Summer, where are you?

Will we ever get to break out our shorts, and be out of these jeans?

Spring Recital

   We had the spring Piano Recital last night.  Matthew and Nathan did awesome!  I was so proud of them for memorizing their pieces.  Two of the songs were dependent on sheet music that morning, but they pulled it off all memorized!  Now we get a break for summer!  Here are the videos for grandma and grandpa's benefit...

    

Kittens

We have baby kittens, and they are cute!

I think baby anything are cute,

but these kittens are particularly cute.

Fortunately, Tiger did us the favor of having 7 babies, so there is enough for everyone to hold one at the same time.  They will need homes soon if your interested in a little kitten!

Baseball Days

Our month has been full of baseball, and what fun it has been.  We have been a little behind in keeping our blog updated, but that is the fun of spring!

Andrew played t-ball this year and had a great time.  Matthew and Nathan played Machine Pitch Baseball with mom coaching.  We had a really fun season.  Miriam, Eliza, and Mark thought they were on the team too.  At the beginning of the season, I thought it would be amazing if this little team could pull together some real baseball, but they did!  We placed third in the league of 10 teams.  I got really attached to these kids.  We had such a blast!

Saturday at Grandma and Grandpa's house

and yes, I actually hit a clay pigeon (miraculously)

sending off Aunt Ashley to Prom

Best Friend Girl Cousins

Time Out For Women

I just had an absolutely amazing, empowering, rejuvenating (except for sleep!), and wonderful weekend.  On Friday and Saturday I was able to attend "Time Out For Women," an amazing women's conference that is on tour all over the country, themed "Infinite Hope" this year.  And best of all, I got to go with 10 other amazing and very fun women.

It is hard to explain how inspirational it was.  There were musical performers both days--Jenny Oaks Baker on Friday, and Mercy River singing group on Saturday.  They were phenomenal.  The speakers were inspiring and uplifting.  My testimony in Jesus Christ is strengthened, and my love for womanhood, motherhood, and sisterhood overflowing!

Not to mention:  fun late night at Applebee's afterwards, staying up till 2:30 in the morning talking and back up at 6:00 am, and just being surrounded by thousands of women of faith.  Amazing!

I can't even begin to overview all of the amazing women we heard from, but I wanted to touch on a few of my favorites!

Virginia Hinckley Pearce--unfortunately, I caught Virginia blinking in this picture.  One of my favorite speakers.  She was amazing, and her message was powerful.  She spoke of holding the hand of her dying mother, then her dying father (our prophet, President Hinckley), and then just 6 months ago, the hand of her dying husband.  She spoke of finding success in life without comparing ourselves with others.  We can celebrate each other's successes and lift each other up along the way.  She was so amazing.

"Mercy River," musical trio, and they are awesome!  Three young moms with 10 children between them, amazing singers, and women with strong faith.  Needless to say, I bought their CD.  I love it!

Me, Shawni Eyre Pothier, and Linda Eyre

These ladies are two of my mother heroes.  I even started crying when I was talking to them--crazy, I know.  If you haven't, you should read ALL of Linda and Richard Eyre's books.  I love them.  Linda is an amazing mother of nine children.  I value advice from a mother of that many.  I strongly recommend her books:  Teaching Children Joy, Teaching Children Responsibility, Teaching Children Values, How to talk to your Children about Sex (sorry for the sensitive topic--but a great book!).  Love, love, love these books.  Now Linda and her daughter, Shawni, have co-authored a book, A Mother's Book of Secrets.  I bought it, and can't wait to read it.  

After hearing them speak, I HAD to go meet them.  They were so down to earth, as amazing as I had imagined.  Check out the I love Lucy Project that Shawni and Linda have started.  All proceeds from their new book go to fighting blindness!

Hopefully Nichole won't hate me for this picture.  I think it is cute!  Thousands of women fill the INB in Spokane with our new tote bags from the conference.  

Mariama Kallon, a survivor of war-torn Sierra Leone, was such an inspiration.  Her message kicked off the Humanitarian project today.  We were able to donate items and contruct 260 or so Hygiene Kits for the Women's "Hope House" Shelter in Spokane.  What a powerful influence women can be in giving and serving together!