The Wallet

Tonight was very, very sweet. I'd had a L-O-N-G day with all the children off track, trying to get ready for Thanksgiving, recover from my surgery, run errands, etc., and Eric was only home for about 30 minutes in between work and meetings at church.

We'd been praying all day that Eric could find his wallet. He lost it somewhere between a restaurant and home on Friday night, and he couldn't find it anywhere...which wouldn't be that big of a deal except for the fact that he's supposed to get on an airplane in a few days, and he kind of needs his I.D. I called the airport and tried to figure out what it would take to get on the plane without a driver licence, but it all boiled down to getting a temporary one from the DMV tomorrow. Eric doesn't have time to go, and I have so much to do. I barely have enough energy to keep things going here at home--there's no way I can squeeze three hours of line-waiting at the DMV into my day.

After I tucked Spencer and Ethan in bed, I knelt down in the living room and prayed that somehow we would be able to find Eric's wallet. I knew that if we didn't find it, the Lord would give me the strength to get all the necessary things done tomorrow, but I said, "If I could just ask for one thing, it would be to find the wallet."

I then went upstairs and started feeling sorry for myself. My thoughts went something like this: "Why does everything have to be so hard? I'm so tired. I haven't even had the chance to recover from my surgery because I have so many little children who need me. We had a weekend of fevers, I've been in this house for several days without a break, and Eric is doing such a good job serving as the bishop, but he's gone all the time, and I just need help."

Then Alia walked into the room and said, "Mom! I KNOW the Spirit helped me! I found Dad's wallet!" She lifted her hands and, sure enough, there it was. She'd found it in the nightstand drawer--a place he NEVER keeps it--the nightstand is usually empty because Spencer likes to dump the contents out all over the floor. Alia had tears in her eyes and said, "I've been thinking of that spot all day. I'm so glad I found it!"

We knelt down right there in my room and thanked the Lord for helping us, and then we called Eric to let him know the good news. I took Alia and Grace downstairs and snuggled them on the couch and explained how grateful I was to the Lord for looking out for us. I told them how I'd been feeling frustrated about everything, and how this was a huge blessing to me. Alia said, "Mom, you were starting to doubt everything, but the Lord helped us."

We kept talking about how we need to have faith in God's power and how we need to record experiences that strengthen our faith. Alia kept talking about the experience over and over again and said, "I will NEVER forget this." The rest of our evening was filled with a sweet feeling of love and gratitude, and when Eric came home, Alia happily presented his wallet to him and was SO excited to tell him all about her experience.

Part of this blessing was for Eric. He needed his wallet. Part of this blessing was for me. I needed relief from all the demands on me right now. But most of this blessing was for my girls. The Lord has helped people find purses and keys and wallets and shoes and all kinds of things throughout the ages, and I think He does this so we will remember to believe in Him and to trust in Him. Some day, Alia is going to need help with something much bigger, and because of this sweet experience tonight, she'll know where to go for that help.

How is HusbandHero going?

Our HusbandHero business has been up for 15 months, and since many people have been asking us how it's going, I thought I'd do a blog post on it and share all the details that I'm sure you're dying to know! I'll try to make this brief since (1) your time is valuable and (2) I'd rather be kissing my husband right now..... Just glance through the bolded topics and read what you'd like--and any comments or suggestions you have for us would be appreciated. Thanks!

Why we started HusbandHero:

A couple of years ago, Eric wanted to plan a great birthday date for me, but he couldn't find much support online. He came up with the idea of providing a service to help husbands be more romantic. It would include monthly ideas organized by cost and a feature where the wife could put in anniversaries she wanted her husband to remember and spell out exactly what she wanted him to do for her.

Eric has been serving as the bishop of our ward at church since January of 2007, and as he's spoken with a variety of married couples, he's realized that most marriages could benefit from a little extra love and concern.

So...when an opportunity opened up for us to devote some serious time to getting the business up and running, we took it. And that is how HusbandHero was born.

Favorite comments from clients and potential clients:

I really don't think we could have nicer clients. Not everyone needs or wants the service, obviously, and we definitely have improvements to make, but we've actually had a lot of great feedback from the husbands and wives who are part of our online community.

Some husbands who travel a lot use our service so they don't forget that their wives need some love and attention when they ARE home. Other husbands have said that they just love their wives SO much, and they want to be better for them. We've also heard things like, "You know, my wife sacrifices so much for me and the family, and I want to be romantic for her. This service helps me to do that." I'm a big fan of our Heroes.

We've heard back from many wives, too, who say that HusbandHero actually works. Their husbands are more thoughtful and romantic, and there's an improvement in their marriage overall. I LOVE that!

