Mid April

Nate and I celebrated our 18th Anniversary in April. We went to dinner at the Tree Room up at Sundance (probably one of my favorite restaurants) and Nate gave me a new necklace to replace the one I lost at youth conference in February. It was a really great night! And then we had egg dying on Easter, a cute picture of Lia, Megan's field trip to This is The Place State Park, Megan making herself a target for her squirt gun, a visit from Darren (where I happened to get a picture of both brothers sitting in the same position picking at their toes), Megan playing with Hannah and Stella, and lastly we had the Elmer kids over for dinner while their parents were out of town. 

 

April

In April we bought a third car for the family. It is not technically Lia's car, but for now it is Lia's car. It is an almost 20 year old car with 200,000 miles on it, but it's a Toyota so we're hoping to get another 100,000 miles and 3 or 4 years out of it. It's not Lia's dream car, and she certainly wouldn't have chosen a gold one, but she is so excited!! Laura and Josh were excited too and wanted to take it for a spin around the church parking lot. The next picture is my nephew Brady's truck. He let Josh drive it the day he got his mission call. He has been such a great friend to Josh. They talk cars all the time. The day he opened his mission call, we were running late getting there because the weather was bad. I called Kristen to tell her to go ahead and open it without us. They didn't. When we got there, Brady stood up in his suit and welcomed everyone there. He apologized for the wait but said he needed to wait for his cousin Josh to get there because Josh is a special boy and means a lot to him and it was important that he was there. I cried my eyes out. Josh cried too. And Megan cried for Josh. It was a moment I won't forget. And I will be forever grateful for the good influence Brady has been on Josh. Next we had a skating activity with the young men and young women at Classic Skating and then Nate dressed up as the WWF wrestler Ric Flair for a work activity at Comicon. I don't have any words for that. But he loved every minute of it. 

Spring Break

Over spring break we went to the Butterfly Biosphere at Thanksgiving Point with Ashley and her kids (we always love hanging out with them) and then we drove down to the Manti Temple with our friends the Lepores, the Bronsons and the Sanders. I've always wanted to take the kids and I thought spring break was a good time to do it. And we thought it would be more fun with friends. I loved seeing my girls there, I loved seeing Jaxson and Eric baptize everyone, and I love that Josh has young men like them to look up to. Megan and Aspen were good sports to wait in the waiting room with the younger kids while we did baptisms. Afterward we had lunch in the little town of Spring City before heading home. 

Nate Turns 40 Continued

In between Nate's birthday party and his real birthday, he squeezed in a trip to Brazil for the conference he's gone to the last few years. He got home on his birthday. We sang happy birthday to him and he opened his presents and then we went to the Tulip Festival at Thanksgiving Point. We rented a couple of golf carts that the kids were thrilled about and had fun being together. I'm sure Nate was exhausted, but he went along for the ride as he always does. We are so grateful for him!

Nate Turns 40

In April Nate turned 40 years old and the kids and I decided to throw him a surprise party. We tried to think of all the people he's shared meaningful experiences with over the years (we missed some, I know) and sent them an invitation. We printed our favorite pictures of him from the time he was a baby and tied them to 40 balloons, made a banner, ordered food from one of his favorite BBQ restaurants, and picked up the best chocolate chip cookies we could find. We had a really hard time getting him out of the house and he came back a little early and saw everyone coming in, so it wasn't a total surprise. But hopefully he felt loved and appreciated, which was the whole idea. Nate is the best. I'm so grateful that our paths crossed all those years ago. He is a great dad who gives so much to our kids. He knows how to make us all laugh. He spoils me more than I deserve. And his commitment to what is important is never in question. The year started out hard for him, but he carried on with little complaining. I love him and I love his commitment to me, our family, and the gospel. Happy Birthday Nathan!

March

In March, Nate went to a Braves game in Atlanta, Megan and her friend Stella had a "Onsie Party," we got a bunch of snow, Megan had a piano recital and played beautifully, Laura and I went to a Jazz game, and Lia planted seeds for an herb and flower garden that was so cute!

 

Amelia's Birthday Continued

After we got home from the Grand America, we went out to dinner with Nate's family and then Lia and Nate went to the Jazz game. On Lia's actual birthday, we celebrated by opening presents that morning and getting her driver's license that afternoon. She was SO excited! We also had a visit from my dad and had her favorite dinner that night. Whenever people tell me how great Lia is I always respond with, "she just came that way." And she did. Lia is so willing to help other people, she's always looking for someone who needs a friend, she's a great example to her little cousins and her siblings, and she has a solid testimony and loves the gospel. She loves to laugh and has a funny sense of humor. She also endured a really hard end of her 9th grade year and start to her sophomore year.  Things are looking up and I am so grateful. More than anything I want her to be happy. She has made me so happy being her mom. We love Lia!