Mother's Day

Yesterday about an hour before we were supposed to pick up the kids from Sara she texted and said that she and Kenneth wanted to go out to dinner and could they bring the kids early.  We said yes.   She also wanted to know if the kids could spend the night as her play that she is starring in was going to get out late. But she wanted to come and pick them up in the morning by 8:00 a.m. so no church.  We said ok.  But that evening by the time they got through a traffic jam at 410 and 281 they were almost an hour later.  I don't know if they ever got dinner before the show.

David, Sammy, Maggie, and Isaac with the milkshake machine

When the kids came they had a mother's day present for me.  It was a milkshake machine with cards from them and a picture frame with a promise of a picture to put in it.  They wanted to make milkshakes right away.  But we talked them into going shopping first.

We went to Wal-mart and Larry and I told them what their amount they had to spend was.  Then they picked out the things they wanted.  After looking for a while they decided to get Sara some chocolate covered strawberries, a beautifully decorated sheet cake, some flowers and three cards.  Maggie was the only one that did not choose a card so we had her make one for her mom on Sunday morning.

We went back to the apartment and made chocolate milkshakes, and s'mores and they played on their Ipads and watched Yo Gabba Gabba on the computer.

When it was time for bed we read scriptures and a story about the whatif monster and had prayer and then the kids called their dad and had prayer with him.  They had fun telling him what they had bought and telling him about their day.  Then we all finally went to sleep.

I was laying by Maggie because she insists that she wants me to sleep with her.  After Maggie was asleep I went to work on the computer for about an hour and then I went to bed.

I set my alarm for 7:30 a.m. to get the kids up and get them dressed.  As they were going to fix breakfast for their mom in bed I figured that I didn't need to get them up any earlier.  They got up and got dressed.  But no one showed up at 8:00 a.m.  Finally about 20 minutes after I texted Sara.  She said that Kenneth was on his way.  When he finally got there at 9:05a.m. he said he got lost.  Anyway that was a time when it was good to have the Ipads to entertain them so that they didn't get upset about getting up so early.

When Kenneth came they excitedly showed him all the stuff they had purchased and bagged it all up and went home. 

I have to admit it is hard to have this man Kenneth in the place where my son once was.  I am not going to say anything further but it is really hard to deal with and I am upset everytime I have to mention his name as if he belongs there.

Larry and I read scriptures and had our prayers.  Today we read a talk by Elder Todd Christofferson from the April General Conference entitled, "Why Marriage and Family Matter".  It is a powerful talk that helps us to understand why marriage is not something that can be decided politically because it is an institution of God.  I feel like I need to study it again and again.

 After reading we got dressed and guess what it was time to go to church!  Today the topic was Christ like attributes.  Something that I needed.  But most of the talks seemed to center around the Christ like attributes of Mothers.  One young man gave a talk mentioning how important our Mothers are in our lives and said how much he appreciated his mother who had gone out to drive him to prom when she need to be home for something else.  He also mentioned several other sacrifices that his mother had made for him.  I thought it was touching and very mature to recognize that he owed so much to his mother at a young age.  They had another lady talk a lot about characteristics of Christ from the scriptures and related them to experiences that she had with her own mother.  Then they had two people bear their testimony.

After Sacrament they passed out the same book that Erick and Heather had given me with a Hershey's chocolate bar inside and a small bouquet of plastic flowers that actually looked quite real.  I don't believe I have been in another ward that has given that much to the mothers at one time.  Of course I ate the chocolate bar immediately because I was so hungry this morning.

Sunday School was a lesson on the importance of the scriptures in our lives and described the blessing we get from reading the scriptures which are a strengthening of our testimony and power to overcome Satan and his temptations.

Relief Society was a Visiting Teaching Conference today with ideas on how to be a better visiting teacher and how to do home teaching.  Of course because it was technically a conference they served refreshments and I ate them all so I ate 50 points worth of food today with the cheesecake and cookies I ate.

We came home and Larry fixed dinner.  He made boiled shrimp with sauce for dipping, a spinach salad and he cooked some frozen Mozzerella sticks that we have had.  They were yummy but they were a couple of points each so I probably shouldn't have eaten so much but it was all good and I appreciate him fixing dinner.  I ordered some new clothes for the mission for my present from him.