One wife contacted us and said that when she signed her husband up for the service, he was kind of upset (you know..."Why do you think I need help being romantic?"). She said, "Fine, I'll cancel it." But then she forgot to cancel it. Well, a few months went by, and her husband transferred email accounts. He said to his wife, "Honey, would you mind getting HusbandHero switched to my new email account?" She was totally surprised (but I don't think she showed it), and she immediately logged in and corrected his account info. Then she contacted us and said, "So that's why he's been so great these last few months!"

As far as potential clients' responses go, we've had a mixed response. Whenever I hand out flyers for the service or tell people about it, I get GREAT feedback. Initially, people think I'm joking when I explain it, but as I describe it in more detail, the idea strikes a chord with them. Men say, "Just having my wife tell me what she wants me to do for all the special occasions is worth the dollar a month alone!" Women get all giddy when I tell them we help husbands be more romantic, and they say, "Thank you! We need this!"

But then there are husbands who say things like, "Yeah, like I'm going to pay someone a dollar a month to remind me what a LOSER I am?" (That one cracked me up.)

I've read several blogs that women have written about HusbandHero, and they've all been great so far. One woman said, "I just found my favorite website in the whole world! I've been reading through it for the past half-hour, and I'm TOTALLY signing my husband up for this!"

So the initial excitement has been great...it's now a matter of growing/improving the site and marketing it to the world....

Where we're going with HusbandHero:

(1) We need an updated admin site to handle our future growth. If any of you would like to refer us to friends of yours who are technology specialists, please do! We're working with a new website/marketing firm right now, but we're always open to other ideas.

(2) We're planning to increase our communication with the husbands and wives and provide more products. The most common request we get from our customers is that they want more emails and more frequent reminders. Once or twice a week would be great for a lot of people. We're also planning to partner with dropshippers who can help us get great romantic products out to our customers. We've had a lot of requests for HusbandHero t-shirts, too. One wife asked us for our logo so she could make an iron-on shirt for her husband for Christmas.

(3) We need to figure out the motivations/hesitations behind our sign-up process. There are some interesting dynamics that go on between husbands and wives when you bring up a service like this. Wives, for the most part, want more romance, but they want their husbands to be the ones to sign up. Or...wives don't want their husbands to have any "help." They want all the ideas to come directly from their husbands, and they think a service like this is "cheating." Any comments on this, ladies? I personally think it's silly to turn down romance because the idea came from an outside source. A sweet note is a sweet note to me.

Husbands seem to fall into one of two categories. Either they're excited to have a service that directly benefits their marriages or they think becoming a HusbandHero is a sign that they're not good enough as they are. We're trying to pitch it as a resource available to help make romance easier for husbands who love their wives. We help the Hero emerge....

(4) We need easier ways to give HusbandHero as a wedding gift, etc. I think mother-in-laws are our best clients...seriously. Printable gift certificates or something like that would be helpful.

(5) We need to fine-tune the types of ideas we send. It's so hard to make sure we're simultaneously meeting the needs of newlyweds, empty-nesters, and couples who have children at home. I'm in the process of preparing a survey to go out to our past and current customres to determine what they liked, what they'd like to see improved, etc. We're also putting together a database of great date ideas, anniversary celebrations, etc. to be available to all our members.

(6) We're planning to provide many more resources to help husbands and wives strengthen their marriages. For those of you who have been on my other website, http://www.powerofmoms.com/, we're planning to use that as a model for the resources that will be available on HusbandHero. Our goal is to have articles, podcasts, eBooks, webinars, and other programs that relate to building stronger marriages. This is what is really exciting to me and Eric. We've learned a lot over the past 11 years about what it takes to make our marriage great, and we're excited to teach those principles in a fun, meaningful way. This has been a wonderful experience for us, and we do our best to "walk the walk."

If you have any ideas for us, please post a comment or email suggestions@husbandhero.com.

And if you're not a HusbandHero/WonderWife yet, but you'd like to be...I'm giving out some free subscriptions. Email me or leave a comment to let me know if you want one.

Have a great day!

A Teaching Moment On the Way to Church

I've been doing a lot of writing and thinking on a variety of projects lately, and I thought perhaps I could use the things I'm already doing as material for my blog...in case anyone is interested.

