Tuesday April 30

I was able to have such a wonderful day!

First I ran 6 miles while Dad went to the gym.

Then we went to the temple together to do Endowments.

It was so nice to have that bit of peace and calm in the middle of our crazy lives :)

We came home and Dad went and got a new pipe for the irrigation and I went to the store for milk and cough drops and toilet paper....the necessities. :)

When I got back I sewed some pearl beads onto Madi's prom dress.

It is so pretty!!!!!

Her last Prom!

Then we had dinner before Elsie, Cassi and I left for the Youth temple baptism trip.

we had so many kids go and participate and we have such great reverent kiddos!!!!

Elsie did confirmations, and she was so reverent.

We always worry about her giggling....for some reason she tends to do that with prayers.

Maybe that is her reaction to the spirit :)

During the summer we will give her some practice with water in her face and we will have Dad take her to do baptisms.

Dad took Porter to football and worked more on the pipe.

Madi had to work and then she went to her friends mission opening.

It was just such a beautiful day, and I'm thankful I got to spend so much of it in the temple!!!

Monday April 29

Monday Monday Monday!!!!!

Porter had a little meltdown this morning.

It has been awhile since he has done that.

But he did end up going to school.

But he said there were lots of times he just wanted to run home during the day.

Anyway.....so I am guessing tomorrow will be a hard morning as well :(

Just a few more weeks and it will be summer time!!!!!

Which, I am both excited for and dreading :)

I went for a 5 mile run this morning.

Mondays I usually stick to a shorter run because I don' have energy, but today felt good, so I kept going!

I had a dr appt and Dad worked on stuff outside again.

He dug up the pipe in the driveway because it broke a while ago.

He still needs to go get the pipe to replace it, probably tomorrow.

But we need it if we are gonna irrigate the West pasture!

Later in the day I took Cassi to get her fitted for her after surgery knee brace.

She is pretty nervous......

On the way home, we went to Costco to pick up Madi's grad announcements!

They turned out so good, now we need to send them out!!!!

Dad and Elsie made dinner together,

It was super yummy!

Kind of like a pan lasagna with egg noodles.

Yum!

Mine was a Zucchini version :)

Elsie is my kind of girl and likes veggies too!

For FHE we went over the last few weeks and what we have talked about.

Then Dad brought up the talk Good, Better, Best.

We listened to it as a family.
We had a little break in the middle when Bubble and Eldon stopped by to bring some chocolate cupcakes to us :)

Then we went back to talking about how we can choose the best for our family.

Madi shared with the family that this last week she deleted instagram and netfix off her phone and how successful she has felt this week in what she has been able to accomplish.

It was a good lesson and discussion with each other :)

Sunday April 28

It turned a bit cold and windy outside today :(

But we went to church. that was good.

Minus the blowup we all had right before church!

Sometimes I have a hard time handling all of them myself!!!!

But all is good :)

Poor Elsie's foot is pretty bruised up.

She fell and landed on it.

The way she braces herself when she falls, she sticks her feet right under her butt and then her whole body comes down on top of it.

Well, depending on how the toes are facing at the time, that is when it goes bad.

And her pinky toe must have been bent back when she fell.

She wore the boot to church.

I mean there isn't anything else to do.

I just feel so bad!

Her boot is getting a bit small so we might have to spring for another if this hurts her for much longer.

In Sacrament we talked about the importance of temples and in YW, the Beehives talked about the Atonement and how it is such a personal thing for each of us.

After church, Cassi and Porter went to choir.

Elsie was really grumpy and didn't want to go.

I am sure it is because of her toe :(

When we were all home we had some quiet time.

Madi and I did our personal Come, Follow Me.

There was some piano practicing, and some art being done.

Just nice quiet calm time.

We did our Come Follow Me study.

That went pretty well.

I started watching some YouTube videos of a couple of people going over the scriptures in the lessons and I really enjoy their insights!

It is called 'Don't miss this" on YouTube.

The Woman's in it is named Emily Belle Freeman, I don't remember the mans name.

Anyway, I really enjoy what they have to say and the things they help me think about and then I can share with my family.

After that, I made some dinner.

I made roasted veggies and (with Dads help via phone) I made some chicken on the Traeger!

Elsie did inform me that it wasn't as juicy as Dad's chicken :)

But still pretty good.

Then we had a youth fireside this evening.

Porter went to the Halls and we took Sherrie with us.

It was a fun interactive fireside.

They had the kids use their phones to answer questions they asked.