Kirsten texted while we were eating and wanted to Skype like we had planned.  So we Skyped with her and Taylor and Kyle for about an hour.  Taylor showed me my card that they are sending me so I would know I had one.  Kyle came over and talked under pressure as he was playing a basketball game.  He is graduating soon and because we cannot go to the graduation we are flying him down for a week to spend time here with us.

 After that we read the scriptures and such that we read at night and said our prayers even though it was only about 4:10 p.m.

Mom in the new swing

Larry took a nap and I called my Mom and talked to her for a while.  She said that it had really rained in Lehi yesterday so it was good that the patio was covered so Keith could put the new gliding swing the family bought her for the patio together.  She let me know about Clair graduating and a few other things I did not know like Cory and Rebecca have taken in a set of 3 month old twins to care for because the mother was having a hard time.

 After the call to Mom I have worked on the blog to get it all caught up.  I have been working on it now for about 4 hours.  I am so slow at writing and I often want to express some things differently but it is hard to express the feelings that are inside my head with the intensity that I feel them.  Part of the reason it has taken so long is that I also had to get up several times and move my legs and my computer seems to be dying for no reason this evening.

Jacob just called me for Mother's Day.  That means a lot to me.  We had a good visit but he needed to go because he gets up at 4:00 a.m. to go to work tomorrow.  He is such a hard worker. He really works hard to provide for Nikki and the kids.

Well until tomorrow or next week...............

May 9th and before

Today is Saturday and it feels so good to have a weekend all to ourselves.  We slept in until about 8:30 a.m. and took our time getting up and getting dressed.

Nathan and Marcy sent me a beautiful edible arrangement of fruit for Mother's Day that arrived at about 11:00 a.m.

Our Incredible Edible bouquet from Nathan and Marcy

Larry had a person from the Neptune Society come and talk to him about a prepaid cremation for a while.  He wants to be cremated when he dies so this is a way that he can determine that it is done as he wants it done.  We didn't purchase anything at this time but we learned a lot.  I had never heard of the Neptune Society before but apparently they have been around for 50 years helping people with their cremation wishes.

Right now Larry went to get some groceries as we have the kids for a while tonight.  We are taking them to find presents for their mom at Nathan's request and then they are staying for awhile as it is Sara's first night performing her new play and then she will pick them up after.

On Monday earlier in the week it was the day before MLC and I still had 10 Zones orders to fill.  I prayed that Heavenly Father would help me get the orders done or help me find someone that could help me lift the boxes.  I was worried about my hip getting worse again.  So I went with the promise from Larry that he would help me if he could.  When we got there Elder Jason Robert Nelson was going home because he had a fracture in his foot that needed repaired.  As I started I noticed that he seemed to need something to do.  We had talked for a while because he is an Elder from Heber City Utah that had stayed with some cousins of mine after his conversion to the church.  He was asking me if I knew various people in the family and I did so it was fun for him.  So I asked him if he would help me move a few boxes.  I showed him where he could see on the orders how many boxes of the Book of Mormons that they needed.  He didn't stop with just a few.  He got every box of Book of Mormons in both Spanish and English out and stacked and labeled ready for transport to MLC!  That was a great blessing.

I spent the rest of the day packing the other supplies in boxes and after Elder Nelson left then Larry helped me to lift the boxes of those.  When I finished it was around 5:30 p.m.  I considered it a miracle that I had been able to accomplish it as usually it takes me two days with about 6 different zones per day.  Consequently I did not foul up my leg and back like on Friday.

Marcy texted me a picture of Nathan with her youngest son Drayk.  She says that Drayk really likes to climb all over Nathan and nothing makes her happier than to see how cute Nathan is with him.  He is a cute little boy.

Nathan with Marcy's son Drayk

Tuesday Larry had to go and bring the cars back from the cul-de-sac.  He had the moving Elders and the Assistants help him.  They were able to get all of them except two that they could not find the keys for.

I worked on the paperwork that I had to do.  MLC was in Austin this time and so it was pretty quiet at the office because everything was taken in the morning by the moving Elders.  The Williams even stayed back from serving because the Antuars in the Institute at San Marcos fixed the dinner for the Leaders.  So it was a break for us.  I pretty much finished up all the work that I had to work on that day.  I get a little more done because we do not have to go home to fix lunch now Nathan has moved out and gone to Utah.

