains? Kids make everything harder and so many saints walked more than a thousand miles with toddlers and small children in tow. Their faith and endurance astounds and humbles me for sure.

At the temple! Luke was so happy to use his little legs. We didn't have Bentley with us because he rolled his ankle at school the day before and was hobbling around Friday night. We called our friends the Barnes last minute and they graciously had him over Saturday morning at 6:45 am! Love our great friends!!

Good old fashioned FHE the other night ending with a classic favorite, the Log Roll, followed by piling up on Dad!

This past weekend we had our 2nd annual Ward Party "Carnival" planned, and organized and run by the youth (so yeah, the youth leaders!) It was a big hit last year so we followed the same plan with 6  activities for the kids to do like bounce house, face painting, fishing pond, and bean bag toss and then they could collect a prize if they completed all 6. The park we reserved was perfect for the event with a fun playground, tons of shady grass, and a sand volleyball court too. We had a great turn-out and lots of fun with our awesome ward family. I am so happy to have that event over with though! So much to plan and worry about and be prepared for—nice to have that checked off the list :)

A few pics: bishopric competition—doughnut on a string, Livs getting a flower on her arm, Cares trying out the water-balloon toss (at our lone Priest!) and the ever fun bounce house.

Love that baby boy (half of Bentley's black face-painted bat wore off on Luke when Beans hugged him!) That "bing bag" toss was a repeat of last year—such a cute set-up (faces of the YM leaders). One of my YW last year made the poster for this event and painted "Bing Bag" on the sign. She only learned that night that is was actually bean bag...we had to repeat the sign—silly YW inside joke :)

Lastly, pics from a lovely Mother's Day. I had to teach the YW but it was a really good lesson on prayer that had me thinking a lot all week. I was excited to teach and discuss such a beautiful, real principle with my girls. I am always reassured by the power of sharing pure and simple testimony too—I think the lesson went really well. And then we got to spend time with both Joseph's parents and mine. We are pretty lucky that way having them live just a few miles away from each other. 

The beautiful Ruth Ann. Oh, I love her so much! For being the mother of Joseph alone I'll love her forever, but she has taught me so much and embraced me as her own from the very beginning. Plus she is an amazing grandma. We all adore her.

At my parents' house we had dinner and an impromptu concert of sorts by the darling girls singing "I Often Go Walking" and giving us flowers after. Then Connor sang "Turn Up the Radio"—a "classic"  Mother's Day song from the 80s :) His conviction and movement were the cutest thing ever! He is too fun.

I have an amazing mom, I really do. I think back to my childhood and teenage years and love so much that she really was a friend and confidant to me while also being my mom who did a million things for me, supported me in everything I did, taught me, loved me, and showed it by setting specific rules and boundaries for me, but also by setting such a good example to me. She has been through so much and suffered sore trials but she is still so committed to the Gospel. I love that she taught me to pray, to study my scriptures, and to share my testimony. I also love that she taught me to seek out good literature and relish in the flow of well-written words on a page. She taught me correct grammar, how to pull weeds, how to tidy my room and braid my hair, and to love Emily Dickinson and Laura Ingalls Wilder. She took me hiking in the Alps, to art museums all over Europe and the USA, to the ballet and musicals, to Japan and Paris and New York City. I truly owe her so much. And I love that I get to live by her and see her so often for lunch dates and outings with the crazies, recitals and baptisms and Sunday dinners, and fun adventures in SG and at the cabin and in Lake Powell. I am so blessed by her friendship and especially by her most constant love for me—something I have felt every day of my life. I'm such a lucky girl to get to have that gift.