Grandma's Irises

I transplanted some irises from my grandma's garden.

I think I've mentioned before that my grandma loved purple just like I do.

Or maybe I should say that I love purple just like she did.

These flowers make me smile and think of her every time I walk past them.

Found this photo from 2010.

Mike was on a trip to Utah and went to see my Grandma.
He snapped a picture of her with her irises for me.

I'm so glad that he did that!

My Birthday

My kids all wore purple for me to grant one of my birthday wishes :)

I love it!

 ...and I really love their goofiness :)

I also got an extra hour for my birthday,

who wouldn't love that!

I taught in Relief Society that day too.

It was a lesson on prayer and I sang a song at the beginning of it.

I sang Prayer is the Soul's Sincere Desire, the Sally DeFord arrangement.

I think it went pretty well.

The RS Presidency stopped by and gave me a little birthday gift, that was nice of them.

I watched some Little House on the Prairie and Leave it To Beaver with the kids.

Mike had to be at drill today so he was gone most of the day,

but when he finally got home he took some time to spoil me a little too :)
Since he knew he would have to be gone on my birthday he took me out on Saturday night.
We went to a formal event for Corporate Alliance.

We both agreed upon arriving there that "formal" here is a little
different than in Washington D.C. We felt a little overdressed at first,
but then decided not to worry about it and have a good time.
(There were some other people that were dressed formal too, so we weren't alone)
Anyway, the dinner was delicious and it was just nice to spend time with my man!
Oh and he also gave me some cute flowers

All in all, it was a nice, happy, relaxing, good birthday!

Project Purple

So when I heard that we were participating in a service project called Project Purple...I had to sign up, even if I wasn't sure I could do it :)

Turned out to be a wonderful experience for me. The project was crocheting or knitting small purple hats that would be given to hospitals and then in turn given to new mothers as they were told about the period of time called purple crying that babies go through and reminded to never shake their babies.

I had crocheted long long ago and mostly forgotten how to do it. Thankfully the internet is full of helpful videos and patterns and my good friend Nanette showed me how to do it, hands on, when she came to visit :)

For a while, I was crocheting with all my spare time and loving it and I really got better at it too as time went on. I even made some hats for my kids and for me too. 

On Wednesday the 10th, it was time to go and turn our hats in. I was happy with what I was able to turn in. I ended up with 21 hats to turn in...I had 22, but the very first one I did was not very good at all, it ended up on the head of one of Anna's dolls :)

One of them Isaac helped to make on the loom.

I did a couple on the loom, but most of them I crocheted. 

Grace and Anna participated in our Humanitarian day too.

They were helping to create beaded lizard toys for children.

Here are most of the purple hats that were gathered,

I'm sure more were turned in after I turned in my little stack of hats.

Flower Beds

I wish I had taken a before picture, but trust me it was pretty bad. I worked for several days to get all the weeds out and then Marcy and I went shopping for flowers...then she even helped me plant them, Norm even came over and helped! It went by so much faster with their help, I was so grateful!

This one was one of the hardest spots cause it was just grass so we had to dig it all out! Noah was nice and helped me with this part.

Yes I know there is quite a bit of purple...but for some reason I just couldn't help it :)

I love the flowers and it just makes me smile now when I look at the house.

Here's hoping that I can keep them all alive...I tend to have a not so green thumb.

Mothers Day and Mother Nature

My mothers day was wonderful. My sweet husband and children did all they could to make me happy. Mike made breakfast, lunch and dinner. He also bathed the little ones for me and made sure the older ones took their showers. I received some fabulous cards, stories, poems and pictures from the kids. Mike gave me my favorite flowers (one for each child)... ...and some dark chocolate truffle balls of course. Mike also gave me a big tent and a new camping grill/stove, and promises for family camping trips! I have so many great memories of going camping with my family when I was a kid, I am so excited to make some of those memories with my own little (or not so little, depending on your perspective) family. Mike and the kids also granted me wishes throughout the day. My first decree was that everyone would wear purple to church. Mike and the boys all wore purple ties (of course we have enough purple ties, with one left over!) The girls wore purple dresses and I painted their toenails - and mine - purple! It was fun and I think we all looked great. After church Mike carried me out of the church and to the car and then lifted me into my seat. Our four missionaries saw this and after he put me in the car and walked around to his side, they all clapped for him! He was a little embarrassed, but simply bowed graciously and then got in the car. My knight in shining armor.

As for Mother Nature, she made sure that we knew it was her day also. It was stormy all day. Rain and wind like crazy. Our power went our for a brief moment and came back on long enough for us to get everyone in bed and for Mike and I to spend a little time together. Then the power was out again. Mike was worried about flooding so he set his watch to wake him up every hour so he could drain the sump pump and keep our basement from flooding. The power came back on around 3 this morning. Poor Mike didn't get much sleep so I don't think he was too sad when he tried to go to work and couldn't because the road that leads out of our neighborhood was flooded at the bottom of the hill with about a foot to a foot and a half of rushing water. Here's a picture he took with his phone this morning when he tried to go to work.A few hours later, after several calls he made, he finally got in touch with someone to move the concrete barriers that block a new road so he could go to work. At least he was able to take a nap before he went. As for the kids - you guessed it - no school! So far the tv has stayed off, which is pretty good considering that they can't go outside to play. It is still raining, hopefully our power will stay on!

My Valentine

My Valentine gift was on special order (I'll let you figure out why!) and it came in yesterday. Mike was a little worried that he would get made fun of for giving me a kitchen appliance for Valentine's Day. I told him not to worry, I figure if it is something that is wanted then it doesn't matter what it is...besides anything that is purple....well you know it's a good gift for me! He also gave me a beautiful bouquet of purple tulips. I think I'll make some cookies today, but I will save some of the dough for Mike!