It is April (almost May actually!) and I haven't blogged since Christmas. There is always something going on over here, but getting all the photos and the stories together at the same time is a challenge! I am so thankful for my beautiful family. I am truly, enormously, amazingly blessed for the folks I get to see day in and day out. I love them and thank the Lord for sending them into my life! So, let's go back to the beginning of the year and see what has been going on around here....
Grandma and Grandpa came for Ryan's ordination. Here Grandma is helping to color the giant lama coloring page Macey got from a friend for Christmas.
Fall always happens while we are gone for Christmas. The whole family got out and raked leaves!
The yearly rosca with the Contreras. Always a good time with them.
Ryan's ordination day! Our bunch gets taller and taller... Funny story; I had ward council this day and was in knee deep with the bishopric all morning. When it was time for ward business to sustain Ryan, the gentleman conducting forgot to do it. Dan and Bob turn to me and say 'what about Ryan?!' So I have to jump up and go to the front to remind them to sustain Ryan. It was just so funny that I became the messenger. They proceeded to sustain him following the passing of the sacrament, so it was fine.
Now, we are a white shirt and tie family, not a suit family (excluding Bob) so it was funny to see these guys all grab suit jackets and dust them off for this special day. They are handsome no matter how they dress!
Trombone love.
We met up with the D's to watch Nico play hockey. It was, of course, cold there. These two decided to share a jacket to keep warm!
Hank sporting a sweet 'stache.
Alex and a friend were invited to play the trumpet for a ward member. He was making a background recording of Ring of Fire for when he does gigs and needed some trumpet sounds!
Cub Scout fun. I was a backup den leader for one whole year. I just finally called someone to replace to me. But before that was over I got to share my wood burner with the Bears. Suzanne is an awesome scouter and I'm super blessed to have served with her.
Trip to the mall with Megan.
This is Laura. She is one of my sewing students. I started teaching sewing lessons after Christmas. In Nov I decided that for Christmas I would give Macey a sewing box filled up with supplies and start teaching her a few skills. A short time after that decision a friend of a friend asked if I could teach her twins to sew. Funny that! Then I was telling Laura's mom about the turn of events and she jumped on the chance too. So now I have 3 students plus Macey. I just (in April) made a Facebook page for sewing lessons and camps for summer. We'll see if anyone else is looking for the same opportunity for their kids.
A girl and her dog. We were watching the Olympics while sister wasn't feel to great. It was a Saturday morning and Macey asks how long are the Olympics. 2 weeks. 'Oh, are we only watching that...' I think she wanted a turn at the controller. :)
Puppy valentines box. M didn't really want my help with the project. I only suggested a few things, but she did a great job on her own.
Alex has finally started on his Eagle Project. Step one, fund raising. Our family has donated enough funds to get him started. Now we need to finish collecting the last $200 or so to finish it up. Here Alex is presenting his idea to the kids and asking them to put money in a collection jar.
Ryna probably won't want much recorded about this surgery. He was having some birth defects corrected in his male anatomy; the easy answer is that it was for hernia prevention. Needless to say, abdominal surgery isn't fun, so this wasn't exactly a party.
However, there was some messing around. He had nothing to eat or drink all day. His surgery was supposed to be at lunch time, but instead it was at 3pm.
I had to leave to take care of Macey. Dan was the best nurse and was with Ryan all along the way on this journey. He was a great support to Ryan.
One silver lining is that the only thing he was really capable of doing was sitting and watching screens. He powered through the discomfort to sit at his desk. He is still healing at this time, but doing great.
Our teenager turned 15! He had some guys over on a Saturday, but it was actually kind of lame. He got Spikeball, which is going to be awesome on his beach trip with the band. One great moment for him was when we went to dinner that night. We went to Fudruckers, his favorite burger place. As we were getting our drinks, a table full of girls from school noticed Alex. They wished him a happy birthday, which was super nice. About 10 min later these girls sang Happy Birthday across the restaurant to him. Alex was mortified! But we thought it was cool of them. :)
