Jo is amazing.

Yesterday Jo told me she wanted to buy a Book of Mormon for her friend at school. She just finished writing this letter to go with it. Feeling so proud of her.

Dear Kassidy,

I know that Jesus is real and that He sacrificed for us so then we could live again, and that the Holy Ghost loves us too and wants to try to help us know if we’re doing something bad or if we’re doing something good. And the Church I believe is true. And I hope you will love this book and I think this book is true.  You are one of my favorite friends. And you are really silly. 

Love, Jo

P.S. Maybe could you come to church this week with us? Maybe you want to come to church with us every Sunday? It’s at 9:00. We are welcome to pick you up, call and ask.

Random Update

Here is a many random photo's update of our family life covering the last couple of months. They are in no specific order.

We love St. Patrick's Day (or as the kids sometimes call it "money day" because they wake up to find dropped coins around the house) and this year those leprechauns were truly disrespectful.

Sometimes, after a good laundry day, I really step back and wonder how I keep up at all. And then I think of my mother and mother-in-law and laugh at myself.

Ryan created the rule in our house that no once can play video/computer games alone anymore. So he now always has little people pushing the controllers for him while he plays balloon tower defense. And Maggie is permanently cold. And cute.

Jo keeps loosing teeth! She's now lost a total of 5 but two in the last 2 weeks. We call her "Toothless Jo."

Abby's motto is well expressed by this photo: "I do what I want. All the time."

The Hoffman Girls' Trip was AMAZING. Time with some of my favorite women that I desperately wanted.

We fixed up the playhouse for Jo's seventh birthday: weeded the flowerbeds and planted flowers, rebuilt the door, bug bombed the place, wiped out every spider nest and wasp nest (there were a lot... it was a growing experience for me), decorated with DI finds, Ryan made table, I made step stool.

Character day: Jo was Skippy Jon Jones. She reported that it was the WORST day ever with a ginormous smile on her face. Why? Because Henry wouldn't stop chasing her the whole day. I'm sure it truly was terrible. :)

Enjoyed women's conference with all of these amazing ladies. Such a fun night!

Such a show off.

What is wrong with this picture? Hey, it happens.

Maggie is dressing up the minute she wakes up. It's adorable.

My sweetest of friends, Deanne Conover, brought this AMAZING lamp by one day. She said it just reminded her of my living room. That's like the greatest compliment I've ever received. It is now one of my favorite things in the whole house.

His eyes really are still that big. Also, he's learning to read and spell, one cheezit cracker at a time.

We discovered Elephant and Piggy books and for the first time EVER Jo was interested in trying to read on her own. This was a sweet moment for me to find. Good things to come.

He's a dork. And very bald in this picture.

Sometimes Ryan dresses up like a crazy person and attacks the kids. We all love it.

  

Spring came!!!

 

 

And with spring came 2 sweet birds that built a nest in our front door wreath! It was so cute how we saw them work together.

 

 

Love General Conference.

 

And Easter was amazing.

 

I started a woodworking class with a few ladies in the ward (hence the stool in the playhouse) and my first project was a little shelf for the three older kids to keep books by their beds. I love how they turned out.

Priesthood Session with Tell

I have some nephews who are autistic.  They are awesome.  We love them so much, partly because they do things like this.

Tell has a difficult time at priesthood.  He stands up after every speaker says "Amen" and states that it is time to go.  So my brother, his dad, tried a new tactic this time.  After the intermediate prayer, my brother started counting down the talks, telling Tell that there were 4 left.  This worked.  So after every talk instead of jumping up Tell would turn quickly to his father and say "Two more Dad!".

Everything was going smoothly, right up till the point when Pres. Monson said "Amen".  My brother realized that he forgot to mention the closing hymn and prayer.  The problem was exacerbated by individuals jumping up to leave early.  Tell jumped to leave but was quickly asked to sit down and had it explained to him that there was still a song and a prayer.

Tell sat down and while the choir began singing made a gesture in front of his face stating, "Jesus, destroy them."