This post is in response to an email I got from my friends John and Lani Hilton. They're speaking at the Sperry Symposium at BYU on Halloween about Motherhood and the Old Testament, and they asked me if I had any experiences to go along with their presentation. Here's what I sent them:


Regarding the Heavy Workloads of Old Testament Women, workloads are equally heavy today. Though we have so many conveniences, our lives have become so much more complicated--we want our homes to look like the Pottery Barn catalog, we sign our children up for hours of extracurriculars, we become "busy" with so many things that weren't even an option back then--it might do us well to think of the counsel in Deut.12: 32, "What thing soever I command you, observe to do it; thou shalt not add there to, nor diminish from it."

We don't need to complicate our lives. The women in the Old Testament teach us what is MOST important--Deut. 6:7 is a great guide:

"And thou shalt teach them diligently unto thy children, and shalt talk of them when thou sittest in thine house, and when thou walkest by the way, and when thou liest down, and when thou risest up..."

This scripture most certainly did not only apply to the men because who is the parent most likely to be there when the children are in and around the home? I had an experience with this one Sunday as I was driving my children to church.

My husband had gone to early meetings, so I had spent the morning feeding, dressing, and preparing "quiet" bags for my four young children. As I loaded everyone into our van, I felt completely frazzled by our morning's activities...the unexpected last-minute diaper change, the disappearing church socks I was sure I had laid out, the squabbling between a couple of my children, and the numerous spills we had experienced at breakfast time.

As we started our ten-minute drive to the chapel, I knew I needed to invite the Spirit to help us prepare for Sacrament Meeting, so I started talking to the children about why going to church was so important to me. I testified of our Savior's life, of His atonement, and His great love for us.

My children started asking questions. One child said, "What do the scriptures mean when they say He bled from every pore?" Another child asked why the bread represents the body of the Lord. I answered their questions as well as I could, and as I spoke, we all felt a powerful, beautiful spirit enter our minivan.

By the time we arrived at the chapel, my children were quiet and settled, and we were ready to participate in the sacred ordinance of the sacrament. I knew at that moment that my work as a mother--teaching my children diligently, even when things were hard--was of the utmost importance to the Lord.

BYU-Idaho Education Week and EFY "Report"

These past few months have quite likely been the busiest of my entire life, but it has been so fun! In response to several questions about how Education Week and EFY went this year, I've put together a little (well, not quite so little) report to tell whoever is interested all about it. Here we go!

On Wednesday, July 29, I flew to Salt Lake with almost-two-year-old Spencer and dropped him off with my sweet mother-in-law, Peggy. She took such good care of him while Eric was making the drive with Ethan, Grace, and Alia. I couldn't have done this without their support...and the children had a blast.



Peggy let me take a long nap, loaned me a car, and sent me up to Rexburg that evening--where the first thing I saw was THIS, the new Rexburg Temple. It is simply gorgeous. I sat on the grounds for several minutes totally admiring this beautiful House of the Lord.

After spending the night in a local hotel (and having nightmares that my classes turned out to be disasters), I started my first day of classes in the Hinckley building: Two for mothers titled "There's No Place Like Home: Recreating Heaven on Earth" and "Faith and Miracles Amidst Carpools and Clutter" and one for youth: "The Power of One." My friends Christine Gilbert and Sue Clark (who I knew in Boston but who now live in Idaho) and my freshman roommate, Shawna, came to support me--I love these ladies!

That night I got to go to the youth game night, and I had such a wonderful time hanging out with these stellar teenagers. This game is called "Man Overboard." A caller yells out things like "Six in a boat" or "Man Overboard" or some other sailing-type term, and then the group has to divide up into smaller groups and act it out. Sorry--I'm not explaining that very well. It was fun, though. Then we did a blindfold walk where we learned how to decide which noises to listen to, how to "hold to the rod," and how to strengthen each other. It was such a sweet experience.

The next day, after my two motherhood classes ("Heavenly Help to Expect When You're Expecting" and "Act or Be Acted Upon"), I ate lunch with these great people at the Manwaring Center. This is Andrew and Regina--two of the four people who run Education Week at BYUI (and many other programs). Andrew does all the tech work/website maintenance, and Regina does all the contracts, paperwork, and a million other things, I'm sure. They are just the nicest people, and I felt so welcomed there.

Teaching at BYUI's Education Week was such a privilege, and I loved every minute, but to be perfectly honest, I was scared to death about teaching. What made it doable, though, was having friends with me. I know how hard it is to get away, but things worked out so that Saren and Shawna were both able to join me. Saren's family drove for three hours to drop her off, and Shawna flew out from Wisconsin and then drove back with her sister's family. It was heaven to be with these two "sisters" of mine. I believe there is going to be a Motherhood Track at Education Week next year (July 29-31). Put it on your calendars and join us! It's like a motherhood retreat/conference right in the middle of this larger conference. I'd love to have all my friends and family there.

