We have been living in an eternal winter.  Last week looked like this.

Seriously got super cold again too....like in the 20's????  I had taken all my cute geranium starts outside  and put them on the picnic table cause I re- potted them and there wasn't room for them in the window sill.  Had to cover them up to keep from freezing. Really not OK.

 

The thing about spring weather in Utah though is that it can change in a

minute.  I woke up to this beautiful sight this morning.  I had a small epiphany and realized how much more I appreciate the warm sunshine and the pretty flowers after having to wait for them for so long.  I guess that's how it is with everything...if it's just there all the time, and you don't have to wait or work for it,  you get to where you to take it for granted.

I hope to always show gratitude for all the good things in my life, the many blessings I have now, and those that I hope and wait for (mostly for my kids...seeing their dreams come true is my greatest desire)

 

 I taught the lesson in YW on resurrection on Sunday.  There is so much to talk about and the girls had some questions so before I even got through half the stuff I had prepared, the time was gone.

So for our activity last night, I thought it would be good to make these resurrection eggs.  Years ago, Travis brought us a little basket full of these at Easter time.  I thought it was pretty meaningful and helped me understand a little better what Christ went through for us.  I had the girls put their own little set together and asked them to share it with their families.  They seemed to like the idea.  It was a little work, but a good activity.

 KC came home from a ward missionary dinner and looked so handsome I just had to take some pictures.  He doesn't really like to get his picture taken.

Sure am proud of this guy...he's working hard at school,  and  enjoys his calling as a ward missionary.  He goes out visiting people all the time...most of them he doesn't even know.  I admire that so much.  That's not an easy thing to do but he never complains about it. 

He always takes time to sit and talk to me and makes me laugh...( he has a great sense of humor...a lot like his dad) and I never know when he's going to jump out and scare me ( seriously paranoid coming in the back door)....(him and Kelley get a big kick out of that...they will be sorry one day when I kill over dead  cause they scared me so bad!)

Anyway, he's kind of a special kid.  Love him a lot.

Spent a fun day with Candice on Saturday.  We went shopping around at a few places, then went to JoAnns to find some fabric for a little  Easter dress for Olivia.  When I was in Arizona, Camille and I went to Hobby Lobby (love that place!) and picked out a cute piece of fabric, unfortunately, I left it in Arizona.  Candice and I looked through the pattern books and found the cutest skirt pattern, then we picked out some cream colored tulle with sparkles in it.   We were pretty excited about it.

Then we went out to Village Baker and got lunch for all of us and took it back home to eat. 

We went out to see how the chickens were doing.  They have been acting really mean lately...pecking at each other and pulling feathers out until they bleed.  Kelley said they started doing it when I was gone,  He asked out at IFA what to do and they said that the chickens are probably boared so he said to put some hay in there for them to peck at and also to try this spray that smells bad that will make the chickens leave each other alone. It seems to be working, but it's still very sad to see their little bare bottoms where they have pecked the feathers off. ( I think they just missed me!)

Candice has a sweet touch with the Chickens.  Always talks quietly to them and pets them. I think they can feel her gentle spirit and love her right back. She has that effect on people too.

