MARCH MADNESS

March started out with us going to the temple.  How can it get better that that?

Tuesday evening Scott’s family invited us to meet them at Coldstone for ice cream.  We never say no to that. 

At 11:00 Tiffani and kids got in so they could attend Asher’s baptism.  They came early so they could go to the temple open house with their Vegas ward.  It is always a good day when family comes.  Ava and Nixon came over Friday and played all day with the girls.

 lunch

they made an incredible fort

Tiffani's kids know how to sleep.

 death grip

Saturday was a great baptism day.  Asher was so excited and was so cute about his special day.  His Grandma and Grandpa came from Washington with Danielle (Shanelle’s sister) and her kids.  Shanelle’s family is wonderful.  They come as often as possible for family activities.  They have created a loving family.  Erik baptized and confirmed Asher.

He gave a very special blessing.  It was just a very spiritual morning.  How we love that our family can be together.  Kristin’s were the only ones not there but then South Carolina is a bit far. 

After the baptism everyone went to Asher’s house to have a luncheon.  The food was incredible.  Everyone brought something and tables were set up outside.  We ate and ate ‘till we couldn’t eat any more. 

 cousins

After stuffing ourselves, we just visited in the living room.  There’s no better thing to do than be with families and listen to all the chatter.

 Asher and William

Parker and Danielle's baby

The twins went home with Scott for a sleep-over and we went home.

Sunday morning Tiff went to Scott’s to get the girls and barely made it back for church.  We left after fast meeting to tell Tiff’s good bye and returned for the rest of the meetings.  When I went to the car after fast meeting, we found that Dad had left the car running and the doors unlocked the entire hour.  We seem to do weird things lately.

Tiffani drove home in a huge snowstorm.  We were relieved when we knew they were home.

Monday Erik’s family came over to help prune our fruit trees.  Dad had gone to Spanish Fork for compost for the garden so the boys unloaded the entire truck and spread it out over the garden. 

 

They worked very hard and then started pruning.  Everyone pitched in.  After the work we had a bar-b-q.  Again it was just fun to have family around and be together.  The boys would not take money for all their labors but we have an idea.  How blessed we are o family so close and so willing to help us with things that are getting very hard for us.  We certainly do appreciate the help.  They are good workers.

We thought we were leaving for North Carolina a day later than our tickets showed.  Thank goodness I checked.  We hurried and got ready and did just fine.  We left at midnight and arrived in Raleigh at 9:00 Friday morning.    We decided to get breakfast in Hillsborough.  What a town.  Three signers of the Declaration of Independence lived there.  We drove through the town and enjoyed all the sites.  It was not part of our mission so we hadn’t realized how great it is.  We had lunch at a little market and had our first hot cross buns. 

Delicious.  We wanted to walk the streets but were so tired we just found a spot and took a nap in our rental.  We decided to go the back roads on to Caswell and were not disappointed.  We love North Carolina.  We headed right to the Pages’ and had a great visit.  Myra cooked a delicious spaghetti dinner with homemade sourdough bread. 

Wish there was some way to express how wonderful these people are in Caswell.  We felt like we had just come home for a visit.  We had stopped to visit with Mojean and Bill Ross and Tim informed us that Miss Brodie had passed away.  She owned an original plantation from before the Civil War that we visited while on our mission.  She was so taken by Baylie that she just sat there and held Baylie on her lap the whole time we were there.  Tim said she talked about it clear until she died.  She lived in the slave quarters.

The best thing about the day was that Molly became a teenager. 

Boy does time fly by.  She is such a special girl who loves to be with her family.  She has many talents and makes friends easily.  One of her best friends is her cousin, Kolton.  She loves her Heavenly Father and tries very hard to do the right things.  We certainly do love her.

After spending the night with Lindsey and Myra we headed out to visit our wonderful friends.  We didn’t get to all of them but we made a good dent.  We went on to Yanceyville and got to see Karen and Joanne Williamson. 

We met them while out here and they became such special friends.  They are chosen ladies.  Karen moved to take care of her mother who had been in a terrible accident.

Our visit with Jesse was so fun.  Margaret is doing better but gets very tired.  We love ole Scooter and he seemed like he remembered us. 

