Do you want the good news or the bad news?

So I called the temple to schedule our sealing.  They only had 3 time slots left for June 9th, 8am, 6pm, or 7pm.  Kimi is trying to come, but needs to leave that evening so she can be home for a farewell of some good friends.  So I chose 8AM.  Little did I know that I need to be at the temple at 6:45AM!  I am barely opening my eyes at 6:30, and you all know I am not a morning person.  But I hope I will be excited, and it will counter out any orneriness I might have.  When the lady sent me the e-mail with the information, I found out Sarah could be there.  I didn't even think that was possible.  I am so excited she can be apart of this special day. We had stake conference this weekend, and Mark even ran into her bishop.  He was able to tell the bishop that we need to get Sarah in for an interview so she can come to the ceremony.  What timing is that.
Now for the kicker.  Apparently because I never canceled my sealing with Brandon (which I was always counseled not to do unless I was being sealed again), Annadele and Alexandra were born under the covenant to me and Brandon.  Whatcha you talkin' about Willis?  I am still a little dumb founded over this.  I have such mixed emotions.  Yeah! my girls are sealed to me, but with my ex not good.  So apparently, we need another letter from the first presidency to get a cancellation for them.  It all sounds crazy to me.  And of course our bishop chose this week to go out of town.  It has taken so long to get to this point.  Now I don't know if we will be able to be sealed on June 9th.  Please say prayers for us.  It just seems there are always obstacles in the way. 

Something good that happened this week.  Alexandra gave us an honest to goodness kiss on the cheek.  She only did it once, but it was so great.  She usually just leans in her head so you can kiss her, and that is how she gives love.  So to have her actually have her kiss us was a special treat. 
Other than that my kids have been home all week just trying to get over colds and sicknesses.  Annadele woke up Saturday morning with diarea.  Leaked it all over the carpet in our room, in the hall til she was in the bathroom and we could change her.  Gotta love being a parent.  But I still love it.  And I have been cleaning like crazy.  Just trying to spring clean and get organized.  That and mom is coming to visit.  Not that she would care, but it is an extra incentive.

It is finally happening!!!

I have really good news.  We got our letters of clearance and cancellation.  I am so excited.  I never dreamed it would be this fast.  I was even contemplating trying to have our sealing earlier, but I think it will be best if we just keep June 9th as the date.  How cool will this be that I get to be sealed on the same day we were married.  At least I don't have to try to remember two different dates. 
We have been having some crazy weather here.  Last Saturday we were supposed to go to a birthday party for a boy in our ward Brenner.  It got moved to this Saturday because it ended up being cold and rainy in the 60's.  Well this Saturday we had total opposite weather.  It was sunny and 95 degrees.  This is too much of a jump for my body to handle.  I think too much for my girls too because they both have colds now.  We had a good time at the party but I tried to stay in the shade as much as possible.
Back at Christmas time, I was asked if I wouldn't join the ward choir.  They are always looking for people to come sing, and support them.  Of course I said I would, so Mark stays home with the girls so I can go.  Our Stake President has decided this year that he doesn't want any rest hymns in our sacrament programs.  He wants the wards to have musical numbers from the ward to perform.  So the choir is performing about once a month to help with this.  We have also had all of the different programs like primary, young women's,  young men's, all of the men, and soloist.  We have even had some amazing instrument pieces.   I think our ward music director is getting desperate because she has asked me to sing a solo.  She twisted my arm, but I said yes.  I tried to tell her I have a choir voice not a soloist voice.  But she prevailed.  I told her I don't have music so to pick a song for me.  So we will see.  I don't even know when they want me to do this.  I hope it is not too soon because I will need to practice it to death.  I know I will be nervous.  Being in front of people is not my cup of tea, but we are not supposed to hide our talents under a bushel.  I hope I am not sorry I said yes.
I have these knots in my shoulder blades, and on my left side it was throbbing.  So much so that it woke me up in the middle of the night on Tuesday and Wednesday.  Mark tried to message me, and it helped a little.  He was a real sweet heart and got me an appointment with the message school that is close to our house.  Oh how I wished I lived in Utah so I could call Manda.  The session was good, but when she was working on my shoulders, I was clamping my teeth because it hurt so bad.  It was a good hurt but it still hurt.  When she realized she was hurting me she backed off her pressure.  I just wanted her to get at those knots.  I can't remember the last time I had a message.  It was so good.  I think more than once a year is in order. 

