Mothers Day 2018

On Mothers Day eve, this made me happy. Freestone signing all the papers for Cincinnati and the BW summer intensives.

My favorite thing about this is that Tziporah said that her mom is happy when she "Sees me." And that I always say "I love you."

Ptolemy is the sweetest.

Main Street Music Kaysville had a big Mothers Day sale with some adorable ukulele gift bags. We had a good week. I sold a bumch of violins, too. One to my mom's cousin, Susan Comish. She is so sweet. I loved seeing her!

Sunday, Mothers Day, started out with church. Oh wait, back up. Scott and I went to Park City Saturday night to steal some relaxing moments. There were no bishopric meetings on Sunday, so we had to take advantage of Scott not having to be at the church by 6:30. We had a nice time and were home by 9 for church with our fam.

After church, the Kings came over for lunch. I love relaxing with them on a Sunday. We're lucky we all live so close together.

Hermana Dopp called! Seeing her beautiful face made my heart sing. She looks happy and seems like the same perfect Ruby who left two months ago. (Only two months?!?) She says that they are meeting tons of people and using their Spanish a lot. She traveled to New Hampshire by herself and met her companion when she got there. The comp had been called English speaking but was asked to learn Spanish several months ago. She became a Spanish-speaking sister when Ruby arrived. Ruby had to leave the MExico MTC at 1:00 in the morning and didn't arrive in New Hampshire until 5 pm. Driving to the airport, customs and three layovers. The very second she met her mission president, he walked her up to some strangers and introduced her, telling them what missionaries do. Welcome to the New Hampshire Manchester mission! I guess they work hard!

Ruby said it was nothing close to how hard Ghana was, and that Ghana prepared her for the mission in a lot of ways. I bet her life in New England seems pretty darn cushy. No ants on your food, no flies in your Coke, and I'm sure she likes the faster-paced lifestyle of her home country. I'm thankful she went to Ghana and stuck it out when it was so tough; when she was sicker than a dog, living in what she called "A giant litter box." The school was directly on the beach, built in the sand, and humans and dogs alike were free to poop wherever. On the plus side, the people she met were incredible. Some of them will have a life-long impact on her. I'm proud of Ruby. She's a strong person, yet so tender and sweet.

We talked for 45 minutes, and it went by in a flash!

Next party: the Dopps at Nikki's. Everyone loves gathering at Nikki and Clint's beautiful home. Freestone and Golda were working on their "heartfelt" Instagram posts for me.

Teens hanging out. We have the best cousins! And the best families. On this Motheres Day, I am grateful for every aspect of motherhood and every mother who has positively influenced me. Especially my mom and Marlene. Zero complaints. They're noth perfect and I love them.

Eastertime

These two handsome gentlemen on their way to pick up Grandpa for the priesthood session of conference.

Meanwhile, we dyed eggs. It's spring break, so I'm trying with mixed results to be a chill, fun mom.

The Easter bunny was good to us.

It's fun when Golda comes home!

Saturday night after the egg dying mayhem, I set the table for Easter.

Sunday morning preparation

Then breakfast at Grandma and Grandpa's. So good and fun!

These two are pretty remarkable.

The kids sneaked out into the back yard to scope out where the candy was and see what was in the eggs. All the grown-ups were completely fine with that. All the teens, IE the children born when we grownups still thought it was a big deal not to peek into the Easter eggs before the hunt, were greatly alarmed. Ha ha! Lots ot teens tattling on little kids, lots of "Meh" from the parents. I think it's funny that none of us have anything to prove anymore, and we all have a handle on what's important and what's not. Or maybe the younger kids are all just spoiled.

Grandma's cream puffs and adorable cake. She loves to use her creativity and skills in her baking, and she's really good at it!

We celebrated Xanthe and Britton.

These are some of the best boys anywhere. I'll fight you on this. :)

And then, after a couple sessions of General Conference, the King Easter dinner. Coco and Bill are in Paris with Josh and Esmae, so our numbers were fewer. We had a very nice time. Traj and Mic brought a good salad and fruit, and Emily brought home made bread and made the best carrot cake ever (Pioneer Woman recipe) and made ice cream cones for the kids. My part was easy and happened in the roasting pan while we were at Grandma's.

This Easter egg hunt had the fun extra challenge of avoiding giant piles of deer poop, brambly bushes and prickly weeds in the grass. And for Escher, the ultimate nemesis, concrete. He lost to the concrete three times and never did win. He went home with the biggest egg of all, on the back of his head, from toppling off a giant bean bag onto that mean concrete.

Don Carlos can no longer keep his tongue in his mouth. I think it's a Chihuahua thing. Nevertheless, he's a cutie.