I love that our girls now understand better our Easter tradition of watching the sunrise and the importance of our Savior in our lives. It's become a favorite tradition for sure. This year was special because Easter fell on General Conference weekend and we got to listen to many uplifting messages from the leaders of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
Today is March 23rd. The world shut down last March 13th. It has been QUITE the year. There are many times and many issues that have been hard to deal with and get used to. Such as wearing masks (girls at school too), not being able to easily go to museums and indoor play areas, etc., and in the beginning not being able to see family and friends. But there have been many blessings and eye-opening things that have happened that I am very grateful for.
Being able to do at home church and make our home a sacred place has been the most important thing Cade and I have learned from this pandemic. The temples have been shut down and it's been very hard to not be able to go inside and focus on the spiritual nourishment that we have needed. But then we have made our homes that spiritual haven that we and our girls have needed. Come Follow Me has been a regular important thing in our home and it has strengthened our family relationships 100 fold. I am so grateful for the revelation of the Come Follow Me program that has allowed families to become spiritually stronger together.
I have also learned that I need to be understanding of others beliefs and opinions and know that my way of thinking is not the only correct way. I want to teach my children to be strong in their beliefs but understanding of others thinking and believing different than them. The Holy Ghost is so essential in our day that I need to keep Chirst's teachings at the front of my to-do list every day. I need to be guided and directed every single day to what is most important for myself and my family.
I am grateful that we are coming around a corner and hopefully will be able to resume certain activities soon (church, primary, etc.). We are currently meeting every other week at church and doing the other week at home virtually. It has still been good but I am excited to get back to hugging people and smiling at others without a mask on.
This year Grandma and Boose came for our traditional St. Patrick's Day dinner. What's great about this tradition is that it's so easy to keep up with! I already cook dinner for my family s might as well make it green and call it a special holiday dinner! The girls look forward to little things like this.
They were so excited to have Grandma Bleak and Boose come join us this year. We made our rainbow fruit kabobs and veggie rainbow and then a chicken asparagus pasta with green sauce. Then green smoothie and brownie and mint ice cream for dessert. Then the best part...put on a movie for the girls so I could talk and catch up with my mom and sister :). Good times!
Just some random family memories.
Sunday's we like to drive up the canyon sometimes. Didn't realize there is still that much snow in March but as Cade says, "sometimes Mom needs to drive up the canyon and sniff the air." Then Nora kept saying, "I don't want to drive just to sniff the air!!!" Hahaha.
What?? For real?!
Cade and I weren't going to find out because it was so much fun waiting until sweet Jane was born. It was so fun waiting until the end. But I kept asking Cade, "Are you sure you don't want to find out? Especially if we feel this is our last baby, will you be disappointed if it's a girl and is it better to find out sooner?" So the week before the ultrasound we decided we would find out the gender together and tell the girls later.
We went to get our ultrasound done and it was the same lady who did our last two ultrasounds (even the one with Lucy where we thought she was a boy at first). We reminded her of our past ultrasounds and that we have 5 girls at home and we indeed wanted to find our the gender after all. So half way through heart and organs she couldn't wait and said, "Okay! I have to show you guys now!" She found a good shot and wrote out "boy". Cade couldn't believe it. The ultrasound tech said, "I've known this whole time and I usually wait until the end but I just couldn't wait any longer!!" She was too excited for us. Cade was trying to hold back the tears :). Of course we'd be excited either way. Our girls are AMAZING!!! And we wouldn't have our family ANY OTHER WAY! And to be honest...I think we really aren't going to believe it until baby boy is here in our arms.
Now for telling the girls...
My friend a few weeks earlier said, "If you want a gender reveal cake let me know and I'll make you one!" I told her that was so nice but we probably weren't going to find out. Then after we DID find out I texted her to ask if she would still be willing. We found out Monday and did the cake on Thursday after dinner. We told the girls we had a special dessert and when we brought that out they were SOOOO excited because they've had this amazing ice cream cake from our neighbor before. Then Cade said, "now there is something special about this cake. With the help from our doctor this cake will tell you whether our baby is a baby boy or a baby girl." The girls screamed, "WHAT?? Are you serious?" They were even MORE excited. Lots of screaming started :). Everyone made their guesses. Emma and Reese guessed girl and Nora and Lucy guessed boy. Jane just yelled "cake!" When I made the first cut into the cake, I pulled the knife out and there was a little bit of blue on the knife! Then I cut the other side and more blue came out. The girls were going CRAZY and screaming. I finally got out the piece and it indeed was blue inside. They couldn't believe it. They're reactions were so great. They are so fun and so animated and it makes anything like this so much fun.
We are excited to have Close baby boy come join us this summer! What a special little guy to join a family with 6 mommies!!! He is going to be extremely loved.
We love going down to Prescott, Arizona to see the Close cousins! I mean, the 10 hour drive with Jane is not my favorite but all the other girls did awesome. They have so much fun exploring and getting dirty and enjoying their awesome property. One of the funniest things was seeing Reese and Taft "herding" chickens for hours. They would get long sticks and make the chickens go where they wanted them to. Emma and Ashur's favorite memory was making a well near the stream. They dug and dug and used stones and rocks to make the wall of it. Great times on a great property!
We are glad we got to go down because Tara is expecting a baby the end of March and I am expecting the middle of July so we didn't know when the next time would be that we could visit them again.
Grandpa Edward Jones passed away just a few days before we were planning on heading down to AZ to visit the family. Timing wise everything worked out better than planned. But the Sunday before he passed, we had a family fast that he could return home to God. He has suffered for a few years with dimensia but the last 3 months or so were becoming pretty rough. They think he maybe had a stroke that ultimately made him immobile for the last week and a half of life.
Tammy and Dale took care of him until the end. They did everything they could to give him a comfortable home and life and we will forever be grateful for that.
Grandpa Jones was a wonderful man. Pretty quiet, but still loved to tease and pinch and poke :). He was a hard worker and loved to garden and earlier on in life built homes and worked on construction. He ultimately was the person who really encouraged Cade to get a college degree and go into accounting and know how to deal with money and learn about businesses. We will miss him but are grateful he is in a better place with our Savior, Jesus Christ.
Out of Lucy's mouth...."Mom! Now that I am 5 I can do everything by myself! Like set the table, start the bath, make my own sandwich and play by myself!" She is growing up and doing so much by herself. We are so proud of the strides she has made in just the last year.
Lucy has been making goals of things she wants to learn to do and is doing awesome! She is becoming a great swimmer and just this last week learned to swim the whole length of the pool without the assistance of her teacher. She gets so excited when I tell her she can make her own lunch. She usually makes a PB and jelly sandwich, veggies and hummus and fruit. Lucy is also learning to not need someone next to her playing with her every second which is definitely new for her. She also looks very much forward to preschool every single time. She is so social and loves being around people. Some of her friends right now are Sophie Bleak (of course), Sadie Swan, Alice Stonebreaker, Evie Folker and Olive Kingsford.
We love our spunky, fun-loving, energetic Lucy! She adds so much excitement and patience learning in our home and we would't have it any other way. Lucy is growing into a beautiful, sweet girl.
