Pictures

I'm resolving to do better at taking pictures. I love the one of him holding his cake. What a treat to have Sister Alvey show up at the door with a cake. I am impressed with people who really really magnify their callings. Justin loves primary because of these two teachers.

Justin is 4 and Easter and Update

My baby boy turned 4 on March 21st. I love this guy. He is pure joy. I love that he is so logical. Since he was a small baby I could reason with him. He is a black/white, yes/no sort of person. If I answer maybe or I'm not sure he persists in asking the question until I come up with something more definitive. This definately comes from me. It drives me crazy when people can't give me definite answers. I get him. He is into Lightning McQueen still and loves to play with anything that has batteries. He has his own jumbo pack of double A batteries and a screwdriver and he is my person if something needs changing. He's very handy and loves to fix stuff. Hans and I got him a Lightning McQueen bike, which he loves. It is the same size as Ashley and Katelyn's bikes and he can just cruise. It's fun to watch. He'll ditch the training wheels this summer, I am confident. He is SO close on his smaller bike. He watched Kate learning and wanted to try. He has amazing balance. Once he's started he can keep going, but when he wants to stop he falls off. And he can't start himself yet. He's almost there. It was good incentive for Katelyn. She was determined to get it before Justin, which she did. I kept telling her - If you can do cartwheels and back walkovers on balance beams, I'm pretty sure you have enough balance to ride a bike...she is a pro at it now. What else about Justin? I just love him. I count my blessings many times a day that I have him in my family. I honestly feel Heavenly Father's love for me through Justin. Everyone who knows him loves him. He has The World's Best Primary teachers who brought him a lion shaped cake for his birthday.

Our Ward split last week and we are now in a different ward. By far the saddest part for me was moving Justin from Sister Alvey and Sister Trujillo. They do bug hunts and incentives for listening and singing and just have a genuine love for these kids. I am excited to be in a new ward and for new opportunities to meet people and serve. It was interesting to see different reactions to the split. I decided that I am the weird one because most people were upset. But I am genuinely excited. I love change. I like moving.

For Justin's party we had a dog theme. We played "pass the present" with stuffed dogs for each kid in it. We ate a dog cake and painted dog faces. We played in a dog fort, played dog, dog, cat, and practiced rolling over and sitting. It was great fun. I love that Justin has great friends. They are mostly girls. Justin is a great chameleon. He will play barbies (although after one evening playing at a friends house he came home and said, "Mom, are Barbie's fun?" I told him sure. He said, "Okay then, I guess I had fun over there." He really loves to play with zhu zhu pets and cars. We had a Sunday party for him with Conleys and Morrills. By far his favorite present was a remote control jeep thing from Laurie. He was spoiled by everyone.

Easter this year was wonderful. It felt a little strange, but I really felt the meaning of Easter and am just so incredibly grateful for the Savior. I love the knowledge I have, which helps me find meaning and purpose in this life, which is easy for me to lose sight of in the chaos of the day to day. I appreciated that Conference was Easter weekend and I love feeling pricked by the Spirit to do better. I was amazed at how many talks were about the importance of relationships within the family and the responsibility it is for me to help my children return back to their Heavenly Father. I felt like I have such an important job, which is something that I forget often. I want to be better and to do better. Anything that makes me feel that way is so appreciated. I need that. I was supposed to drive to Utah on Thursday before Easter, but since I-80 and I-70 closed it didn't happen. I miss being with my family. I was anxious to be there. My kids were disappointed. We made it as fun as we could here. We built a conference fort, spend Priesthood session at Melanie's house with her friends, and had a nice Easter dinner with Conley's as well. I'm so grateful to have some family here. I wish Morrills could have been there too, but Laurie braved the drive to Utah today.

So now it is April and I feel like the countdown to summer is here. I love this time of year. It's just heavy with hope.