Garden Progress

The garden is coming alive!




The Radishes are the first to show, and they have come out in force!

The cucumber plants are second in line, with carrots bringing up the rear.

Hangin' Out with the Day Family

Mike, Kari, and the kids came out to Disneyland and then came to see us. They spent a few days with our family. It was so fun to see old friends from Sierra Vista. We went on a double date and had a great dinner and visited the Americana. It's an outdoor high end mall in Glendale. It's the kind where you just look but don't buy. We had a blast checking out all the funky stores.

Will Rogers State Beach

A fun day at the beach with the Days

Planted

The garden is planted! We've never really done this, planting everything but tomatoes from seed. We'll see how it goes. But finally: it is planted.

The kids were a big help as we prepared the soil and sowed each tiny seed. We had lots of fun, and mother nature blessed us with really warm weather (we've got sunburns to prove it.)

Easter Sunday

We have to post our annual Easter family picture. We had a great Easter Sunday and had a great time at Gabby and Sam's place. The kids played all day long and ate too much candy. It was fun to see my cousin Gloria and her kids, my aunt and uncle, and other cousins and friends, and of course, Abuela.

Maddie turns 11

Maddie went to lunch with her two new friends, Sallie and Lucy for her birthday last week. Then we came home and had double chocolate bundt cake. She and her friends hung out and did lots of giggling of course.

Spring Break

We went to visit the Lanes for a couple of days and we went to such an awesome hike at Torrey Pines State Park. It's so gorgeous! Abuela enjoyed the hike and sun as well. The kids had a blast playing and swimming. We love hanging out with the cousins.

What a Deal

What do you think of my new armoire? From the moment I first spotted it, I knew it was mine. I saw it every day for a week after dropping off the kids at school in the morning in someone's front porch. I didn't know why it was there, but I knew trash day was aprroaching. Then on Friday morning, there it was, out on the curb, with the most beautiful word on it: FREE.
I quickly pulled over and got out to see if I could pick it up and load it. No such luck. It 's solid wood. The owner walked out and he said he'd hold it for me til later when Willie could pick it up. It looks lovely in my dining room. It houses all of the kids school supplies, their individual homework trays, art supplies, phone books, and my cookbooks. It also matches my table perfectly. Not too shabby, huh?

Anniversary weekend

Willie and I celebrated our 15th wedding anniversary last month. We went to Santa Barbara for a couple of days and really enjoyed our time alone together. We visited the Santa Barbara mission on Saturday morning. It's a very beautiful and peaceful place.
Friday night and Saturday we walked on the beach, went out to dinner, went to a great bookstore, walked around the shipping district, took lots of pictures, and just had fun together. It's so nice to get away sometimes.

Santa Barbara Architecture

We were so impressed with all the gorgeous buildings and architecture in S.B. Everywhere you look, there is something beautiful. The courthouse is unbelievable. The bottom pic is a fountain directly across from the ATM machine. no kidding!

Santa Barbara and Ojai

The first two pics are of S.B. and the last two are of Ojai. Actually, one is of Lake Casitas. It is on the way to Ojai. We decided to take the long way home because we wanted to go through Ojai. It was totally worth it. The drive is so amazing! We felt like we were in Utah or northern California. It was so green and gorgeous. We had a great trip and are very grateful to the Lanes for watching our kids.

General Conference

Saturday and Sunday we got to listen to General Conference. We always listen to conference at home on Saturday. We don't have BYU channel, so we just watch it over the internet. Sunday morning we always watch it at the church. I feel we get so much more out of it when we don't have all the distractions. I love to listen to the different stories and inspired talks. I love to listen to the Prophet. I feel the spirit so strongly when he speaks. We invited our neighbor to go with us and she came. She and her kids have been coming to primary for about 6 weeks and are really enjoying it. The kids love to come to primary and sing songs about Jesus and about families. I really love and appreciate her and her help with my primary class. She is a wonderful person.

I am so grateful for the gospel in my life and for the amazing blessings I receive every day from our Heavenly Father. I am truly overwhelmed by Heavenly Father's and Jesus' love for me. I love to share what I know with others because the gospel is what makes my life fulfilling and meaningful. I am so especially thankful at this time of year when we can remember that Jesus died for us and that He lives.

Garden time

So Willie thinks he is going to plant a garden. I'll let you know how it goes . . .

Photo 1: The location (not great)

Photo 2: Raw materials

Photo 3: The goal

New Cousins

This is not an April fools joke. We have two new cousins! They were both born within the last two weeks. Aubrey is Sallie and Ray's new baby girl and Hanalei is Susanna and Rusty's new baby girl. Go girls! We are so happy to have more cousins! They are both so adorable!

That's 18 grandkids for Wayne and Dee Dee.
It's tied, 9 girls, 9 boys