Tuesday I went to the doctor in the afternoon and she gave me some new medicines and referral for a dermatologist and for Blood work.  I was feeling pretty good that day.  I actually got in and out and was able to get back to the office for another two hours work.

Tuesday night we went to the temple after eating dinner.  We did endowments for two of Larry's ancestors that we got the cards from Michelle and did the initiatory for last week.  It was a good night with more introspection on my part.

Wednesday Larry still had not found the keys to the cars that he had lost.  He asked everyone who drove for him and no one had found them.  He looked every where that he thought they should be also.

My presents from Erick and Heather

I worked on my office work and finished it up at about 1:00 p.m.  When the mail came there was a present for Mother's Day in it from Erick and Heather and Ryker.  Because I was caught up on my work.  I sat and read the little book that they sent from a talk by Patricia Holland.  It was just what I needed to hear.  I have spent a lot of time in retrospection about why I had to experience the dislike I have from some of my children when I have worked so hard to be a good mom to them.  I have spent several hours over several days in prayer about it.  The book was just what I needed to help me move on.  It talks about this idea that she has on how to open your soul.  She says that the soul is in 5 boxes.  The first is opened by prayer to God.  The second is opened by studying the scriptures.  The third by unselfish service and the 4th is opened by humility.  I realized that I am at the 4th step in understanding myself.  I am at the time where I am learning to be humble.  I have had several experiences with people that do not like me and I cannot figure out why because I have always thought I was a pretty nice person and easy to get along with but I have learned that you cannot control what others do and recently I read a book called How to Hug a Porcupine trying to understand Nathan.  In the process I learned that I am somewhat of a porcupine in my personality and that may be the reason that I affect some people the wrong way.  So I am being humbled trying to learn to be less judgmental by being judged by others.  I am also learning to turn more over to Christ as I cannot do some things that I would like to do.  I just have to have faith that he can do what I know I cannot do.

Later in the day I worked on the transfer board for an hour as I remembered that I still had that to do.
Larry had been out of the office and came back and said that it was a good thing he had gone up to the cars because just as he got there the police had come because someone had called about the cars being there.  Larry was able to explain to him his circumstances and not get a ticket.  That was a tender mercy.

Then we left to go and get the kids.  I texted some vin numbers to a key maker while Larry drove out to Converse to pick up the kids from their schools so that we could take them to Scouts.  We have been picking up the little kids and taking them to McDonalds for dinner and then meeting Sara at the Church,  She takes the kids that do not have scouts and leaves David for his Scouts and Mutual and then while they are in Scouts we go to the Family History Center that they have there and help people with their family history.  Then we take the boys home after Scouts.

We did not have the people show up that said that they would be there but a group of Young Men came in to do some indexing so it is probably best they didn't because there were not many computers left.  So I went on line to learn more about the person I had done endowments for on Tuesday.  I found out that she was a cousin to one of Larry's Great Great Grandfathers.  As I played around on Family Search I found four of her kids that had not been there before so I have some people that we can take to the temple for David to do Baptism's for the dead sometime.  I am also learning the great value of doing descendency work to find names for the temple.  It was exciting to find someone that was actually not on Family Search Family Tree in the records.

Thursday we got up and went to breakfast at Taco Cabana because we had no milk and Larry was waiting for the key man to call and have him meet him at the cul-de-sac so he could get the keys for the cars he needed to move.  After eating we went up there and read scriptures and facebook while we were waiting for him to come.  He finally came and he started on the first car but he could not get it to work because of an electrical code problem.  So he started working on the other car.  There was nothing I could do in this so I read a book I had on Kindle.  At 10:30 a.m. I finally called Sister Williams to tell her where we were.  He got the second car to go and then he and Larry went back to the other and tried to jump it.  After another hour of work Larry finally came and told me to drive our car around and they used it to jump the one car.  Then he told me to take our car and go into the office.  So I did.

