May is the Month!

First of all, I added some pictures to the last blog about the Father & Son's Outing, so go here to see some fun pictures of that.

Memorial Day found us working hard in the morning at home and then having a picnic lunch in the backyard with a rousing game of soccer. I found that it is scary to try to defend Joseph when he's coming at me full bore. I gained empathy for my players. Ha ha

Later in the evening, we drove out to "The Farm" to bring in the hay. It was tough, as bringing in the hay always is. Josh had to practice with The Mad Boys (his acappella group), so we had Jose Roberto come with us instead. Jose is in the Spanish Branch that we served in, and was one of our stalwart youth. We sure appreciated his help. The bale lifter broke about 3 rows into it, so Bruce, Jose and Joseph had to be the lifters instead. Jose was so tired by the end that he couldn't open up the Popsicle wrapper, and Joseph and Bruce were about the same. This is why young men that grow up on farms are good missionaries. After bringing in hay, there's nothing on a mission that is going to compare in difficulty! Ha ha

On Tuesday, Bruce & I went into town and watched The Mad Boys record a CD! It was so fun to be there to see this dream of theirs unfold. The audio technician doing the recording said that they did very technical work in a short time. At school they would practice in the mornings before class started, during lunch and then again after school sometimes. So they had put in the hours of practice to make it sound good! After the recording, they went and had a professional photographer take pictures. She also designed a CD cover, and this is the result!
Bruce was able to print them out at work on the publishing presses that he writes software for, and the boys started selling CD's last night!! If anyone wants to buy one, they are $7 and well worth the price, if a biased mother can say so!

Congratulations Josh!!

Wednesday found us back out at the farm, finishing up the hay. Josh and Joseph helped for a short time before they had to go to Mutual, and then Bruce had to do it all himself, with Peter helping out on the trailer and me driving.Thursday was Crazy Hair Day at Libby's school! Thank goodness for older sisters on days like this.Peter shows off his art creation from school.Friday dawned bright and early with Las Mañanitas sung by my parents over the phone. Thank you Mom & Dad! This woke everyone else up and I got a second round of Las Mañanitas sung by the family. And a fun phone call from my sister, Jeana!My birthday was also Peter & Libby's last day of school, so we had a swimming party with some of their friends in the afternoon. We spent a pleasant afternoon sitting around and talking. It was perfect weather. I LOVE my May birthday. Mary, Ashley, Brooklyn, Bailey and Briton enjoy the pool.
After swimming, the kids always go over and get warm on the trampoline, and then play on the playset.This is Peter's best friend from school, Rachel. They reportedly had to be separated in class because when they sat by each other in class they talked too much.

Saturday was a WORK day! We finally got a Saturday at home to get the house back into a semblance of order. It felt GOOD. In the afternoon we were out at the Farm again laying pipe, but it was short because Jesse, Mary, Peter and Libby had already done a lot of it while we were bringing in the hay. We got back just in time to greet Mary's friends for her 12th birthday party!
A report on the garden. The peas are doing well, and the green beans are starting to come up. We've been eating lettuce, green onions and spinach out of our garden.
Sunday night we had the great pleasure of going with Josh to get his Patriarchal Blessing. I have been looking forward to this for a long time, and it was indeed a wonderful experience. It seemed to address all the things Josh needs directly at this time in his life to prepare for education, a mission, and a future family. It talked extensively about his education and his being a father. If Josh lives worthily, he will be a wonderful father. He certainly has an outstanding example to follow in his own father.

It was fun to have Peter and Libby home during the day yesterday! We went out to swim in the pool and layed on the trampoline to get warm in the sun. Heavenly!!

Last night for Family Home Evening we went over to the Middle School to hear Jesse perform in three different numbers! She did a clogging routine with her competition clogging team, accompanied on the piano two friends who sang "Beautiful Disaster", and she performed her original composition, "Waiting". It was beautiful! She said later that a lot of people told her they almost cried during her song.

Check out Joseph and his soccer juggling trick!




Thank you all for your birthday wishes!! I had a great day, including a fun date with Bruce that night. Anything with Bruce makes it a great day.