The first questions were about the stake presidency, then it moved on to more personal questions.

I thought it was a great fireside and the kids stayed in involved :)

Saturday April 27

We had a good day today.

The weather was great!

Dad and Madi had to leave for work, but I let the others sleep in a bit.

Well, except Port who likes to wake up at the crack of dawn ALWAYS!!!!!

I got a good 6 mile run while the kids did laundry and cleaned their rooms.

When I got home, Port did some weed eating and I painted some parts on the house.

We plan to spray it, but I knew the underside of the deck would need to be brushed on, so I did that.

Then I had a bunch of paint so I told myself I would just use up the paint in the bucket.

I got a good four rows out of it!

I am so excited about how it is looking!

I know I say that all the time!

But it really is so exciting!!!!!

I also god some weeding done in the strawberries, so that's looking good.

I need to get down to the raspberries and weed!

I am hoping for a bit of rain so it will soften the ground and make weeding easier :)

Cassi had a few friends over and they made cookies....which means they made a big mess!!!

But they had fun and it got MOSTLY cleaned up!

When Madi got home from work, she and I went to go get new running shoes.

I counted my miles this last week, and I ran a full marathon in the last week!!!!

Pretty cool!

Anyway, my shoes were definitely needing replaced!

When we got home, we had Sierra and Trent over to watch them while their parents went out.

Elsie and Sierra had a fun time hanging out and spent a lot of time on the deck :)

Cassi had a babysitting job and so I am juts waiting for her right now.

Madi spent a few hours watching animal documentaries and planning her discussion for tomorrow.

The kids didn't get super early to bed, but they got showered and are all tucked in nicely now....except Cass.

I will go do the same!!!!

 Flower boxes are blooming nicely!!!!

Friday April 26

It's a late night because we had a fun family date night to go see the Avengers Endgame movie!

We all loved it, it was very good!

Brent's friend Steve Satterlee, bought out the theatre to give to his clients (real estate) and his family couldn't go, so he gave his tickets to us :)

Our day started out with me going to Elsie;s school to watch a video to approve it for Elsie....it was a maturation type video.

Then I worked out, Dad did too.

He started at the gym, but then there is a guy that talks and talks to him and he can't get a good workout.

It's a reoccurring problem!!!!

So Dad left and finished his workout in our little home gym :)

Then I did some sanding on a project I am working on and Dad went and got stuff so we could paint.

We painted the basement exterior.

We haven't put the strips up yet, but we figured it would be easier to paint the flat surface and then paint the strips when we put them up.

So that's the plan.

But the house looks so good all (mostly) painted!!!!

Now we still have the back of the garage to paint and the side of the roof as well as some parts on the back dormers.

Man...….like I have said before, we are 95%ers!

We get things to the point that they work and move to the next project!

We are trying to be better!

I did have to leave to go take some family pictures in eagle.

When I came home, I took the girls and met up with Dad and Porter (who was getting his football team pictures taken) at the movie theatre.

I sure hope they all get good sleep and no one is grumpy tomorrow!!!!!!

Thursday April 25

Man oh man....things caught up with me this morning and I had to take a quick little nap when the kids went off to school.

When I woke up Dad went to the gym and I went for another 6 mile run.

I am getting better at taking it longer lengths before I have to stop and stretch..... :)

I am up to stopping every mile and getting a good stretch.

When we got back, Dad finished up the siding on the back of the house and the siding on the basement side.

Now we just need to get the strips put on the bottom part and then we can paint!!!!!

Oh yay!!!!!

When Elsie got home, she and I went to Senior night for the girls softball game.

They kicked butt!

They were winning 17-0 when we had to leave.

We left to go to Porter's music program at the school.

It was a very cute western theme program.

Somehow I lost my keys....so Dad got Madi to bring me the spare.

Hopefully someone turns it into lost and found tomorrow at school :)

Beautiful apple blossoms!!!!!

Wednesday April 24

When I got home from helping in the office Dad and Drew had the siding ripped off the back of the garage.

I am so excited to see the siding up there!!!!!

Yay!

Things are coming along on the back of the house :)

This evening, we had a bit of a rodeo.

It didn't turn out good either :(

One of Billy's cows was not fully "fixed" and was still a bull.

Causing trouble.

So the plan was to coral him, and get the job done.

Justin came over, he went to school to be a vet, so he knows what to do.

Well, the bull was a buggar!

Trying to round him up....he jumped (ran through) Billy's fence.

Then ran down to]he lane to The Griffith's cows and pushed through that fence.

