Spring time and saying goodbye

It is spring! I love all of the new leaves on the trees and the blooming bulbs. The daffodils are almost all finished blooming, the freesia is midway through and the irises and amaryllis are just getting started. Our vines are getting super thick and lush on the front porch.

This is our new to us, 2012 Prius. Yes, it is white like our 2010 Prius, but we got an amazing deal on it, so we were not picky. There is also a bunny in our yard. There are bunnies EVERYWHERE in our neighborhood right now.

I have to wait all year for these blossoms, but it is worth it. I love my bulbs!

Sunday evening, we went to Josh Jensen's home for his open house. It is hard to say goodbye to friends who are going on missions. We are happy to have them serve, we just miss them. Most of Sara's best friends are on missions, and a few are married. We miss them!

Josh is now part of that group. We will miss analyzing the world with him, jamming and talking nerdy music stuff, temple trips, driving back and forth between Surprise and Gilbert, and seeing his smiling face at choir, especially concert week. 

It's funny how someone can come into your life and be such a big influence, in such a short amount of time. He has been a close friend to our family for a little over a year now, but his influence has been tremendous. We have all seen how when you put your mind to something and work for it, you can achieve anything. Josh is so driven, yet super fun and loving. Over the last week, all of these kids have shared with me how much they love Josh and will miss him. We know he will be an awesome missionary to the people of Thailand!

The final jam session.

Love you, Josh!

When we got home from Josh's, Sara had to finish her art project. We got home at about 1 am. I stayed up with her until about 2:15, but then had to get some sleep. She went to bed when it was finished at a little after 4:00 am.

It had to have an atmospheric background. Her teacher said hers was the best background of the class.

Here she is right before I went to bed.

The assignment was to create a combination of painting and collage from magazine cut outs. She title hers: "It's All in Your Head." It represents how we often dwell on what we think others say about us or how they judge us, when in reality, most people are thinking about themselves and are worried about what others think of them. Those views and judgments are really just in our heads.

It was strange not to see Josh at choir this week. He was missed. We love his sweet sister Izzy and are excited to have her join the gang.

Isabelle Hunsaker, Rachel Smith, Tommy Lundquist, Averi Jordan, Andrew, Josh Jordan, Noah

Daniel, Kendall Fechter, Sara, Izzy Jensen, Heidi, Lilli, and Laney

Saturday, we went to Lucy Jordan's baptism. She is such a spunky, loving and adorable little girl! We loved sharing this special day with her.

Of course there was some jamming on the piano after the baptism.

We had a relaxing Saturday afternoon. Jacob spent the day with us, as he does most weekends. Sara at some point said he had to carry her like a princess, so this is what he did. She squirmed and said something like, "My father, the king, with have your head for this. Put me down." 

It was pretty funny. He is a lot of fun.

Freddy and Sarah went to a concert. The band was The National Parks. They had a ton of fun!

Freddy and Sarah

Logan, Hallie, Freddy, Lauren, Hayden, Ellie

Sam and Vivi are happy and are getting settled into married life. They love each other so much! 

It makes my heart smile!!!

Sunday morning, Dad, Sara, Jacob and I drove out to Mesa to hear Vivi and Sam speak in sacrament meeting. They did a beautiful job speaking on sincere prayer and priesthood power. They both have passion and conviction when it comes to the gospel of Jesus Christ.  We loved every second!

  

When we got home we ate lunch and played some games. Dad tried to help work out some of the knots in my shoulders. It was painful, but wonderful.

  

Jacob worked on Sara's knots. School is brutal. We never seem to get much time to catch our breath. We love it though, and we love having our shoulders rubbed.

Josh and Leigh are getting close to having their baby, little Sammy. We can hardly wait to meet him!

They went and visited a farm this last week. Apparently, the best place to get ice cream is at a dairy farm. They said is was amazing! Leigh loves the snickerdoodle and Josh loves the dark chocolate almond. I think we need to make a trip to the farm when we come visit.

Josh practicing with their friend's baby, Austin.

Here is Leigh's cute baby bump at 36 weeks.