Three

I found a piece of paper with several poems on it and tracked down the author. Here are three poems from Joseph for your reading pleasure:

Communicating,
sharing thoughts and ideas,
a book is a jewel.

Heavy eyes fall down,
a long tunnel to the deep
sleep is great bliss.

Now walking forward
what is this? an iron bar?
Ouch! and then blackness.

I guess we have a family of poets. Maybe we should start monthly readings or a poetry club?!

Easter

I always want nice Easter pictures, but I usually end up with pictures like these. I hope these girls love each other this much their whole life.

We Made It!

In April we took a family vacation to FL. I must admit we had a lot of anxiety leading up to this trip. The thought of flying with six children and then driving all over FL and GA seemed a little scary. It was an amazing trip. We got to see so many beautiful and wonderful things. Paul got to show us a lot of his mission areas. We got to spend a long time with my brother and his family. I don't usually do travel log posts, but I wanted to share FL with you. We would go again in a heartbeat.

First an explanation- we tend to think a family vacation is not complete unless you drive at least 1000 miles. True to form, when we turned in our rental car, the attendant went to write down our mileage and then had to ask us if it was accurate. I guess most people don't consider driving over 1500 miles as a vacation!

So here is our itinerary:
Day 1: fly SLC to Orlando
Day 2: drive to St Augustine, spend time at Crescent Beach, Drive to Savannah
Day 3: Savannah, Fort Jackson, Tybee Island, Paul's mission, Drive to Waycross
Day 4: Okefenokee Swamp, drive to Gainesville, strawberry farms, Museum on UF campus
Day 5: Church in Gainesville, walk on campus to see alligators and bats
Day 6: Drive to Sanibel Island
Day 7: Fall in love with Sanibel Island
Day 8: Drive to Everglades, FL Keys
Day 9: Key Biscayne near Miami, Drive to Orlando
Day 10: Fly home

Brothers in the Atlantic Ocean (this was my first time seeing the Atlantic Ocean!)
I don't know why we didn't have the kids change into swimming suits! I said "Let's just go stick our feet in the ocean and we will only wade a little. Yeah right!
Walking over the moat to Fort Jackson.

Alligators and Okefenokee Swamp. This is the picture that our kids will hold against us when we are old- "Mom and Dad said- "go stand right there next to the alligator and we will take your picture!""

This cute boy thinks he is in Heaven!
Sunset on Sanibel Island

Sanibel Island is known for its shells. The kids were afraid we weren't going to find any shells.

We did.
Cleaning shells to ship home.
Nathan kept watching the ocean upside down. It was hilarious.
Pretty much how we spent our days on Sanibel.
Rachel with a new friend.
Joseph piloting the air boat through the Everglades. He thought he was cool until he saw our boat:

So excited!

My sister Mindy is an artist. I am always amazed with the beautiful creative projects she creates (doll houses, superhero capes, cakes, etc). Several years ago she started designing paper dolls. I love the dolls she designs! One year they saved me at Christmas time when I could not figure out a single thing to get for Rachel. Rachel loves her paper dolls. She got to color them, cut them out, and still enjoys playing with them. I knew Mindy had been working on creating a blog to showcase her dolls. However, life took a tragic turn with the death of my niece Allison. So I was so very happy today to get an email announcing her Heritage Paper Doll Blog. Check it out and be sure to read her first few posts!

Heritage Paper Dolls

Potential

Last Sunday our Bishop announced a special adult stake meeting for this coming Sunday night. There have been confirmed rumors for a few months that our ward will split (at Stake Conference the Stake President said that they would be forming a new ward sometime this year). Now the rumors will be a reality this Sunday. Potentially four things could happen:
Our ward could remain largely intact
Our ward could be drastically divided and we would remain with our current Bishop
Our ward could be drastically divided and we would get a new Bishop
Some other option that we can't even imagine

There. I should be right with at least one of those options;-)

Although I know perfectly well what's going to happen's going to happen, ("Just make sure it doesn't happen to you." Name THAT movie if you can!) I found myself awake last night thinking about change. Specifically the fact that by Sunday night both Paul and I could be released from our callings. I think I have always assumed that Paul would get called right back as Scoutmaster (you don't take a good Scoutmaster for granted). But last night I faced the idea that he has been in the calling for 8 years and maybe someone will think it is time for a change (insert laughter here- I know this is a long shot but it could happen).

The thing that surprised me was not how happy I was, but how sad. As time consuming and challenging as being a Scoutmaster is (or on my part the Scoutmaster's wife), Paul has loved the calling. I especially have loved the last three months when Joseph has finally been able to go camping with Paul.

So, Sunday night we might both be out of callings (I will mourn my calling- RS 4th Sunday teacher- which I have only had for 5 months) or just as likely, we may still have our same callings. Or quite possibly (as my Mom suggested) Paul will be called again as Scoutmaster but start his 10 year (tenure)over in the new ward!

We are excited and sad and a lot of other emotions. If it is time for the Scoutmaster portion of our life to be over (for a time- I have a feeling this is a calling that will haunt me for many years) we will happily hand over the trailer, the canoes, the cook stoves, the leftover equipment, the full cupboard of records, the troopmaster login, the blue cards, the merit badge books . . . Hmmm maybe I won't be as sad about the change as I think;-)

Across the Counter

Everyday I face these three across the kitchen counter. They like to eat peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, ramen, apples, bananas, and cinnamon toast. Today two of them chose leftover pizza.
I grew up in a family with all blue eyes- which I loved. However, I must admit I also love the mixture in my little family. Paul has hazel, I have blue, Joseph has hazel (bright green when he is mad), Rachel has hazel (bright green when she cries), Skye has hazel, Adrie has blue, Katie has blue, and Nathan has brown. For the record, I don't really know what color eyes Paul, JT, Rachel, and Skye have- I just use hazel to describe their brown/green/ gold/ chameleon eyes.

Tooth

Today after a very warm, long (it was two hours of course but somehow seemed much longer) Stake Conference, we declared that EVERYONE needed a nap. A few minutes into our nap (5/6 children are asleep [insert heavenly music]) Adrie's little face appeared at the side of our bed "My TOOTH!" Her bottom tooth finally came out. She is so excited: Her first tooth! She is much too excited to sleep and I don't often get to spend one on one time with the children so now we will go make lemon bars together. You should hear her laugh when she read that last sentence! ("Now I get two exciting things!!" said Adrie")PS
Happy Birthday Mindy!
Happy Birthday Robin! (Adrie picked out her dress all by herself and I thought it was a great choice for today!)
(Adrie: "Now I'm so excited because two birthdays, I lost my tooth, and lemon bars- four things to be excited about!")