National Junior Honor Society

Kristen was excited to finally reach this rite of passage.  And she is determined to be the president next year.  The induction ceremony was held in the cafeteria at the middle school at 4 pm.  Short and sweet for a ceremony with treats and refreshments afterward.

Sisters Road Trip

Chris kindly allowed Amy to take the Acura back to school with her this Spring.  She flew home at the beginning of her break and planned to drive the Acura back to school.  We decided to let Misha drive back with Amy so that Amy wasn't making the trip alone.

Turns out there isn't a lot of cell coverage throughout Wyoming.  As the girls were leaving, Chris asked if they knew how to get to Rexburg.  Their reply was that they were going to use Google Maps.  Good thing Chris is a good dad and gave them a run through of some of the stops along the way.  Extra good thing since they weren't able to use Google Maps until they got to the Idaho border.

They arrived around 8 pm, stopping in Idaho Falls for some food, a car wash, and gas.  Apparently there was a lot of loud rejoicing from a certain girl as they arrived in Idaho.

Amy didn't have access to any of her stuff since she had moved out of her apartment before leaving Rexburg and they arrived way past check-in time. Amy's friend, Liz, was able to get her sheets and bedding and we had sent an extra set so Misha would have something to use.  They got a few groceries, used the paper plates Amy brought from home and were glad to finally get moved in on Monday afternoon.

At least she didn't have a four-hour layover at the Idaho Falls airport again.  This was the sad bit moji she sent me last week from the airport.

Kristen's New Dress

Amy gave Kristen a new dress for her birthday.  Kristen loves it.  Isn't she a cutie?

BBQing

It was just the three of us for dinner on Sunday--Misha and Amy were in Rexburg--and we chose to BBQ.  Apparently Kristen had a lot to say!

Jefe's

Chris and I tried a new restaurant in Longmont that had come with some good reviews.  It was a packed house when we arrived, but we found seating at the bar.  The food was good, but I should have ordered more.

We had fun asking each other Trivial Pursuit questions during dinner.

Asparagus

I have been doing a lot of research on my garden over the past couple of weeks--when to plant certain crops, laying out the garden boxes, which varieties are the best for this area, which crops are good companions (some plants just don't play nicely together), etc.

I found some asparagus plants at Lowes.  Did you know they come in male and female varieties?  Apparently, male is the better option.  I realized that I should have kept the roots more moist before planting and am hoping that they will still take.  I soaked the roots before planting them, followed instructions I found via Pinterest on how to plant the asparagus, added grass clipping mulch.  Here's hoping...

Chris' New Socks

Chris loves the colorful sock trend, and ordered a box of new socks from Amazon.  Gotta love the packaging.

District Art Show

Misha and Kristen both had art work entered in the District Art Show at the Boulder County Fair Grounds.  We were surprised to see that both of them had two pieces entered in the art show and that Misha had won a blue ribbon for one of her pieces.

Kristen - both of her pieces were created with Adobe Photoshop.

Misha

She's a Teenager

Thirteen years.  So fast.

Kristen woke to Amy's decoration for her birthday.  I gave in to Kristen's pleas to have a ride to school instead of taking the bus which meant she could sleep in a little longer.  I also ended my exercise a little early so that I could help curl Kristen's hair for her special day.

She was greeted with a donut cake for her birthday and loved it.

The surprise for the day was having Amy sign Kristen out of school for the afternoon.  Kristen thought Amy was just coming to have lunch with her at the school, but (after the school called to confirm that Amy was allowed to sign Kristen out) they went for lunch at Chick-fil-A and then pedicures.  Gotta love how Kristen's birthday benefits Amy too!

For the rest of the afternoon, Amy helped Kristen get set up on Facebook, Instagram, and Snapchat (with limited friends).  Kristen had to be back at the school at 3 pm for a National Junior Honor Society rehearsal, but was more than happy with her day off from school.

Chris arrived home from London around 3 pm.  Kristen opened up birthday presents.  Apparently waiting all day is too long. 

Though Misha had to work, the rest of us went to Tokyo Joes for dinner and then on to the District Art Show.

Random Act of Kindness

While waiting for Chris' tire to be changed on his Audi, I walked over to Home Depot to look at some gardening stuff.  Passing through the parking lot, I caught sight of a random act of kindness.

One man was trying to fit a gridded panel in to a hatchback type vehicle.  The panel was about 3ft by 6 ft.  I watched another man dig around in his vehicle, pull out a pair of tin snips, and head over to ask if help was needed.  I thought it was cool enough that I stopped to take a picture.

Too Long Layover

Amy had a flight home on Friday.  Chris had originally arranged her flight to come home on Saturday afternoon, but since he was coming in Friday evening, it just made sense to have Amy fly in then.  Her flight was a little later than Chris' and he planned to wait for her.

