April Birthdays

 April is always a busy month for our family with lots of birthdays.  I think we have 9 by the time we count the cousins and Tucker!  Not sure what it is with that month...

Anyway, the month started off with a celebration of Chris, who turned 22.  He was leaving in April for Ireland for 6 weeks to study with his Gaelic class at ISU, so most of his gifts were related to his upcoming adventure.  Good walking shoes and summer clothes made him quite happy!

 Emma's birthday two weeks later was full of her favorites.  A swim suit she picked out, her own box of kiwis (she loves those!)...

 ...and her biggest surprise, the complete Full House series, which she's recently become addicted to.  I think she's totally in love with John Stamos.

 Happy birthday Chris and Emma!  We're so glad you're in our family!

The New and Improved Grandpa Symons

Del's dad has had trouble with his hips for years, and he finally decided to get rid of the pain and get some new, improved hips!  He had one replaced near Christmas time and just had the second one done.  They were both very successful, and he said he immediately had less pain.  He looked and sounded great!  

When we went to visit him in the hospital we mentioned the Flat Maren we made, and they insisted that we run home and get her so we could have a family picture.  

They thought Flat Maren was pretty funny and loved posing with her.

   We sure love these two!  They've been a wonderful support throughout our lives and are terrific examples of living Christlike lives.

Jackson Hole birthday trip

Emma had a really hard time thinking of what she wanted to do for her birthday, but she knew she wanted to do something different for her 16th.  When the opportunity came for us to make a quick trip to Jackson, she was quick to claim it as her birthday present. 

 We shopped at our favorite thrift stores where we found great deals...

 and some crazy, cool wooly chaps that we could buy for the low, low price of $1500!

 Only in Jackson do you get special treatment for owning a hybrid vehicle.  Not ones to let a good thing pass us by, we took it and enjoyed the VIP parking spot, feeling quite special.

 Emma took every opportunity to ham it up for the camera...

 while Devin tried his best to avoid all pictures.

 For her birthday dinner Emma picked Liberty Burger, and we all enjoyed their amazing burgers.

We had a great day celebrating Emma!  So glad you're in our family, Peanut!

She's on her way!

 We were so excited to get the news that Maren would be able to call us from the SLC airport as she flew off to Kazakhstan!  She told us to be ready between noon and two, so we waited....and waited....and waited....  Unfortunately, by the time she was finally able to call it was 4:30 and we were all in our dentist appointments.  Fortunately, the hygienist was kind and worked on other things while we visited with Maren.  We sat together around my phone, with Emma on the reclining seat with her half-cleaned teeth, and asked Maren all of the questions we'd been waiting to ask her.  The phone call went way too fast and then she was on her way.

 It was so fun to get this picture texted to me an hour later from a very kind man sitting next to Maren.  So thoughtful.  He said he just thought I'd like to see a picture of my amazing missionary!  Maren and Ksyenya looked so happy to be finally heading to their mission field.

 We got this picture emailed to us the next day, showing they'd arrived in the Istanbul airport and were met by President Toronto and his wife, Diane. 

 

The adventure has officially begun!

Cemetery Cleanup

 Every year we do a city-wide young women/young men clean-up of our cemetery, and it is always a huge success. It's great to have the youth do service for the community, but it's also great to have the community recognize the good that these kids do.

 Emma did her part and raked until she passed out.  At least until the 500 boxes of pizza arrived.  Then she seemed just fine. 

Conference Traditions

For years we've had a tradition that we make German Pancakes for breakfast during the Sunday morning session of General Conference.  I've tried to get out of it a few times, but it's just not going to happen.  Emma makes sure of that!  Fortunately she's old enough now that she often makes them.

 

Traditions are such a fun way to bind your family together, even if it's just small things like what you eat.  I hope my kids always love watching conference, listening to our leaders, and remembering the times we listened together as a family.

 The whole family loves our conference tradition...especially Olive.