A few weeks ago I visited my oldest son and his wife and daughter in the Houston area.  They recently moved there with my son's job.  I decided to go visit to help them out a little with the move and enjoy being a grandma.  It was a good trip and I enjoyed myself.  My granddaughter and I went on some walks to the playground and I stayed home with her while her parents got some things done. I'm glad she let me hold her! Now the Houston area is being pounded--something like 11 inches of rain in 12 hours or less last night--with the inevitable flooding following.  I texted them and everything's fine for them, fortunately.  But I feel for all those for whom it isn't fine. When I got home from Houston, we went to the Art Gala at the elementary school.  We also got to Skype 5 ways for Mother's Day:  Ukraine, Edmonton, Provo, Houston and our house.  It was a highlight for me and ended all too quickly.

Recently I read a few books that I enjoyed: Book #1:  Cleaning House:  A Mom's 12-Month Experiment to Rid Her Home of Youth Entitlement  by Kay Wills Wyma This is a very Christian book written by a mom that decided to stop enabling her children (and yes, she was very much an enabler) and start expecting more from them.  I love the list she made of things she wants her children to know by the time they're adults: 1.  How to make a bed and maintain an orderly room. 2.  How to cook and clean a kitchen 3.  How to do yard work 4.  How to clean a bathroom 5.  How to get a job...outside our home 6.  How to do laundry 7.  How to do handyman jobs 8.  How to host a party 9.  How to work together 10.  How to run errands. 11.  How to put others first through service. 12.  How to act mannerly She spent a year working on this list. I especially liked the idea of putting a jar with $30 in it at the beginning of each month in each child's bedroom and then taking away

On April 27th of this year (our anniversary!), our church celebrated 100 years of Family Home Evening. I grew up with FHE and we have held FHE for as long as I can remember, but I didn't really have a unique story until just recently.  I visited my son and daughter-in-law in Houston and when we went to church there, I walked in and immediately saw someone I recognized.  I love that!  She and her husband had been our neighbors some years back when they were newlyweds.  And she did my hair for a while so I knew her somewhat well. As we talked she reminded me how she and her husband had come over for FHE one night many years ago.  They wanted to start that tradition in their family and they wanted to see how we did it. We did our usual thing--prayer, singing (usually silly songs), short lesson, games and treats.  Our children were young at the time so keeping their attention was imperative (and still is even though they're older).  Our friends came away feeling like it was d

Recently Scott and I celebrated 26 years of marriage.  We have discovered that we really enjoy celebrating our anniversary BY OURSELVES.  So we left on Friday morning and came back Saturday evening while our second son took care of the younger children at home. The first thing we did was go to the Thanksgiving Point Tulip Festival.  Since our anniversary is always during the festival we have gone many times.  But I enjoy it every time.  A camera shop had the genius idea of setting up a tent right next to the entrance and renting out their expensive cameras for free to anyone who wanted to.  The idea is you try out a good camera and see what great pictures you can take and then you buy one!  We have not bought the camera yet but it was pretty nice to use and helped us realize all the shortcomings of the cameras we currently own. Here are some pictures: This is from the Light of the World section of the gardens.  There are all kinds of scenes portraying Christ in this area.