Sweet is the peace the gospel brings

I just returned from one of the most spiritual funerals I have ever attended. Little Gracie Lyn Fine only lived for nine short days on this Earth but she touched so many of us today. I hate funerals but they are made just a little easier with the knowledge that the restored gospel brings. This family is so strong and so devoted to seeing little Gracie again that they are inspirations to us all. Casey was up until 1:00 a.m. last night trying to wrestle with what he was going to say in his talk. This funeral was the hardest one he's had to do. But, after all was said and done, he came home saying what an uplifting day it had been, despite the loss. I'm also grateful for our Ward family. It's so neat to see every member rally around those that are suffering. I love the gospel and am so grateful for the Atonement and the promise that our families will be restored in the next life.

I'm a week behind, but here you go!

Weekend craziness

We had such a fun-filled weekend! It all started with our Ward talent show. I just love our ward! There were 16 acts and the cultural hall was packed with screaming fans. And when I say screaming, I mean it. This was not like other "uptight, out do the last act" talent shows. The teenagers were in the back cheering and clapping for the 10 year old dancer. The adults were waving their cell phones back and forth as Kevin Brown sang a country song with his guitar. Everyone started chanting the name of a 4 year old that demonstrated his "wall push-ups." It was such a great atmosphere...as my friend put it, "like a big family reunion....", loud, enthusiastic but full of love and support! What a great ward the Springfield 3rd ward is...and I'm not being biased because my hubby is the Bishop; we've always felt this way about the 3rd ward. Here are some highlights:



Charlotte Booren sang "Our Glorious Family Tree," a song that she wrote. We sang this a ton at our last family reunion but I never get tired of hearing it. The tears flow every time.





The Mobleys sing "Angel Lullaby." Little Charlotte was so excited as it's her favorite song!


Brother Grier and the scouts did Red Skelton's pledge of allegiance. It was very moving!




Parker Stockford showed off his absolutely amazing drumming skills! The guy has some serious talent.


Here's Drake doing stand-up. This takes some serious guts to do. He was hilarious!


Kevin Brown sings Alan Jackson's "Remember When."

In between acts, the hosts played "Let's make a Deal." Here, Shirley Perkins (some of you remember her as Lightheart) wins a chance to pick a prize. She surprised all of us by pulling out her saxaphone and playing. Who knew that she could play the saxaphone?

The room was decorated with tables featuring other talents such as quilting, painting, and even taxadermy. The girls are standing next to our family's table.

Finally, here's little Drew Booren. He was a part of the first act with myself, Aunt Charlotte, Jillian, Maggie and little Charlotte. We played "Polish Holiday"...all six of us around the same piano. Drew stole the act with his adorable outfit!

On Saturday, my friend Kelli and I took off for the Woodburn tulip festival. (Yes, we skipped the Stake Women's conference...shhh, don't tell anyone) It was so beautiful. There were acres and acres of tulips.

We tried on a real pair of wooden shoes and I must say, they weren't terribly comfortable.



Finally, on Sunday, the Bishop went out to his car to discover it was filled with balloons, a sign and a big package of "just for emergencies" chocolate peanut butter brownies. Apparently, it was "Appreciating the Bishop" day in Young women's. He was thrilled!


Lastly, I haven't done an "Allison" page yet, so here you go.

Looking back...again

I finished a few more...thought I'd share.

What I find so funny about this picture of Charlotte is that as parents at this stage in life, we thought it was so HARD! She took up so much of our time, and as new parents, we were still learning. Little did we know that it just got more crazy with more kids! (though it seemed easier with each additional child because we knew what we were doing!)

I LOVE this picture of Jillian. I'd forgotten that chubby little face. She looks so grown up now, five years later!

Update

Weekly Update:

Stitches

What an eventful week! On Tuesday night, Lydia comes running into my room, face covered in blood, saying that Allison hit her with a candlestick. I quickly wipe up the blood (head wounds sure do bleed) and assessed the damage. After consulting our wonderful neighbor (who is a nurse...Delacey) we decided to take her to urgent care to get it checked out. Casey took her over to Riverbend while I fed and put kids to bed. Leaving Charlotte in charge, I joined Casey at the hospital just in time to see them put two stitches in her forhead. She was so brave...didn't cry a bit. Her Doctor's name was "Doctor Bob" and so the rest of the week, she told everyone that "My Doctor Bob gave me stitches in my head." Did Allison really hit her with a candlestick? We're not sure. She insists (INSISTS!) that the candlestick fell on Lydia's head. Since I was not a witness to the alleged crime, we didn't punish.

Lydia had a Mcdonald's happy meal at 10:00 at night...she missed dinner waiting in Urgent care for so long! You can just barely see the stitches in her hairline.

yesterday, (Sunday) our wonderful neighbor and nurse, Delacey Barney came over and took out Lydia's stitches. She gave Lydia a magic wand for being brave. We love Delacey!

Finally, though I haven't done much scrapbooking lately, I finished Charlottes' 7 year old page. I can't believe she's already almost 12. I look at this picture and it seems like it was just yesterday.

Easter

Easter was wonderful! There's just something special about having General Conference on Easter Sunday. The craziness of every other Sunday is replaced with a relaxing morning and afternoon where we could totally focus on the messages of the Atonement. After conference, we had our friends, the Stockfords over for dinner. (yes, I used my new (used) china!). After dinner, we had a quick Easter egg hunt in the Booren's backyard. (They were out of town but their backyard is SOO much better than ours). We finished out the day be eating Kelli's amazing sugar cookies and playing MadGab. It was a great, great day! Here's my weekly recap.

(typo on march 30th, we are going to "break it out on Easter Sunday," not "break it on Easter Sunday." have to go back and change that:)

Learning new skills

This has been a week of learning new skills. Today I was privileged to go over to my friend Pamela's house and she taught me how to make frosting flowers...a skill I have ALWAYS wanted to know how to do. She also taught me the basket weave and how to make grass. The girls were thrilled when I walked in with this cake in my hands. Now, I need to practice, practice, practice.
Thanks Pamela...You're amazing!


Secondly, this week, I taught Jillian how to sew. She had to do a project for school that somehow related to pioneer/Oregon trail life. We decided to make a small quilt. She sewed all the pieces together, ironed the seams and then tied the whole thing. I was very proud of her. She felt so good about herself as she showed it off to her class. She is normally a very shy student and so this project gave her a chance to shine.


Let's hear it for learning new skills!!!

More baby pics

Here's a few more. Where does the time go?