Then when they got in there to try and rope him, he went back out the way he came in pushing through the fence.

He tried to jump our fence, but it sprung back and threw him on his back.

He ran the other direction and made it all the way down to Bruce's, pushing through another fence.

Back over a few more fences and then he was all the way by Morgan's and Nielsen's house.

They went down there and he jumped the fence into the horses that are by Mary Mac.

He crossed across Amity and they FINALLY roped him by Mart Mac!

This guy was insane!

So they got him down and got the job done.

They waited for Billy to go get the trailer.

When he got back, his breathing was slowing.

They got the ropes on him...…...and he was dead.

Huge bummer!

And so crazy!

It was just overall a bad situation.

That cow was so crazy!

That is why Billy wanted to "fix" him, because he was all hyped up compared to the other cows.

Anyway.

It stinks.

The girls and I had to leave for YW.

Dad and Justin and the boys fixed fences while we were gone.

We had a fun activity for the Beehives.

We made little blankets for the NICUs at hospitals.

The moms rub their scent on it and then they leave it with their baby when they have to leave them there.

The girls did a great job and we made 20 of them!

Awesome!

Tuesday April 23

The kids only had a half day of school today.

But before they got home, Dad had to go take his fire department physical.

He did very well :)

I went for a run, today I did 6 miles.

Then when we both got home, that is when the big girls came home.

Madi mowed the lawn and Cassi cleaned her room then went with friends for a little bit.

Dad and I got a few doors and the cabinets set up in the garage so I could spray them.

They turned out pretty good.

Now we only have like 10 or so doors left :)

Dad got more siding put on the basement, have I said how excited I am for this to be happening?????

It is looking so good and will only look better!

The little kiddos had piano and Porter had football.

The Edwards boys were here throughout the day, Cannon too.

But after dinner, Max and Graham ended up over here and they were playing in the water.

Oh man, we really love this great weather!!!!!!

Monday April 22

I did a 3 miler today after the kids got off to school.

Then a quick shower and I went and took some pictures for my friend Erin and her sweet little baby...her 7th kiddo!

He just turned 6 months.

That was fun and he was so sweet and super chubby!!!!!

I came back home and did some laundry.

I did some editing for Madi's graduation announcements.

I love how they turned out!

They are very much unique and very much her!

It has some of her artwork included as well as fun pictures of her :)

I can't wait to order them and send them out!!!

I did a little grocery shopping before picking up Elsie form school to take her to speech therapy.

The evening was so nice.

The time went by and I finally fed the kids at like 7:30 and before I knew it, it was 8:30 and time for bed.

This is when it gets hard to go to bed at a good time for school.

When it is such great weather outside and it is still so light for so long!!!!!

Oh, lets just let summer break start now!!!!

NO, just kidding, I am not ready for that yet.

But I just wish we could have a later start time these last few weeks of school.

That way we can still enjoy the beautiful evenings and not have grumpy kids who have to wake up early for school!!!!!!

Sunday April 21 (add pictures from phone)

Happy Easter!

We had a beautiful Easter day.

We got up early so we could have a little Easter egg hunt before church.

The kiddos got new outfits and they had a fun time going on a scavenger hunt for their gifts.

After the hunt, we made Resurrection rolls.

I had never heard of them before, but have seen a lot about them lately and they were so fun.

You take dough and roll a marshmallow in butter and cinnamon sugar.

Then you roll the marshmallow in the dough, sealing all the edges.

Then you bake it like you would rolls.

When you open it up to eat the, the marshmallow has disappeared!

Such a fun little object lesson to talk about our Saviors resurrection!

Then we all got ready for church.

I enjoyed our Sunday School lesson, talking about the Easter story and about what 'palm leaves' or 'articles of clothing' we can lay down before Christ.

That miracles are happening all around us and we just need to be aware of them.

The Lord wants to help and bless us....we are all entitled to the blessings of the Atonement.

Just some great discussions.

When we got back home, Porter, Madi and I ran over to Bubbles to help her hide some Easter eggs for her little family party she had.

We ate a little lunch and then had some quiet time with some little naps happening....I told you we had to get up early to get everything done and to 9:00 church on time!

Then we started our Come Follow Me.

We continued our family Easter discussion.

We didn't get a chance every day to go over the events with the whole family, so that's what we did.

Then we did this weeks lesson and the takeaway from that was to humble ourselves.

Become as little children.

We as a family are going to try and be less sarcastic.

We like to joke and that is different.

