A First For Everything!

In January Lydia left the Nursery at Church and started attending the Primary. She absolutely loves being in the Sunbeam class and is probably the most obedient well behaved sunbeam around! Her teacher raves about her good behavior and her music teacher (who is also our next door neighbor) can't get enough of how sweet she is to always pay attention and try so hard to sing all the songs right!

Earlier this month they had a primary activity day where they met on a Saturday and took the kids to the St.George Temple Visitor's Center and then to the park for play and a picnic afterward.

 

Lydia loved every minute of it and now whenever we go to a park she begs to go to the primary activity park!

Two weeks ago Lydia came home from church with a little sticker saying she'd been asked to give the scripture and prayer the following week in Primary. It was Luke 1:70 and we put the sticker up on the refrigerator so we wouldn't forget. Well it's a good thing we put it there because I forgot about it until she pointed to it towards then end of the week and realized I'd better have her go over it a couple times so she wouldn't be nervous to get up there on Sunday. That night before bed we read it as her scriptures for the night and talked about what it meant. She had me read it a couple times and then she repeated me as I read it. The next morning she said, "Mom I need to practice Luke chapter 1 verse 70!" I was very impressed that she remembered the scripture number and said sure. The weekend got busy and the Saturday night before I asked if she'd like to practice to which she rattled it all off almost perfect! I couldn't believe it and only wish I had that kind of memory!

Well Sunday came and when it was time for Primary Dan and I were sitting in the back of the room when in walked Lydia reverent as can be with her arms folded and so excited to see us there. The Primary Secretary came and asked Lydia if she'd like to sit up front to which she replied, "No Thank You!" I guess we didn't prep her for that part. Instead she stayed sitting with the Sunbeams and when they told her it was time for the scripture she jumped off her chair and walking with a purpose bounced right over to the pulpit. She pulled the microphone right to her mouth and said, "Luke Chapter 1 verse 70. As he (s)pake by the mouf(th) of his holy prophets,(then she looked at me for reasurance with the next word) which have been since the world began." All the kids in the primary had stunned looks as they were super impressed that a sunbeam had her scripture memorized! Lydia had a smile ear to ear as she bounced back to her seat and I had a tear in my eye as I gave her a two thumbs up sign. I know I am ridiculous. My child gives her first scripture in primary and I'm getting teary eyed. I was just so proud of her! I think I'm going to be a mess when she goes to her first day of Kindergarten!

Spring Break

Spring has blossomed here in St.George! The flowers are blooming, the grass is a gorgeous green and spring break has come and gone. Although we didn't travel anywhere for spring break we were the lucky recipients of having family stop by for a few days of their spring break! Yipee!

 

Mumsie and Papa took off last Friday to begin their spring break from Utah State University and luckily my baby sister Tasha had spring break from Snow College at the same time! The visit was lovely including a session of golf and time together in the temple. Shopping with my sister, working in the yard and on the chicken coop and of course constant playmates and attention for the kiddos! Auntie Tasha has always been a favorite as the kiddos cling to her. Gramsie always comes with surprises and fun things for the kids to do. This time she came with Aprons and a cool color coded cooking system which they absolutely loved. For them life doesn't get much better than Gramsie and her chocolate chips and I think they would have stayed in the kitchen cooking with her all day if we'd let them!

 

Lydia and Emmett also love to squeeze every inch of play and creativity out of their Grandpa. Lucky for them he comes loaded with both! Grandpa is such a good sport to wrestle, and tickle, and play dolls and play doggy and when they're done playing all they games that you and I know of then Grandpa pulls out his magic and makes up new games. There was truly never a dull moment and I think the kids wore him out from sun up to sun down! Luckily Grandpa and Grandma are always good sports and never complain but we sure hope they know how much these little ones LOVE THEM (us too)!

 

The St.George Temple Visitor's Center just happened to be hosting a display on the Mormon Tabernacle Choir so I just had to take my family over there seeing as how my Dad has been a member of the Mo-tab for 9 years now! It was a fun little display and I learned some things about the choir that I hadn't known before. One display held the batons of each of the conductors in Mo-tab history. My dad told us the funniest story about one time just before broadcast when Craig Jessop was really getting into his conducting and the baton went straight up his nose causing a major nose bleed and emergency measures to get it to stop bleeding through the broadcast. I'll let Dad tell you what they used to stop the bleed!

 

My other favorite moment while we were there was meeting a very kind man in a wheel chair by the name of Brother Johnson. He has CP and it was a real struggle for him to communicate and get his words out but he was real excited to meet my Dad and told him how it was after hearing the choir sing that he realized he too could sing. My Dad was so compassionate and understanding of this sweet man. I witnessed as he shared stories about an old friend of his with CP named Bob Long whom he had home taught years ago. He shared some faith promoting examples of Bob and Brother Johnson completely related to it. He even got teary eyed as you could feel his appreciation for an understanding voice and listening ear. He shared something with us that changed me forever. He said that, "besides the Atonement of Jesus Christ I believe that Cerebral Palsy is the greatest gift God could give me because with out it how would I learn to have such Patience?" Wow! Talk about faith. I left that night really humbled and full of more gratitude to God for all that I am able to do.

 

 

We had such a fabulous visit that it was no fun having to say good-bye Monday morning and my kids had a hard time sharing Gramsie, Papa and Auntie Tasha with their California cousins!

 

 

Lucky for us we didn't have to stay sad for too long because Uncle Gabe came down with some of his friends for their Spring Break too! We let Lydia and Emmett stay up late so they could play with Uncle Gabe and they even got to build a fort in the basement together! After the kiddos went to bed we stayed up chatting with Gabe, his friend Mike and Auntie Em & Burke also came over to chat and watch funny you tubes together! The next morning when Lydia woke up she was heart broken that Uncle Gabe wasn't still at our house and insisted that she didn't get to see him for long enough. Being the awesome uncle that he is, he skipped out again Wed. morning to go to the park with my kiddos and then even came over again after getting the long sought after Ostrich eggs to say good-bye the night before he left. I only regret that I didn't get any pictures while he was here.

We sure are blessed to have such a Wonderful Family and it makes me happy to know how much my children love them and look forward to seeing them.