things that come with the job

I have never been toilet papering before. Ever. When I was young, my parents both worked with the youth in our Church. Our house got hit weekend after weekend. We spent a lot of time cleaning up toilet paper, or construction paper polka dots that had been adhered to the house and sidewalk with toothpaste, or oreos... My parents told me I could go toilet papering with my friends if I left a note saying I would help clean up the next day. I was a very good girl and I NEVER went.

Despite my inexperience, I know a couple of things about toilet papering. Foremost, I understand that the prank is a teenager's way of saying, "I like you. You're alright." So imagine how flattered we felt when we became the target a couple weekends ago.

We got a text from our friends across the street letting us know what was going down. And shortly after that the doorbell rang. We went outside and were at first surprised, then impressed. They did a pretty bang up job and had left a note saying "Love the YCL's." (Youth Camp Leaders : the 16-18 year old girls at girls' camp.)

We wanted to wake Grace and Grant up so they could see it, but decided to wait until morning. About an hour later, we were heading up to bed and glanced out the window only to find the mess all cleaned up! I was so sad! I hadn't taken any pictures. When I checked my phone before bed, I had an email from the YCL leader apologizing that the doorbell had been rung. Those sweet girls were so worried that they had made trouble for us waking the kids, that they wanted to leave a note saying they would come back and clean it up the next day. But as they talked about their schedules they realized that the best time to clean it up was that night. So they did.

We also found out that our next door neighbor came out and tried to urge them towards a different target. Makes a person feel safe about living in a place when your own friends can't pull off a prank without you knowing. These were pictures the girls and there leaders took that night.


The rest are pictures I snapped with my phone at our camp kickoff a couple of weeks ago. It has been such a lot of work that has been shouldered by a team of wonderful people. We have one more big deadline just a few weeks away. And then the rest of the gils' camp experience will be completed at the ward level. And our presidency will be onto the next big thing. :)

Easter 2012

Oh, I just love Easter week. We did all of our usual things. I'm thinking we will be ready to change a few things up next year, keep the older kiddo's paying attention. We had our Palm Sunday family night reenactment with a couple of other families in the ward. And for the second year in a row, I didn't get any pictures. :( Throughout the rest of the week we read other stories from our Easter book and from the scriptures.

We enjoyed the 4th annual L* family Jerusalem dinner al fresco. I didn't make a full seder plate this time, but we had charoset and maror with our broiled fish and cucumber salad. I love reading through the explanations for all the ritual foods of the passover on this Thursday night every year. And, note to self, take a pass on the goat cheese next year.

We were invited to an Easter egg hunt and brunch with some other families from our ward. Eden got to hit the field first as she was the youngest of the group.

Check out Eden's cheeser. Lately this is what she is giving us when we ask for a smile. This is now my favorite picture of all time.

We spent a lot of the weekend in the pool, but took a break to die some eggs. As usual, Grace went for the gusto.

The night before Easter Sunday, we made Easter story cookies. Though nothing will match the reaction and the teaching moment that happened the first time we made these cookies, I love going through the scriptures and the story that are part of the recipe.

And here they are the next morning, empty little rocky tombs:

Sunday was pretty great. Gracie sang in the choir with me and Cori. Eden was a fussy mess throughout the first two hours of church, but finally settled down in nursery for the third hour. I got to help out in sharing time for their special Easter lesson which was lovely for me. Brett and Tiff brought a cheesecake and shared the rest of the day with us. Now, to renew our efforts to keep this focus until next Easter!

conference weekend

These weekends are such a favorite. I am super grateful for the  FHE lesson Grandma Sandy gave us while we were in UT. She had us write down specific questions for which we were hoping to get answers through the words of our living prophet and apostles. I put my questions in my journal and had them at the front of my mind as we watched and listened. Answers came loud and clear - so much more so for my focus in looking for them specifically. Thanks Grandma Sandy!

For all this, I didn't take any pictures of us watching conference. But I did take pictures of the family festivities that happened around the sessions.

Brett and Tiffany joined us for the weekend, always a treat. On Saturday we took the cover off the pool and lit up the BBQ. Some friends from our ward joined us as well. I am so ready for Summer to get here.

Later on, we took a hike to get a view of the progress being made on the new Temple. The basement is built and the infrastructure is going up. It is all so exciting! And less than three miles from our front door. Can't wait.

The whole group atop one of the 'mountains' in Thunderbird Park.

So much cactus. And its blooming.

Cori set up the backgammon net. And we played games at the park at the end of the street.

got it covered

We are trying a few new things in the yard this Spring. Some friends in our ward discovered the secret to gardening in Phoenix. Their handful of tomato plants yielded over 2000 pieces of fruit last year. They were good enough to share some step by step directions with us and we got it all set up. Cori prepared a lovely 14' x 4' pad that is now double wraped in plastic and filled with tomatoes, squashes, herbs, peppers, and a soaker hose. So far so good.

We also got a cover for the pool in hopes of extending our swim season. When we first built the pool, we debated about putting a heater on it. The initial installation expense aside, we learned that it is really expensive to heat up thousands of gallons of water. The cover is supposed to heat the water 10*, maybe more. Our thermometer needs replacing, so we don't know for sure how much it heated things up, but we went swimming this last weekend and it was great!

spring break 2012

We were so happy to spend our Spring break in Utah with Grandma Sandy and Papa Ray. It worked out really well with Cori's schedule. He was able to go to a conference at BYU and do some recruiting without eating up any of that precious little vacay time. And the children and I played, relaxed, read, and hung out with Grandma and Grandpa. Here are some shots from our week.

Grandpa Ray reading the "Going to Bed Book." Grant yawned a lot.

The weather was a little snowy upon our arrival. All the Utahans are sick of the fickle Spring weather, but we were thrilled for a little more winter. Grace and Grant spent as much time as possible outside.

Gracie had some help getting a wiggly tooth out. We played duck duck goose for FHE activity, and lets just say, our Grammie Sandy can be pretty competitive! :) Grace didn't even notice it until the little dislodged tooth was pointed out to her. I was thrilled. The last wiggly tooth spent a little too much time being wiggly.

Aunt Brittany brought Ashton, Hunter and Macaleb down to play one day. That night we all had dinner with Grandpa Randy.

Grandpa Randy has two BIG dogs, Daisey and Gunner, whom the children delight in fawning over. Everyone wanted to help with the ginormous water bowl.

We made a few trips to the park. Grace and Grant were fighting over who should walk in front and ultimately decided to walk hand-in-hand so they could both be the leader. Melted my mommy heart just a bit.

We had a relaxing week playing all around Grammie and Papa's house. Inside and out.

Grace and Grant made corn dogs with Papa Ray in the solar oven.

Lots and lots and lots of books were read.

Cori's cousin got married up in Idaho Falls and we made the trip up to go to the sealing and see our family up there. We stayed with Super Grandma Venna and Super Grandpa Larry. Is there anything cooler than a farm?

Grandpa Larry took us up to see the dry farm, a huge homestead that has been worked by the R* family for four generations. It is a 30 minute drive from their home in Iona. Grandma Sandy used to spend her summers at the dry farm working with her parents and playing with her siblings. It was very neat getting to see these places.

A lot of the farm land up there is being converted into wind farms. The windmills are so huge. Uncle Doug got one set up on part of the R* land. (Pictured below)

While we were at the temple for the sealing all the kids got to hang at Aunt Ann and Uncle Doug's house. Playing "taco" with Cori's cousin Reed was a big highlight.

It made for a lot of driving to get back to Phoenix, but we were so grateful to be able to spend time with these two and the rest of the family.