They took us to Danville VA for some yogurt which brought back so many memories.  We also visited with Christine who owned the home we rented while there,  she is a great lady. 

That evening Jesse took us and Bishop Bryant’s family to dinner at the Venice.  Again many memories were uncovered.  We have said it do many time but these people in Caswell are the cream of the crop.  They have strong testimonies and try so hard to follow our Savior.  They are a great part of what made our mission so wonderful.  We will love them and hope to be friends through all eternity. 

 The Bryants and Kelsey and Del  

We spent that night with the Bryants.  They had invited us when they were in Utah for their daughter’s wedding.  They also treated us like we were family.  We were definitely treated with Southern comfort on this trip.  If our children lived closer we would live among them.

Sunday morning, Tabby had a tasty breakfast for us before heading for church.  Bishop Bryant had told us we were on the program for testimonies.  That’s always a privilege for us.  We never falter at bearing testimony of our Savior Jesus Christ and our loving Heavenly Father.  The restored gospel of Jesus Christ is so true and we love it.  How blessed we are to have a living prophet of God to help us through these times.  We are so grateful for the Prophet Joseph Smith who was so instrumental in bringing the Book of Mormon and the church to us.  We love him.

We were so happy to be with those good members of the Caswell Ward.  They are true examples of the Saints who strive to be valiant and true to the faith.

After church, we had dinner at the Pages’.  We visited for a while, hating to leave and then headed to Winston/Salem to see Kelby and Palmer.  Kelby has such a beautiful home and keeps it so nice, or maybe Morgan (I think that's her name) does the cleaning.  We had a great visit with them.  Kelby seems so happy. 

We took them to dinner and got no farther than across the street before we stopped and got a motel, we were so tired.

Monday the 14^th we headed to Columbia and the Batchelors.  Jalen was home because he had a cough, so Kristin and I went to school and picked up Baylie.  School was over and she was so excited when she came out and saw that I was there.  George stayed home with Jalen.  Of course we had tacos for dinner and Baylie cooked the home made shells all by herself.  So yummy.

Tuesday we just vegged.  Kristin made clam chowder and potato soup with homemade bowls for dinner.  We went to the kids’ soccer practice and then Dad treated us to yogurt.

The 17^th was St. Patrick’s Day so the kids wore green to school.  David fixed green pancakes for breakfast.  We went to school to have lunch with Jalen.  He wanted to come home after but he stayed ‘till the end of the day.  Kristin tends twins after school for an hour and all 4 children get their homework done.  It’s a good deal.  We got some pizzas from Sam’s Club.  After school Tiffani came with her three children and picked up a huge box.  She put the twins in it and put shipping labels to say Baylie.  I went in the back to tell Baylie she had a huge package in the front.  Tiff was behind a bush filming.  Baylie said, ”It’s a package from the twins!”  She then opened it and just looked at the twins. 

 

After a few seconds she just started screaming.  It was so much fun to watch.  The twins jumped out and many hugs were shared. What a fun time. Tiff took pictures.

On the 18^th we ate a birthday lunch with Baylie. 

Kristin had ordered ice cream for all the kids in her class.  They were so sweet and excited.  It was a fun way to do a class thing.  As soon as lunch was over we checked Baylie and Jalen out and went to an incredible park.  It was huge and had so many things to play on, even a play house.  There was also a huge pond and a little stream. 

It’s a great place to play but you must have a parent there which was my favorite thing about it.  Baylie got to open some of her presents.  

To prepare for the special day a salon was set up and pedicures, nails and hair were expertly provided.

That night we took Cameron to our motel with us and waited for Jeff and Cori Frady to get there.  We watched a BYU game and thank goodness they won.  When the Frady’s got there we had such a fun visit and enjoyed their company so very much.  We think of them as part of our family.  They are just very special people.

Baylie’s birthday was perfect. 

We got to the church a little before 10:00 to help with setting things up which David had already done.  The baptism was so beautiful.  Dad spoke on baptism and I spoke on the Holy Ghost.  The 3 girls and Jalen sang the baptism song. 

Cameron played the piano for the meeting and did a great job.  The singing was so tender and beautiful.  Baylie was just so pretty in her white dress and everything went so well.  It was a perfect morning.

