Me, my sister Barbie and my sister April in one of our dorms. The dorms this year were a brutal experience. I loved it last year but am considering new accomodations for the future....a hotel :D.
Me and my mom. I'm so glad we were all there together!
Me and my sisters again in the parking lot of the Provo temple. We were so ice cold that we were snapping pics in a hurry. I enjoyed being able to attend the temple while I was child free and literally 2 minutes from a temple. It's even better being there with mom and my sisters. We all missed Marilyn not being with us this year. Hopefully, next year for sure.
It's been busy around here getting back into the groove after being away at Women's Conference. I had a wonderful time and enjoyed the speakers and the classes so much. I really learn so much and mainly am spiritually fed and uplifted. I love it. It rejuvenates me and encourages me to be better, do better and to continually be in a state of progression. I loved the time off from the daily grind at home. Mothers need time outs for sure.
We had a great time eating out at Spaghetti Factory, CPK, Panda and Subway. Friday night we went out to CPK and met up with Amie and her mom. We enjoyed all of the time spent together talking about old times and fun times. We loved your house Amie!! What a peaceful place to live. Except for the mooing :D. Just teasing! I am commending you on your food storage. You guys are awesome. You have motivated me to really get mine finished. Thank you! You are doing such a great job with your family. James and Jessica are so polite and well mannered. They were fun to be around. Jessica is 9 going on 29. :D I think it is so funny. She is such a grown up. It was fun to catch up.
My kids did great here at home with dad and Aunt Nancy. She spoiled them by taking them to Doc Burnstein's (the ice cream store) everyday after school. They loved it!! She said Ellie's favorite ice cream seems to be strawberry. Emily has a cold and has been somewhat under the weather so I stayed home with she, Casey and Ellie yesterday and Nancy took Mitch with her to church. It was nice having a day of rest before the week started again. I so appreciate all that Nancy did to make it possible for me to leave. She did a great job and I am so thankful for her.
I have recommitted myself to some goals that I make over and over. After hearing so many wonderful words of advice at Women's conference, I would be dumb not to make it a priority each day to follow the council. I am going to spend more quality time with my children. Some things around the house can wait and maybe I just need to manage that a little bit better so that there is more time for me to spend with them. I started this morning by getting up at 5:00 to workout at 5:30 and then get my personal scripture reading in before the kids wake up. That is so essential for me to do it that early. It works out great for me. I was able to do more of my chores earlier in the morning so that I freed up time in the afternoon to spend with Emily. I sat out in the backyard, getting some color, and watched her ride her bike. She absolutely loved it. It was 85 degrees today and just beautiful. It made me feel so good to see how excited she was when I told her that I was going to come out and watch her. Anyway, I am happy to make some changes that I feel will benefit my family now and in the years to come.
I ended the day with a trip to Costco to exchange some items and build up our food storage. Todd met me there to help with the kids. It was an experience as it always is. We had family home evening and used some new books that I got at the book store to teach the scripture stories to the kids. The kids liked it and so did I. I am feeling good about the day. I really made a big effort to be conscious of how I spoke to the kids, how I reacted to certain situations that came up, and how I spent time with them. I am beat tonight but can go to bed feeling like I tried my best and made progress. Off to fold and then bed. 5am comes around very quickly :D.