The sarcasm is mean and it meant to hurt, the joking is fun for everyone involved, no feelings hurt.

So that is what we are going to try and work on as a family, less sarcasm.

Then we had our yummy Easter meal that we prepared as a family.

It was a nice time, but you know my favorite part?

The clean-up.

I think it is so great when we all take part and we all work together to get things cleaned up.

Yes, there is grumpy moaning and a little bossing around.

But in the end, my heart was full that we can finish a goal together and it is always a better job than if just one person was left alone.

Anyway....that is just a little thing I have learned from the Matthews family side.

Clean-up is for everyone and it's FUN!!!!

Saturday April 20

We started the morning with our ward Easter egg hunt.

Mom and Dad got up early to get our workouts in, because we knew it would be a full day!

But we got the kids to the church by 9.

Madi had to work.

We had a yummy breakfast with the ward and then the little kids had their hunt.

We came back home and got chores worked on.

Cassi sorted clothes for me and then they put the laundry away.

I finished sanding what will be our next, or one of our next, projects.

Dad and Porter started hanging the siding sheets on the basement!

All very exciting :)

We dyed eggs!!!!

After I don't even know how many years, we finally dyed eggs!

Life is just so busy.

we had to do it without the big girls....

Madi working and Cassi babysitting.

But Madi came home and Dad and I left for a date night.

The date night started with taking some pictures for Kara and her Prom group.

She looked absolutely stunning!!!!

It was a fun time taking their pictures.

We were worried about the weather because a big storm came in.....but it ended up being just perfect for pictures!

After that, we went to dinner.

Then we went and got some Easter shopping done.

We had a really fun night, dad and me. ❤

Back at home and the little ones in bed.

Cassi helped stuff and hide eggs for us.

Then she went to bed.

Now we are waiting for Madi to get home.

Gonna need to wake up early to have our Easter egg hunt before church!

Friday April 19 (add big camera pictures)

It's been a long full day!

It was Porter's school play today.

They have working on it during lunch time since December.

Porter was one of the narrators.

He's been so excited, but also really nervous.

They had three performances and I went to all three :)

It was so cute!

The play was 'The Emperors New Clothes'.

I went to the 9:00 one while dad ran to Lowes to pick up some poly.

So, we didn't really think when we bought the paint.

We just got the same as we got when we painted the basement.

Because we still had extra of that.

Well......it was eggshell :(

That would not work very well in the bathroom.

So after the first play, I came home and sprayed the room with poly.

I am loving the new little sprayer we have.....it makes this all so easy!

I was consumed in quite a cloud once I got the room all sprayed...….hopefully my lungs don't get too mad.

Yes, I did have a mask on!

I went back for the 1:00 showing.

Then when I got back home, Dad had ripped the siding off the back basement!

Yay!

This is very exciting to me!!!!!!

I can't wait to get the exterior finished up!

I went back to the school to save seats.

Dad went and picked Elsie up early and brought her to Mary mac and the big girls came right after school.

They all did such a great job!

It was such a fantastic play!

So cute and great songs!

We went home and Port got ready for football.

Cassi volunteered to help at the Victory carnival and Elsie went to and she hung out with Carley.

Port did awesome in his game.

They killed it with a 48-0 score.

It wasn't a hard game, but still fun to watch.

He got an awesome touchdown!

He caught the ball kind of off to the side and then ran and ran and ran!

It was very fun and exciting!

After the game, we went to Walmart then picked up Elsie and Cassi.

We all ate dinner together before Madi and Cassi left with friends.

Dad got the bathroom all put back together.

Yay!

Check and done!

It was beautiful weather today and this evening.

I hear it s gonna turn a bit colder......but still, I am so excited for a bit warmer weather!!!!!

(I know it won't play this as video...….I will add pictures later)

Thursday April 18

Man, did we get a lot of stuff done today!!!!!

Woo hoo!

We got our workouts in once the kids were off to school.

Then we decided to get to work on the bathroom.

The powder room bathroom needed a face lift.

When we installed it, it was pre-primed and painted.

We liked how it looked so didn't worry about painting it.

Well, there were spots that the water was dropping and it was starting to chip and peel and warp.

We did not want to have to replace the whole wall in the future...so we decided to get the job done right!

Dad pulled out the sink and the toilet and I put some heavy duty primer on the wood below the sink.

Then I sprayed the rest of the wall.

It took several fine mist coats, but it look so good!

Yay!

Plus Dad put the ceiling molding in, which we hadn't gotten to :)

I tell ya, we are 95%er's......we don't usually finish jobs.