The weather in Denver on Friday was terrifically windy and Amy's flight was first delayed for 45 minutes, then an hour or so, until finally four hours.  FOUR HOURS in the Idaho Falls airport!  There is NOTHING to do there.  Nothing.  And a few vending machines.  That's it.

So much for not making a return trip to the airport.  After his flight landed, Chris hurried in to Longmont for Kristen's performance in the Ward Talent Show (not wanting to wait around for five plus hours) and then he and I returned to the airport to pick up Amy at 11:30 pm.  Such a late night for two of us.

Wall Art

I worked on a few frame projects that have been sitting on my craft room counter for months and months.  I designed the first two quote layouts and downloaded the third one.

The two frames are photos that I have taken in my travels:

The Church at The Alamo

Washington, DC Church

Talent Show

The young women of our ward held a talent show/silent auction on Friday for our ward.  Once again, we were outbid on all of our bids.  The evening began with a taco bar and then ended with the talent show.  It went on for.e.ver.  Some of the acts were over ten minutes long and one song had so many verses, I just blocked it out.

I suppose the good thing about it lasting forever is that even with a flight delay, stopping for food, going to the wrong church (it was held in Longmont at the Stake Center), Chris was able to arrive just in time for Kristen's performance.

She played her ukelele and sang Imagine Dragon's Radioactive.

Camp Exploration

Kristen and her friend, Maggie, have planned to host a fun summer camp for young kids this summer.  Kristen's cousin, Ashley, has planned these summer adventure camps in Texas for the kids in her neighborhood over the past couple of summers, and the kids attending the camps have loved them.

Hey there! We are so excited for our next big project, Camp Exploration! This is a fun chance for your kids to get out of the house and interact with other kids this summer, all while learning something new! Below, we have a brief description of each day, so you can get a sense of the awaiting awesomeness!

Field Day:  Ready, set, go! Field Day is a day to make your kid feel like a true Olympian and explore their sporty side. Some healthy competition and favorite games such as capture the flag, soccer, and relay races are the perfect mix for this day.

Fantasy Day:  Hear ye, hear ye! On Fantasy Day, storytime comes to life, with dragons, princesses, knights, and happily ever after. This day will be a fairytale when we craft, dress up, tell stories, and go on adventurous quests.

Travel Day:  Get your suitcase, but who said you need a plane to cross the globe? As we explore foreign countries and learn more about diverse cultures, we will put stamps in our own passports!

Nature Day:  A day where kids test their gardening skills, explore the many colors of our world, and meet a fluffy friend, Maggie’s bunny!

STEM Day:  Scientists gear up as we experiment with bubbles, balloons, volcanoes, and circuits! This is a safe, hands on day to explore many principles of science with things all around us.

Water Day:  Prepare to get soaked when we have a day of sprinklers, water balloons, and boats. We may get a little wet, but we will have a blast while doing it!

If you sign up for all six sessions, you get one day for free per child! Please let us know if your child has any allergies or restrictions. We will be offering snacks. Please have them wear tennis shoes and sunscreen every time. We are so excited for this summer and would love to have your little ones join us!

Creativity Overload

A couple of months ago I received the impression that I needed to start writing a book and even was impressed with what to write, how to create chapters, and then how use my blog to enhance the information.  And in that time, other book ideas have formulated in my mind and so I have begun to document all of my ideas and record thoughts as I have them (because at 50, if I don't write it down, the thought is gone 10 seconds later).  I feel as though at 50 my "...for such a time as this" (Ester 4:14) is culminating in an explosion of words and thoughts and ideas.  Crazy because for the past ten years, my prayers have often wandered to, "What am I supposed to be doing with my life?"  Why now?  I'm not sure.  But I am excited for the possibilities.

Along with the books that I have been working on, I have creative projects with my garden and yard, with keeping up my blog, planning travel, and documenting my photography.  There is so much that I would like to do, and yet I feel sometimes as though my thoughts are so scattered and then...squirrel!  I am drawn in a different tangent.  I keep notepads in my bathroom and by my treadmill (at my desk obviously), to quickly jot down ideas as they come.  And they keep coming.

All of this creativity is awesome.  I find that I have to make myself finish my daily chores before I can get started.

When I was in college I took a poetry class and wrote this poem.

Brainstorm

Ideas
sprinkle,
slowly, at first, then
faster, until
I am drenched.

I feel drenched with ideas right now.  I am so grateful for the inspiration and realize that the more I prepare myself to receive it, the more it comes.  It is pretty amazing.

NJHS

Following in her sisters' footsteps, Kristen received her invitation letter to the National Junior Honor Society this past week.  I am not sure if the requirements have changed or if the service requirements vary from school to school, but if I remember correctly, Amy and Misha both had to complete 30 service hours each year.  Now, Kristen is required to complete one service hour per month.

