A few things from this last week...

Lizzy and I love when Candice comes over on her lunch hour

Our combined activity Wednesday night...I'm mad at myself for not getting pictures of these kids while they were out there working,,,they were pretty awesome. 

I sent around a sign up sheet in relief society on Sunday for the ladies to sign up if they wanted the kids to come do some service at their house.  We had several sign up, and I also called Al Barcarse to see if we could do anything for them.

I was really praying all day that the weather would be decent to do this activity.  We have had the coldest spring...snow, rain, wind...and it keeps on going.  The day started out clear, but windy and cold.  So when we text all the kids we told them to dress warm.   ( ha some still show up in shorts and t shirts!   "where's your coat?"  "Oh I don't need one!" They didn't complain when they were out there in the wind working, so I guess they didn't need a coat!  They are tougher than me for sure!)

When the kids all got there, we divided up into groups and went off to do these jobs for people.  I got to go to Brother Barcarse's house.  He wanted us to rake leaves and clean up his back yard.  He can't get around any more and is in a wheel chair, but him and his cute wife came outside with us while we worked in their yard.  He was so proud of all his flowers in his yard and told us what they all were.  I had never had a chance to talk to Toyoko before so it was nice to get to know her.  She is such a nice lady.  She gave us a box of chocolate covered macadamia nuts to share with all the kids for our service.

 After we finished, we went back to the church for pizza.  Just as we walked in the doors, it started to snow.

 Had to cover the peach tree that night...temperature down in the 20's. 

KC helped me cover it with sheets...it was pretty comical.  ( I probably knocked more blossoms off the tree than what would have froze!)

 I've been in the mood for cleaning this last week...went through the boxes and tubs in the garage and got rid of a few things (just a few...still can't let go!)  Came across this mug when I cleaning out some cupboards in the kitchen. Had a flashback to when we were cleaning out mums house.  We had to come up with a way to fairly divide up all of her things, so we wrote our names on a little paper and put them in this cup...then we would draw a name out to see who would pick first.  I think it worked out fair, but there was a lot of emotion that went into this process.  It took a lot of self control to just sit there and smile when I wanted to throw myself on the floor and kick and scream when I could see there was no chance that something I really wanted was going to be there when it was my turn to pick.  Ha!  But we were all in the same boat and I think because we all wanted to get through this without causing any bad feelings between us, we made an extra effort to be fair.  Anyway, seeing this cup again, just stirred up all those memories.

 Bunko was fun this month.  It was at Cheryl's house. She is going through some very hard things right now.  My heart aches for her.  It's kind of strange to step back and look at our group of ladies and the different  things each of us have gone through over the years.  When you think about it, each of us has had our own challenges,  our many joys and blessings, and our ongoing struggles.  Really grateful I have these dear ladies in my life to share all of those things with.

 

So many little fishies!  They are getting bigger though and changing from black to bright orange, white and red.  There's going to be some real pretty ones...just don't know where we will keep them.

 I made this casserole carrier for Chris B's  fiance shower.  Kelley's cousin Kelly Ann gave me one years ago and I have used it so much.  I tried to find a pattern for one on the Internet, but they were a lot more complicated than they needed to be, so I just used the one I had and cut a pattern off of that.  Turned out pretty cute!

Stacey was having a chocolate fountain at the shower and I told her I would bring something to dunk in it.  Candice suggested cream puffs.  I was a little nervous cause my last two batches have been a flop.  They just didn't raise up at all.  But I thought I'd give it another try.  I made them a lot smaller and piped them out onto the pan.  They puffed up just perfect!  Ha!  not quite though...I had piped them out in a kind of swirl and they looked great until I picked them up...where I had swirled around, it had left a hole in the bottom of each one!  So when I filled them with the creamy goodness, I tried to put a little piece of the stuff you pull out of them in the bottom to cover the hole.  Ha!  They turned out OK though.

The shower was nice...she is a darling girl. I was so glad Candice came over and went to it with me.  She had told me when we went to lunch the day before that she was going to color her hair purple.  yes. purple. I was like ...really?  OK um that's cool.  But then she text me Saturday morning telling me it had turned out pink instead.  Ha!  When she showed up though, it wasn't too pink at all.  It was just a light blondish pink.  She said when they rinsed it, most of the color came out.  She always looks so pretty though...I swear she can pull off any hairdo you can dream up!

 It was nice to get to visit with all the girl friends there too. Talking to Brenda brought back so clearly the last few days of mum's life.  Dan's mother has been in really bad shape...her liver is not working anymore.  Brenda said they have been caring for her at home and the things she was going through were the same things that mum went through those last few days.  She told me how she sleeps most of the time now and had stopped eating.  When mum was at this stage, I remember having so many mixed emotions.  I used to go into her room and just watch her sleep...wanting to be able to wake her and hold on to her and not let her slip away...but at the same time, I knew she was going, and I didn't want her to suffer or have her continue on in this condition.  The veil was very thin those last few days and I knew we were not alone as I felt the presence and comfort of loved ones on the other side coming to escort her home.  I hope the Northrup's felt this same comfort in her last few days.  Kelley heard from Dan last night that she had passed away peacefully.

 So KC's good friend Jared ( he comes over most every day to work out with KC ...then they will come in and fix their selves a protein shake and sit and visit. He's worked a lot with KC too and has helped us out a lot around here too...such a sincerely nice guy...I've sure grown to love him) well he decided he was going to ask Marki to marry him.  I was kind of surprised when KC told me cause I didn't realize they were that serious.  But he had it all worked out how he was going to ask her.  She loves softball so he thought up this idea of putting the ring inside a softball. He came over and wanted a little advice on how to put it together so I got to help him a little bit. He had drilled a hold down in the middle of the ball to hold the ring, then we covered it with velvet.  It turned out really cool! 

Jared wanted to have all their friends and family there when he asked her, so he made all these arrangements to have everyone up at park city, then he would take her on a date up there and everyone would be waiting for them.  KC said it went off without a hitch.  So happy for him.  He's a good catch.

Candice sporting her new pinkish hair.  She came over yesterday and we spent a lovely afternoon baking, tending to the chickens and enjoying a little sunshine.