One Step Report #13

April, here we are!  I feel like I’m headed up the last big hill before the home stretch.  The big hill consists of my taxi driver schedule with 5 soccer players, 3 gymnasts, 4 piano students, etc. etc. and the last 2 months of school.   It’s going to get insane, but I can see the light at the end of the tunnel.  If only the sun would shine a little more!

This week:  66 steps.
Summary for the month of March:  353 steps.

A few highlights:

1.  My brother, his wife and three children drove from Spokane Washington to spend a few days with us.  It was SOOOO great to see them, to have our children play together, to visit and enjoy being together!  I loved it.  My only regret:  I was so busy enjoying myself and the children that I forgot to get out my camera like I intended to do.  I also forgot to have them sign the guest book.  Bummer!

2.  My parents also flew into town to spend a few days.  This meant that my other three brothers who currently live in Utah came over a few times, and my 5th brother flew into town to surprise us.  This meant that on Saturday night I had my parents and all 5 of my brothers in my home!  SO GREAT.  It also made me miss my sisters.  I’m grateful, though, that I have really awesome sisters-in-law who are so much fun to be around.

3.  Because we had company, my house got much cleaner this week than I typically manage.  That is always a good thing, especially when all 5 bathrooms are clean AT THE SAME TIME.

4.  I walked into my bathroom this week and saw this:


My oldest daughter had turned the bathroom into a salon and was doing everyone’s hair… at the same time.  Every source of water had a head uncomfortably under it.


The girls all came downstairs looking lovely, but I have to share this picture that my daughter took.  It’s out of focus, but still so funny.


This was by far the most memorable hairdo of the day:


Creativity certainly makes some messes, but I’m a fan of good, old-fashioned fun!

5.  We re-discovered a childrens book that I had forgotten about.

6.  Because I am LDS, I spent 8 hours this weekend sitting with my family to watch General Conference.  I feel anxious to study the messages I heard and work much harder to strengthen my family.

7.  While watching, I made progress on the binding of a quilt I’ve been working on for a long time.

8.  I’m joining my sister in a little 10 week challenge.  It should be fun.

9.  My parents bought some baby chicks for my children as an Easter memory.  My dad remembers the chicks being for sale everywhere before Easter when he was a kid, even at gas stations.  It was fun to watch the chicks and to watch my children watching the chicks.   I’m on a mission to get some great pictures if someone would just remove the gray paint that has been plastered to the Utah sky this winter.




10.  Thanks to my Mom and Dad, along with some “Bunny Servants” as my oldest son dubbed us, we had a really fun little egg hunt for the children on Saturday.  It was so cute to watch them run around filling their baskets.  I wish I had a picture of my oldest son taking my book page wreath off the wall to hunt for his egg, not seeing the egg, searching for the thumb tack that fell while he held the egg behind his back in plain sight for all of us who were silently laughing before he saw it.  The things kids will endure to find an egg with a bit of money in it!

Overall, I feel very thankful for the gift of time spent with family.  Relationships are what matter most, and this week was full of opportunities to renew and strengthen relationships.  What a blessing!  I’m also thankful that this next week is spring break in our school district, for that means I can let the children sleep in tomorrow and hope they catch up on their rest before more cousins hit town in a few days!   It should be busy but fun.

I hope your Easter weekend was wonderful.  I’ve never been so thankful for Jesus Christ as I am at this point in my life.  I am grateful for so many opportunities to grow and change from the inside out.

Wishing you a great week, Jennifer