She will have an induction ceremony on April 23rd.

Digging a Hole

Kristen and her friends at the lake have started digging a hole at their "special" hang out place.  Right now it is about four feet deep.

I just think it is kind of funny that if I were to ask Kristen to go dig me a hole, there would likely be a lot of whining involved.  When it is with friends and it is their idea, they just can't wait to get at it after school.

Spring on the River

I always find it interesting that Spring on the river looks more like Fall on the river.  For me it is just exciting to have the weather warming up.

Easter Egg Hunt

Chris and I waffled back and forth about doing an Easter egg hunt on Sunday.  The girls really wanted one, and even though Amy had requested they wait until she was home in a couple of weeks, they weren't thrilled to do so.

As I was walking on my treadmill, I had an idea for a hunt that would take them some time.  It was rather Amazing Race-like.  I got two colors of eggs (twenty of each color) and numbered each color from 1 to 20.  I then hid the plastic eggs, though not terribly difficult.  The girls then picked a color and had to find each of their 20 eggs--with a catch.  They had to find them in order and couldn't skip around as they found different numbered eggs.  For example, they had to find the egg labeled "1" first and bring it to the front porch before they could move on to finding egg "2".  It was going great until Kristen couldn't find her egg "7".  We searched all over the yard, so unless there was a stealthy, talented rabbit in the yard who took it for himself, I skipped making an egg "7".  She finally moved on to "8", but in all the looking Misha had gotten way ahead.  As they looked, they remembered where certain numbered eggs were which made the finding easier.

Amy joined via Facetime for a short time.

As they each completed finding their numbered eggs, they were rewarded with an Easter bag with a treat and a Target gift card.

The bonus?  Misha found an egg from last year's Easter Egg hunt.  The jelly beans inside were not so delectable.

Sleeping at College

Is it any surprise that Amy still finds any chance to sleep at college?  She was caught sleeping in Devotional and a couple of days later on her boyfriend's couch.

The Kitchen Sink at College

Amy sent me this picture the other day asking, "Who puts styrofoam in the sink?"  I can see her point.  Why not just throw it in the garbage?

I responded that at least the sink was fairly empty.  Amy then sent me this picture and I laughed.

First Mow of the Season

Following the advice of our neighbor, Mike DePriest who is a landscaper, Misha mowed the lawn cutting the grass down quite a bit to remove a lot of the dead growth.  She is so good about mowing though she has now decided that it is time for Kristen to learn.

The Men at the Temple

As I was sitting in the lunch room at the temple today, a bunch of men filtered in to have their lunch.  They had separate conversations until one of the gentlemen turned in his chair and asked, "So what do you think of going back to Elders Quorum?"  Oh there was a lot of conversation on that topic.  The brother sitting at the table next to mine, announced loudly, "I am not looking forward to going back to Elders Quorum with all of the younger men and having to listen to their stories about their young children.  That grew old a long time ago."

I chuckled as I finished up and dumped my lunch sack in the garbage.  There will certainly be an adjustment period and perhaps a little softening of hearts required. 

Rachel

I met this beautiful women at the temple on Wednesday when I was volunteering in the Baptistry.  So often patrons come to the temple and while we help them, we don't spend much time in conversation with them.

As I was helping Rachel, I simply felt impressed to ask more about her, to find out about her story, and to ask for her name so that I could "friend" her on Facebook.  Do you ever have those moments when your mouth begins saying things and a couple of seconds later your brain says, "Wait.  What?"  I felt as though the Holy Ghost was saying we needed to be friends. 

Rachel is visiting Fort Collins for a month as she is an opera singer and travels all over performing.  She is working to finish her doctorate in Opera Performance.  Who would have ever known?  We know so little about people until we really ask.

She attended undergraduate school in Fort Collins a number of years ago when the temple was in the process of being built.  As she came to the temple grounds, she was overwhelmed with the feelings that cascaded over her and knew that she had to know more.

In her search for truth and in building her testimony, her marriage suffered and she and her husband separated (they have since got back together).  Rachel was baptized in January of this year and as I met her in the temple today, she was overflowing with enthusiasm.  Beside her baptism, this was her second time performing baptisms in the temple and her first time inside the Fort Collins temple.  She brought a family name along with names from a friend.  I can only explain that there was a spiritual connection drawing me to this sweet woman.

Rachel recently received her Patriarchal Blessing which stated that her spiritual example would be a blessing to her husband.  She was hopeful and excited and just such a breath of fresh air.  I hope to see her again as she is in Fort Collins for a month.

President Nelson

Misha noted on Sunday morning that there were no updated pics in the General Conference packets of President Russel M Nelson, newest prophet of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, so she drew one.