Creating is its own reward

 I like to write blogs, music, stories, journals, make movies etc...  While there are some people who make money doing these things, it's OK that I get to enjoy doing them.  P enjoys the things I create.  I recently submitted some pieces to a competition and did not get chosen.  That's OK.  This is the great lesson I learned from Group Solitaire "It is enough to play."  Don't expect to win.  Do your best and have a good time.

Trip to see family

 This weekend we got to visit my brother for my niece's baptism.  It was so nice to see them and support them on this special day.  They took us out to lunch afterward.  So nice!

On the way home we stopped by Mardis Falls which was a short hike for such an amazing waterfall.  It was a beautiful day.

Conference Weekend

 M is at a band trip for Indoor Winds in Kentucky.  P and I enjoyed watching the National Brass Band competition this weekend.  We took the boys to the natural history museum while lP did a duet at Solo and Ensemble.  We've been enjoying conference between these activities.  The inclusion of new music has been very nice.

I love our new home.  It is quiet as we hoped to find.  I like the features that are more updated than our previous home.  We live in such convenient proximity to schools and shopping.  The yard is beautiful.  

General Authorities often tell cute stories from their early days of courtship or marriage.  P and I have some good stories and I hope that we can see the Lord's hand in our lives.

Easter feast

 We don’t celebrate holidays as big as some do but we do some special things.  When we have a holiday meal I like to have the kids sign up to bring something.  G chose to bring hamburgers.  M brought strawberries and crepes.  Penny brought green bean casserole.  B brought pickles and flat bread.  L brought ice cream.  P brought carrots.  I helped make and buy many of these things. LP and I made sugar cookies with m&m bunny faces.  I also made French toast.

We go to the ward party and community events but don’t do baskets at home.   I feel like they already get so much candy at these community events that we don’t need to do more.

I do love a family meal.  Maybe we’ll start doing this monthly.

Apple tree

I pruned the apple tree.  Maybe too much.

This is our beautiful flowering cherry tree!

This is our peach tree.

The giant tree behind our house is a Bradford pear.
 I love our house so much.  We have amazing trees.

Alabama Kayaking

M gathered treasures from the river.  One of our first kayak experiences 8 years ago was a river clean up with the county naturalist.

We went kayaking for the first time in Alabama and the first time in about a year.

Last year at this time we were so busy preparing the house for sale and showing it that we didn't go kayaking.

This river flows to the Tennessee river.  We thought there would be current but there wasn't much of one.

The weather was cool and sunny.  Perfect weather to wrangle everyone out on the water. 
 

Holy Week good

 

G and I got to attend a session today.  He had to ask over and over for the ASL video.  The temple worker kept whispering that there was captioning for the video.  I’m proud of G’s persistence.  I was so tempted to get up and mama bear, but he prevailed.