 Last week, Abby called and asked if I would play the piano for her to try out for Madrigals.  She has been taking singing lessons and has a lovely voice.  She brought the music over while I was still in Arizona and I was delighted to find she had picked one of my favorite songs.  It's from Rogers and Hammerstein's "Cinderella".  I remember watching the movie with Leslie Ann Warren as Cinderella when I was a little girl and falling in love with the music from it.  I always thought she was just the most beautiful lady.  Well Abby picked "In my own little corner".  As soon as I sat down and played it, all the words and music came right back to me and I could see Leslie dancing around the room singing this song.
Abby and I practiced on Wednesday night during the yw-ym combined.  She sounded great...I was a pretty shaky...this piece was pretty challenging, and she wanted to go pretty fast.  So I really practiced for the next few days.  Friday she text me and asked if I could come over early so we could go through it before the try out.  We went in a rehearsal room and this time when we went through it, her voice was much stronger and I didn't mess up nearly so much.
I was surprised to see how many kids were trying out...the choir room was full.  It was exhilarating to be there with them.  They are so full of  life!  They were all really supportive of each other too...they had made posters wishing good luck and they all cheered for each other when they went up to try out.
It really took me back to my high school days when I was in choir.  I sure loved singing in the choir. I loved our choir director Mr. Looslie...he expected a lot from us and everyone wanted to do their best for him.  I loved going around to different wards singing at Christmas time...the music was so beautiful and dang we were good!  I still have the record they made of our final concert.
Anyway,  it was nice to see Leah too.  She directed a women's choir I sang in a few years ago and is just an amazing lady.  She has a unique and special relationship with these kids and you could see how they loved her.  She got up at the start and talked to the kids and became quite emotional.  She said choosing just 14 of them out of the probably 80 people that were there trying out was one of the hardest things she has to do.  I can't even imagine.  It means so much to some of these kids.
She said they would have all the ones who had an accompanist there to play for them go first so Abby was number 3.  It was fun to listen to the ones before her try out...some good, some not as good.  When Abby's turn came, she walked up there and introduced her song and accompanist.  The kids were super supportive and all cheering for her.  She was very poised and lovely. 
Then I started to play.  It felt weird on that big grand piano...but I played OK.  Abby sounded beautiful.  He voice was loud and clear and right on key..  When she finished, they all cheered again.  Gosh I was just proud of her.    She was so grateful to me for playing for her...she brought over those cute bunny salt and pepper shakers, some bunny candy corn ( how sweet that she remembered how much I love candy corn!) and the nicest card.  She's a special girl with her head on straight.  She knows what she wants out of life and lives so that she can achieve her goals. I love her like one of my own.  It's pretty cool to see how excited these kids are about life and the bright future ahead of them.

 

Got to spend a wonderful week with Camille's family. 

It was pretty much pure heaven.

I went there to give Camille a break and help with the kids but being able to play with them all week was the best therapy this grandma has ever had.

I think they liked the dragon and prince and princess I made them.  Liv has such a great imagination...it's so fun to watch her play.

We went to the zoo one day.  The weather in Arizona was really perfect but this day was actually hot!  Probably in the 90's.  We went pretty early though so it didn't get uncomfortable till we were headed back to the car. 

This was a hoot! 

They had the cutest petting zoo.  I got some great video of Sam petting the goats, but I can't get it to work.  He was so cute with them.  He would get down on the ground and look right into their faces.  These animals were super mellow.  They just laid there while he played with their ears.

There was another place in the zoo where you could go right into the monkey habitat.  The kids got a kick out of these monkeys...they were just swinging in the trees right next to us.  One monkey was crossing the sidewalk and hopped right on Olivia's foot!  She thought that was pretty neat.

Another day we went swimming.  We went up to the pool in Kellen's parents community.  It's really nice and a lot of Camille's friends were there with their kids too. Sam loves to holler CANNONBALL!!!, then jump in the water.  I had a great video of that too...I'll try again to make it work...(I think I freaked the blog out putting so many pictures on it at once) 

It felt so great to just lay in the sun and be warm!  ( We have had the longest coldest winter ever!) 

Olivia and I played baseball in the back yard.  She could really hit the ball!  Sam got in on the action too.  He is so sweet and funny.  He didn't care if he hit the ball he just really liked running around the bases.

We baked cinnamon rolls and Liv and Sam helped.  Liv remembered when we had made them at my house how we cut them with a thread, and knew just how to do it! 

They turned out so good, we decided to make another batch to take to a birthday party we were invited to. ( It was a fun idea...she wanted to have the kids eat her son's favorite food and that was breakfast foods...cereal, muffins, fruit, so that's what we all had!)  

We went yard sale shopping Saturday morning.  There were tons of yard sales! 

I got some "Twilight" books and this cake taker for Candice.

