What would we do without weekends?

I love weekends! And I love them for several reasons. First, my family is with me. I absolutely love being with my children and husband. If I thought my kids didn't need to be at school I would keep them home and teach them here. But I want them to learn to deal with problems of this world at their own level and not throw them out into the world at 18 and have them not knowing how to deal. Second, I get to go to church. I love being at church. I feel renewed and feel like I can now do better in the week to follow. I love learning about and feeling close to my Savior, Jesus Christ. I love partaking of the sacrament every week and renewing my covenants with My Savior. I love watching Big A along with his friends, who are also 12 and 13, pass the sacrament. I know all of these boys well and it is so touching to watch them pass the sacrament with so much reverence. I love those few minutes of quietness as they pass the sacrament around that I can sit and reflect all that He has done for me. To say a quiet prayer and ask for strength to be a good mother. I feel His spirit so much at those tender moments. I love my ward family. What would we do without them? Always there with a handshake, kind words, smile and hug. They are the best! And I love sitting there on the pew at church and looking down the row at my sweet family. It will bring me to tears every time. Then of course, they will get a little restless...maybe elbow their neighbor....take a book from a sister...But I still love it! And I love that they love it! Third, I love getting things done. I love accomplishing things. It is such a good feeling to work as a family and get things done. Some of my favorite memories growing up are working as a family. We would do fence jobs, work on the ranch, brand, work in the yard, make jam....I can think of so many wonderful times as a child. I was very lucky in how I grew up!

This weekend was no exception. It was wonderful. M is insanely busy at work right now. They are in the middle of testing so he is working crazy hours. But he was still able to make it home for our new tradition of Friday movie and pizza night. Triple A brought this idea home from the fabulous Spencer family. Thanks Guys! Anyway it was great. We watched "Nancy Drew." Pretty good...I recommend it! Then Saturday, M had to work through the middle afternoon. But we had already planned to put in our vegetable garden. So the kids and I went to work. We cleared the area, fixed the gate so that it would open so we could get into the area without having to go way around. It was so much fun! Then when M came home we went to rota tilling. Even Big A got in on the action. It sure is handy having older kids now. Yea, our garden is all in. It was a very long day. We were all tired and sore. Shoveling uses muscles you don't use on a daily basis. Ouch! Then today was Stake conference. This is where all of the wards in our stake get together and we hear wonderful talks from our Stake Presidency and others whom were asked to speak. They were wonderful. I left feeling very uplifted. Such sweet testimonies were given. Loved it! Then this afternoon Double A had her piano recital. She did great. I put video on below of her piece. It is so crazy to me. I was never that composed as a 10 year old. In fact, my hair was rarely even brushed. My choice...not my mom's. I was such a Tomboy!

And this evening to finish off our weekend, we had our family long jump contest in the sand box! M is having a little problem with his ego.....Big A is now beating him!:)

I also put a silly video on of TinyA singing "I am A Child of God" I think she gets the first 3 words correct. Check out her outfit. Boots, underwear and a shirt. Nice!!!!!!! Absolute classic! I think I could probably find a picture similar to this of every one of my children. They probably wouldn't appreciate me posting them though. Hope you all had a great weekend!