We just get them mostly done.

Then later in the evening, Dad went and picked up a weight set from Craigslist.

We wanted to put it in the gym.

But we wanted to rip the carpet out first.

But there was so much junk that needed to be gone through.

So that's what we did.

Got a bunch of stuff tossed and the carpet pulled out.

Now we have a great workout room with our treadmill, boxing bag and weight bars.

It turned into a late night because we were all working.

The weather was beautiful outside!!!!

Nice big full moon out there.

It's nights like these that I wish it was summer time so the kids didn't have to go to bed!!!

Wednesday April 17

It was office day again today :)

It was pretty slow, so I wasn't there for very long.

I got home and Dad went to the gym and I went for a run.

I pushed for a 6 miler today.

The weather has been so perfect for these runs!

My earphones died after 3 hours, so I just blasted my phone as loud as it would go.

Earphones are way easier!!!!!

Dad and I got the garden cleared out today.

It is good to have that checked off the list.

This evening for YW we had a joint activity with the boys.

The kids were encouraged to invite friends.

Elsie invited Luci and Cassi invited Donovan.

We played some minute-to-win-it type games.

We split into 4 groups and had different activities for contestants to come up.

It was fun, but the most important part to know is that my team won :)

I had a board meeting after, so I got home late.

But the kids got to bed at a good time, so that's good!

Tuesday April 16

I thought I slept really well last night, but I was dragging while the kids got ready for school.

So once Port left, I laid down for just a bit.

Then I went for a 5 mile run.

The weather was awesome today.

I worked on laundry and cleaned up the aftermath of getting ready for school.

Then I went shopping.
I needed, well, not needed....I wanted to get Easter clothes for the kids.

So I went to Target and got some fun stuff :)

I got back home and I took Elsie to the MVHS softball game at 5.

They won, 11-0.

It was fun to be there to watch.

Port hung out with the Edwards and then he even went to dinner with them.

We had dinner here, then did our Easter day.

Today is when he taught the 10 virgins parable, the Talent parable, and the sheep and goat parable in the temple.

So we read about that and how we can learn more about Christ by learning about his teachings.

Madi left to watch some friends open mission calls.

That's pretty much it :)

Monday April 15

Not a crazy day.

I went for a run.

Cleaned the kitchen and did laundry.

I went grocery shopping before picking up Elsie for speech and PT.

She worked so hard....she was giggly the whole time :)

But she did good.

Bacl at home I made dinner, then I had to run and pick Cassi up from the Rugby dinner...

Back at home we read and listened to some stuff about the Monday before Christ was resurected.

How he went in to the temple and sent the merchants out.

We talked about cleansing our lives of things we don't want in there.

Sunday April 14

We had a great day today.

A great day at church, taking the Sacrament, talking about the importance of invitations, and then I taught a lesson on forgiveness to the Beehives.

When we got home, Cassi went to choir.

Then we headed to the Terry's for a later lunch.

It was fun to take the family, they haven't seen the Terry's house yet.

So we had a yummy waffle bar and hung out for a while there.

They also got some baby chicks that they played with for a little bit.

Then we went for a nice little Sunday walk up in the mountains.

It was kind of wet, but not bad.

It was a nice time.

Porter just loved hanging out with Laela again.....I just love their little friendship :)

When we got home, we did our Come, Follow me stuff together.

We are talking about the week leading up to Easter....

What Christ did in the week before his resurrection.

We also did some FHE stuff because Dad will be at work tomorrow.

And then it was early to bed for the kiddos!

Saturday April 13

We had a little neighborhood round-up this morning....

Celebrating Bubbles 77th birthday :)

We moved the cows back into our pasture from the Edwards pasture.

I can't even say how much I love living where we do.

How Heavenly Father lined us right up with the most amazing neighbors.

We just couldn't have chosen it any better if we could have hand picked them!

The rest of the day was spent working outside and enjoying the beautiful weather!!!!

The boys all hung out together.

Justin left his boys at our place after the round-up and the whole clan spent the day here.

Had a picnic lunch, had Nerf wars inside the house, had a bonfire, went for rides in the mule, spent most of the time working on the clubhouse (which apparently now has it's own bathroom :), and before we sent them home, the boys had a shirts and skins game of capture the flag.

I just love watching them all grow together.

I am excited (and scared) to see what happens with them all in the next 10 years!

Dad and I went on a date this evening, just to dinner.

But it was nice to get out.

We also did a little grocery shopping :)

So romantic!