I sure love turning to a brand new page on the calendar. It's so clean and blank. Then, I pull down the last month to write this letter and I am just amazed at what has filled it up. I could say that I don't know where the month has gone, but I am looking right at it. It has gone to babysitting, and Dance lessons, and Dentist appointments, and Birthday parties, and Spring Break. But that is just what is written down. I didn't even make it over to the computer to write down the everyday stuff this month. So, I will just see what I can remember. It's sure a great thing that we have this every month, because past that I don't think I would remember anything at all.
Our Thayne is such a happy, fun kid. I think I write that every month. He brings so much laughter into our days. He loves to repeat whatever he hears, just in one-word phrases. He really has loved how the weather is warming up and will play outside with Olivia until his fingers and cheeks turn red. Then, he cries when he has to come in. He likes to tell the kitties, “no,no” and hit anything and everything with a bat, luckily Olivia and the cats are too fast, so he settles for every ball he can find and the fence posts.
Olivia is still so sugar and spice with us. Without her our life would be pretty bland I am sure. She told Martin this month that she wishes she had a remote to change to a different Mom and Dad when she wants to. All she would tell him is that she would change to parents that would never tell her to go to bed. She seems to have a on and off switch to her bad moments, but we have no idea where it is or what it even looks like. I have felt like she is growing out of this a little more each week, and she is turning into the best helper I could ask for.
Abby is dancing through March and all of Spring. They had a make-up dance lesson for one that they missed in February, that made for three in the month instead of two. As we were driving home from dance on the last lesson, Abby said, “Mom, when are we going to have our make-up class?” I said, “You had it last week.” She was very confused and quiet, then she said, “So, did we just forget to put make-up on me that day?” She was very disappointed to find out that it just meant an extra lesson, not a make-up party :).
Abby is dancing through March and all of Spring. They had a make-up dance lesson for one that they missed in February, that made for three in the month instead of two. As we were driving home from dance on the last lesson, Abby said, “Mom, when are we going to have our make-up class?” I said, “You had it last week.” She was very confused and quiet, then she said, “So, did we just forget to put make-up on me that day?” She was very disappointed to find out that it just meant an extra lesson, not a make-up party :).
Matt is a little harder to write about. Not every thought that runs through his head gets voiced to us. He really thinks about every little thing and how it will affect him. He is so very responsible and tries very hard to do the “right” thing. We had a FHE lesson on The Plan of Salvation and he wanted to put up the poster where he gets dressed every morning so he can look at it. He can usually be found reading, playing legos, or riding his bike. He loves to play on the computer or the Xbox, but is so good at making up games and plans and fun clubs that he gets dragged away by Olivia, Thayne, and Abby pretty often.
I am thinking that this letter is turning a tad long, but I haven't even written about Spring Break yet. Martin and the kids had separate vacation weeks again this year. So we decided to take Matt and Abby out of school for Martin's break. Martin planned an awesome trip for us again. It was our trip of Indian Ruins with a few slot canyons thrown in. We camped for a week and hiked every day. We started out at Dead Horse Point State Park and hiked in Canyonlands National Park to two different Indian Ruin spots. On Sunday we went to church with the ward in Moab, Utah. The next three nights we camped out on Cedar Mesa and hiked down to a really unique place called The Perfect Kiva. It is a large circle dug in the ground and then covered over with timbers and mud. You have to climb down a stick ladder to get into it. The Kiva's were usually used for ceremonies and very special gatherings. This was my favorite place that we went. We also visited a huge clan home called Moonhouse. It had over 40 rooms strung along a canyon. It is so impressive to see the construction that is so primitive, but has stood for hundreds of years. It's also cool to talk with the kids about how the Indians must have lived. They loved to play Indian kids and Matt would always defend the homes from attackers. We made grass and yucca dolls and took lots of pictures. We ended our trip with a few nights at Goblin Valley State Park. They had showers!! It was also a very crowded campground, and we are getting so used to not having neighbors. So we stayed out and about most of our days. We hiked into some slot canyons around there and spent one evening playing tag in Goblin Valley. The day we headed home was Thayne's 2nd birthday. Martin had one more hike planned, but he got out-voted by the rest of us who were just ready to be home. For the week, we had already hiked over 30 miles. He wasn't too disappointed, he can always save it for the next trip.
We got home ready to unpack and relax. It was not to be, two birds had broken into our house. They came in through the chimney. They made a mess of every flat surface in our whole house. One had died, but the other we had to chase out the front door. Before we could wash all the red-sand stained clothes and blankets from the trip, we pulled off all the bedspreads to wash first. What a welcome home!
I almost started to write about Conference...but, I will save that for next month. We sure love you all, hope your Spring is Great! Love, The Pope's
