Isn't she beautiful?, again

Isn't she beautiful?

Jamie and my sweet niece, Betty.

Isn't this great?

If you receive the New Ear each month, this should look familiar. Brandon and cousin Ryan were both attending conference for their first priesthood session. Jeffrey has since passed 8 years old and was there for the first time at the conference center. And we were attending for the first time since the mission and had our first mission reunion (our new favorite holiday...and it comes twice a year!) The boys ran into Roy Matsunaga, a former assistant from the AMM. So glad a real photographer was there to capture the memory!

So quick, but so fun!

We had such a great time. So glad the whole family could come. Wish we could do it more often. And I'll admit it. After hearing Luke wasn't sure he wanted to come, I was kinda' glad to hear he cried at the airport because he didn't want to leave.
I don't have a lot of time to write much about the pictures-hopefully everyone else will chime in. I will say, notice the dads in park shot. Also look for the picture with Jeff running towards me, "You can see him saying, "Mo-om, it's not fair...'" Abby and Taylor-Jen you can take that one, and cute picture of Jen with the girls on the swing. (Em, I have a better picture of you on the playground, but the wrong one downloaded. When I get back to Scottsdale, I'll try and remember to upload the best one.
If you missed some of the other posts, check out Creepy Crawlies, The Good Egg,  OJ adventure and our Easter Egg hunt.



... and the Friday finale! The Statue walk downtown (love the new American Gothic), Mangos then ending up at the Easter Pageant.



CAM! So happy to see you and your beautiful family. It's been a LONG time, but not much longer.

post game fun

What's better than General Conference?

General Conference on Easter...

...with cousins!

And missionaries.

(The aprons are to save their white shirts. They're so kind and humble, they humored me and allowed the picture.)

Conference food tradtions:

waffles with homemade syrup (no more Mrs. Buttersworth at our house), opt. peanut butter

Cave Creek Tacos

Breakfast Nachos

***This year we traded bagels and fruit for doughnuts and then chili for Ribs and hot dogs. I don't think any of the kids felt bad about that.

(Don't you love Jeff's hair? He doesn't like me to do it for him...he likes it this way better. Independence is hard...for the mom!)

Love the conference packets! Taylor got them ready for his pre-conference FHE lesson. Thanks Tay. They helped the kids stay a little quieter on Sunday-except they did most of it on Saturday before conference even started.

OK Jess, we did something different with the treats to prevent some of the getting up and down. This time, before it started everyone filled their own private bowl and kept it nearby. Dad gave some magic words to listen for. Worked much better!

(Couldn't resist, he's just so cute.)

O Remember, Remember

Yesterday I decided to revisit my commitment to follow the counsel in Elder Eyring's talk, O Remember, Remember. In simple terms, the idea is to take time each day to reflect on how we saw the hand of God (often through others) in the lives of our family, or to ask yourself if you felt some inspiration from Heavenly Father during the day.

SO, during the day I'm looking for that special something. Mark and I came home just after our meetings (just in time to get a snack ready before the younger boys got home from school) and BINGO! There it was. But first, let me preset the scenario.

Jeffrey goes to the office every day to check the mail, just in case there's a letter for him. There's usually not a happy ending to this ritual (and yes, every time I remind him that if he wants letters he has to write letters! He says he did-to which I respond that letters written over a year and a half ago don't count. He stomps off upset. That pattern never varies.)

Back to the present. Waiting for us, wrapped in a simple card board box, was a present from Emy, Ben & Clara. There was a fun package for each of us. I had intentions of taking a picture to post and say thanks, but the contents were dissembled too quickly. We had a great time going through all those things. It felt so good to be loved and remembered. Thank you Ben and Emy! We love you, too.

Spa Days

The spa in the middle of summer in Arizona?
Yes and it was awesome! It was actually cool this week (relatively cool anyway). Perfect weather. Jeffrey frequently ran to get into the spa and warm up. (One day we'll get some meat on his bones then he'll be able to hold his heat.)

5 & Diner

Faith's one regret about their visit? No trip to the '5 & Diner'....

until, surprise! On the way to take the Brashers to the airport we stopped off for dinner. Great idea Faith!
I think Lucy is sad because guess what? No Olivia at this '5 & Diner'!

These two off on their own again.

It got really great when they started dancing to the juke box music. Don't know where Jeffrey & Grace learned the pulp fiction moves. Grace said it was from dance class?

Jackson just letting go.

Emily, you'll have to post your group shot pictures!

The Kiddy Pool

Splish Splash

Today we had fun exploring different areas of the grounds.

I think the big kids had more fun in this section of the pools than the little kids.

These buckets were my favorite.

Not to be outdone by the girls, the dads took a faceful.

Game time