Our busy week.

Basically, all last week was spent preparing for our Easter Primary activity on Saturday. It was QUITE the event, and we all had a really great time! Our President, Alice, is fearless. She dares to try things I wouldn't even attempt, so it was above and beyond what anyone expected! Needless to say, I learn a LOT from working with the women I do. They are all wonderful!

This is Jane with Ashley, after she decorated her Easter egg bag. Jane isn't officially in Primary, but really enjoyed the festivities with the other younger siblings. I remember going to things before I was actually "official" and feeling SO BIG! Ashley was such a big help, as always!

We held our activity in the backyard of the Griffiths' home. There are few places that would have worked as well as this one. It was right in the heart of the city, yet had all this yard and these amazing trees for shade! I wish I would have had a better picture of the yard, this was just the back patio (after almost everyone was gone) where we decorated bags, sugar cookies, and had lunch.

Jane loved this portion of the relay games, although she was playing by her own set of rules. No one was complaining! Notice Ashley laughing in the background!

This is our youngest member of the primary, Hyrum. I was SO glad he came, and he had a good time participating in the relays, decorating cookies, and finding eggs! I've gotten to know his family really well in the last several months and I have really grown to love each one of them.

I couldn't find Jack during a part of the relays, then I looked over and found him doing this. It is getting SO HOT here. Being out in midday now is no fun at all. I sweat as soon as I step out of the door, so we try to plan our outings for early morning, and later afternoon.

It was fun to include a lot of ward members in this activity. We had several young, single adults that came to supervise, set up, clean up, and play with the kids. We also people like Sister Janice Tea (below) who came to read stories during our activity rotation. This was just a silly book before everything got started, but I was shocked how many of the children immediately quieted down and paid close attention.

Jack loved the silly games, and I loved that even though there were teams, everyone was cheering everyone on, and in the end, no one even noticed that there were no winners or losers. It was great!

Alice and Sally had a fun station where they taught the children an Easter song by playing musical chairs around the room with pictures, although I'm not exactly sure how it all worked. BUT, every time I walked past, the kids were smiling and singing!

I love this picture of my friend, Mary Jane and two of her girls. Little Anna is only a couple of months old, and what a sweet baby!

We were so happy that Sukma and the kids came to celebrate Easter with us too. Unfortunately, their Daddy had to work that morning. Maybe next time! I wish we would have thought to invite more friends! What were we thinking?

These are two of the women I get to work with in the Primary (Jeannette, where were YOU?). I think I talk to Alice at least 5 times/day (for her sake, I wish I was exaggerating!), and I always feel completely inspired to be organized and on top of things every time we are together! We're also Visiting Teaching companions, doing musical numbers together, and she was awesome and visited the Immigration Detention Center with me last week too. I don't know how she does all that she does, but I know some days she's gotten up at 3am. That might help a little, although I don't know how she's still happy and functioning in the afternoon. She said to me the other day, "I think I'm just manic, not ever depressive... just manic!". I agree.

Crisse, I've talked about before. She's healthy now, and looking beautiful, isn't she? They stayed with us again this weekend, which was great! We love the visits, laughs, kids playtime, and Neil's breakfasts! We're planning a trip to the beach together in May!

These are our hosts, Jeannie and Robert Griffiths. They opened up their home to over 100 people without hesitation. They lived in Thailand some time ago and have just recently moved back for another few years. They've been an awesome addition to the ward, and a great example to all of us! I think they'll hate me for catching them in the middle of lunch!

We had 9 baptisms on Sunday. Two different families from Sri Lanka. I haven't had a chance to get to know them very well yet, but the little boy asleep in his mother's arms, Johanne, has been with us in nursery for the last few months. This was a big day for the ward. I've never seen so many attend the baptisms. Elder Mortensen is heading back to Logan, Utah in just a couple of weeks, so I kept thinking what a great day this must be for him. We're really going to miss him!

We had a fun playdate with Narissa this week, which was long overdue. She had just gotten a new bike, and of course, Jack had to try it out! Luckily, there was a sweet Thai girl there who was willing to share her bike, so they could ride together for a bit. I really miss letting Jack ride his bike, like normal American kids. I've promised him that will be the first purchase we make after we return to Utah and the weather is good.

A few other favorites from the week...

I went to tell Jack he was done with quiet time one day and he yelled out the door, "Mom! There's an elephant in my room!". This is what I found. I said recently that Legos were the best toys. I might have to say that boxes are even better! My kids have played in, on, around, and under this one for days!

I took my kids to get their pictures taken this week. This photo place had the coolest play area. Jack said he wanted to go back just to play, NOT take pictures. I'm sure most kids would sit in this car, but not Jack. He has to push it over to "fix it". Much more fun.

Getting the pictures taken was an adventure in and of itself. I wouldn't say that this place was particularly skilled with photography, but I would say they had the best facilities around, and they certainly were happy and didn't give up! There were FOUR people taking the photos and working on the kids. Unfortunately, when they would really get Jack to smile, they'd take 5 extra seconds trying to get his face angle just right so then the smile would be unnatural. In the end, it was fairly successful on the individual photos. Jack and Jane together was tough. Every time we put them together, they'd start wrestling, tickling each other, messing up Jane's already messy hair, and turning away from the camera! They were having too much fun! Guess I can't complain too much about that one!

Jane was loving being "spider girl" this weekend. I don't know why, but she pretended to be sleeping in this one. Little does she know, I have several of her Daddy doing the exact same thing! Is she sweet or what?

Well, there you have it. LOTS of primary stuff! Life is good, we're happy and enjoying life, even in this blasted heat! Enjoy that cool, crisp, morning air for me, please!