I got to the office and began working and Larry came in and we worked for a few minutes and then he wanted me to drive him to get the other car.  So I did.  While I was there I went to the pharmacy to pick up my prescriptions and then went to get some milk and fruit so we would not be out again because we had been out for three days because we didn't want to take the time to get it.  Consequently I was gone from the office for another hour.  When I got back I was able to do the paperwork that needed to be done for the day.  I kept thinking that it was Friday for some reason so I was hurrying to get somethings done and then later I realized that it was Thursday and I had worried ahead.

David at Red Robin

Thursday night we went to get David and took him to dinner for his birthday.  His birthday was actually on Friday the 8th but we thought we would give Sara that time with him and so we planned on Thursday.  We decided to take him by himself because he tends to move to the background and we do not get to talk to him with the little kids around.  We started out to go to Freddy's steakhouse and frozen custard but when we got to the Forum shopping center he changed his mind and wanted to go to Red Robin.  So we went there.  We had a good time talking to him and learning a little more about what he is thinking and what is important to him.  They sang a Happy Birthday song to him and gave him a Sundae and then we went to Toys R Us and he picked out a game that he liked after about a half hour of shopping and looking.  He got the Mario game for Wii.

Our book from BJ and Holly

Friday we actually got to the office early and worked all day and accomplished all that we needed to do.  We went to get the mail on the way to the office and there was a package for us.  We opened it on the way to the office trying to figure out who and what sent it.  When we finally got it opened it was a book that BJ and Holly had made with pictures from our trip to Hawaii when we visited them.  We had fun showing it to several of the people that came into the office to see us that day.

Larry was actually a little frustrated later in the day after paying $300.00 for the two keys the assistants came back to the office, at the end of the day, and said that the keys for the two cars they found on the seat of the Jeep they borrowed.  So either the Lord found them and put them there or someone did not look very good when they were driving that vehicle.

Our chocolate strawberries from Jake and Nikki

Friday we went home and found a package at out door.  It was a package from  Shari's Berries.  When we opened it it was Chocolate covered strawberries from Jake and Nikki.  Of course we ate a couple each and posted the picture on Facebook so they knew we got it and ate dinner and went to bed to get the rest we needed for the kids coming on Saturday.

May 3 and before

Some of the cars from Pinewood Derby, the red on the left was the winner

Today was a fun and frustrating day.  We had the kids for Sunday until after church.  They slept in until almost 8:00 a.m.  Then Maggie  came in and wanted some breakfast.  Larry had bought them bacon and mini cinnamon rolls last night when he went shopping.  Some of them also had cereal but when Maggie got her bacon and cinnamon rolls she said, "Grandpa is such a good cook, Huh Grandma?"  I had to agree even though I was fasting.

Sammy's angry birds car on the far left and Issac's Breakfast to go car on the second to end on the right

Getting ready for church wasn't to hard except that I had forgot to get more than one pair of socks for the boys from Nathan's apartment when we went to get stuff for them so they thought I was pretty gross for telling them to wear the same socks another day.

