Tending the Johns Children

Alice-Anne and Gary celebrated their 10th Anniversary on April 30th. But the celebration began earlier in the month when they went on a much deserved break for a 5-day cruise to the Caribbean, leaving out of Ft. Lauderdale, Florida. Dad and I stayed after General Conference to tend their good children. We had so much fun with them. Kenna and Spencer were "off-track" from school so they were home all day. We kept busy with trips to the park, swimming lessons for Kenna, the library, Arctic Circle, going on walks, which were more like "runs" because that is all that Elliot's feet know how to do is to "run!" It was a challenge to keep up with him because he is always on the move, but such a cute little guy! When he was a long way ahead of me, I would yell, "Stop." He would stop, but then as I got closer he would take off again. When he didn't want to go to the car, he would promptly lay down in the grass and pretend he was asleep! What a kid! Dad left on Thursday to get back to our business. While in Utah he did take Tuesday to do a Reliv Luncheon in American Fork and a Presentation for Richard Larson, our distributor in Bountiful.

Gratefully the children were such good helpers, and very cooperative for me, that I did fine for the next couple of days without Dad. On Friday it was fun to have my sister Meredith and her daughter Lindsey and her two adorable children come down and go to the park with us and a picnic lunch. It was such a hot day that the children ran through the sprinklers for the first time of the year. We had fun watching "Frozen," reading stories, playing together, and being entertained by Elliot. Grandpa is so fun with the children, giving Elliot horsie rides up and down the stairs. They were good eaters, and such good children, very respectful, helpful, and never complained about their parents being gone. When I said, "You children are so good to help Grandma so much," Spencer said, "It's because we love you so much, Grandma." That melted my heart! My second day tending them Elliot said, pointing to me, "You're the Mom, and Grandpa is the Dad." While Crismon was watching them at the park, I texted him to take pictures. He wrote back, "How do you capture 'lightning?!?" Meaning Elliot of course. Most of my pictures of him are the back side as he doesn't hold still for long.

On the way to the airport I told Elliot, "We're going to pick up your Mom & Dad at the airport." He said, "No they went grocery shopping." The children were so excited to see their parents, but Elliot especially clung to his Dad for a long time. He has really bonded with Gary while Alice-Anne was busy as a YW's President. That meant Gary had them for hours on Sunday and every Wednesday night. I'm glad we could help so they could have this fun trip together. I spent Sunday with them before heading home that night. Before I left they enacted our Palm Sunday for FHE. 

General Conference and my 62nd Birthday

We flew to UT on April 3rd. Gary and Alice-Anne were so kind to let us borrow their car to head north to visit my Smith family in Logan. Along the way we stopped to quickly visit one of our customers who lives in Canada, who was in Layton visiting family. So nice to actually put a face with a voice over the phone.

Roger and Andrea prepared a delicious Japanese dinner featuring a speciality called "Gyoza." It was a lot of preparation for Roger and Andrea, but a treat for all of us. What a blessing to all be together, except we missed Kathi. Grandma Julia was there, too, and a friend of Geoff & Peggy's visiting from Ireland. My siblings were so kind to give me birthday gifts and we enjoyed watching pictures from Roger's photography trip to Thailand. The experiences he had were incredible! The pictures were spectacular!

Crismon slipped away to do a Reliv meeting at the home of one of our customers in Hyde Park. Again, these are people we have known over the phone and so it was great to actually meet them in person. I was able to get there are the end of the meeting and meet some of those good people. There were about 20 people and it is always rewarding to hear of the changes in their health and have them share the gift of Reliv with their friends and family. Also, some were good friends of Roger & Andrea's and Geoff.

Alice-Anne and Gary spoiled me with a birthday dinner Friday night with salmon and their famous carrot cake that they make me each birthday when we visit during General Conference. It's the only time during the year that I get it, and I love it!

We had tickets for the Saturday morning session. Kenna went with us, too. We were so glad that Julia & Austin could come down from Rexburg, and Crismon and Danielle from Provo. We had connected with a young man from Nigeria that has come to BYU-I, and who we have tried to give some help and moral support to and we were glad he could come to conference with Julia & Austin and stayed at Crismon & Danielle's apartment for the weekend. He is a fine young man with quite a conversion story. He served faithfully as an excellent missionary, an assistant to the president and was able to baptize his family when he returned. His name is Akeh Oluwadamilare Gossamer Dare. But goes by Ezekiel.

Crismon, Ezekiel and Crismon attended the Priesthood session and saw others from our stake. They ran into Malin before the session.

While the men were at the Priesthood session, the girls had a night out to celebrate my birthday. It was so fun to have time with just the girls to visit.

Saturday morning we watched conference at the Johns home and then Crismon took Alice-Anne and Gary to the airport for them to fly to Fort Lauderdale for their cruise leaving the next day to the Caribbean. He then went on to the Conference Center to be with Crismon, Danielle and Ezekiel in the afternoon session. They ran into Bryce & Teresa and some of the other Linton family. I was sorry to miss them. Malin & Sally were so good to stop by the home to say hello Sunday after conference. What a blessing to see Sally looking and feeling so much better.

We enjoyed one last evening together before Julia and Austin and Ezekiel headed back to Rexburg. Kenna said, "I love family dinners, but this is the first time we've had one in our home without Mom & Dad."