April Happenings

 I almost forgot to add my General Conference pics because GC fell on both March AND April this year!

 So here they are...

 Breck took these pictures of the Conference Center because it was his first time going there.

 Not only was it his first time attending General Conference in person, 

but he got to sing in the Priesthood Session (with all its awesomeness) as well! 

 It was a great experience for him.

 All the men's choirs from BYU-I,

took buses to Salt Lake City.

 I watched the entire Priesthood session at home,

  just waiting for the camera to land on Breck,

 but it never really did! 

(Breck is in the middle with glasses...sorry, this was the best I could do from taking a picture of my TV with my phone!).

 I then realized that I could watch Conference on my i-pad and then just take a screenshot...

 so these pictures turned out a little better!

 Finally, right at the very end, 

 they showed this shot of Breck!

 But it's all good, because I really enjoyed watching that history-making Priesthood Session!

 Salt Lake Temple and Conference Center at night.

 Aubrey spent most of General Conference with her old roommate and friend Sierra, in Logan, Utah (in between sessions they both had much studying to do).

  But she did go down to Salt Lake for a couple of hours to meet up with two Elders and her friend Hna. Holt from her MTC District.

Brittney and Sean got tickets from Brad (the Bishops get so many tickets to hand out to people in their Wards who want to attend sessions at General Conference) to attend the Saturday morning session...and good thing they did, because it was pretty mind-blowing! 

And this was how we watched General Conference! We invited Katie from our Ward (a fairly new member) to watch General Conference with us so she came for both Sunday sessions. We also invited Katie, and my friend Bea, to eat Easter dinner with us which included smoked Salmon, compliments of Brad! (And yes, it was that cold in our house...it's called a heat pump for those of you who know what that is!)

 Other highlights in April were:

 Merinda getting asked to her high school Junior Prom by Luis, her longtime friend.

 

Merinda's friend Jade helped her decide on the best makeup for Prom.

Merinda is actually the same height as Luis but she is wearing high heels. 

 Merinda's beautiful corsage from Carriage House flowers.

Luis looking dapper in his new blue shirt and bow tie!

 Merinda in her beautiful dress. Interesting story about that dress... Mom and Merinda conspired behind my back (right after I got home from the hospital) to order a Prom dress from China. It didn't make it in time (big surprise) so we were scampering around the week before Prom trying to find a dress (I didn't want to tell Merinda "I told you so" but...). Luckily, Shannon, a friend of mine from church, mentioned that her daughter Juniper had a dress we could borrow, so Merinda tried it on and loved it (good thing it was blue to match Luis' new shirt)! The dress from China came soon after, and was good quality and fit Merinda perfectly, but Merinda didn't like how it looked on her (which is always a risk when buying something based off a picture). 

 Make-up by Jade once again.

 Merinda had a great time and Luis was a perfect gentleman! They had fun going to a fancy restaurant for dinner, dancing all night, and then going to breakfast at the high school starting at 1:00 am. Luis also had Merinda home right at 2:00 am, her curfew time.

 Breck enjoyed spending time at the sand dunes in Rexburg with his cousin's Josh and Katelyn (who are high school seniors checking out BYU-I) and Blakely who already attends BYU-I.

Blakely's roommates were also there.

Aubrey, Breck, and Aubrey's roommate Anna (who has been so kind to drive Aubrey and Breck everywhere this past Semester) bumped into a celebrity of sorts while shopping (he was the main actor in The District, a film put out by the Church that all missionaries are supposed to watch before going on their missions).

 

 Brittney's company, Skywalker Trampolines, gave a way a free trampoline 

  to an autistic girl and her family.

Merinda had her spring piano recital with her teacher Edna looking on. Edna also recited the Easter story by memory (not too shabby for an 89 year-old!). 

Edna's other students of all ages, who represented a good range of skill levels.

Breck stayed with Brittney for several days after finishing his finals early (Aubrey also stayed with Brittney but only for one day before Brittney dropped both kids off at the airport). That same week, Brittney had a job interview in Provo so she dropped off Breck at BYU to visit Wesley. Breck loved seeing Wesley again!

Instead of flying home, Breck flew to Texas to visit Molly (Aubrey's good friend and companion from her mission).

Breck and Molly have become good FaceTime friends so finally they were able to meet in person. 

 
They enjoyed exploring Plano, and basking in the beauty of the Texas Bluebells.

   Brad and I drove to Plano Texas to also meet Molly in person, and drive Breck back home. We all had a nice breakfast together, and then went shopping for a Texas hat for Brad. 

 Brad wanted to buy a nice neutral hat that would match anything, and Molly said the above hat color was neutral according to Texas standards, so he bought it! While in Plano, we also visited our friends the Carlsons, who used to live in Georgetown. It was also nice catching up with them.

On our way to and from Texas we stayed in Franklin, TN with our good friends the Wrights. Debbie made us the most scrumptious roast in her insta-pot (which made me want to get one), and was the best hostess ever!  The first night we were there, Les and Tyler just finished this awesome puzzle that they had been working on for over a month!

It was a cool picture of Yoda and his light saber, however,

when you zoomed in (which I had to do with my camera) each puzzle piece was actually a scene from the Star War's movies!

We then sang happy birthday to Les as Tyler and Debbie put a flashing cake topper and candle on his "cake" 

which was actually a key lime pie...his favorite!

Les then blew out his one candle, which is plenty for a fifty-something year-old ;)

We had a wonderful time catching up with Deb and Les. 

Breck's friend Jake Watson got married in Sacramento, California, but had an open-house in Georgetown.

It blows my mind that Breck's friends are now old enough to get married!

It was good visiting with Jeannie and Val, and Jake and Amber (Jake's new wife).

Breck actually had a science class with Amber at BYU-I.

It was nice to talk with Ana Maria Linares again (whom I never see anymore since our Ward split), and Aubrey had fun catching up with Pamela.

And of course it's always a treat visiting with the Holt family.

Speaking of the Holts, in celebration of Christina making it to Japan, and thriving there as a missionary, we invited them over for some authentic Japanese food.

Brad grilled some Okonomiyaki's (okonomi means "how you like" and yaki means "grill") or savory Japanese pancakes made with shredded cabbage and bacon.

And it was the perfect weather for grilling since spring finally decided to come.

We really enjoy laughing and spending time with the Holts.

That evening we played a game just for Merinda (who always wants to play games with the Holts). Breck set up a game called Use Your Words, which is played as a group, on the internet, where everyone uses their cell phones. 

It was a lot of fun, and some of the answers were so clever and funny (especially Wesley's).

I can't believe how quickly the month of April flew by, and May seems to be moving even faster. I just hope we can slow down long enough to enjoy Aubrey and Breck being home for the summer, and spending more time together as a family!