LJ and the one-legged dance

This is LJ at bed time. Not part of the regular bedtime routine but when it starts there is no stopping it! How could you. Dance, dance, dance!!!

Happy Easter Morning

Ben had no meetings today for the first time in a long time! It was great to have him home on Easter Sunday! Ham dinner, pretty hair-do's, egg hunt, fun breakfast, ironed outfits and early choir practice. Phew! Ben had to pack the diaper bag and when asked at church if he brought a blanket he smiled and waved his skyward pointing finger around and said, "No, but I did get graham crackers!" I shopped 'til I dropped looking for dresses and accessories for the girls. Had to ransack the DI pile for my Easter outfit---desperate times call for desperate measures!! The Easter Bunny showed up with baskets in each room for the kids and left plastic candy-filled eggs all over the house. Come to find out, the kids waited two hours to do their hunt before waking us at 7am to ask us if they could. Oh, childhood anxiety. We had a great day at Church with the typical program. Good talks about the Savior and His resurrection from our newly moved in neighbors. I sang in the choir and we did great!

We love the Lord and know He lives and loves us. We love Him too.

Daddy's Shoes

It's not easy filling Daddy's shoes..... but I am going to try!

First Violin Recital

I'm not sure whose accomplishment was bigger on this day, mine or theirs. Katelyn and Kamryn have been taking violin lessons for seven months now, from our "Hugely Decorated Violinist" neighbor and this was their first recital. It has been a major life undertaking for me especially. Lessons are half an hour one day a week and assisted practice is one hour the rest of the days of the week. This is a proud moment photo. Also, check out Katelyn's cheek. This is the tooth drama we went through right in the middle of this important week-end. She was amazingly strong through it all. Sadly, she did hide her face during 90% of her performance. This picture was taken before we got the infection under control and before the emergency surgery took place. She was so brave. Kamryn pulled off her performance like a star---she is a gamer! In practice she was sounding sloppy and I was worried it wouldn't go well but as soon as she had the moment to shine it was "game-on" for little Kam and she NAILED it!!!!

VitalSmarts

Ben's company is having a contest to send this out to as many people as possible. It is a viral video campaign. www.vitalsmartscanhelp.com He sells communication training. Three products; Crucial Conversations, Crucial Confrontations and Influencer. Five funny videos and lots of information.

Alicia and LJ video

Liam/LJ

Liam Joe, named after his Grandpa Joe Berry is mostly called LJ. He is our last of five kids. There are five years between him and Jill because we talked too long about whether or not we were done and Heavenly Father decided to finish the discussion. We have never had one like him. He is the cutest little stinker as you can see from all of his, "Mamma's Little Helper" pictures. He loves his brother and sisters and cars and balls. He calls cars "vroom vroom" thanks to my Dad and he loves balls as was evident a couple of weeks ago as he left Alicia's side at Issac's basketball game to cross the court during a time out to join the huddle and finish coaching the 4th quarter in my arms. He has lots of helpers at home and I am still surprised he ever learned to walk as often as he gets carried. We all love him in our lives!