Every week I blog, it’s one day later in the week than the week before. I don’t know what’s up with that but here goes this weeks happenings…

Thursday I went to lunch and a movie with Faye Clawson, Emily’s mom. We have a good time together and hadn’t done anything for a while so she took me to lunch a the East West Café and then I took her to the movies next-door at the Rialto theater and we saw, “Miss Pedigrew Lives for a Day” which we thoroughly enjoyed. Very funny and poignant at the same time. I recommend it for a good time.

After work last Friday I joined Richard at the Dunford’s for a 55th birthday dinner party for Ron. We had a blast!! There were other couples there from their ward who we don’t see that often but really delight in their company. It was a great group of friends. We had delicious food & enjoyable conversation, then played guessing games that were questions about Ron so we all got to know him better than before. One of them was guessing his age in about 20 pictures from his life. It was very entertaining analyzing the clothes and surroundings as well as his appearance in trying to figure out how old he was in each one. Cindy had gotten some really cute prizes for all of us. They were all wrapped and we could have traded for ones already opened as we each chose one, but we all liked the ones we got. Dad got a mini, battery powered, light saber. (We have to guard it from Chris.) Then Ron opened his creative and amusing gifts from all of us. It was a great and very fun evening.

Saturday we did yard work in the beautiful warm weather, shopped for Easter dinner, and enjoyed the day. Easter Sunday we had the privilege of singing in the ward choir, “This is The Christ”. John, Noelle and Abigail were in town to spend Easter with her sisters so they were in our ward and John came and sang next to Dad. The song was perfect and the Spirit strong making my tears flow, especially with his beautiful voice behind me. Then I had the thrill of substituting as chorister in Primary and loved every second of it. We shared “The Missionary Game” and dinner with Chris and Emily, barbecuing steaks I had marinated over night. Yummy! Brook wasn’t feeling too well after church so they came over later and the 6 of us visited and had a fun time together. It was a beautiful Easter Sunday.

Tuesday night we went to Sebastopol and had dinner with Kathleen, Mark, and Joshua. Delicious food and great company. Their home is beautiful and in a gorgeous area with a fantastic view. We are so thrilled that they are putting down roots just a short distance from us. We are standing ready to help out when the new baby boy is born in the near future. We took a game to Joshua, (Looney Toons “SMASH-UM” that used to be Christopher’s) with a new package of Playdoh. Mark and Joshua played it after we had dinner and they both had a “smashing” good time. Joshua won. Sorry I forgot my camera as I was planning to put pictures here…darn! Next time.

Today was book club and as always I had a wonderful time with my good friends. We discussed the book, “These is My Words” (1st of 3 volumes) by Nancy Turner. We all had a great time reading and discussing the book.

This morning I received a surprise phone call from Larry and Becky, according to my caller ID, but when I answered it, my mom was on the other end. They have been down from Oregon since last Saturday to help Larry and Becky move into their new home. I knew they were coming down this month but wasn’t sure when. The surprise part was a wish of mine that my parents granted…they are moving back to California soon and are going to be living in this big, beautiful new home with Larry and Becky. I couldn’t be happier. They will rent out their home in Grant’s Pass so they will have additional income. I can hardly wait to see them hopefully this weekend on our way to Sacramento.

Get out your Easter Bonnets!

Well, St. Patrick’s Day is over and Easter is just around the corner. Can you believe it?
Dad/ Richard and I are doing great, enjoying the beautiful weather and keeping busy.

Saturday night was our annual Stake Single Adult Saint Patrick’s dinner and program. We hold it at the institute building and put corned beef in crock pots at 10:00 in the morning so they cook all day. We had about 20 people there including 3 children (Iris, Lily, and Jasmine) of one of the singles. We had really good food with the potluck items all the singles brought, together with the corned beef and cabbage, potatoes, and drinks the stake provided. We played some word games, Dad told jokes, and then we put in a DVD of Lord of the Dance. Everyone had a good time. Do you know why the shamrock is a symbol of St. Patrick’s Day? Well, Saint Patrick taught the principle of the Godhead using the three leaves of the shamrock to signify the Father, Son, and the Holy Ghost, and then how they are unified "as one" in one leaf. Cool huh?

Sunday was an adventure for me as I substitute taught the "Sunbeam" class for the first time ever. There are five 3-year old boys in that class. You know me and little boys…I had such a great time. The lesson was on "Fish". I went to the library and took out two books…one was a story book about "Swimmy". It was a very cute story and they loved it. The other was book about fish with great colored pictures of all kinds of fish. We had a fantastic time learning about Gods beautiful fish and how we eat them too. We had a snack time too…what did we eat? "Goldfish" of course!! The last ten minutes we played with cars and trucks. They had a great time shooting them across the table to me and seeing if I could catch them and shoot them back. I did pretty well considering there were 5 of them and one of me. I’ll substitute in that class any time. Next week I get to sub for the chorister and it’s Easter Sunday…I can hardly wait….

