2022 :: week 11

March 13

Big changes ahead! On Saturday evening our Stake sent out an email letting members know that boundary realignments would be announced at a special meeting next Sunday and four new bishops would be called. Anthony will be traveling for work next Sunday, so it was his last 'normal" Sunday as bishop. It is hard to remember what life was like before Anthony was bishop, our family has changed a lot since he was first called. We took this group photo of our family in the bishop's office when we went back up to the church to clean out the office. I'm pretty sure it was the first time all six of us had been in the office together, the last time we were all in the office together was when Anthony was set apart, but Miles was not yet born. Anthony spent a lot of time in there during his 6 years, 4 months and 3 weeks as bishop. Anthony and I were asked to share our testimonies with the ward before he was released. As I was preparing for church I heard the song "Love is Spoken Here" and the words at the end of the song will forever remind me of the time when Anthony served as bishop. "I can often feel the Savior near, for love is spoken here." One of the great blessings of my life is getting to witness the many quiet acts of service members of our ward have performed, and it is humbling to think that so many people have prayed for our family over the past 6.5 years.

March 14

Lauren and her friends took another sewing class at Harper's Fabric in Downtown OP. The girls learned how to make shorts with an elastic waistband. I love that the girls enjoy being creative and making new things. It was very rewarding to see how proud each of the girls looked when we came back to pick them up. 

March 15

Tuesday afternoon Nana and Papa arrived from Salt Lake City, and as soon as Anthony picked them up from the airport we immediately set off for a spring break trip to St. Louis. Grumpy Miles does what he does best, which is fall asleep in the car anytime we drive anywhere after 3pm. We had a relatively uneventful drive, arriving at Kristine and Mark's beautiful home (friends of Nana and Papa who generously offered to put us up for our trip) in the Central West End of St. Louis around 10:30pm.

March 16

Miles has been talking about going to the St. Louis Zoo with Nana and Papa since we first mentioned plans for their visit last month. Wednesday the big day finally arrived! We had a delightful time at the zoo. Our first four stops to see the grizzly bear, polar bear, orangutans and seals were among my favorite, but we saw many cool animals on our visit. That evening we made personalized pizzas in Mark's gas-powered pizza oven. They were so delicious the pizza oven is now on TJ's birthday wish list. It doesn't hurt that on the Ooni website it mentions that one of the co-founders is Finnish.

 

March 17

City Museum was at the top of our list for Thursday! I learned that I am more claustrophobic than I thought as I squeezed myself into tight quarters. It was very busy, and we were grateful for the 1:1 child to adult ratio. It is spring break in Kansas City, and it was funny to see KC-related clothing all over the place. Clearly we weren't the only people that decided to head east for spring break! That evening while most of the family watched basketball (and Miles was in bed) Lauren, Elliott and I watched the movie Heavyweights in the Hagsplund's theatre room, complete with a popcorn machine. Another fun day!

March 18

Friday morning we packed up and then headed to the Science Museum. It was a drizzly morning, so it turns out we picked the right days to do the right things on this trip. We were all a bit tired from staying up late talking and watching basketball. A highlight of the museum was the animatronic dinosaur and this collaborative Super Mario Bros game. After the museum we hit the road and headed back to KC. We were grateful to arrive safely at home after seeing several car accidents on I-70. That evening we watched some more basketball and ate pizza, as one does in March.

March 19

Saturday morning the kids had fun with their grandparents. Papa bought the boys some baseball cards and they had a "draft." The older boys allowed Miles to have a few of the least desirable cards. Nana and Lauren worked on a stuffed animal sewing project together. Nana and Elise made one recently and Lauren was excited to have a matching bear. Anthony left Saturday afternoon and headed to conference in New Orleans for work. In the evening Nana and Papa took the kids to the park so I could work on my Sunday School lesson. We are enjoying the lighter evenings, though it did make dinner a bit late as I am going to have to adjust my it's-time-to-prepare-dinner cues now that the sun is setting an hour later.