Well hello there...

There is only one person I know who can fly across the country and show up with a whole King's Cake, whole loaf of stollen (pronounced shtollen), whole plate of homemade cookies and candies, a package of some homemade lebkuchen (German bar cookies), and many other goodies and gifts along with clothes inside ONE suitcase! That would be my mother, Judith Ann! She never ceases to amaze me and I love her tons for it. We had a fabulous 5 days together and I am seriously going through withdrawals now that she is gone. What is a girl to do without her mother? How will I survive now that I don't have anyone to pamper me? It was such a comfort having her here and fun to show her our world here in VA.

So it's now back to the bump and grind of daily life--Ryan's been studying incessantly for a big neuroscience test he has to take tomorrow; the kids are doing their thing with all their little extracurricular activities: wrestling practice (Pierce made the team by the way!!), drama rehearsal (Gwen made the play), getting the trumpet polished up and ready to go for beginning band (Pierce), "Polar Plunging" (Ry, Gwen & Pierce for youth activity-jumping in the ocean last night as it began to snow!), beginning piano lessons for Christian (by Gwen), etc. As for me, well, not much new now that the baptism is over and our cute guest is gone. I'm afraid all I've got for you is I'm still working but work has been slow so I've picked up some housecleaning jobs with a lady at church who has a business. I'm playing organ/piano for a memorial service tomorrow so I've been practicing for that. And of course my extra time is spent studying for Gospel Doctrine. How thoroughly exciting, I know. Don't get me wrong, I love my life and all that it entails (except maybe the working part-how many years until Ryan gets a paycheck again?) it's just a struggle juggling it all sometimes, as I know y'all know just what I mean and are doing the juggling act too. I don't ask for much, just need some sunshine to warm me and for spring to show its beautiful face. I could care less about February and Valentine's Day. I need March. I need spring break with Ry. I need to get my hands in the dirt and do some planting. I need a garden like the one pictured below. That's my goal this summer. That's not too much to ask, is it?

I found this on Gretel's dresser. A sure sign that Grammy's been here bearing gifts and CHOCOLATE!

My mama. Unfortunately, I didn't take enough pictures this weekend and the ones I got of us together didn't turn out too well.

Mr. Turtle died. There is a lake to the side of our house and we will look for another one soon.

Extreme Makeover Home Edition came to Virginia Beach last week. This house is about 8 miles from ours. It was all the buzz around town. Keep your eye out in a couple of weeks for the episode to air.

The last baptism of the Adams family.

Christian and Carson. We were amazed by all the people who showed up to support us at the baptism. I was only expecting a few, but the room was filled. Emotional!


They'll be on missions before we know it!

We've had quite the strange noises coming from our house with this thing! This was Ryan's trumpet in Junior High.

3 inches of snow last night and school was cancelled today. We finally put the flag up on our pole. I absolutely love looking out my kitchen window and seeing it blowing in the breeze.

Tulips left over from the baptism. They brighten up the house on a snowy day like today.

Williamsburg once again. I just love English gardens, don't you?

My favorite thing about the gardens was the cloches,especially the green ones. Aren't they cute? My dream is to have an herb garden with as many cloches and trellis's as I want!

And one of these too. How rustic, simple, functional, and pleasing to the eye. These were some lettuces that they were growing.


The only other picture I got of my mom this weekend! Why didn't I take more?

My boys chopped down this tree in front of our house. It was initially planted too close. It's amazing how much bigger our house looks now. Can't wait to plant some pretties there and make it look nice.