Photo Dumping

It's time to do some dumping of photos from the camera and cell phone to the old compy. And to start off, we've got my personal fave- Charity sporting Eden's old glasses. Doesn't she look so smart?
This is what happens when you leave for an early morning doctors appointment and trust your husband to get the kids ready for school. I was obliged to write the teacher a little note of explanation about that for her to take to school the next day.
Below is from our last homeschool field trip. We went to the Natural History Museum.
A while back we had a fun mutual activity where we took the youth bowling.
Speaking of youth, we got our current edition of the New Era in the mail. It was a "Special Dating Edition".
Who knew my ELEVEN year-old would spend the afternoon devouring that "Dating Issue"!!! She loved it and had lots of dating questions she wanted to discuss with me about it. Yikes!
I have lots of moments lately where I feel like I've got so much going on that I am doing a crappy job of everything! So seeing this quote on the wall of Becca's classroom on Friday was one of those pick-me-ups that came at just the right moment. I read an essay by Ralph Waldo Emerson recently entitled "Greatness" and that was also very inspiring! That was one smart guy.
Last night I had the opportunity to go to Salt Lake to attend the Young Women General Meeting at the Conference Center. I went with my YW Presidency and those ladies are always so fun to be around! We got to sit up very close. The meeting was perfect. I loved every moment of it. The talks were just what I needed. This picture was taken by my cell phone--and if you look closely, you'll see it's the First Presidency walking in to the meeting. I got this just before the lady behind me chastised me for taking pictures.
I finally found the time to choreograph a dance for some of my ballet students for their upcoming recital. I took this picture of them right after they finished learning it. These girls are the VERY BEST students because of their enthusiasm, and great attitudes. I adore them!
Charity snuggling my man. She loves her Daddy so much. Almost as much as I love him.
Our children make us so happy. Notice the way she lovingly caresses his belly.
We had our fourth Serving With Smiles Project recently. The group is a great success and so many good things are happening with it. We are really excited to be a part of it. This last activity, one of our projects was "Stillborn Sibling Gift Baskets". It was such a sensitive topic, but the kids really enjoyed it and loved putting the baskets together! Here's Celeste manning our table before all the kids arrived. Each activity has several projects for kids to do and we get a good turnout.
Our family appreciated this project as we were remembered the two year anniversary from the delivery of our baby Benjamin March 15. As a family we took the 28 baskets the SWS kids had assembled to a local hospital. The baskets were to be given to parents who delivered a stillborn baby or late miscarriage baby to take home to their other children as a comfort gift. The hospital was so touched and impressed by it. My kids walked out of that hospital on Cloud 9 and huge grins. So cute. The basket had a teddy bear, flower seeds, a frame that said "Families are Forever" with a spot to write the name and date of their sibling on it. It also had an Easter Egg and candy.
Here's Steve on a recent date. I remember when we first fell in love he said to me, very awkwardly, and in an attempt at being romantic, "You make my heart...[pause...thinking...] um,..beat." So yeah, I basically keep him alive. Literally speaking. But seriously, I am just crazy about this guy. So so so happy to be his wife.
This photo is a bit old. I took my homeschooled kids to meet this guy who I think is a political rock star. Congressman Chaffetz. He was so friendly and cool with my kids.
Well, have a great week everybody!
Later.