Camille scored with this beautiful g;ass dish

Kellen set up their tent one afternoon and that made hours of fun.

We danced, sang songs and told goofy jokes

Olivia had the idea that we should tell ghost stories.  We had some pretty good ones and with their owl whooooing up in their tree, it got kind of scarey so we all went in the house!

This is Liv in her cute dress after church Sunday.  Kellen and Camille are pretty involved in their ward.  Kellen is the Young Men's president and they had a huge fund raiser that weekend.  The ideas was to sell these huge pork roasts.  They bought all this meat, then took it to this guy that had a fire pit in his back yard who would cook them in the ground (luau style)for them. They cooked them all night, then the people came and  picked them up the next day.  They sold a ton of them and made a lot of money.  It was a lot of work, but Kellen did a great job with it.

This was at that friend of Camille's little boys birthday party.    They had the kids bring their bikes and scooters and skates and let them just play for a while.  It was fun to get to know some of Camilles' friends. They all think the world of Camille and couldn't say enough good about her.  It was sweet to see how she has made her place there and is loved by these people.

Liv eating her ninja turtle cupcake...it was cute for St. Patricks day they had everything decorated green...even the milk for the cereal was green!

Sam and I played basketball...he was a little younger than most of the kids there. 

This is baby Jackson.  Camille babysat him a few of the days I was there.  He is such a good baby...just sits there and smiles at you.  Camille used to baby sit him every day,  but then the dad lost his job.  He was bidding on some work so they asked Camille to sit for them for those days he was gone.  He tried to pay her when he came to pick him up, but Camille wouldn't take it.  She's got kind of a big heart like that.

We went to Ikea one day and took baby Jackson with us.  He was just as good as he could be, but Sam was a little stinker.  He wanted to play on all the fun things they have there, then when it was time to go, he didn't want to and had  quite a tantrum.  Camille handles him really well...stays calm and just keeps on going. 

One night we went out to dinner at Chiles.  In Sam's defense, we were there a LONG time!  Their grill was broken so the  food took forever to get done.  After about 45 minutes of waiting, Sam had a melt down and just started screaming.  We tried everything to calm him down, but he wasn't having it.  They finally brought our food, and he settled down and ate, but it was funny when the waitress went to the people in the booth next to us and asked them if she could get them anything, they said "Yes!  some ear plugs!"    Ha! 

We found these cutest little finger puppets at Ikea...

Liv put on shows for us all afternoon.

Olivia's little friend came over to play one day and her and Liv and Sam put on quite the dance show for us.

We took Rose for a walk down to the dog park and played a little baseball while we were there.

Sam is the sweetest little guy and just funny as heck.  He gets this mischievous look in his eye that reminds me so much of Camille at that age.  I guess it's true that you're bound to get one that's just like you!

We colored Easter eggs for FHE.  It was sweet of them to do some  early Easter activities with me since I won't be with them this year.  I'm going to miss them so much!

We went to the park to feed the ducks Tuesday morning.  It was fun but my heart was heavy thinking about leaving them that afternoon.

Trying to take in the last bit of sunshine before I returned to frozen Utah ( It had been nice there for several days, but had turned real cold and stormy when I went home....boooo)

Lunch at Zuppa's before I left. I sure had the best time.  So fun to be with Camille's sweet little family and to watch her as a mom.  She really is such a good mom.  I love that she loves to play with the kids and is fun and silly with them.  She's forever patient with them and is teaching them to be good kids. 

Pretty tough to say goodbye...had to fight back the tears at the airport when Liv held me so tight and said "I love you grandma...I wish you could stay here forever."  Oh dear.  Crying again thinking about it. This long distance grandma-ing is not good!

Kelley really gave me a wonderful gift when he bought me the plane ticket to see them.  On the card he wrote that when he was trying to think of something to give me that I would love the most, he knew this was the answer...a plane ride to a warm place where I would find my two favorite people...Liv and Sam.  He knows my heart so well.