Friday fun run

On Friday we ran down to Salt Lake and spent a day seeing LDS sights. We went to the Oquirrh Mountain Temple first. What a great experience! The kids loved seeing the temple and were amazed at its beauty. What a neat feeling to stand in the Celestial room with all five of our children. We told them we hope to stand in the Celestial room with them as adults someday.

Once done touring the temple open house, we headed down town. We ate at the Garden Restaurant at the Joseph Smith Memorial Building. The kids thought it was cool to be up high and see a great view of the Salt Lake Temple. Once done eating we went to Temple Square. We've taken our kids to Temple Square before to see the Christmas lights, but we had never taken them inside the visitors center. We really loved seeing the Chirstus. We also all enjoyed the Family Proclamation presentation. It was really good and Chuck and I even teared up during it. What a great feeling to know that our family can be eternal.

We took the kids to the Church Historical Museum. They have a fun kids activity area. That is new since the last time I went there. The younger kids loved the activity area and we had to drag them out of there. Something we loved was the display on how they built the tabernacle. It was very interesting.

What a wonderful and spiritual day we had together as a family. I'm glad we made the quick trip to Salt Lake for an LDS tour day. It was fun and spiritual too. To end the day we decided to try out Moogies Meatball Subs in Salt Lake City for dinner. We went there because it was a restaurant featured on "Diners, Drive-inns, and Dives." It was really good. They have a great Philly Cheese Steak Sub...mmmmmm!

Piano Recital

Today my kids had their piano recital. I am so proud of my kids. They are so talented! I always had a dream that someday I would have a child that would have an amazing talent at the piano, and a child with a beautiful voice. Well, those dreams are coming true. I guess I live through my kids sometimes. These are talents that I wish I could have excelled at and didn't. I love to play the piano, but my daughter Katrena's talent has definately surpassed mine. She is an amazing piano player! The other day I tried to play the piece that she played for the recital. Wow! I felt like a beginner, it was so hard! She did an amazing job with it tonight. I guess this is a brag session, but.... Alicia has really improved this year. She made up a medley on her own and played it. It was a "Legend of Zelda" medley. She made up the music by playing what she had heard off of video games that she has played! No music to look at. I am so proud of her. Anakin is on his second year of playing, and loves it. When it was his turn to play, he went up with a big smile and finished with an even bigger smile:):). Next month I will be adding Mary and Kyra to the piano lessons. Kyra has been so excited about the idea of learning how to play the piano...a couple of months ago I told her she would get to take lessons in the summer. She was so excited that she got out her pink book bag, went upstairs, picked out a few piano books, placed them in the bag and told me she was all ready to learn:) They are both excited to play. We have a wonderful piano teacher. She is so kind and patient with the kids. I really appreciate all that she does for my children. Anyway, that was my brag session about the piano and my family:):):) I love it!!

Second Posting....

Well, let's see. I don't know what to say really, I've never done this before. I guess I will just write about what I have been up to. Chuck is in Salt Lake working. Yesterday I spent a lot of time working outside. I worked on our new little garden. We can't grow much up here in Randolph, but we thought we would try our hand at a few things that should grow here. It will be fun to see what we end up with.

Today I began doing some spring cleaning around the house. I cleaned the upstairs living room from top to bottom. I moved the furniture around and I put new pictures up. It looks much better now. I just wish I had good furniture to inhance the look. Instead I have two ugly old couches that don't match and two old non-matching chairs, and a broken recliner. Okay, I know I'm being negative, but I hope some day to have a beautiful living room with matching furniture.

I am so happy to be home for the summer. It's so great to be able to be home with my kids all day. I really loved my first year of teaching kindergarten, but I definately deserve a break. First year teaching is very, very busy. There is so much planning and preparation. So much of my work had to be done at home. Especially because I had such a large class (32 kindergarteners in a full day kindergarten). I loved the kids in my class. I really learned a lot and I am looking forward to using my new knowledge to make next year an even better year. But, for now, I am going to enjoy the summer and do things with my family.

Over the weekend I visited my family for Memorial Day weekend. On Saturday I put some beautiful flowers on my mom's grave. I sure miss her. I will never stop missing her. I wish my kids could have known her. Katrena is the only one who has any memories of my mom. She was such a wonderful person. She lived a great life. I like to tell stories to my kids about their grandma. It's nice to know that some day I will get to see her again. I love you mom!

Memorial Day

This is my first blog! I am excited to learn how to do this. My sister-in-law, Chelsea is helping me because I'm blog illiterate.