Not Many Pictures

Despite the fact that we spent more time in Branson, we didn't really take a lot of pictures.  I do have a few that you might enjoy.  See what you think of this:

See if you can tell what is happening here. 

Here's another picture taken just after the one above.  Yes, we got our oil changed and there was a free car wash with it.  Boy, do we ever know how to have fun in Branson.  Actually we were driving around and noticed the sticker from the last oil change.  We were 'way overdue so we figured we might as well get it done.  The camera was in the car so I tried to get something interesting.

Along the waterway in Old Branson they have a fountain that shoots up water and flames on the hour.  It's more interesting at night but we weren't there at night.  This gives you and idea.

We ate lunch at a really good Mexican restaurant down by the water.  Take a look at the great presentation on these plates.  No, Alan's serving isn't really that much bigger than mine.  It looks like he has twice the food.

Same restaurant.  Happy hubby.

This is a shot taken off the deck on the back of our condo. It's really pretty here.  For those who didn't know it, we were offered an opportunity to share a condo with a couple we know that used to serve as missionaries in our area.  They are planning to go on another mission.  At this point they know that their call has come but they don't know where they are going since they aren't home yet.  They are hoping to go to Nauvoo.

Missionary Homecoming

This past weekend was a missionary homecoming in Salem.  We had a missionary couple, the Gables, here; they had served in Salem and also in Houston, MO some time back.  They have turned in their papers to serve another mission, but haven't heard where they will be going.  She said that there are six rather than the usual two of the apostles that are now working to assign upcoming missionaries to their assigned places.  It takes a little longer to get it all done with so many applications being turned in.  But that's a good thing.  It means that the gospel will be spread to more areas by more people.

We also had Elder Lybbert and his twin brother here for the weekend, visiting from Alberta, Canada.  Brendon lived in our home for 7-1/2 months of his mission as a district leader.  Skye served in Orlando, Fla. during the same period of time.  They are traveling together during their break from school and visiting both their mission areas.  It was great to see them both.

Here we all are outside our house on Sunday afternoon.

Brendon is on the left; Skye is on the right.  Jesus is in the middle.

Here are some of the wildflowers I rushed to pick before Alan mowed the grass.  I transplanted a few of the grape hibiscus too.  We'll see if they do all right there.

Out in our Yard

You're right, Karen.  It looks like Spring may really be here.  We are working a little with some plants in our yard and I decided to follow suit and show some of the signs of Spring that I saw on our lawn.

What is this?  Green in our yard?  Actually I had to look to find a place that wasn't all clover or some other sort of interloper.  Yes, it will soon be time to start mowing again.  I love seeing the green.

 

 

 

 

Even though these little white and lavender flowers are tiny, they add a splash of color to our lawn.  I don't want to mow them down.  And they are too small to pick and put in a vase.

 

 

 

These are called grape hyacinth.  You can buy bulbs and grow them in your garden, but they seem to pop up in our lawn anyway.  I want to mow around them too.  They are so cute.  There were some honey bees among them but they avoided my camera.

Easter Weekend

Easter weekend was interesting. Friday and Saturday were days of arrival.  All were able to come except Michael's family who was home sick.  It was fun to get the rest together.  Unfortunately there was a virus lurking and apparently this is a very "easy to get" illness.  Most of us ended up feeling less-than-good.  Oh, well.  We've done it before and probably will  do it again.  I'm still glad for the get-together.  Little Charlie was very well behaved during his blessing.  We were happy to have been able to have it here in Salem.  I'm going to post a few pictures.  It was such a busy time that I didn't get a lot of them.

I'd never heard of Peeps Jousting before.  I knew there must be a good reason to get my family together.  Armed with a pointed toothpick, they go into the microwave.  Whichever one stabs the other first is the winner.  Want to see the Peeps owners??

Here they are.  Competition between the "pink" and the "yellow" was vicious.  Who will be the winner??

Aaron was the big winner . . . . . but these particular Peeps will never joust again.

Don't take it so hard.  There will be more Peeps in your life.

This picture of Charlie cracks me up.

Noah had a lot of fun chasing bubbles.  He even said "bubbles" for the first time.

Here's little Charlie napping while his family visits.

 

Perky Pakamer

We stayed home today to watch the first session of General Conference over Roku.  Pakamer wanted to climb up on my lap but I was busy taking notes.  So she decided to crawl into the basket that was on the floor.  (Zach used it for Easter; now Pakamer is using it for General Conference.)  Here she is:

Little Things

This week has been spent recuperating from some virus that thought it should attack our family.  We got together for Easter and "the bug" shared himself with most of us.  Don't feel bad, Amy, it's rampant here in Salem too.  When I called my visiting teaching companion to tell her I was sick and couldn't go out Tues. morning, she was sick with the same thing.  Anyhow, my purpose in saying this is to explain why I am putting some small things on my blog before I get around to organizing my Easter pictures to see if I have any good ones to share.

Here's one good thing that happened this week.  We got our kitchen hot water back!!! YEA!!!

Here's the little culprit that was blocking our hot water flow in the kitchen.  We can't figure out what it is or how it got there.  Neither could the plumber.

Here's one more interesting thing.  I wanted to make some French bread to go with a meal on Saturday (last Saturday) so I got online and found one that was Julia Child's recipe.  Well, that HAD to be good so I went with it.  After mixing up the ingredients I noticed the rising time.  It said (and I kid you not) to let it rise in the bowl about three hours, then punch it down and let it rise again for

1 ½ to 2  hours more.  After it was formed into the loaves it was to rise another 1 ½ to 2 ½  hours.  Luckily I had started fairly early in the morning and didn't have anywhere to go that day.

Here's part of my bread.  I actually made three loaves out of it instead of two so they were smaller than usual.  They were pretty good though.  Thanks, Julia.