March Moments

We are already nearly through March, and it's been a busy month with daily doings, young women activities, and some fun things. We are looking forward to having a 13 year old tomorrow! And also, Derek and Amy's family are visiting us for the last week of this month and we are so excited. We have had quite a bit of rain but soak up the sun when it does shine through.

Here's just a few moments and fun things that we have done so far this month.

For the entire month of February, I took charge of our ward service project and collected items for the Care Closet (hygiene items) for an amazing organization, Vine Maple Place. They help single parent families get back on their feet and teach them skills to help them be successful in life. Our ward family was incredible and donated so many items. Some even donated money and I took some young women with me shopping and then out for some ice cream. Then we took all the items to drop them off. They were so grateful, and we got to see how bare their Care Closet was and it was great to see our efforts making a difference.

On the first weekend of March, I got to attend our Stake Relief Society Retreat. It was Thursday evening to Saturday. I decided to go up on Friday morning so I wasn't away for too long so Nate didn't have to take off too much work and also, so I only had one night of not great sleep. It was incredible! It was amazing to get to know those sisters in my ward better and connect with them more and also get to know new sisters in our stake. I rode up with Boni and the car ride wasn't long enough. We could have talked for way longer. :) It was such a fun ride. When we arrived, there were some different options for classes and activities. I ended up making some cards, doing some of a rope's course (I wish I could have done more!), and then listened to part of a class on walking the path of life with Jesus. After lunch, we did a painting class which was highly entertaining, and our table was the rowdy one. We painted our own version of the Sacred Grove. We had some free time after this and some sisters in our ward all got together and played mini golf. Then we had dinner and then had a wonderful testimony meeting. It was sweet to hear the testimonies in English and Spanish. Then afterwards we had such a fun dance party. The Spanish sisters know how to dance and party! I had fun dancing with and visiting with the young women president in another ward. I ended up staying up really late visiting with Anna and Carey and helping Anna tie some bracelets. We stayed up pretty late visiting which was good since I really didn't get any sleep. There was a lot of snoring and just a new place, so I didn't sleep much. In the morning, we had group scripture study, went on a nature walk, and had a wonderful devotional about sisterhood and being one. It was truly so sweet as we stood hand in hand connected to each other and all striving to grow closer to Christ. We had some ward time, and our ward decided to have a discussion about reaching out and personally inviting other ladies in our ward to things and just ministering and helping our ward young women be more united. We had lunch and cleaned up and then it was time to head home. It was another wonderful visit, this time with Carey and learning more about her life story. I loved connecting with some amazing women that are in our stake and my ward. It was a wonderful experience! 

One day Baylor stayed home from school and wasn't feeling well. After lunch, I created some math worksheets for her where she had to use legos to figure out the problems. She really enjoyed it!

Paige went to her first school dance and had so much fun! She went with a couple of her good friends and they had a blast.

Paige loves to do McCall's hair and does an amazing job. McCall is tolerant mostly because she gets to watch shows on Paige's computer while it gets done. Her cute face just melts me even if doing hair is a bit of a torture. :)

I have continued to do my Ladies of the Lake gatherings once a month and for March, a group of us went to the temple for our Stake Relief Society Temple Day. I go to the temple often with the youth and do baptisms. It was sweet to do an endowment session.

We are so happy it is finally spring! I'm loving the spring flowers in my yard and can't wait for them all to grow more and for more days out in the sun.

Our combined activity for the month was going to ride go-karts and we had so much fun.

Now to end our month with lots of fun celebrations and time with family!