Summer is here!!!

Well, Christine and I haven't written lately and its about time. I have to say we have definitely enjoyed the nice weather recently. We are trying to take advantage of this nice weather because you never know when it might snow again. [shudder] So we had some fun outdoors this past week.
Monday we had a little family home evening at the park. We decided to go play bocce ball. We got a bocce ball set at Christine's bridal shower and hadn't played with the set since we got it. So we headed over to the park and had a great time playing. It was fun when people would stop with a question about the game or say how much fun the game is. It is not very often that people play bocce ball in the park. It was a close game with a come from behind victory (I won). It was definitely loads of fun.
Then after we got home, I checked a message on my cell and found out that some of our friends were playing volleyball that night so we ran over to their apartment complex and played sand volleyball for about an hour. People were impressed by my jump serving and overall playing ability. People are often suprised because they don't expect much from a short guy, I guess. Anyway it is always fun to impress friends who haven't seen me play before.
We also enjoyed the weather on Friday evening. Some friends of ours invited us to go up the canyon and roast hot dogs and marshmallows and have smores. It was loads of fun getting to know some of our fellow ward couples with no kids. We did a little hiking and playing a game around the camp fire. There was little creek next to our camp and a nice little waterfall not far from the camp fire. Christine decided she would cross a branch that had fallen across the creek. Then she crossed a different branch on the way back - one that was really slippery and sure enough took a few steps in the creek. It was all fine because she just took her shoes & socks off when we got back to camp and dryed them out by the fire. We played a fun game where you ask silly questions and everyone answers secretly and the person asking the question tries to guess which person wrote which response. We weren't very good at guessing, but we both got each other's right.
All in all, we hope to do a lot of fun things this summer. We look forward to doing some day hikes and getting some good outdoors time.

Mormon Women

I got this poem in an e-mail from a friend of mine. I felt like sharing it after my sister-in-law Rachel posted her thoughts and insights from a Women's Conference that she attended last week.
If you, or someone you know has ever felt overwhelmed by all they feel they need to do, Vickie Gunther of Redlands, California, wrote this hilarious poem, Dr Seuss style, about how much LDS women try to take on. David B Marsh used it at Women's Conference and Vickie gave permission to share it.
Even if you've read it before, it's fun to read again. I know that sometimes I feel like this, too.

The Girl in a Whirl
By "Dr.Sue" (a.k.a. Vicke Gunther)

Look at me, look at me, look at me now!
You could do what I do if you only knew how.
I study the scriptures one hour each day;
I bake, I upholster, I scrub, and I pray.
I always keep all the commandments completely;
I speak to my little ones gently and sweetly.
I help in their classroom! I sew all they wear!
I drive them to practice! I cut all their hair!
I memorize the names of the General Authorities,
I focus on things to be done by priorities.
I play the piano! I bless with my talents!
My toilets all sparkle! My check books all balance!
Each week each child gets a one-on-one date;
I attend all my meetings (on time! never late!)
I'm taking a class on the teachings of Paul,
But, that is not all! Oh no, That is not all.

I track my bad habits 'till each is abolished;
Our T-shirts are ironed! My toe nails are polished!
Our family home evenings are always delightful;
The lessons I give are both fun and insightful.
I do genealogy faithfully, too,
It's easy to do all the things I have to do!
I rise each day early, refreshed and awake;
I know all the names of each youth in the stake!
I read to my children! I help all my neighbors!
I bless the community, too with my labors.
I exercise and I cook menus gourmet;
My visiting teaching is done the first day!
(I also go do it for someone who missed hers.
It's the least I can do for my cherished ward Sisters.)
I chart resolutions and check off each goal;
I seek each "lost lamb" on my Primary roll.
I can home-grown produce each summer and fall.
But that is not all! Oh, no. That is not all.

I write in my journal! I sing in the choir!
Each day, I write "thank yous" to those I admire.
My sons were all Eagles when they were fourteen!
My kids got straight A's! and their bedrooms are clean.
I have a home business to help make some money;
I always look beautiful groomed for my honey.
I go to the temple at least once a week;
I change the car's tires! I fix the sink's leak!
I grind my own wheat and bake all our bread;
I have all our meals planned out six months ahead.
I make sure I rotate our two-year supply
My shopping for Christmas is done by July!
These things are not hard; 'tis good if you do them;
You can if you try! Just set goals and pursue them!
It's easy to do all the things that I do!
If you plan and work smart, you can do them all, too!
"It's easy!" she said and then she dropped dead!

Strawberry Lemonade

Ok, maybe this idea has already occurred to the rest of you, but even so, it made me happy and I wanted to share.

A week or two ago I bought a container of strawberries because they were a great price. I don't usually eat a container before they go bad, so I could never justify the price before. But these were too good to pass up, and I figured that we could finish them between the two of us.

Well, the reason they were such a good price, of course, is that they were fairly ripe and close to going bad. So a day or two after buying them, it looked like they were going to rot before we ate them all.

So Jeff had a great idea to freeze them to keep them from going bad. And I decided that, after they were frozen, it would be easy to blend them up and add them to a pitcher of lemonade to make strawberry lemonade. I got this idea from Ben and Hilary, who added raspberries (I think they were frozen) to their lemonade when we were visiting over Easter.

I always love it when I go out to a restaurant and order strawberry lemonade, and they use real strawberries instead of the syrup. It's so much better!

NOTE: if you have never done this before, learn from my mistake and remove the leaves before freezing the strawberries. They were very annoying to remove after they were frozen.

Well, we made strawberry lemonade tonight, and it was a success! I was so happy with our fancy drink that I got out our fancy glasses for dinner (see picture).