For some reason I was in a lot of pain today.  It comes and goes according to the weather I think.  When we got to church we were a half hour early because Larry had misread the clock and thought it was later than it was.   I had brought tablets for the kids to write on in  church so we got those out and they drew on them fine but for some reason Maggie did not feel like she could draw after the Sacrament meeting started.  She wanted to sit backwards on the bench in front.  She wanted to sit backwards on the bench.  She wanted to read a story out loud.  Then she decided she wanted to go outside.  I told her that she needed to sit down and listen or draw but she moved over by David.  Then David started loudly whispering that Maggie was bugging him.  I got up to go get Maggie and she walked out of the chapel.  I looked for her for 10 minutes.  She was in none of the places we usuallyo go when we go out like the bathroom or outside.  Finally I found her in the opposite foyer just dancing around the lamp.  I tried to get her to come with me but she wouldn't and dropped to the floor.  Then I picked her up and took her to the restroom because I needed to go to the bathroom.  I asked her if she needed to go and she said no.  So we went back into the meeting.  After we got in Sammy wanted to go and get a drink.  He was really good today so I told him yes.  Immediately Maggie starts talking saying that she has to go to the bathroom.  I was very frustrated and I told her she had to wait until Sammy got back.  When he got back she still said that she had to go but of course she had to have me go with her.  As I was shutting the door to the stall the door closed on my finger and it really hurt.  So much so that I started to cry.  When we went back to go in one of my friends in the ward wondered if I was okay.  I went over to show her that it was just my finger before we went back in the chapel.  In that time Maggie found her friend Elizabeth and wanted to play with her.  I told her we needed to go back into  the chapel.  I have never felt it was good to take kids out to play in the foyer because then they want to do it each week.  When we got inside she was still saying that she wanted to play with Elizabeth and she went to the row in front of us.  Larry reached up and whispered to  her to come and sit down by me and to be quiet.  Apparently that was not what she wanted to hear.  So she started to whimper cry.  I told her that she needed to try to stop like I had in the bathroom but she wouldn't and she was disturbing so I took her out and we went to the Mother's room where they have the meeting piped in.  I told her how disappointed I was and that I wanted to hear the meeting and she needed to stop thinking of only herself.  I was proud of myself because I wanted to take her and give her a spanking but I have learned that does not help.  So we sat in the Mother's lounge and I listened to the last two testimonies and tried to calm down.  After Sacrament meeting I took Maggie to primary and after spending the time trying to get away from me she starts to cry that she wants me to stay in Primary with her.  She just clings to me each time.  Luckily Sarah Christensen in the presidency has clued into this and tries to get her involved in helping her or I think she would still be standing there crying and clinging to me.  That was a frustrating day for me.

Sammy and Isaac on the right waiting to begin.

Sunday School we talked about following the Prophet.  He mentioned that President Monson is 87, President Packer is 91, Elder Perry is 92, and Elder Nelson is 91 so all of the people in immediate line for the presidency are in their 90's.  Then Elder Oaks is 83.  We have all been speculating about President Monson's health because he only spoke twice at conference but it said today on Facebook that he is just suffering from old age and still comes to work everyday and is not having any real problems in an announcement from the church.

In Relief Society we talked about Elder Eyring's talk in Priesthood Meeting on Binding others wounds. Essentially it talked about how we are to balance home and family responsibilities as we try to help others.  It pointed out that many times we have to listen to the spirit as we decide what is most important.

We took the kids home right after church while we were down there.

Maggie, Sara and Larry waiting for it to begin

We came home and ate dinner and then we read some scriptures and then took a nap.

I am not sure what time I woke up but a few minutes after Erick called and said that he and Ryker wanted to Skype with me.  Ryker wanted to show me his new notebook for writing in and he made some L's for me. Then he showed me his Perry the Platypus costume from Halloween. Larry woke up about that time and we had a good visit with Erick for about an hour or more.  It was good to talk to Ryker and Erick .

Isaac getting his Bear Award with Sara

On Tuesday of last week I ended up feeling wonderful physically after I talked to the Lord on Monday. 

Refreshments with awards

We got to the office early and I answered a phone call for Sister Williams but I felt like I was supposed to answer it because it was a Mom of one of the missionaries worried about how to buy him a new light for his bike as he had broken it.  After I talked to her I called him and we determined that I would send him a light that had been sitting on my desk for several months after someone left it there.  So then I was able to call the mother back and let her know that we had the problem taken care of.  Sister Williams would not have known that.  Tender mercy.

Larry waited all day to find out when they were going to put Twi's in the 11 new cars he received last week.  He had just given up and decided that it was not going to happen until next week when they called at 5:00 p.m. and said that everything was arranged on Salt Lake's end.  Then Larry had to contact the missionaries and make sure things were happening on his end.

Isaac proud of his Bear Award

If you remember from the post about the 27th we were very frustrated at not being able to find any of Nathan's tools at his apartment to finish the Pinewood Derby cars.  Larry determined it was important to me and so he went and bought the tools that were needed and put the boys wheels on the cars.  He worked on that at the office in the afternoon because at that point he had nothing pressing waiting for Salt Lake.  However when he went to get the tools he also went to the DMV and did the things he need to do for the licenses for the new cars.

The games begin

Wednesday Larry had to get to the office at 8:00 a.m. to begin putting in the Twi's on the new cars.  I dropped him off and went to mail some things for him and then I went to the store to get some fruit for the office to snack on.  By the time I got back they were almost finished with the Twi's and the office was teaming with the Elders and Sisters that had to bring their old cars in to get the new cars.  It was so fun to see them all.

