Winding Down

Well, we've had quite the week, starting out with Mack and his family on Friday, then Conference on Saturday and Sunday and a fun, very active week with the Dalley family. Now they are gone and it is pretty calm and quiet (as quiet as my boys get) but the kids loved having their cousins with them and so did I, it was great fun!
Saturday morning, I had signed up for Bountiful Baskets, if you haven't heard of them, check it out, it is awesome! I've done it twice now, my third time this Saturday and I have NOT been disappointed. Anyway, the truck was late, bringing the goods so I was late getting home for Conference, but it was alright because I caught it on the radio on my way home. Also, just being with a bunch of volunteers who were kind and helpful, trying to get everyone their baskets of food was a really neat experience for me.
Conference was wonderful! I loved the theme, I don't think I've ever noticed the theme of a Conference quite like I did this year. It really is up to us as the parents to create an environment for our children to feel the Spirit and learn the gospel. We can't rely on others to teach them.
I'm excited to read each talk and soak it all in.
For Easter, we did the egg hunt on Saturday and I meant to make Easter more meaningful and have a special conversation with my boys, but with company and family dinner, it didn't really work out, so I hope next year goes a little better.
Mack went home on Monday, but Natalie and the kids stayed here so we had fun going to the teepee park (a park that has fields of mowed down plants that left lots of big sticks that Patrick and his friends like to make teepees out of) roasting hot dogs in Mom and Dad's fire pit, going to the sand dunes and getting fried, going out to dinner with Mack and Nat and Julie & Aaron. It was so great to get to know Mack's children a little better, they are so great! Nat is a great mother, it's always nice to observe other ways of discipline and other family cultures, I learned a lot from her that I hope I can integrate into our family.
Back up to Tuesday. I got a call from my good friend, Kristy, she was in town for Spring Break. We got together with our kids at a park and let them play while we chatted. It was so great to see her! It was pretty funny, while we were talking, we noticed that our older boys were missing so we went looking for them. They had ditched all the cool playground toys for a big sand volleyball court to build a big mountain-o-sand :o) ...just like boys.

Well after that busy week, Saturday was our 11th Anniversary! We had gone out to dinner the night before because it was Julie & Aaron's Anniversary, so we figured we didn't need to do that, but decided to hang out with our kids and enjoy being together, since we had the house to ourselves. I made John his favorite Chocolate Cake and we hung out and relaxed. That may sound boring to some of you party-ers out there, but to us, nonparty-ers, it was just plain NICE.
I just have to say my dear hubby has put up with a lot from me over these last 11 years, I'm so grateful to have a real man's man who loves me and takes care of me, no matter what kind of fool I make of myself! :o) I love you babe!