Life At The MTC

Elder T finally sent us some photos!  Here are some pictures of him at the MTC.  I will put the California pictures in another post.
Here is Elder T with his MTC comp, Elder Ballantyne.  Don't they look so young?

I love this picture of all the missionaries at the temple:

Headed to California:

I don't know the other Elders but this is a cute photo of Colton:

This is his MTC district, half of them went to Arcadia too:

I love this shot with all the sunglasses:

I'm not sure what is happening in these next 2 photos.  What do they teach at the MTC anyway?  Jedi weapons instruction?  Glad he can have a little fun:

More Awards

Clint came home with awards from this school year for scholastic achievement, citizenship, and class spelling bee champ!  He says he's not capable of smiling for this photo, silly kid!!  Still proud of him though, way to go, Clint!

Yearbook

Kori's long awaited yearbook is here!

Here is an example of one of the pages where Kori took all of the pictures.  I really liked her sports photos:

On this page, Kori was responsible for the layout plus taking all the pictures:

On Yearbook staff this year, Kori gained a lot of valuable skills, had lots of fun, made a bunch of new friends, and walked away with the Yearbook department award for the year!  Way to go, Kori!!

It's Over!!!

Here are some pics from our LOST finale party:
Some new recruits for the Dharma Initiative:

Clint Work Man:

Kori with some Dharma water:

The food (salmon, tropical fruit, rice, scones, Hawaiian punch):

The dessert, we had way too much fun making these:

Hey, isn't that Sawyer and Juliet?  (wishful thinking?)  Maybe it's Mr. Locke and Rousseau?

Anyway, it was great fun for these Losties.  And the show was great too!  Except it left some of us a little sad that it's all over!

The Happy Crafter

Since I seem to be happiest when I'm holed up in my craft room working on a project, it has been a very good month around my house!  Here are some of the things I've been working on:
Bible themed quiet books:

Activity blanket for a baby gift:

Map pendants for my missionary mom friends:

Cute purse sized Books of Mormon:

Became even cuter with a little paper and modge podge:

A new message board for right outside my front door:

This is what my craft room looks like on any given day, messy!!

But this is me when I'm there, happy!!

Happy Mother's Day

Happy Mother's Day to all you awesome moms who are reading this!  I am surrounded by many excellent examples of motherhood.  You lift me and encourage me in my role as "Mom" and I'm grateful for all of you.  My mom shared with me this poem that is credited to Mother Teresa.  I've heard it before and I think it is a good reminder for all of us, and certainly one to share with our children.  It's called the Anyway Poem:

People are often unreasonable, illogical and self centered;

Forgive them anyway.

If you are kind, people may accuse you of selfish, ulterior motives;

Be kind anyway.

If you are successful, you will win some false friends and some true enemies;

Succeed anyway.

If you are honest and frank, people may cheat you;

Be honest and frank anyway.

What you spend years building, someone could destroy overnight;

Build anyway.

If you find serenity and happiness, they may be jealous;

Be happy anyway.

The good you do today, people will often forget tomorrow;

Do good anyway.

Give the world the best you have, and it may never be enough;

Give the world the best you've got anyway.

You see, in the final analysis, it is between you and your God;

It was never between you and them anyway.

Cinco de Mayo

Monday night, we invited our next door neighbors, the Wallaces and the Mikesells, over for a Cinco de Mayo Family Home Evening party.  Lots of Mexican food was devoured, YUM!  We also had fun with a pinata, here's how that went:
Here I am with our colorful pinata!

Youngest to oldest, blindfolded and spun three times!  First up, Kennadee:

Chase almost has it!

Clint gives it his best shot!

Finally, Calvin breaks it wide open!

And the crowd descends...

What a haul!

Happy Cinco de Mayo!!

Changes

Changes are always bittersweet.  We've lived here 16 1/2 years now and I don't even know the number of Ward boundary changes we've seen.  A lot.  Today we saw not only Ward changes, but a Stake change as well.  A third Stake was created in Smithfield.  Now we have the Smithfield Stake, Smithfield North Stake, and the new Smithfield South Stake.  We had 2 visiting General Authorities, and we went to the Spectrum on campus for the meeting.  It was pretty cool to be up there with so many people!  We are still part of the Smithfield Stake.  Our Ward lost a lot of great people, mostly older people, including a very active retirement community.  We joke that we've lost our wisdom, and that Wes and I will have to be the older people now!  We gained even more people, mostly young families, plus a lot of empty lots and development possibilities.  Our Ward will be a lot bigger now, and we'll see growth.  I am sad about losing people, but mostly excited about the opportunities to meet new people.  The church is true wherever you go, and even in a new ward!  Give it a few more years and I'm sure we'll see changes again.