Mother's Day and May Fun

I am so blessed to have my Mom and Mother in Law in town. We had them over for Mother's day for dinner and it was so nice. I was able to use my New England Ironstone Liberty Blue China I have been collecting for a few years. I figured I could host for this day and make it whatever I wanted. I made a bouquet for my mom at the demonstration garden in Loomis which I helped with fundrasing(Master Gardeners) for that garden. I made another flower arrangement from fresh flowers we got at a bridal shower for my friend's daughter. I was asked at that shower to put together some flowers for two of my friends to take home. One told me I should teach arranging on Youtube, I thought about it for a miniute then discounted the idea! It turned out to be a lovely time that week with flowers all around. there was goodness for the celebration. I love that Rah Rah brought her guacamole and rolls. I made clam chowder for this and then later made it with a better consistency for a bunko group I substituted for. I cannot believe how kind everyone is around here. I go to book group and hosted this month. We covered two books "Gone before Goodbye" and "Dear Mr. Knightley". We all talked and laughed and they stayed late at my house which made me so happy. I love that I still have Celia and Spencer still around town. Spencer liked to go swimming for two seconds at the grandparents house and its a great routine. Joe came to visit this month and we relaxed for quite a while in my parents pool. I loved hearing the waterfall that flows into the pool and feeling that the water was warm made it all even better. With Joe we had clam chowder again at Pier 39 as Celia and I picked him up from the SF airport for a visit. We had fun going to book stores and visiting our favortie places to eat. We had family time and I loved having him around to tell us all about protein and hearing the compliments the grandparents gave him on his gym/weight loss muscle gaining journey. Celia and I got to go to the All American Rejects concert at Thunder Mountain Casino. We thought it was only for 21 and older, but Brian told us to check it out and we learned that one can be younger if with someone older. I am glad we went. There were new songs and we had a fun ride on a little tram from the parking lot that felt pretty fancy. That band and may not be coming around again any time soon, but we took advantage of the moment and made a good memory. Things have been challenging in many areas lately, but I believe we have to look for the positive and things are going well too. I feel blessed and hopeful for greater things to come this year.

Birthday Month

I am grateful we got to go to Utah in April for Joe's Birthday and for Easter. We had a great time riding around town, looking at all the bookstores and going out to eat at various resturants. We play Alhambra the game a lot and enjoyed each other company to the fullest. Bri and the boys went shooting and Celia and I even went on a ferris wheel inside Scheels. I love that even though half our kids live out of state, we still see them. I was so pleased when Emmy said she wanted to visit home. Of course, she can come anytime! She flew in for a fun filled weekend trip celebrating Celia and visiting Spencer for his birthday. His workers took him around to a an aquarium and had lots of cupcakes. I can't believe all the kids are getting older. They are so fun and keep me young, especially Celia. The Con was great and we still had time to go to the temple with Emmy. I loved seeing the Joy on Brian's face for having another daughter in town. We are so blessed and hope all our children can feel this love.

March around here

After a busy couple of months of traveling, I planned to stay all of March at home. I loved spending time with Spencer consistenly with our weekly rides and visiting the grandparents per his request. Spencer wanted to do something different and initiated swimming in the pool on Sunday. He is a character and we love to spend time with him. Celia and I liked going to Comic con. I was Daphne from Scooby Doo and Celia was Jake from Disventure Camp. He was a niche character, but she looked the part. We stood on a lazy suzan type spinning machine for VIPs and had a video taken of us. We had a great time. I was asked to teach Relief Society this month too. I brought in my Prayer Plant as a tool to start a conversation about keeping up with a plant or a realationship with our Heavenly Father. He will be there for us and it will bring so much satisfaction and joy! I only had about 25 mins after Sacrament meeting was taken by a mission farewell. It went well and was preparation for hearing about Relief Society and Sunday school sharing the second hour of church starting this fall. There have been so many changes. They have been good changes, but I am not used to so many things getting changed around.

Spain, Rock of Gibraltar, and Morocco Adventures

This vacation was anticpated since November 2025 when our airline cancelled our flight. My folks are I really felt like it was just fine that we were going to go in February. I had a lot of time to be convinced that all would be well with my duties and responsiblities enough to travel to Europe for 12 days. I felt supported by my friends and family and I am so glad I went. We first went to L.A. and spent the night at Tanya's house then we were off to Madrid. I did not sleep on the plane, but it made it nice to adjust to the time change. There was an 8 hour difference. Tanya and I explored the area in Madrid, we saw so much city life and had a delicous fish dinner in a quiet place on a cobblestone street in the rain. It really was a great first imppression. All of the people looked happy and did not mind the rain and it was so clean and beautiful. We slept well at the JW marriot in Madrid and it was lovely. We had the fancy breakfast there and made it to the airport to fly to Malaga. The airports on our trip were so large and we really got the grandparents working hard on their steps. The flight to Malaga was short, but wow what a small plane. The car and resort were wonderful. I helped Tanya navigate using GPS and we made it around pretty well. There was quite a bit of weather at the time, but we changed our destinations and it made it so that we were not caught in the rain and enjoyed the excursions so much. We only had one rest day, but we loved seeing Sevile, Madrid, MarBella, Malaga, Granda, Rock of Gibralter and Tangeir. The highlight was a day long tour in Morroco. The guide picked us up from the ferry that crossed the Mediterrian Sea and asked if I would like to go see a botanical garden, have a morrocoan breakfast, and head to the beach to ride camels?! I say infatically yes! The food there and in Spain was good. They would eat a little bit of protein, tons of bread and lots of olives. We bought autenthic Morrococan rugs and visited a "pharmacy" there and loaded up on Morrocan oil. We saw the Rock the Kashba site and a cave and of course saw more monkeys. There were hicchups and crazy situations, but the experience was excellent and very worth it. The Alhambra was amazing and we loved our tour there, each of the activites and places we ate were great. Paella and lots of Tapas and everyone eating outside was fun to experience. We were treated like family every time we ate out. The horse drawn carriage at the Plaza de Espana and Gardens nearby was very nice. We even road on the top of a hop on hop off bus. I loved the fresh flowers they had on every dinner table. There are too many pictures and video to remember it all by, but I am grateful I took a leap of faith and experienced Europe in February.