Catching up...

Wow, these last few weeks of March have been crazy!  First of all, we have a new nephew.  Korver Jim Riley came into this world on March 12.  He so tiny, but has really big hands and long toes.  He's such a cutie, and he's been so good!

When we got to the hospital Korver was getting his first bath.  They really scrubbed him good, and then they put him under the heating lamps.

Last weekend we took my sister Mackenzie up to BYU-Idaho so Rob could give her a tour of the campus and so that she could find her classes and where she would be living.  I can't believe she's moving away until next December!  Of course she'll be home to visit once in a while, but I still can't believe she's that old!  I personally didn't like it much, mostly because the wind was blowing so hard and it was frigid!  I was totally wearing my gaucho pants the day before in Utah!

On our way home, we stopped in Garland for some egg coloring!  Kristen had gotten the kids these aprons from downeast and some had other people's names on them.  It was so funny because Keaton's had the name "George" on it, and knowing Keaton, he would be the one to have a funny name like that on his, so we called him George the rest of the day!  Here he is, but you can't see his name.

I'm also wearing an apron, mine didn't have a name, but it's for like 8 yrs olds, so it's really small and only covered my shirt.  Anyhow, I'm really particular about my egg coloring (I can be, I don't have kids yet.) and coloring my egg is like a work of art.  Here I am w/ my proud piece this year.  Green w/ Yellow polka dots. 

This is Rob's jeep that he drove in high school.  They repainted it and have fixed it up for his little brother to start driving when it warms up...who knows when that will be?

Rob's family does the egg hunt on Saturday, so we headed up there that morning for the annual egg hunt.  All the kids were really excited!

Tytan on the hunt, it looks like he found a few.
And Gracie found my masterpiece!  I was so excited!  It didn't last long however, it was dropped and cracked and so...I ate it.
We finished up there by having a hot dog roast at the property.  We had s'mores too.  It was good, and I just want it to be warm so that we can have more! 

We had a great weekend.  We went to my mom's for easter dinner, but just kind of relaxed and so sorry, but no pictures of that.  Rob's birthday is on Wednesday April 2, so hopefully I'll have some good ones from his big day!

Happy St. Patrick's Day

Today is seriously one of my favorite holidays.  Mostly because my favorite color is green!  I had this fun idea to make Rob an all green lunch, but...I didn't go grocery shopping on Saturday, so all he got was leftover pizza from my sister in law's and cookies from the neighbors.  HOW SAD!  Well, maybe next year...

Also, yesterday we had two really great speakers in sacrament meeting, and one said he found some really great ideas by "googling" General Conference activities for kids.  Here are a few ideas I found.  I know I don't have kids, but I think it might be good to help Rob and I stay awake...  I seriously love conference, but sometimes I get sleepy.  Anyhow, we've got nieces and nephews who get restless, so this would be fun to play with them.  I don't have any ideas from "The Idea Door" but they had some really great ideas too that you can download and print off. Check them out!

Color the prophet... color the prophet... 
Photocopy pictures of General Authorities and hand them out before Conference begins so that the children have time to discuss them and write the names clearly on them. Then when one of the brethren (you can add sister leaders also) speaks, the children color in the picture.  
Bonus: Youcan then cut these pictures into jigsaws afterwards and let the children put them together again, each telling something he remembers from the talk. Work this one according to ages and skills. For smaller children, you could just stick just to pictures of the Prophet and Counselors to make things more simple.

Anne Bradshaw 
Mapleton 11th Ward 
Mapleton North Stake 
Utah

Word searches, and coloring, and trivia ... oh my.... 
We're making sheets for the primary children which include a BOM word search. We ask the kids how many words they can make from the word Book of Mormon, for example.  We also include a picture to color and a list of trivia questions.  These can be geared towards the Conference: what is the theme and the scripture that goes with it?  Who was the first speaker etc. and what did they talk about? Which was your favorite hymn? Write the word that you think you heard the most and what does it mean to you?

Make your own word search in minutes for FREE. Check out PuzzleMaker.com.

Sue Rudd 
Wylde Green Ward 
Lichfield Stake 
England

Say What? 
Make a list for each child of words that might be used in various talks. Each time the child hears one of the words, he/she checks it off on the list. Depending on age, they can also add their own list of words they don't understand - for discussing later.

Diane Sines 
Spring Creek 5th Ward 
Spring Creek South Stake,  
Utah

Make Your Own Puzzle 
Get an extra Family Home Evening (or similar) book - copy picture of the Savior twice - copy in black and white - keep one b & w and color the other one. Stick pictures to manilla folder, laminate and cut out. Cut the colored version into jigsaw pieces and add Velcro (or masking tape) to pieces. Let smaller children stick the pieces in the right places.

Diane Sines 
Spring Creek 5th Ward 
Spring Creek South Stake,  
Utah

Holy Cool!

Check this out!  Totally wish I would've found this while I was in Seminary...maybe I would've lettered all 4 years!  www.ldsscripturerock.com

Ah...the Z-pack

So this weekend, I had a nasty little visitor invade my body.  It all started last monday actually w/ sore achey (sp?) muscles. Tuesday I had a sore throat and Wednesday I had like zero energy.  Thursday morning at spin I didn't think I would make it and the rest of the day I had a little cough.  Friday, the cough got worse and my ear was hurting.  Thinking that I had an ear infection, I went to the doctor who gave me a prescription for amoxicillin to get filled if it got worse in the next two days.  Well, let me tell you...it got worse!  Saturday all I did was lay on my mom's couch all day and watch TLC.  I couldn't sleep b/c my nose was so stuffed that I had to breath through my mouth and it was always so dry!  Yuck!  I would suck on coughdrops, but they weren't sugar free...and unfortunately I know too much and am worried that I'll get a cavity.  So I just laid there are watched hours and hours of "flip that house" and "my first place".  It didn't help that I dreamt about them that night.  Sunday I decided I would save my ward from this nasty bug and stayed home, and was actually able to sleep during that time.  But when Rob came home, I was up and couldn't get back to sleep.  Sunday afternoon I had bad aches and started looking for a sub for Monday.  Found one for the morning, but ended up having to go in for the afternoon.  I seriously was a mess. I felt like I had taken a percocet!  My hands were moving, but I had no thinking in the matter.  I felt like my body was going, but my mind was left behind in the dust.  Crazy!  So my dentist called me in a z-pac. (angels singing) 

Took the first of those last night and whalah, I can breath!  Seriously, I feel so much better.  I found a sub for today luckily, so I'm going to continue to sleep, but I'm so happy about being able to breath through my nose!  

I also wanted to give a shout out to Rob because he's been such a trooper.  He's been taking such good care of me!  And poor thing, he hasn't had a real meal in quite a few days.  He did cook last week though.  Here's the proof.  He did a really good job! 

But I think I've worn him right out.  

Thanks for taking such good care of me hon!