March 14, 2010

March 14, 2010

Dear Family and Friends,

This has been a nice quiet week. It has been wonderful. I have tried to avoid extra things after the hurry of last week. Monday was a normal day.

That night we went to a family’s house in our ward for dinner and FHE. They had invited several other families over so that we could help fellowship a newer member of the church and introduce him to members of his new official ward. The dinner went really well. All of the families had rambunctious boys, so it was a bit crazy at times, but I think it was still a good use of time.

Tuesday I got brave. I was anxious to do a field trip and so I packed a picnic and headed to the Natural History museum downtown with the boys. We checked out the butterfly exhibit and the insects again. We were excited to be able to see a tarantula feeding, and B-man got to hold a large caterpillar of some sort. We also went and checked out the jewels and geology exhibit. B-man loved the information on earthquakes and volcanoes. The day went really well. J only had a breakdown while I was trying to find parking, but he slept in his stroller which was very helpful. The day was successful enough for me to want to venture out again soon. M came home a little later, and then after dinner I went to swimming lessons. The lessons are so helpful. They get me swimming for one thing, and they also really help me to improve my swimming.

Wednesday was a pretty normal day. We have been really enjoying the lovely weather. It has been so nice to be able to play outside and enjoy being outdoors. That night we enjoyed having nothing to do.

Thursday was another beautiful day. B-man ended up going to our neighbor’s house to play for a while after school. I made bread, and then we ended up going to another friend’s house while I baked the bread. It was a great way to make the day go faster. That night after dinner was my last swim class. I passed the class which was the good news, but I am sad that I will have to force myself for the rest of the weeks.

Friday was a great day. M got to have a slightly more leisurely morning. The day went quickly and after M got home we went to Costco to get some things. That night we assembled some sack lunches to take to a cold weather shelter. The Elder’s Quorum was in charge of the assignment. We made the lunches relatively quickly and then B-man and M delivered them while J and I worked on dinner. After dinner we watched part of “Star Wars” for our family party.

Saturday was another great day. After sleeping in a little we all got going and went to my basketball game. The other team forfeited, but there were enough people to get a scrimmage together. It was great exercise since there were no substitutes. After the game we came home and had lunch while J napped. After J woke up we went to run a bunch of errands. One of the errands was to Cost Plus World Market, where we got a picnic bench for our kitchen table. We actually bought two because we weren’t sure which one would be a better match for our table. When we got them home we pulled the first out and found it wasn’t a good match, the second one we pulled out was M’s first choice and it works almost perfectly! It was a very easy assembly job, and we got it together very quickly while the boys were playing around us. I got the boys to bed while M was finalized the little details of the bench. We are so excited to have one, and to get rid of some of the chairs that were breaking. That night M helped me to get the lasagna ready for dinner on Sunday. We wanted to have as much done on Saturday to make the work easier on Sunday.

Sunday was a good day. M didn’t have any meetings, because there were so many empty callings that needed to be filled. Instead he made delicious pancakes for breakfast, and then worked hard to help the house and dinner be ready for guests after church. Church went really well. People are still adjusting to the new families. It was fun to teach again. We have a new President, but she has no counselors yet. My lesson went reasonably well, and then immediately after church I left with J so that I could get going on dinner while M and B-man helped clean-up and set up for seminary. After church we had two families over for dinner. One family we knew very well, and one family was new to the ward. It was a good group, and worked perfectly. After dinner we cleaned up together, and then got the boys to bed.

We love you all!

R, M, B-man, and J