Hugs, Flowers, and Chocolate

I have this friend. She's never showy or boastful. She just goes around doing good things. She doesn't have all the time in the world. In fact, she's extremely busy with one son just having left on a mission, a full time job, children in athletics, and many other responsibilities. But she is always a friend. And she is always as beautiful on the inside as she is on the outside, and that's saying a lot because she is BEAUTIFUL!

Yesterday she showed up at my door - unexpected - with flowers, chocolate, and a hug ...because she knew that I had a hard day a couple of days ago.

Thank you dear Friend. You make me want to be a better person,

This month, we had a really fun Mommy/Daughter date... What am I talking about? We always have a fun date.

We planned ahead for this one. We had tickets to Hale Center Theater to see Chitty Chitty Bang Bang, then went to lunch at The Cracker Barrell. The show was spectacular - wow, the special effects and all the colors and crazy scenes... it was quite the show. Kelly DeHaan was in it (besides being the Musical Director at Hale Center Theater). He was a crack up! He had obviously written some of his one liners, and was completely in his element. The music was great, the costumes were out of this world, and it was great to experience all of it with my mom and sister.

Then we went to Cracker Barrell for lunch -- we all had chicken fried chicken, potatoes, salad, and cornbread muffins. Mmmmmm! This photo was taken in the little shop at the restaurant.

Another successful venture!

Me -N- The Beibs

There I was minding my own business at the What A Woman Wants show on Saturday with Cindy and out of the blue here came Justin Beiber asking if he could take his picture with me. How could I say no?

Phoenix Phamily

Rylan's Aunt Melissa, Uncle Scott, and their daughters Gabby, Ashley, and Haylee are moving to Phoenix, AZ this week. He loves his Aunt Melissa. They have a really great relationship. Last night he got to go to dinner with them and have a sleepover with his cousins. 

We're going to miss them... thank you "Aunt Sissy" for taking such good care of Rylan. We love you guys. 

Superbly Swedish Sunday

I don't know what it is, but when General Conference rolls around I feel like Swedish Pancakes. It's always more fun to share good things with good friends, so we invited a few neighbors to join us between the two Sunday Sessions for brunch, and then to stay to watch the final session.

First came the cooking - we do it assembly line style. We have two pans going at once and keep them warm in the oven...

Here's the finished product. 

The Davis Family and the Millet Family came over to eat with us.

Then we had an impromptu talent show on the piano. Who knew?!

Malorie and Kaia had fun together. 

Alivia "Livi" wanted her big brother, Kaden, pretty much the whole time. 

President Monson's talk was great. 

Yesterday, Rylan and I had tickets for the second session. 

Afterwards at the fountain - Temple Square to the right. 

It has been a great Conference Weekend!

Spring Break - Arizona

Rylan and I really wanted to get away for Spring Break. Time kept ticking away and I was getting anxious to plan something but I just couldn't quite book the usual hotel in St. George. Now I know why. Rick and Aimee Davis had planned to go to Arizona so Rick could visit his sister, and they invited us to come along and make a little trip out of it. So we did!

We had a great time! We ate waaaay too much and didn't get enough sleep. So all in all it was the perfect vacation right?  ...well, except for the minor mishap on the freeway where our - ahem - luggage sorta flew off the top of the van at 80 mph. No problem! Rick and I ran back down the road and had it retrieved in no time and he and Aimee strapped it right back on. THANKFULLY nobody was injured. We recognized the Lord's hand in that one because it truthfully could have been very serious. (Thanks Rylan for the prayer that morning as we set out for Vegas on our way back home!)

DRIVING, DRIVING, DRIVING

Everyone made good use of cell phones, movies, books, etc. on the trips down and back. 

Mali was my travel buddy. Here she is trying to sleep in the van on the way down. She said she couldn't sleep unless her eyes were covered. Can you even find her?

RIDING, RIDING, RIDING

One of the favorites for all of us was horseback riding at the MacDonald's Ranch in Scottsdale.

Malorie was quite the little equestrian lady riding up in the front of the pack. She had a horse that liked to get off the trail, but she just hung on and enjoyed the ride!

Aimee, Zach, Malorie and Rick Davis.

Hold still so I can take your picture!

 

"Hey - I'm on! I'm on!"

This gives you some perspective on how HUGE these cacti are. These are called Seguaro ("sewaro") cacti.




Malorie rode Charlie
Zach rode Tequilla
Aimee rode Happy
Rick rode Rosie
I rode Vegas
Rylan rode Navajo

A Seguaro up close. 

