hello again

I know, I know. It's been a long time. Two and a half months.

Lots has happened. Lots hasn't happened. That's life around here.

In no particular order of time or importance:

1. Alex turned 18 months on April 5th. He started going to nursery on April 11th. The last two weeks of March, I took him in for a few minutes so he could see what nursery was like. Then we had General Conference and I guess he forgot. He wasn't happy at first, even though I stayed with him. I tried leaving for awhile but he totally flipped out. So back I went. Steven showed up a bit later and stayed through the rest of church. He calmed down later when they had the lesson, music, snack and coloring time. The nursery leaders think in a couple weeks he'll be OK. I thought maybe I'd have Christie and Jordan take him to nursery next week and see what happens.

2. Christie and Jordan had their birthdays. Christie is now 11, Jordan is now 9. We had pretty low key celebrations for them but they did enjoy their birthdays and presents.

3. Christie grew up a little more. She and her best friend went to see Alice in Wonderland in the theater. I drove them to the theater, walked them inside and then left. Picked them up afterward. They had a good time.

4. Jordan moved from the Wolf den to the Bear den in Cub Scouts.

5. I was called as Young Women President in our ward at the end of February. I have a great group of girls and we are all having a good time. We got to go to the Conference Center for the annual General Young Women meeting the weekend before
General Conference. Looking forward to girls camp and youth conference this summer.

6. Steven's Sunday School President. Mostly that calling consists of making sure the teachers have what they need to teach and sub teaching when a teacher doesn't show up (which usually happens every other week. He gets a text message during sacrament meeting so has about 30 minutes to prepare a lesson).

7. The bulbs I planted last fall are up and blooming. We have a nice show of daffodils in front of the house. There are other places in the front flower beds that will be tulips later on.

8. I'm still a Deaf Mentor, working with two families.

9. Steven's parents were called to serve a Church service mission at Heber Valley Camp (up Provo Canyon) from April to October. We went to their setting apart yesterday (4/11). They will report to HVC on Thursday.

10. Alex is signing now. He can sign mom, dad, more, milk, food, thank you, please, up, all done, and eat. There are lots more signs he knows and understands but isn't signing yet. It's so fun to watch him learn new things!

11. This winter was a bit hard for Alex--he had several ear infections. We decided to wean him off his pacifier and bottle after the pediatrician told me that sucking on them can put fluid in the sinuses that then lead to ear infections. We're still using a bottle about twice a day to make sure he gets enough fluid but in the last few days he's gotten much better at using the cup.

Plans for spring: putting in a garden! Also we'd like to expand our flower beds and our trees need trimming. Lots of outdoor work to do!

We are looking forward to summer with family reunions, a family vacation to California (with the Allen family), and lots of time just being together.

I hope to do better at updating the blog!