Crazy Weather and Crazy Gas Prices

These past two weeks have been pretty slow-going for me. Jim has worked a fair amount of overtime and has been gone with mutual also, so I feel like I haven't seen him much this past week. On Thursday night they worked until after 10:00. They had a big project they had to finish. The overtime pay will be nice, but it is so hard to have him gone so much. The girls and I really miss him.

I feel like Annee has grown so much these past two weeks and made a lot of changes. She graduated from the high chair to a booster seat this past week. She is so happy to be at the table. Annee also went to nursery today. They let her stay(Yeah!) and it was so wonderful to listen to the lessons. Annee did awesome and all of the nursery leaders adored her. She didn't cry and played with the other kids. I can't believe she is getting so big! She has also learned a lot of words these last few weeks. Some of her new words are "thank you," "you're welcome," "you ok" (when we sneeze), and "good girl" (especially to JoJo). She talks so much now and if she whines I ask her whether she is supposed to whine or talk and she says, "talk." Another cute thing she does, is when she wants to answer yes she nods usually. But, she doesn't just nod her head, it is a whole-body nod. It is so funny to watch.

This past week was beautiful and the girls spent a lot of time outside. Two weeks ago, though, we had horribly hot weather. The weather broke the records for heat on that day from any of the years before. It was pretty miserable, but this week has been wonderful. We even had it rain a couple of days! It was so exciting! I really miss rain.

Each week Violatte seems to be getting more beautiful. I cut her hair a couple of weeks ago to even it out and help it to look better. It looks much better, now. It is just past her shoulders and looks really good. Violatte asks every day if a friend can come over. She loves having someone to play with and really looks forward to park day and dance classes to see her friends. We also got Violatte's paperwork in for preschool. I can't beleive she is that old already. She is really excited to start in the fall. I have found quite a few summer activities that I am going to sign her up for. She really needs some things to do to help her intellectually. She loves things like that. Violatte is also playing more pretend than I've seen her do before. She tied a handkerchief around her shoulders and played "Super Violatte." Tonight she and Annee were sitting on her bed pretending that it was a car. She is so fun to watch.

Jim ended up not going to the other tour that he was really excited about. So, now he is settled in Solid Propultion. He is pretty excited to be settled down and not moving again, so that is good. He is already involved in some fun projects. He really seems to be enjoying it. I love the group of people that he works with. They are a wonderful group. Jim is loving his calling. He teaches the lessons on Sunday, now, and that is so great for him. He really enjoys the young men he works with and they have some great times together. They even have a young man that is investigating the church. It is exciting to see how that is working out.

As for me, I love my calling, but it is discouraging at times for me. They still have not called another sister to be a ward missionary so there is still not much I can do. We have a lot of discussions with people at our home, so that is one way that I can help. It's fun to have this calling because we are meeting so many people. The girls and I have been biking quite a few places lately because gas is now at $4.30 around here. It is so bad. This week I have been able to talk with my sister, Annicka, who had a baby. It is so weird for me that a younger sibling of mine is now a mother. It is hard for me to believe. I love it, though, because now we have more in common and we have been able to talk more recently. It's been great and I've gotten to know her so much better. I love it!

Sea World and Mothers' Day

Happy Mothers' Day to all you women! I hope each of you had a wonderful day!

Since I had missed writing about last week I will write about these last two weeks. We've had a lot going on and it has been so much fun!

On the past weekend we were able to go down and spend some time with my Grandpa and Grandma. The girls were so excited to see them and Violatte, especially, was so happy to spend time with them. We went to Sea World on Friday and had a great time. The girls were so excited to see all the fish and to pet the different animals like the sea stars. My favorite was getting to pet the manta rays. They feel so cool. I was surprised by how strong they are. I thought they would be flimsy and thin feeling.

We got to watch the dolphin show, the whale show, and the sea lion show. We had so much fun and we were all worn out by the time it was done.

Grandma and Grandpa were wonderful to us and took good care of us. They made all the meals and always made sure we were comfortable. We had fun talking with them and Violatte was so mad when we left.

We were also able to go to the Los Angeles temple. It was so beautiful and we were able to walk around with the girls and talk to them about it. We really enjoyed it. Violatte wanted to push Annalee's stroller the whole time, so I was able to hold hands with Jim as we walked around. I loved it!

This past week has been good. I have realized that I love the smell of water. Our swamp cooler wasn't working almost the entire week and it has been up in the 90's. When Jim got it working that smell of moist air was wonderful! Any time I smell water from a sprinkler being on, or somebody washing their car, I just love it!

This week was a little difficult because Violatte came down with croup on Thursday. She has been so miderable! I feel so bad for Jim,too, because he has been the one she has wanted in the middle of the nights and he has been up with her so much. He is such a wonderful father and the girls really love him.

This weekend has been a good Mothers' Day for me. On Friday there was an Elders' Quorum Activity. The men made a dinner for all the women and took care of the kids so we could eat and talk, and they would take turns coming in to serve it to us. It was so nice not to have to worry about dinner and to have a fun time with some of the other women in our ward.

On Saturday we had the big dinner for Mothers' Day. I made baked chicken, my favorite sweet potatoes, rolls, and brownies for desert. It was so delicious and everything turned out perfectly. Today was great, too, because Violatte drew me a picture on the computer with Jim and they gave it to me this morning. I copied it and put it on here so you can all see it. It was so sweet, and she has been so proud that she has been carrying it everywhere today.

Annalee is learning about 4-6 new words a day. It's amazing to watch her. She has really hit a learning spurt. It is so fun. She says, "Mommy, I love you," quite a few times in the day and it really makes me happy. She has been teething the last couple of days, and that has been really hard. It's nice to know that it means one more tooth is in and it is one more time that is over.

Violatte has been so sad about missing her dance classes because she has been sick. It makes me so sad to have her miss them, too. I know she loves them so much. Violatte is such a big help. She is really growing up. We are looking for a pre-school to put her in -- and maybe even a program during the summer. I think she would love it. I feel like I have gotten close with Violatte these last couple of weeks. I've always felt bad because I don't feel like I have as good of a relationship with her as I do with Annee so I wanted to fix that. We've now gotten into the habit that when Annalee goes down for a nap, Violatte and I work together to make dinner and get it in the fridge so it is ready to go in the oven when it is time. I have really enjoyed those times together. She is such a fun little girl.

Jim has had an offer for another tour. He would really like to take it and the guy offering it to him sounds like he really wants Jim there. Jim is trying to decide whether to take it or to go to his main group and start working there finally. It's a hard decision for him. I think it's exciting both ways, knowing that so many people would love to have him work for them.

This week I was able to go with the missionaries to visit a lady who is coming back to the church after 15 years. We had a wonderful discussion and she is an amazing woman! We have become good friends, and I feel so grateful for my calling and the chance I have to work with people and to teach. While I was there I met someone that my sister, Trissa, knows. It is a small world. I am not going to say this person's name because there is a surprise for Trissa later and I don't want to spoil it. (Sorry, Trissa, you are just going to have to wait.)

That's about it for us. Have a wonderful day!