Baptism Blessings

Lexi was baptized on February 7th! It was such a special day for her. She had Grandma Lia and Grandpa Bill come and be here for her special day. I am so glad they made it on the first flights out! We had a special lunch just for her. She wanted parmesan chicken, mashed potatoes and strawberries and I added some squash which she did not want. The baptismal service was very nice. Grandpa Bill did a fabulous job on his talk on the Holy Ghost. He made Mom and myself cry which, he commented, is not hard to do. I am so grateful for his testimony. Lexi was baptized on the same day as 4 others from church and it was wonderful to have so many ward friends there as well as Mom and Dad. We went to Wendy's for dinner afterward which was Lexi's choice, too. Devon and Jason would not come in and eat with us because they were embarrassed to be in church clothes. I know the 3 strangers in Wendy's at the time would have mocked them silly. They missed out on dinner because of it. Whatever! I am so proud of Lexi's decision to be baptized. She couldn't wait to get her own set of scriptures and has been reading them diligently. She is such a sweetie. Lance baptized her and confirmed her and luckily he stumbled on the prayer for the baptism because I was not seated where I could see yet. We had fun with Grandma and Grandpa playing games and we are so glad they came!

Happy 10th Birthday Devon

Devon has hit the double digits! He had a fun birthday but still had to do school and our Natomas co-op. He chose chicken broccoli casserole, honey-glazed carrots, orange rolls and cream soda for dinner. He chose rice pudding for dessert which was fine with me since that is something Lance makes. I think he was pretty happy with his gifts. Devon is such a fun person, he is so animated, sensitive and smart. I hope he knows how much he is loved! He also had the Pinewood Derby and made a very cool car.

Chinese New Year

For our literature co-op we read some books about China and made dragons and chinese laterns. The girls and our cute lone boy had fun coloring and painting them. We had fortune cookies for our treat. The older boys had a blast on their own out in the pouring rain for hours sneaking around and catching each other.

Happy 8th Birthday Lexi!

Happy Birthday to Lexi! She turned 8 on Friday and had a fun day. Yes, she had to do some school and even volunteered to help me clean the fridge. Luckily, we had some friends over in the afternoon or the day would have dragged on until her birthday dinner and presents. She wanted fried shrimp, mashed potatoes, apples, green beans, and grapes for dinner. She decided on chocolate cupcakes for desserts. I think it is so fun what each child comes up with for their birthday dinner. On Saturday, she had a party with 3 of her friends, and of course, her sisters. They decorated bags and visors, ate lunch and played. They are all such cute girls! We love Lexi and we are so glad she is part of our family. She is so sweet and calm and always gives of herself and thinks of the other person instead of herself.

Back to reality

I feel like I have been running all week trying to play catch-up. Returning home Saturday night and rushing to get ready for 9am church was just the beginning. We spent the week taking down all of Christmas and getting back into school. I thought I was pretty prepared but Monday morning came and I was out of printer ink and couldn't print off a lot of Lauren's sheets. I had to go first thing to pick some up and there was a constant need for something after that. Devon is doing so much better on his "R" sound and I think we are getting close to stopping speech. We will see what happens at our meeting this week. Devon went for his yearly check at the cardiologist this week. He still has his murmur but the doctor said not to worry. We will just keep going in once a year to check and have an occasional echo. Our teacher came Friday morning to check our assignments and that went well. She is a great help and support for me. That afternoon we had our co-op and read books about winter and painted snowflakes with glitter paint. The boys had their long anticipated air-soft gun war with friends and some neighborhood kids and they had a great time. The weather had been throwing me off this week. It is freezing in the morning and night (of course it is all relative to Minot, ND) and then we get up to the 50's and 60's during the day. Lance spent a lot of yesterday afternoon cleaning up the yard, watering, since we haven't had much rain, and fertilizing. Then, this morning there is a white layer of frost on everything. The girls put there bathing suits on and jumped on the tramp with the sprinklers. It was still a little nippy for my taste but they wanted to do it. I guess I be ready for the week ahead!

More Snow Pictures

More sledding, snowball fights, Christmas presents, and Christmas Eve nativity with the happy shepard and wise man in the back!

Let it Snow!

We had so much fun in Utah over Christmas. We had no problems driving and arrived in the Salt Lake Valley just as it began to lightly snow. We played in the snow, had snowball fights, went sledding, ate, visited with family, bowled and then at some more! It was a great way to spend our Christmas. We spent Christmas Eve and Christmas day at Grandma Lia's and Grandpa Bill's with aunts, uncles and cousins. Santa spoiled us! We had our Heninger party a few days later with the added excitement of having two returned missionary cousins joining us again! We didn't want to leave but the fun and the eating had to stop sometime. We arrived last night about 9pm without much problem except for the traffic in the Sierra's which slowed us down for a good hour. We arrived just in time to unpack and get ready for 9am church this morning and we made it on time!