Art and Easter

I keep thinking we haven't done any thing or there is nothing new going on, but then I remember little things that have happened. A couple of weeks ago Sarah's school had an art night. It said to dress to impress. The girls thought it was fun to get all dressed up in their Sunday clothes. They had the students art displayed up and down all of the halls. Sarah had a special place since one of her art pieces was chosen as artist of the month. They had students serving hors d'oeuvre. One thing that I thought was cute, they had students dressed up as characters from history. They had pretend buttons to push, and then they would tell you a little bit about their character. It was supposed to be like a museum. Like Night at the museum. I think the art was being used as a fund raiser for the school. But we never found out what they wanted for it. I guess we are to cheap, or to poor, or maybe a little of both. They even had live music going on in different parts of the school. One of Sarah's friend was playing the harp. We had a good time.









Sarah had spring break this last week. I had forgotten that she would be with us during the day. I didn't really plan anything. But we did go to In-N-Out for lunch on Wednesday. While we were there Alex had to wave and say hi to everyone, and Annadele said "Hi boys whatcha doin?" to a group of men having lunch there. Thank heaven they didn't hear her, but I thought I am in trouble if she is flirting already. We spent Thursday on the hunt for a dress for Sarah. Adele had bought the girls some Easter dresses, and Sarah's was a size too small. She could fit into it, but the problem is that I need it to fit her in June when we go to Canada for Mark's cousins wedding. She is growing so fast that I know I needed to try and fix it. We ended up going to two different Burlington Coat Factory's. The first store was a mess. We couldn't find the right sizes, or colors. I had brought all of the girls dresses in case I needed to trade them all out. The first store didn't have the right color. We ended up switching it to yellow, but at least it was the right size. Then we went to another store, and I couldn't find any dresses of the style we were looking for. I was about ready to change all of the girls dresses to a completely different dress. Just as we are leaving, I found the right dress in the right size and color. Hallelujah!! The only problem is that it was lunch time, and I had three hungry, tired girls. So I splurged again and we ate lunch at Pei Wei. But then the little ones were able to come home and take a nap. As did mommy, and I think Sarah read and watched TV. Then we colored Easter eggs that night at a family. It was the first time for Annadele and Alex. Annadele had fun with it, and I don't think Alex cared one way or another.
Friday, Mark decided to take Sarah with him for some daddy daughter time. The girls and I had been invited to Katherine Mellot's, a lady in our ward, house to color eggs with her and a few moms. It was a little crazy with all of the toddlers, but it was fun. The funny thing was watching Brenner try to eat the die. He kept wanting to put the spoon in his mouth, or try to drink from the cup.

Saturday, we went to an Easter Egg hunt that a church was doing at the school that is just down from our house. Although when we got there, there was no hunting for eggs. They had a face painting, and someone making balloon figures. They had a relay race going on for the older kids. There was a lot of people, and the lines were really long. We didn't stay to long. But we did try to get their picture taken with a bunny. Just like Santa, they were scared of the Easter Bunny, but at least we got Alex to say cheese. We left with Annadele wanting to get her face painted. I had remembered that Ethel M was having something at the cactus garden, so we decided to check it out. It was heaven sent. We got there at 11:40, and the event didn't start til 12 noon. So we took a tour, walking down their hall, and got a free sample of chocolate, and walked around the garden. I even saw a lizard run away. The good news is that they had some one making balloon figures, and face painting for free. And because we were there early, we didn't have to wait in line. The girls thought it was great, and so did mom and dad.

Easter morning was a bit of a rush. We have church at 9:00AM. I was in charge of the nursery snack, so I was cutting up strawberries and cheese. When Annadele woke up, we showed the kids their Easter baskets. It had a couple of trinkets, and candy I had bought the year before, but never gave them, and some puzzles I bought at Christmas time. I thought I had to be to church early because the choir was performing even though it was fast Sunday for us. We ended up only getting there 10 min. early. We had a nice day. The girls looked cute in their dresses. We had steak for dinner with some rice, and I made deviled eggs for my self. Oh I forgot to hide the eggs, but with Sarah not here, Annadele and Alex don't even know that I didn't do it. I am so grateful for my Savior, and his sacrifice. I am so grateful for my family. I can't wait for the day when we can be sealed together. I am so grateful for scriptures. I love the stories and the strength of our prophets of old. I enjoyed listening to conference. Unfortunately, I got sick Sunday and slept through most of it, but I have been trying to listen to a talk a day. I am so grateful for a living prophet and apostles. I feel so blessed to be a part of his church today.