A day at the beach

Loved getting to spend a spontaneous day today at one of Virginia's beautiful beaches near Hamilton, Virginia. What a beautiful day! We went with a few of our good friends, and besides Mason not wanting to leave at all at the end (bribery is my friend), it could not have gone better. My boys and I got to carpool with one of the sweetest women I've ever met - Ashley So'oto. It was so good to be uplifted by her goodness to hear her stories about her interesting life and to share some stories with her about mine. Loved being there as well with other friends Chrissy (who organized this little get away - thank you!!), and Rainy Christensen. How am I so lucky to be surrounded in my life by such women?? Life is so blessed with good people in it, and the Gospel of Jesus Christ. I've almost never had a 3 hour drive each way go by so fast. What a good day!

"reading" books

fun to watch them playing together

um, how cute is he?? i love when I say, "Stan are you cute?" and he says, "ya!" Then I say, Stan, are you my baby. He says "I yo baby". Oh Stanley - please just never grow up!!

Mason my little fish (or Penguin)?

Mason and Ave enjoying a good snooze on the way home. Can't wait to show them this picture when they're both at BYU? in 14 years!!

So fun to watch him jump the waves

Thank you, Virginia for another heavenly day. We love you.

Fireman Mason

We had just such a fun day on Monday visiting the Fire Station. One of my friends here from Argentina invited us. I love speaking Argentine Spanish with her. It takes me right back to my mission. She and her husband and two sons came over one day to help me learn how to make empanadas. That was a little piece of heaven for me - because now I can bring a piece of a country and people that I love to my home. Oh I love them. Later she invited my boys to get a tour of the fire station. Of course they loved it. Mason gets to watch a small movie after he gets everything done on his chart, and one of his favorites is a tv series called 'Fireman Sam'. Cute to see his eyes light up (no pun intended) when he saw the firetrucks up close :). Grateful for good firemen and women who come to the rescue daily!

Mason thought that this fireman Roger was pretty cool! 

Friends!

Nate and I both really enjoyed this last Sunday getting a visit from Nate's room mate from college, Alex. Friends I think are some of God's greatest gifts. It's always so sweet to run into them years down the road. Alex was sweet to take the time to come visit us. Below, we had dinner with a WONDERFUL Air Force JAG family here in our ward. They gave us the best advice - from everything about deployments, to housing, etc etc. They are a family we want to be like someday. Such examples of charity and service.

Picnic with Professor Howard

Tonight we had the privilege of having a Picnic with Professor Howard of UVA. He was gracious enough to host us in his garden behind his home. It was a perfect spring day here in Virginia. The weather could not have been better. Nate was the master mind behind it, and ordered the food - chicken and pulled pork barbecue, and invited all of our law school friends. Families brought sides and blankets, and we all enjoyed sitting and eating together. One thing Nate appreciates so much about this school is the amazing staff. Professor Howard clerked for the Supreme Court with Rex E Lee which is why we ended up having this picnic with him. He was gracious and generous and spoke so highly of Rex E Lee. Both Nate and I are amazed at what a humble man Professor Howard is. He not only was one of the main drafters of the modern Virginia Constitution, but travels around the world, assisting other nations in drafting their Constitutions as well. He is one of the leading constitutional law experts, and it is a blessing to be associated with him here in Charlottesville. He even invited us back next year for another picnic. Loved this night and loved being with our friends who have become more like family here in Virginia.

on the soccer field

So much fun enjoying this spring weather with my boys on the field! 

Sometimes he likes to ride, sometimes he likes to push.

He loves to gather every dandelion and make a wish. That day he made several I think. (I make sure he blows them in the direction of the road so that he doesn't plant more ;).

Trying to figure out this whole bike thing

I can't wait to go to his sports games someday

Talk with Pop

Nate and I are both very lucky to have very supportive Dads. Apart from working with us, playing with us, and worshiping with us, they also took time with us to chat one on one. In Nate's family they called it 'Talk with Pop". In my family we called them Father - Daughter chats, or something like that :). We talked about our goals and how we were doing.

This Sunday Mason had his first 'Talk with Pop'. It was so cute to see how excited he was to have time just with Dad. They went over his weekly chart, and divided his money between his different envelopes of tithing, savings, mission, and spending. They also talked about his goals for this week. Mason and I decided to incorporate them into his chart for this week. He loved his time with his Daddy.

This little Stanley loves his oranges. This is him walking around with oranges on Sunday morning.

Mason got his first assignment to give a talk in primary. This is him practicing his talk with Daddy.  Is he giving talks in primary already??? He is growing up so fast. P.s. He's not wearing a shirt because we took it off during dinner time. We usually put other clothes on, but Stan was already taking a nap and we didn't want to wake him :).

Berry Waffles

As a little girl I used to wake up on Saturday mornings to the smell of my Dad's pancakes. That was his way of showing love and helping us get excited for a day of work in the garden. Even though I don't get to send my boys out to work on a farm, I still like to keep up the tradition of making Saturday morning pancakes (or waffles), and cleaning our house.

Here's the recipe:

http://www.boastfulbaker.com/2008/04/06/raspberry-waffles-might-be-better-than-blueberry-waffles/

(i used 1/4 c of greek yogurt and 1 c of water instead of the milk - and it made it so yummy)

Today I was a little disappointed because I was looking forward to attending two of my friends' baby showers, but instead I was asked to step in and help with the music at a funeral as no one else was available. I knew this was an answer to my prayers to serve, but instead of being grateful, I was feeling a bit selfish. Nate was kind enough to be my pianist, and another good friend watched our boys while we played (she is the best). My heart changed however while I was there. It was so good to play 'The Lord is my Shepherd' from the 23rd Psalm and feel Heaven's love for this family, even though I didn't know them. Even though in the beginning I wasn't excited about missing my friend's baby shower, I was so grateful I knew that I had done the right thing. After the funeral, the sister of the man who had passed away mentioned that her Mother who is not a member of our Church, had felt the spirit during that song. That made me so happy. I always hope that perhaps one person will be blessed by my music. It was fun to practice at home and have Stanley and Mason listen to us enjoy making music together. I hope they will get to make music together someday, too!