Can't stop-spring break

The climbing and exploring parts were a blast!

Still more

More camping pictures

Mirror Quote

The quote on the pantry mirror reads, "Life is to be Enjoyed, not just Endured" --Gordon B. Hinckley. The full quote comes from the conclusion of a 1996 talk , "Stand True and Faithful" in a General Young Women meeting. After discussing the challenges of life and the need to repent and be better, he concludes, “And finally, in all of living have much of fun and laughter. Life is to be enjoyed, not just endured.” (Ensign May 1996, p.91)

We love the way the mirror fits, and matches, and I like the quote. The mirror was a Christmas gift from Becky's sister, Elizabeth Merrell, that she found used, before she knew we had been remodelling.

Camping for Spring Break

This week we spent camping Monday through Friday nights--Monday in Capitol Reef National Park, Tuesday at Goblin Valley State Park, and Wednesday through Friday night at the Jaycee Park campground just a few miles from the entrance of Arches National Park.  We hiked a total of more than 20 miles, saw some amazing scenery, and had some fun adventures.

A couple of friends joined us for Goblin Valley and Little Wild Horse Canyon, and Nathan, Molly, and Bob came for a couple of days and some great food at Arches.

I loved being completely out of cell phone and e-mail range for almost the entire trip, not using a watch or worrying about appointments, and just spending good time with the kids.  They had a blast climbing rocks and exploring, and were good helpers with the camp setup and fire-building.  Becky was  a trooper and did an impressive job planning and bringing enough food for the entire week.

I wish you could see all 400 of the pictures we took, but I'll have to just include a small sampling here.  

New Pantry-After photos

Here are a few photos of our pantry.  It's still not 100 percent finished-still need to do the grout in between the tiles, and perhaps hang a closet door--but we're enjoying using it, along with the remodeled bathroom with light switches where you'd expect them.

Kitchen remodel

At long last and after much shopping for the best possible deal, we finally replaced our counter tops.  Here are the photos of the job.  We've really enjoyed it.

There were five in a bed . . .

And the little one said, "Roll over. . . " And one fell off. . .

Often in the morning, we have Alaina and Timothy in bed with us by the time we wake up. Sometimes, like this morning, Wesley joins in, and we find creative ways to squeeze everyone in before Mom and Dad are actually ready to get up.

If you could see how cute they are when they want to snuggle, you'd know why we can't resist! Here's a photo after Becky and I got up and they squirmed around a bit.

More Angels

For Alaina's "princess pre-school" that Becky organized with the other 11 or so girls her age in the neighborhood, one day this week, they made bugs out of crackers, licorice, and peanut butter. Here she is with her good friend Ashley Trost:

Love the peace

Gotta love this peaceful moment! They're fairly rare with Timothy--he's as energetic as can be. But we love him!

More Quotes

Alaina this morning said, while wearing her shirt that says "bootiful"

"I'm not cute anymore, I'm beautiful.  Boys are cute.  Brothers are handsome.  I'm beautiful."

She's also decided orange is a girl color, so she will insist on Orange cups and bowls!

Instructions Made in China

Recently installing some drawer guides in a cabinet, I found the instructions say to put the provided cardboard template inside the drawer to show where to put the screws.

However, printed on the cardboard template were the words:  "Tin Plate!"

Really!  

More Good Foundation

And now we break for a short public service announcement . . .

One donor I work with is one of the most effective member-missionaries I know. One time, after sharing the gospel with a friend, the prospective member did some Internet research on Mormons, found lots of anti-Mormon stuff, and decided not to continue.

My donor friend then did some checking on his own and found very little positive information on Mormonism or LDS-related topics on the Internet, and decided to do something about it. He felt it was important to have a variety of positive sites that are NOT official Church sites--because they're sometimes seen as somewhat more credible or unbiased by outsiders.

The More Good Foundation is a result of his work. It's mostly a network of volunteer bloggers and site-developers who are working to get good information on the Internet. They now own more than 1200 Urls, including Christ.org and lds.net, etc.

For people who feel they have few opportunities to do missionary work, this is one option. If you haven't seen these yet, check it out!

President Hinckley Viewing

We went to President Hinckley's viewing--what a memorable experience. The line was truly incredible--took us a total of about 4 1/2 hours. It kept going on because we kept thinking we were almost done.

But it was a special experience. Here are a couple of photos we took while waiting.

Sledding January 2008

We all had a blast sledding several times this winter with incredible amounts of snow.

If I can get it to work right, some videos will be here.

Okay--you'll just have to use your imagination till I have a bit more time to do this with YouTube.