Comings and Goings

Well, I don't really know how to separate the happenings of the past couple of weeks into specific posts, so it's going to just get conglomerated into one big post. This is mostly a record just for my own journalling purposes, so I won't be offended if, halfway through, you decide you've got better things to do with yourself than read my weekly play-by-play.

-- As I said in Lilie's post, Nels worked 85 hours the week before last. Thankfully, he's on salary, so he didn't get paid overtime. :) He is my hero! He goes to work each morning without complaint to serve our family so faithfully. I love him so much for his sacrifices!

-- We celebrated Lilie's birthday!!! We love her so very much!!!

-- Found a great, old, full-sized metal bed to put Elsie's room for EIGHT dollars at the D.I.!!! Hooray for me! I was looking at ones exactly like it at a salvage store for $150 and a new one (which I never would have been able to find, since they don't sell new old metal beds :) would have cost a LOT more than that! It is almost exactly like the one that I slept in all growing up and I'm totally in love! I'll show off pictures when I get around to making a new quilt for it! :) Happy day for 8 BUCKS! :)

-- Since my mother ended up having to work on Lilie's birthday, she and my dad were able to come up last Wednesday and stay the night instead! It was so wonderful and we had SO much fun! I love my family and am always so grateful when they take the time to come visit us! It means so much to us all. The girls where so excited to have them come that they were bouncing off the walls all night long! It was insane! - and funny. Since they left, Elsie often stands on the couch, looking out the window and asks for Papa. She loves her Grandpas so much that she will often  walk up to any older man that she can find and cuddle up to his knee and call him Papa - letting him hold and cuddle her. It's funny. She really likes Grandpas. 

-- My parents took the time to go to the nursery with me while they were here and buy me an early birthday present. -- A bush. Awesome, huh?! Some of you may not think so, but it is seriously one of the most exciting things to me to look out my bedroom window and imagine my beautiful bush filled out with pretty green leaves! Hopefully, by my birthday, it will be!

-- While at the nursery, I picked up $25 worth of spring flowers to plant in my happy little flower bed! It is now a multicolored mass of primoses and pansies, just waiting for my daffodils and hyacinths to bloom!! I'll take pictures as soon as they do in the next couple of weeks!

-- We had the opportunity to head up to Island Park this past weekend and stay at a friend's cabin for a night. We had tons of fun getting to know them better and playing in the snow. Then we woke up Saturday morning to a Lilie who only ate ONE pancake and requested water instead of milk (absolutely unheard of)! She later threw up and ended our little vacation - not wanting to spread any diseases to the generous people who invited us. We had a great time and really enjoyed the drive up there. We will be doing that again when the snow is melted up there. As a result of our shortened trip, we DID get to spend a BEAUTIFUL afternoon here in Idaho Falls, laying on the grass, planting my flowers and another bush, inhaling the heavenly smell of mulch :), and just enjoying a slow and lovely day as a family. 

-- Hazel read an entire book today, with minimal help. "Hop On Pop." I'm so proud of her! She loves learning so much and has always been very proactive in learning how to read. She was so happy and she works so hard at it. It makes my heart happy to see her learn so much and be so pleased with herself!

-- Got to church (mostly) on time, actually had Family Home Evening (hooray!), cleaned my fish tank (sucked up one of my fish in the process -- which Elsie, after I stopped the suction and showed her the little orange fish in the hose, thought was hilarious :), and I have read FOUR books in the past few weeks (a huge accomplishment - as I'd all but stopped reading books in the past year and a half)!

It's been a good and busy couple of weeks. We are such a happy family! So happy to be together! I love them!