Wednesday evening we had the Pinewood Derby at the ward house.  Sara came and she said that it was not as disciplined as the old unit they used to be in.  But the kids had a fun time.  Isaac won his first two races but then he lost in the third and fourth.  Sammy's car was hard to put the wheel on because he had decorated it with duck tape and it was sticking out next to the wheel and so the wheel was slanted so I think that is why his car was just a hairs slower than the other cars.  He lost all his races but he was happy.  Everyone got a participation ribbon and then the winners got red, yellow and blue.  Sammy got a ribbon so he did not care what color he got .

The white flowered thistle

Isaac also got his Bear awarded to him that evening.  I felt bad that Nathan could not be there because he had worked so hard to help him get his Bear.  Scouts is really important to Nathan and I think that is good.

Maggie and Sammy on our walk

Thursday morning I finished getting all my supply orders in for MLC so I got those printed out and began working on them.

Larry was worrying about how to get all the cars that he had in the parking lot moved because they were saying again that they were going to resurface the parking lot over the weekend and they wanted all the cars out of the parking lot at the building where the office is.  He got the Assistants to help him move most of them to a dead end cul-de-sac in front of our apartment complex.  It has worked good and so far no one has complained.

Strange growing Oak Tree makes for a great playground

Friday we worked more on orders and moving cars at the office.  I had felt pretty good all week but after trying to move only three boxes my Sciatica was acting up again even though the Physical Therapist had released me that morning as being better.

Maggie at dance

Larry had to drive to meet the missionaries from Cibolo to help them put on the Twi after they got a new windshield.  Last time he had this problem they made him put it back on but this time when he got there Safelight had glued it back on the windshield.  So we ended up with lots of time to kill before we met Sara to pick up the kids.  So, we went to Chick-fil-A and had dinner and talked and relaxed for a few minutes.  Then we went to Nathan's apartment where we had agreed to meet and were able to get in and get a few more things for the kids to take to our apartment for the time he is gone.  Sara was going to help us but because we got there early we had it all found and organized and were able to leave.

Friday night we just played games and figured out who was sleeping where.  Maggie wanted to play the Life Zapped game but we had to recharge the IPad it is on. We figured out how to get a show she liked on Amazon Prime and so that was something that she and the little boys enjoyed for most of the night.

Saturday morning we slept in.  We had breakfast and then I took Maggie to dance.  She looked so pretty in her leotard and I should have got a closer picture.  She is really growing taller and she just looked really pretty that morning.

When we got back we went to the park after eating and the kids played on the playground and Maggie and Sammy and I went for a short walk.  They had some thistles in bloom and they had white flowers so I was surprised because all the thistle blossoms that I have seen in Utah had Purple blossoms so I took a picture.  They also had an unusual shaped Oak tree in the park that I took a picture of.

The kids finally got tired and then we decided that we would go home and let them swim.  But only Isaac and Maggie wanted to swim and so Larry stayed with David and Sammy and I took the others to the pool.  I did not feel like swimming so I just watched.  Isaac had fun for a while using his snorkeling gear to swim.  Maggie made a friend with a girl named Evelyn and they played for a while.  Then Evelyn left and Maggie went to watch a Volley Ball Game that some Young Adult men were playing. They look very clean cut so I didn't think it would hurt.  Somehow she got them to play with her and she would catch the ball and other things and throw them back to them.  When Isaac had decide he had enough Maggie was not wanting to come home because she was having fun but I insisted.

Larry went shopping while I started dinner and got some food for treats.  He bought a chocolate, slow churned, no sugar added ice cream that was so good that we ate almost all the carton that night.  We also made s'mores from the supplies he bought.  He bought some giant marshmallow that were so big that they would only fit on the whole rectangular graham cracker after melting.

We watched part of the movie "Meet the Mormons" and then we did an activity from the friend before getting ready to go to bed.  The kids made hand prints to mail to the friend with something that they had done to serve others written on it.  It was a fun time.  Then we played a game of Life Zapped which Larry won.

When bedtime came it was easier to find beds for everyone with Nathan gone but I think the kids missed him because they kept asking where he was.