See, what you can't quite appreciate here is that I was in FRONT of Rylan trying to snap a photo while on a moving horse - it was not the easiest feat of all time.

And the tongue is out again. And I don't mean on the horse. 

The guide explained to us this particular cactus is called the Teddy Bear cactus. If you get close to it, the little pokey things (yes, that is the technical term for them, I'm quite sure of it) will actually jump off the catcus and stick on you.

For the life of me I can't remember what the guide called this one, but there are only two in the world.

Toward the end of our ride, we heard a little commotion at the front of the line... there was a rattlesnake meandering its way across our horse trail. (The nerve.) One snake stopping "traffic." We all sat there on our horses until the snake had safely slithered its way across our trail and back into the desert. 

EATING, EATING, EATING

One of the nights we went to this little hole-in-the-wall very authentic Mexican restaurant (the name escapes me). Because Rick and Aimee lived there, they knew all the great little places to go! This restaurant has been featured on the TV show, "Man vs. Food." Rick and Rylan wanted to take the challenge, but once they figured out how much food they would have to consume, and that they would only have 15 minutes to do it, they bagged the idea. 

This was my dish. It was shrimp something or other and it was delicious! 

Aimee opted for a chicken quesadilla. Look at the size of that thang!

This next place was an experience perfect for this dorky music lover. We went to a place called Organ Stop Pizza. It's really something you have to see to fully appreciate. You order pizza, find a table, and wait for the show. This HUGE organ comes up on a rotating stage, and the organist plays requests and other musical numbers. But this no ordinary organ, nor organist. He has several keyboards, tons of special effects, and other things to add to his performance. Not only that, but the organ pipes, chimes, gongs, symbols, flutes, drums, lights, dancing puppets, etc. are placed all throughout the restaurant on the ceiling, on the walls, and behind panels where you can watch the bellows blow the air that plays the music. I was fascinated! He would play three or four songs, and then down the organ would go for a few minutes. Then here he would come again and play a few more songs. LOVED IT!

In the windows at the bottom you could see the bellows going up and down - they powered the air to play the pipes above them.

Here is the organ and ALL its keyboards, stops, foot pedals, and other bells and whistles!

This is one of the walls with all the different pipes. Notice the chimes hanging in the top right corner too.

Look at all these pipes, chimes, drums, and symbols! 

SHOPPING, SHOPPING, SHOPPING

Rick and Aimee were great tour guides. I think we must have seen about five malls. We walked, and walked, and walked. They were all really cool and all very different from each other.

This was one of the outdoor malls we went to - absolutely beautiful. They had these Easter Bunny topiaries and several other cute Easter bushes and decorations. 

I don't know what it was but I found these fascinating and really cool! The photo doesn't do them justice. 

THE EASTER PAGEANT

We attended the Mesa Temple Easter Pageant on Saturday night. It was really cool. The weather was perfect. The sky was clear, and the story of Christ was exactly the right thing to set the tone for Easter Sunday the next day.

The Mesa, Arizona Temple

Real kids... real sheep. The girl on the left is Malorie's little friend, Sydnie, from Fountain Hills, AZ. She got to have a sleepover one night. The boy was in the pageant. Oh, and the sheep was too. 

Zach and Rylan in the company of prophets and kings.
Looks good on them, don'tcha think?

There's my warrior! (And some soldier.)

Zach - wielding a sword... and (can it be?) a SMILE!

Easter morning I made German Pancakes for breakfast. Not just ANY German Pancakes. This was the "deluxe" version with special delectable toppings:  brown sugar, sour cream, fresh strawberries, and syrup. Oh. My. Goodness!

The Davis Family in Fountain Hills after we attended their Sunday meetings at their old ward--this was the much anticipated "tour" of their old stomping grounds.

Zach, Ry and Malorie in Fountain Hills at the "Eagles Nest" animal sanctuary. 

Ry either hanging on for dear life on the crazy rock we made them stand on, or trying to push Zach off. More than likely, a little bit of both. 

 

I love that boy!

Lucky Mom!

I find HUGE joy in SIMPLE things. Look at this bright beautiful flower blooming in the desert. 

 

Fountain Park - there is a HUGE fountain behind us in the lake...it wasn't going off at the time though.

I loved this statue when I noticed the little boy was not only feeding the duck in FRONT of him, but with his other hand he is also feeding the duck BEHIND him. How cute is that?!

 TIRED, TIRED, TIRED

Aaaaaand, we're done, ladies and gentlemen. Mali Moo-Moo has hit the wall. She's toast.