If you've never done this before, I highly recommend it for strawberries that are getting to be past their prime. And we ended up with more strawberries than we needed for our lemonade, so I mixed up the rest with some vanilla-fudge-twirl icecream and milk for dessert. It ended up tasting like Neopolitan icecream when it melts and all the flavors mix together. Yum!

Visiting Great-Aunt Ruth

Yesterday Jeff and I visited my Great-Aunt Ruth. Or maybe she's my Great-Great-Aunt Ruth. I think that she's my Opa's (for those who don't know, that's grandpa in German; he's my dad's dad - we call those grandparents Oma and Opa) Aunt, if my memory serves me correctly. But I could be wrong. But I know she's related to Opa.

This month she turned 97, and she is very with it for her age. Her memory is incredible, and she's a lot of fun to talk to. She's fairly cheerful and almost always smiling.

She's less than 5 minutes away from where Jeff and I live. I found this out a few months ago when I visited her with Oma and Opa. I've been meaning to pay her a visit since then, but either she, I, or Jeff have been sick most of that time, and it never seemed a good time to visit.

For Marie and Suzanne, I just wanted to say that I think it would be cool if you brought your kids to visit her and got to take some pictures. She'd enjoy it, and it's not often you get to take pictures with a family member so many generations removed from you.

Christine's New Church Calling

I am now the Ward Choir Director! It's a calling that I've always secretly wanted, but never had. I love singing, I took a conducting class in college (for my music minor), and I had some experience running choir practices a few times in high school. I'm really looking forward to it!
My first goal is going to be recruiting. We have some talented singers in our ward who don't make it to choir on a regular basis, and I hope that will change. I know that part of the difficulty is that our church is at 1:00 and we've been holding our choir rehearsals at noon, which leaves no time for lunch! I'm open to suggestions if anyone has any. Maybe I should have us practice earlier, like 10 - 11?
But I'm definately going to have to find a way to get more people to come. Because for the past month or two I've been the lone alto. And now that I'm going to be conducting, it definately poses a problem...
Well, it's a challenge I'm looking forward to undertaking!

Easter Weekend

Sorry that we didn't post last week, but we were out of town. I had the Monday and Tuesday after Easter off of work, so Jeff and I decided to spend a few days down in Cedar City with Jeff's brother Ben and his family.

First of all, a huge public THANK YOU to Ben and Hilary for letting us stay with you guys. It was a ton of fun!

We drove down on Saturday morning/afternoon. That was the longest time that Jeff and I had spent in the car together. We brought a bunch of CDs to listen to, as well as some food to munch on. We found that it was fun to give each other jelly beans and try to guess what flavor they were. Neither of us were very good at it, but it kept us entertained.

Our Saturday evening and Sunday were fairly uneventful and relaxing - nice vacation days. We watched the kids (Benji, Kendra, and Lindy - pictured below) on Saturday night so that Ben and Hilary could go out on a date, as our way of saying thanks for letting us visit.

Monday was my favorite day. We went to Zion's National Park - it was my first time there. We met up with Jeff's sister Rachel and her family and we all went hiking in the afternoon. The first hike we went on was to Observation Point. The view at the end was gorgeous.

I loved climbing up a bunch of rocks that were next to the cliff. Don't let this picture fool you - it's not a drop-off on the other side. But let's just say that I did get up close and personal with the edge (but not when Jeff was looking). I LOVE heights!

On our way from driving from the first hike to the second, Lindy and Kendra were pretty tired and totally zonked out.

In between hikes we took a bathroom break, and a few of us were waiting outside. Hilary chased Jeff around with Lindy's stroller, and Lindy loved it.

It was fun being with family and hiking in such a beautiful area. And the cousins had fun spending time together. The second picture shows Benji, Audrey, and Kendra getting up close and personal with the red dirt (which really stains your clothes) that was on the hiking trail.

The two youngest cousins, Lindy and Olivia, got to ride in style on their dad's backs.

On Tuesday Jeff and I thought about going to St. George, but we decided to just relax at Ben and Hilary's and make an early start for home. It was a fun trip. I'd love to go back down to Zion's and do some more of the hikes someday.

Wii

So Jeff and I borrowed my sister Suzanne's Wii for the past few weeks. It was fun and entertaining, but I'm kind of glad we don't own one. I would spend way too much time playing games. But it was definately fun to have in our home this past month.
Our favorite by far was the Wii sports, especially tennis and bowling. It's kind of funny that I feel a sense of accomplishment by reaching the Pro level in those two games, when all it means is that I spent way too much time playing Wii.
We also played several of the games in Rayman's Raving Rabids (I think that's what it's called). They have a variety of different games - some are meant to give you a little workout (like having to pump your arms up and down to make your character run), while others are more skill-based. Jeff's favorites were the shooting games that we paired up on, and my favorites were the music ones where you had to pump your arms up and down in time with the music.
Last night, we were going through and playing each of our favorite games and sports trainings one last time, since we gave it back to my sister today. When we were on the sports menu, we noticed that we had never tried the "Wii Fitness." When we clicked on it, we discovered that it takes you through a few exercises that are supposed to grade you on your speed, accuracy, etc, and then it tells you what your "Wii age" is. The idea is for you to play Wii Fitness several times and lower your age. The lowest you can get is 20 (I don't know what the highest is). The three exercises it has you do is returning tennis balls, hitting home runs, and knocking down spares. Jeff went first and did very well, and he was told that his Wii age was 25. After seeing what the exercises were, I was a little nervous. I had only done batting practice - I had never done either of the other two extra trainings (while Jeff has). Well, I didn't do that great, so I thought I might be ranked in my 30's, possibly up to 40. But when my results came back, it says that my Wii age is 60. 60! Ouch!
So now you know. I thought that I was 8 years his junior, but I'm actually 35 years his senior.

p.s. - And thanks again, Suzanne and Kenny, for lending us your Wii.