Progress!

Seven yards of garden soil were delivered to our front yard last Monday. Between my half loads (I'm still fighting an injured rib from all the coughing I did in March), Jason's big loads as time allowed in the evenings and the Scouts coming over this past weekend, we finally got all the dirt moved. Our garden is starting look really good! I am so excited. Jason even spent some time to level out a corner that was a low point and therefore was a puddle of water most of the time. Good job, Jason! We donated money to the Scouts to help them pay for camp this summer in exchange for their work.

Check out the strawberries growing in the garden (right hand side of picture). I am hoping to get a good crop this summer so we can make freezer jam. Trevor absolutely loves Strawberry jam and the rest of us do to!!

What are we going to do with the pile of rocks and dirt? I am going to build a retaining wall to create two levels. The kids can play in the shade on the top level. I want to plant some flowers in a lower level. Yes, I will plant something that is kid hearty/friendly and will plan for little paths in several places. I'm hoping they will like it and continue to think of it as their "fort!"

Meetings

I was able to attend the Northwest Regional Auxiliary Training meeting on April 18th. It was wonderful! The speakers were Sister Elizabeth Ricks from the General Primary Board, Sister Martha Johnson from the General Relief Society Board, Sister Asthon from the General YW Board, and Elder R. Bruce Merrill. As I am serving in the Primary, I will focus my comments on that.

"P" in Primary is always capitalized. Primary means basics. We need to lay the foundation of the gospel basics in Primary. Something that really stuck with me: "We teach the ideal in the church, then we are respectful and mindful of other circumstances." Sharing time is 30 minutes long. 15 minutes are for the Presidency member or class presentations which should include songs, as well. 15 minutes are for the Chorister to teach children new songs, sing fun songs, etc. Bottom line-sing, sing, sing, sing, sing! It engages everyone, teaches gospel principles and invites the Spirit to testify. Stake leaders are resources.

The following week our Stake had a combined Relief Society, Young Women, and Primary Leadership Training meeting. We met together for half an hour, then broke up into groups based on callings. The Primary had a guest speaker come and teach about working with children who are Autistic. It was very informative and useful as we have several children with Autism in our Stake. We also modeled an Opening/Closing Exercises in Primary. I was the chorister and it was fun!

PTA is going fine. Wednesday night my living room was full of boxes of candles as we sorted, counted, and prepared to deliver them to the children. It was a bit caotic, but the job got done and 5 minutes after the house was cleared of PTA personnel, our Home Teachers arrived.

Jason has had several meetings, as well. We take turns having busy weeks. Last week was my busy week. The week prior to that was his. He has another busy week coming up this week with something going on every night. I do get to go to the PTA Convention at the Double Tree Hotel in SeaTac on Friday and Saturday and on a Field Trip with Trevor's class on Thursday, so I'm excited!

"Mommy, did you know..."

Tyson and I were playing with play dough today and out of the blue he looked at me and said, "Mommy, did you know I'm your spirit brother?" Just when you think they aren't listening, just bouncing off the walls, struggling to get out of your arms to run around or whatever the case may be, little moments like these remind me that no moment is too small to be a teaching moment! How grateful I am for a husband who teaches our children gospel principles at bathtime!

PTA Secretary

Last night was PTA elections and I was elected Secretary for the 2009-2010 school year.

"...In our Easter bonnetts..."

This was our hurried-to-get-out-the-door-to-church Easter picture in our matching outfits.

"That'll do, pig. That'll do!" (from the movie Babe)

Spring Break-Continued with bits of Easter

Some friends told us abou the Lego Store at Bellevue Square Mall so we decided to check it out on our way to Mattawa for Easter. Let's just say we didn't stay long because there were lots of people and little space (ok, the pictures say otherwise...). Tyson enjoyed playing with Legos on the table, the boys enjoyed drooling over expensive Lego sets and BriAnn....decided to hide.

Easter Egg Festivities in Mattawa

Kevin, Aurora, Jaren, Staci Ann, Kaylee

Leslee, Kent, Bryce

BriAnn-"Who needs eggs? I just need sand in my bag!"

Dad (Dennis), Keith

Aurora and Mom (Mary Ann)

The traditional wagon pull, different driver this year as Uncle Kory is at Fort Bragg right now. We decorated Easter Eggs, went on a hunt, played games, ate good food, enjoyed each other's company, talked to Kory on the phone, talked some more to Kory on the phone...I think he was missing us as this was his first holiday away from home. Thanks for everyone's hard work to make this a fun time!

Spring Break

Look at all the loot we got from our Easter Egg party with Grandma Sally!

Can you see the little nose of the neighbor's dog poking through the fence?

BriAnn likes to do whatever the boys are doing. They have the croquet mallots in the back of their shirts, pretending they are guns. BriAnn couldn't quite get that job done so she put hers in the front!

Jason, BriAnn, Addie Bolton, Trevor, Tyson

Grandpa Alan Bolles has been diagnosed with Prostate Cancer and will be undergoing surgery on May 1, 2009 to try and remove it. As his doctor told him, "Almost all men die with prostate cancer, but few die from it." He has a pretty positive outlook on the whole thing. "Handle your trials in style" is what he often says. He's a good man!

kristiannskozies.etsy.com

Hi, all. Please check out my Etsy.com shop (kristiannskozies.etsy.com) where I'm selling my Kozies. I will have flannel blankets with crochetted edges, fleece hats and scarves, maybe some purses and more listed in the future as well. Please share this shop address with others who you feel might be interested in purchasing a homemade product from me. Thank you!!!

More Cute Sayings & a Hero

Every wet day we walk to school, worms on our route have a "hero" looking out for them. His name is Tyson. We rescue, on average, about 10 worms per trip. He loves animals, bugs, worms, anything living. He can't bare the thought that the worms may die if he doesn't take them off the sidewalk and put them back in the grass or dirt.

Aunt Marianne (Jason's sister) was up from Utah visiting this last week. It was good to see her. She looks really good. No more swelling from her Chemo treatments and her smile is as bright as ever. We invited her to come to dinner and Family Night with us on Monday. In anticpiation, Tyson was trying to figure out how long it was going to take her to get here (even though she was still in Washington) so he asked, "Is Utah in the Spirit World?" I replied, "No." He thought a few moments and said, "Oh, it's in the Army!" He was excited to see Aunt Marianne.

My youngest brother (I can no longer call him "little" brother as he is over 6' tall) is in the Army Reserves and has been gone the last couple of months at boot camp in South Carolina. He graduated and is now doing his special training at Ft. Bragg and is thrilled as he gets to see all the special ops guys. We miss him!

BriAnn loves to sing. Some of her favorite songs at present are "I Am a Child of God", "You Are My Sunshine", "Twinkle Twinkle Little Star", "Sunbeam", and more that aren't coming to mind right now. She can actually sing many of the words and can carry the tune pretty well. We love having her in our family, as well as all of our children!