Monday night was our Single Adult FHE here at the house and even though it was the 17th, we decided to forgo St. Pat’s day cause we already did that on Saturday and focus on Easter instead. We decided to show them "The Testaments" DVD. Half of them hadn’t seen it and they loved it as did we. It is a very special movie to see at Easter time…perfect actually. I’m very grateful that Chris and Emily gave it to us last Easter.

Last night was American Idol. Yes, we watch it. Did you know there are two LDS contestants? Their names are David (not Cook, the other one) and Brooke…pretty easy to remember. During the show, Brooke said "Hi" to her husband whose name is…yep, Dave. They are doing well. I voted for both of them last night too. I hope they are still there after tonight.

Hope your Easter is extra special this year!!

Spring Forward!

Our computer is done, and I am using it speedily right now!! We love you Jim Jones! We saw him at Empty Nesters potluck FHE last night and he said we could pick it up today, so that is what I did. He put a new security system on it for us as well as cleaning it up and installing more computer memory, so we are no longer Norton users because this new system is far better. After he put it on and had taken Norton off, he ran the scan and found 130 viruses and spyware on the computer that Norton had missed! How grateful we are that we have such a good friend who is so willing to help this computer ignorant couple. The name of the new program is "Spyware Doctor". Check it out family.

This past week we had such beautiful weather. The trees are all in bloom with their pink and white blossoms. At work we have many of them in the courtyard and so the aroma is wonderful as I descend the path to work. We have been keeping the door open to let in the warm fragrant air during the day. The staff at Santa Rosa Chiropractic Neurology Center had our picture taken last Friday for the Web site so you can check it out at www.backtohealthsr.com and go under the Meet the Doctors tab and then About us. Our group picture is at the bottom of that page. I’m in the back row in the striped blouse in case you couldn’t tell. There is a plan to get us all smocks to wear and name tags so that the patients can recognize the staff easily. I am excited to "look" the part of a medical office staff.

Saturday we went to the Oakland Temple with our Stake. There was a special chapel session prior to the endowment session, which is an annual thing for our stake. We had about 185 members there. It was wonderful be with so many friends in such a spiritual place. The Spirit was very strong. It kind of gives you a feeling of what it will be like in Heaven. Chris and Emily were there with us, which made it even better. After the Temple we took them out to dinner to celebrate Emily’s Birthday, which happens to be today! It was a glorious day!

It was Ward conference for our ward yesterday. We sang in the choir, of course, and were able to sing a song that Melva had written for the occasion. Our Stake theme for the year and all Ward conferences is Alma 5:26 so that is where she got the text for the piece we sang. It is a beautiful scripture with important things for us to remember everyday. Last night was our monthly Stake Single Adult Fireside and Bishop Preston was the speaker. He chose to speak about our new Prophet, Pres. Thomas S. Monson. It was a great opportunity to learn things that I didn’t know about him before. He has certainly been prepared to be the Lord’s prophet his entire life. It was a very uplifting and edifying evening.

This week I hope to finish my part of our Tax preparation so that I can get it all to the tax man. This is my least favorite thing to do each year but when it’s done I don’t have to do it again for an entire year so that is good.

A New year and a New plan

I know you are all totally amazed that I have actually blogged after a very long dry spell. Well, I have decided that I am going to pretend I have a son on a mission and will start blogging each Monday or Tuesday when I am doing the missionary laundry. It's a good plan and I will try to make it work.

Emily and I had a fantastic time planning and participating in the baby shower for Brook last Saturday. I know everyone who attended had lots of fun and good food. Brook got some very nice things for Carter which was the whole purpose for the shower. Now we just have to wait to see "him" wearing all his adorable clothes. I'll put in some pictures from the shower of Brook and Kathleen and their cute Prenant bellies when are able to...see below.

Our computer developed a problem so I am currently using an old one we have for just this reason. It is slower and doesn't have the pictures on it so I haven't put pictures in this blog. Plus I need a crash course from my SR bloggers as to how to do that again. It's been waaaaaaaay too long and I apologize. I love reading your blogs so please keep them up. Jim Jones analyzed our computer and I got the part yesterday so we should have our better one back by next week cause he will so some cleanup service and stuff on it to make it more effecient.

Things have been going well at work and it looks like there is a very good possibility that I can get more hours soon so that I won't have to get a second job as I thought I might. I really enjoy working at Santa Rosa Chiropractic and Neurology center with my co-workers and the great patients we have. It's a great work atmosphere. They are even planning to get another doctor in there too so that will make more work. Yeah!!

In our stake we have started a new thing this year...each month, the first week is called ministerial week and there are no ward or stake meetings so that families can spend quality time together each night for a whole week. It is also a good time to do home and visiting teaching. Dad and I have been studying the scriptures togther and working on our downsizing in preparation for serving a mission. It's a huge task but we are doing it a little at a time and things are getting accomplished. We've already gone through all of our VHS movies and discarded many. Now we are working on our books but thanks to "paperbackswap" we are getting rid of unwanted books and have the ability to receive ones we want in exchange. Thanks, Dave, for that. Now that the weather is getting really nice and before it gets hot...we are going to tackle the garage, and this time I'm not going to break an ankle!!