No Good Deed goes Unpunished...

Where has the time gone--
FLOWN BY--i say!
Was it really December when i last posted?
Some how life has gotten crazy,
crazy busy--
crazy, crazy, busy
to the point where i have been too tired to put two thoughts together
let alone an entire statement.
I would love to play catch up on what has been going on--
but....
that is not going to happen tonight.
So instead I will write about this weeks adventure/trial/blessing....
I guess i will decide which category it fits in once it is over.....

Since the hubby has been on the High Council our time together on Sundays has been reduced. Most Sundays he is in the ward he is assigned to and then once a month or so he gets the chance to speak in other various wards. On occasion i am able to go hear him speak--but more often than not I don't. When he speaks he is responsible to get another speaker to go with him chosen from a list. Once in awhile that list is short and he has to scramble for another speaker--this happened last summer and he was willing to volunteer me, and I in turn quickly volunteered my oldest daughter who was returning from Africa a few days before he needed a speaker. Missing her family, my daughter was quick to oblige her fathers request, and there for took me off the hook. I had dodged the bullet--for now....

Fast forward 8 months and once again it found my husband scrambling for a companion speaker--to which he informed me that I was his companion and I would get to speak with him--to which i promptly told him--"Yeah, I don't think so....". He then went to try and find someone else off the list--toward the end of the week he again mentioned that he needed me--much like my children I pretended like I didn't hear him--because if you don't actually hear the request it doesn't really count--Right? The poor guy resorted to sending me an e-mail to inform me that "I" was the chosen one--(i pretended that i hadn't read it) He inquired if i had checked my e-mail because now it was official--poor guy--i sorta blew his request off--chuckling under my breath the whole time. He then gave me the talk I was supposed to speak on Saturday night and told me i could have my choice of talks--some how I wasn't feeling it. I went to bed--I was tired, not knowing what i was going to speak on. My husband woke up the next morning and went to a meeting not knowing if i was really going to speak with him or not.(Poor guy--I really shouldn't have made him sweat) While he was gone i looked up some talks about some things i had been thinking about and formulated some ideas on what i would speak on. Nothing was really written down--I was not sure what direction I was really going in--I just knew I was going. My poor husband confided in me that he didn't actually know i was going to speak with him till i was walking out the door with him--I always knew i was--I guess i just like to see him sweat sometimes. So I gave my talk--I thought he had told me that i had 20 minutes--he said that he told me 12--anyway i took the 20 minutes plus 5 more i guess. I think i did OK. I had many people tell me that it was something that they needed to hear--and i thought that was it.....that it was over.
BUT.....
It wasn't.
There are times when you shouldn't do a good job speaking--like when a member of the stake presidency is sitting there and stake conference is coming up. YUP I got a call. I am one of the lucky ones that gets to speak in stake conference. I am feeling inadequate--nervous. I am wondering what i am supposed to say--what message i need to get across. All i can do is prepare and put the rest in the lords hands--that he will direct my thoughts to convey the message that needs to be given Saturday night. I will let you know if it works or not....

Easter at the Cabin

Easter came early this year. I can't remember when the last time it fell over General Conference weekend. It worked out well.Usually we get together with my husbands family for Easter so, between being off on Good Friday, and being able to watch church/conference on Saturday and Sunday--we figured we could watch conference up at the cabin just as easy as we could at home. It was a grand weekend of wonderful weather and everyone was able to play between the sessions of conference. Even my married niece and nephew and their spouses were able to hang out with us. The only one that was missing was my dear nephew who was off serving his mission in New York. Here is Grandma with all the grandkids and even the grand-dogs. Since the kids were little we have always done an Easter egg hunt with the cousins. It seems to be something that no matter their age they have yet to outgrow. Even the married kids still want to participate. They teenagers are not so much interested in the candy these days, as they are the money and gift cards that are involved. This year Grandma had this idea, that instead of a normal Easter egg hunt, that we should have the kids break into pairs and do an Easter egg scavenger hunt around the property. She went out and scouted spots and then wrote up little rhymes to put in the eggs. It was quite the ordeal. We didn't want the kids to all have the same clues at the same time so we staggered the clues--it was crazy trying to get it all figured out and we took the majority of the evening before figuring how it would work out. The next day we sent the men out to "place" the eggs. We divided up the families so everyone was paired with a cousin--we didn't want the married couples cheating. They were each given their first clue and then they were off. At this point it was a little bit difficult to take pictures--everyone was moving so fast. The deer just stood by and watched

Even the pregnant girls were running around at the speed of light. the clues were scattered all over the 5 acre property once they found the clue they had to read it and figure out where their next location was some clues were easier to find than others--

some were hidden really well and some of the hints were a bit obscure. and then there were the kids that covered the eggs up so others would not find them.

One set of kids thought that they would just watch where others got their clues from and thought that would get them the prize--it didn't work the way they wanted.

They came in last.

but they still managed to muster up a smile

and had fun in the process.

Little man was having a good time finding his own eggs-- his only had candy--no clues involved for him

he was thrilled with the contents...so was the dog.

the dog kept hoping that a treat might be shared and find its way onto the ground.

Little man was not quite that generous

the first team came in and we proceeded to check their eggs... only to find that they were missing one. Then they had to figure out what clue they had missed. It was hilarious as i watched them run off-- in different directions--and then I heard my niece yelling my sons name as she sprinted the entire way to the last clue. (she was one of the pregnant ones)

They still came in first and with first place came the largest prize. second was close--but they were also missing an egg third place came in rather tired and exhausted from the ordeal

somehow i missed the fourth place team.

All in all I think a good time was had by all involved. The "adults" that sat and watched from the porch enjoyed the spectacle and i think the other adults that were running around had a grand time as well--although there were a few of them that were a tad bit sore the next day.

Definitely will go down in the books as one of the most memorable,

along with the one that took place in the pool-- ever been in a pool in April-- just a tad bit cold hard to believe those are some of the same kids in the other pictures-- like i said earlier, it doesn't matter how old they get-- they still love the hunt