Some pictures from the week:
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| We got this basketball hoop for Max's birthday and the boys are in love. Best $10 we have ever spent. |
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| Ryan wrecked Lily's marble run so Jeff helped her build a new one. She was very adamant about getting a picture in case it got destroyed again. |
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| Max was thrilled to spend about 25 minutes just sharpening colored pencils. |
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| Max was actually really good about catching the fish. He always put them back in because he didn't like to see the empty holes. |
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| We took our remote control car to the park and Ryan got totally worn out chasing it around. |
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| Max destroyed the previous marble run (Lily wasn't sad since we had gotten a picture) and Jeff helped build the best one yet. |
Last week was one of the busiest I have ever had. Jeff and I had the most wonderful start to the week due to discussing the lesson President Packard gave the men on Sunday. It was about how we learn and acquire the attributes of Christ by actually serving. It is in the service that we have a chance to practice what we are learning about. And how the reason men don't live up to their priesthood responsibilities and blessings is because of laziness. I completely agree that whenever I don't enjoy the blessings of the spirit it is due to laziness. Jeff and I set goals of how we wanted our week to go and got up Monday morning with a bounce in our step. We both had wonderful scripture studies and we both exercised. I offered to watch someone's kids and got loads of laundry done, had mind, body, soul twice with each child, and was very calm even when frustrated. Life was much easier when I had this amazing energy and motivation.
That all lasted one day. Tuesday-Sunday was a total whirlwind. I did hours of child care, each day, for different families to help out. I was thrilled to be serving, but I often didn't get a break during nap time and felt at the end of the day that I was utterly spent. We had several graduation parties and a wedding reception over the weekend and a Relief Society service activity, visiting teaching, and a 5k fundraiser for someone in our ward, and a trip to Denver to the butterfly pavilion and the chiropractor. And yet with all of it, I was totally given the energy to make it through each day and do great. People also watched my kids which allowed me to run errands and get some things done. So even though it was crazy, I was blessed beyond my capacity.
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| Ryan requested Jake bring over his Batman cave to our house when he came to play. Jake didn't play with it at all but Lily and Ryan sure loved it. |
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| Working on Pads and packets for Days for Girls project. This organization sends specially made pads for girls in developing countries who would otherwise miss up to two months of school during their menstrual cycle. |
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| Cutting and tying fleece quilts. |
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| 46 baskets we put together for the women's crisis center. |
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| Amy Brown and I delivered the baskets to a representative at the crisis center and she got emotional as she thought of how much these women would love receiving them. |
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| Hana Rasmussen's graduation party. The kids loved playing in the water. We had such a pleasant evening and were so happy to go and support her. |
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| Christy Rasmussen loves the kids. Max likes to talk and point a lot before he actually kicks the ball. |
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| Lily loved taking so many photos at the butterfly pavilion. They is Diana's little padawan. |
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| Diana rescuing a butterfly from a spider's web. |
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| Lily was so sad she never got a picture of this blue butterfly because they don't like to stay still. I said a little prayer that we could see one and then we saw several. And this one just sat on the ground for awhile so Lily could get some photos. |
The biggest news of the week though was Lily hurting her arm from a bounce house at a graduation party. Jeff took her to the hospital, where he said she was a very pleasant patient, and they said she had an invisible fracture. She had a splint and was in a lot of pain for a few days. Jeff said that was the most extensive and expensive daddy-daughter date he's ever been on. When they went to Dairy Queen after Lily was embarrassed to go inside. Jeff told her that since it's so close to the hospital there might be other people with casts on. It turns out there was someone with a neck brace so Lily felt better. And then they sat at a table by lots of pictures of kids who had been treated at Children's Hospital, so Lily felt right at home.
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| She loved the wheelchair ride and everything that came with being a patient. |
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| Except the part about being in pain. She was happy to have her Stitchy with her though. |
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| The x-rays were the most painful part for her. |
When I took her to the orthopedic doctor he said it was likely her growth plates were affected since there was no displacement, so only three weeks for a cast. We had just decided to go to California while Jeff is in Germany and Lily was so worried she would still have her cast on. But we go to CA in four weeks so it's the perfect time for her to get her cast off, wear a sling for a few days to help transition it, and then head out of town. That was such a wonderful blessing to us.
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