Mothers Day 2022

I got so spoiled with handmade goodies this year. In school Kimball made me this beautiful flower bouquet.

Cora decoupaged this heart rock and made this cute little bouquet.

The best Cora and Mom drawing ever!

Ezra's card for me

In primary they made this lily flowers made from the kid's handprints along with chocolates. I'm so loved!

BMX Love

The spring racing league of BMX did not disappoint, Kimball came in second! He's getting more strategic about his races by figuring out other rider's weaknesses, making the most of turns, pedaling to the max, etc. He did an excellent job and it's fun to watch him do something he loves. 

 

Murphy's 1st and Ezra's 5th Birthdays

Murphy turned 1 year old on May 1 and he got a spoonful of peanut butter with treats in it along with a new chew toy.

Happy birthday to my big, little man! What a better way to start a birthday than a bubble bath with chocholate milk in the fancy cup? Ezra loves cars, any kind of sports, will build for hours with legos, his siblings, riding bikes. He's a ball of energy that doesn't stop jumping or running, he's always moving his body which is probably why he's so skinny. And he's still a Mama's boy which I'll hang onto as long as he lets me. Happy birthday, my constant pal!

 

Lance's Exision

In 2019 when Lance had his chicken waddle removed (his words, not mine) his body reacted by producing too many cells which is also known as keloids. His scars did not heal like a white, thin line. They grew to about a half inch wide, very long, and quite raised. They hurt pretty bad so he made the decision to do something about them and he went to see a dermatologist. They just injected him with steroids which was too late in the game since the keloids had already formed (they were extremely painful shots)! Lance decided to excise his scars. We went to the kids' ENT doctor who also does facial plastics and other surgeries, and he had a lot of hope that cutting out the scars would be pretty successful; if the keloids formed again, we could do shots before the keloids advance too far. 

That's exactly what happened. Ezra and I watched the whole thing and even though I took pictures of each step, I'll leave out the gruesome phots. It was interesting to see the process and how large the scars were. Afterward he laid Lance down flat and he turned white as a ghost. I thought to myself, "This is exactly what he's going to look like when he dies." I knew he had just passed out from the pain, but it was really weird seeing him that pale. The new scars look good but fast forward six months to today, the keloids still developed despite steroid and other painful injections. I guess from here he'll decide if he wants to leave them alone or take even further drastic measures.

 

School Artwork

Cora's St. Patrick's Day art says, "I feel lucky when I lose a tooth because I get more money."

Cora's Easter bunny canvas

Kimball's ripped paper eagle

Kimball's energy robot: My robots name is Dad. He plays ping pong and other games like that. he produces sound when he taks to me his light is where his glasses reflect the light, his mechanicle energy is when he goes to work and when he goes places with me and other members of the family.

Close-up of the energy robot, Dad.

This one made me laugh. In the very center of Cora's circle of trust is Jojo Siwa. LOL!! She trusts Jojo more than Kimball and Dad.

 

Easter 2022

Lance knows a guy through work who is Jewish and we've been out to dinner with him and his girlfriend a few times. He's one of the most interesting guys I've ever met. He used to work with animals in Hollywood and subsequently has a white tiger, several different monkeys, one of which belongs to Ed McMahon, he's got all kinds of exotic animals. Did I mention the monkeys live inside his house? Yep. He's a funeral director, is a mentor and tutor to several teenage boys from Israel, he's a Jewish rabbi, he's a contractor, he's fluent in 5 languages, etc. etc. A very interesting guy and so great to be around.

Aaaaaanyway, I really expressed to him at our Christmas dinner that I would love to join him for Passover and he made sure I didn't forget. We arrived at his house around 7 intending to help with dinner but his son and a few women already had it under control. Brian gave me a tour of his house that he was/is currently building onto (its massive) and met his animals. Shabbat starts Friday nights at sundown, which was around 8 ish, if I remember correctly. He had a few of his students that were invited, a man from Chile who recently learned through his DNA that's he's Jewish, a few other people from his church, about 15 people in total. 

We began in his study which is where we started Shabbatt with singing, prayers, and reciting certain scriptures. It lasted about 25 minutes. We all went downstairs to start Passover which was another 30-45 minutes before we started to eat anything. I was starving, we didn't actually eat any food until about 10:00pm but it was only the foods from Passover, which aren't filling at all. We read and sang the entire....I'm not sure what it's called....booklet that's to be recited for every Passover. I loved the symbolism with each food, each action, each word! I loved that even though Brian recited it all in Hebrew, there was English right next to it so I was able to follow along. It was 1:00am before I leaned over to Lance and told him we definitely needed to get the babysitter home, especially since we were in Deer Park which was a good 45 minute drive. It was one of the best experiences! It was completely legit from what would have happened thousands of years ago. I just loved it. After the actual Passover there were so many delicious and odd foods for us to feast on, and I mean so much food there's no way we could've eaten that much food all week. They even served goose.

A few of the other pictures: this amazing photo of Israel Brian took from when he was a student in Israel, this was taken right outside of his window!

Ancient scrolls

The little alcove where the ancient scrolls were kept, it was super ornate.

A special place where hands are washed and the prayer right above so you can recite it while washing. This was just off the kitchen.

Scriptures

The study where we began Shabbat

Finally, the Passover meal!

One part you were supposed to hit everybody with the green onions - or maybe it was celery? I can't remember. But the hitting was done with gusto and was so funny.

The Passover book.

We had our regular Easter egg hunt with our old friends from the Shilo Hills ward. What a great bunch, so glad we've all stayed friends even though we've each moved away 7 years ago. We still try to have monthly girls' nights as well.