Mom loved being with her 2 girls, and a photo bomb

When we got home we got in our fun clothes and Baylie opened the rest of her presents;

then on to  High Wire for an hour of jumping and laughing.  Cori and I danced to the loud music and were stupendous. 

After Granddad took everyone to Texas Roadhouse for dinner.  The servers sang to Baylie which was such fun.

 one end of the table

 the other end

The Final 4

The girls loved their matching shirts.

That night the girls slept in our room.  They were out before we even knew it—after popcorn of course. 

We kept their room locked and went across the hall to the Fradys’ room.  They could come across the hall but no one could get in their room.  Perfect.  It was hard to leave their room and go to ours.  We had a good visit.

 In the morning we all ate breakfast and then told the Fradys’ good bye.  That was a hard thing to do but they needed to get back home to their farm and tend the animals.  We checked out and went to Kristin’s.  The girls loved this phone booth.  We're not sure they even know what a phone booth is.

Church was wonderful and again Bailey looked beautiful in her white dress and fancy shoes.  Everyone looked “high cotton”.

Monday morning we got up and headed to Charleston and the Magnolia Plantation.  What a treat.  Shanelle would have loved it.  The kids loved the petting zoo and there were peacocks all over the plantation. (This ain't one of them!)

This is.

We went from the petting zoo to the gardens.  It is the largest natural garden in the US.  We were there before many blossoms but it was so beautiful.

Tifani's crew   

Cameron was always telling the kids to get away from the edge of the ponds and water places because of the alligators  I reassured him that there were no alligators in a place so welcome to visitors.

The mother alligator just ducked under the water.  Can you find the baby?

How we love the Carolinas.

It was a very cold day but we still decided to go to Charleston and Isle of Of Palms beach.

 We loved the seagulls 

The water was so cold but...

  Baylie loved doing cartwheels in the waves.

When we could finally get the kids to leave, we ate at a restaurant over looking the beach.  Again, it was so fun.

Can't believe he ate the whole thing.

The next morning we left for the airport and home.  It surprised us but we could have spent much more time with the family and friends in the Carolinas.

March 24th, Cameron became a teenager.  He is becoming such a fine young man.  We love him so much  It was fun to spend so much time with him this past week.  He loves the temples and his responsibilities as a deacon.  He is so blessed to have a family who loves him so much.

Cameron at the Columbia Court House.  The star shows where in the Civil War Sherman's men shot a cannon ball.

We went to Nixon's karate advancement to an orange belt tht afternoon.  He was great in the demonstsrations.

Saturday, the PG family came to help with more pruning.  They are really a great help.

 This led us to the beautiful Easter Sabbath which we loved.  We know that our Savior did bleed and die for us.  The restored gospel of Jesus Christ is on the earth today and in it's fullness.  It is His church; the only true church on the earth today.  It is the only way back to our Father and the family members who have gone on before.  The main goal for us on this earth is to be worthy to go to the temple and receive the blessings awaiting us there.  We can never go too often.  What a blessing to have so many temples so close.  No excuses.  We love our Savior so very much and pray constantly that we can be with our family forever.
We were so blessed to have Erik and his family for dinner.  

Our egg tree and flowers left from Skylar's wedding.

It was splendid and after the boys hunted for eggs with their names on them.

We had it all for dinner with nothing left out. Ham, funeral potatoes, ribbon jello, tossed salad, asparagus, hot rolls, and even some home pressed cider.  Shanelle made sugar cookies and in honor of our Southern friends we had blueberry yum yum for dessert.

reading after dinner

 Still so very much in love.

March 30th we went to Riley's JV and varsity soccer games.  They won both and Riley was instrumental in some goals.  Afterwards we went to Ashley's for Dianne's homemade chicken noodle soup.

 Mom got to hold William for an hour during the games.  Yeah!

The last day of March we went to Eureka to visit Milt.  He is painting a huge painting for the mayor of SLC.

 It is going to be beautiful.  Mom was able to do some light cleaning and Dad listened to Don give instruction on water purification. We are planning on having all of our family build a purification system for their families.  We will provide all the materials and build them together in July.  It's amazing and so necessary.  Kristin would have been able to help many with a simple hookup in the house.  The time will come to each of us when this is a blessing.

We love each of you and pray for your families and teaching the doctrine of Christ in your homes.  It is the only way back to our Father in Heaven.