I had to include this photo of Jan--my room hostess for the entire three days. She brought me water, made sure my computer worked, and encouraged me through the whole thing. She's an ordinance worker at the Idaho Falls Temple, and I told her that I felt privileged to have my own temple worker right there in each class. It was such a blessing.

Day 3 of the conference ended with my youth class titled, "Who is Requesting YOU as a Friend?" We talked about why the Lord gives us friends, how we influence our friends, and how our friends strengthen us. One of my object lessons involved a game of "Red Rover." I asked the smallest girl in the room to come up to the front (Liz), and then I asked the tallest/biggest boy to stand opposite of her. Her instructions: pick the best Red Rover team you can possibly get because this big guy is going to come running at you. Here is her team:

And here is the "big guy," Jeff.

I asked the Red Rover team, "What would you do if Jeff came running directly AT Liz?" They all gathered around her and totally protected her. Jeremy, the boy to Liz's right, was particularly protective of her. It was so neat to watch. Then we talked about the parallels. Liz represents each of us, Jeff represents the adversary, and the Red Rover team represents our friends. I then asked the class, "How strong is your Red Rover team?" It was so neat to see these youth discussing the importance of good friends.

At the end of class, Jeff asked if he could say something. He stood in front of the class and asked the Red Rover team how they felt when they were together. "Strong!" they replied. He then challenged the entire group to join together for the final three hours of the conference--to strengthen each other, to reach out of their cliques, and to become great friends with everyone around them. It was so powerful--and the class took the challenge. I couldn't have asked for a better group!

I wish I had taken more pictures and documented that conference better, but I'm planning to return next year (and I'll take more photos then). Saren and I spent some time in this beautiful garden on campus and brainstormed the idea for a Motherhood Track, and then we had some neat opportunities open up to present the suggestion to Regina and Brother Young (the man directly over Education Week). They liked the idea and are planning to implement it next year. I can't wait. Saren and I just loved being at Education Week, and we felt that if the mothers could have a similar bonding/learning opportunity to what the youth had, it would be a great, great experience for all involved. I'll spread the word when I know more about it, but if there's any way you can get to BYU Idaho next July, please do!

Okay, I know this post is kind of long, but I wanted to put it all together. After Education Week, I spent a fun weekend with Eric's brother Jake and his wife Cami (and their two boys), along with Trisha, Tara, Peggy, and Evan (Jodi and Jon are on their missions...we miss them!). I don't have any good photos of all of us, but that gathering was such a highlight of the trip.

Monday afternoon (August 3rd), I dropped Eric off at the airport so he could go to Yosemite with the Young Men in our ward, and I took my children to my sister Page's home in Draper. She is a saint! For two whole days, she took care of 8 children so I could teach at EFY. I really appreciate you, Page!

I headed down to Provo in time to join in with the game night, which just happened to be located right outside my freshman dorm building...ah, the memories.

The game featured above is called "Machines." The counselors tell us the name of a machine, and we act it out. Ours was a blender. I'm the handle, the youth in front are the buttons, the guy on the left is the cup, the guy in the middle is the blade, the guy on the floor is the plug,
and the one standing on the far right is the person who activates the blender. We had to make all the noises and movements and everything. I had such a great time! We also acted out a pin-ball machine later...so fun. I loved these young guys and girls!

Then we played "Anteater." And yes, that's me as a "stunned" ant. The object of the game is to get the whole team of ants from one side of the grass to the other, but there are four anteaters in the middle, and if they tag you, you fall on your back with your limbs in the air, and you have to wait there until four people from the "safe" side come and carry you back. I had absolutely no intention of being carried around that evening, but that's exactly what happened.

Afterwards, we had to look up scriptures that applied to the game (like "when you are converted, strengthen your brethren" or "leave the 99 to find the 1"). I think this would be a great ward activity or family night!

This is Ashley Jones, a cute girl from my ward who was a counselor there this summer. She is a great leader, and I was so excited to get to be there with her!

This was our faculty group at EFY. We only had four teachers that week: Jayme Quigley, me, Jaime Capener, Brother Buckner (our session director), Brad Wilcox (who I heard speak when I was a teenager!), and JD Hucks (who is in charge of all of EFY). They were all so wonderful!

Since there were two EFYs going on that week, plus sports camps, a ballroom dance camp, etc., all the main meetings were held in this HUGE tent by Cougar Stadium. They lovingly refer to it as the "Tabernacle."

When I was at the dance, I ran into the other session director, Elizabeth Craig, who spoke at my youth conference with John Bytheway when I was 17. Such a small world....

Can I pass for a teenager? I wandered around the dance floor for awhile, but I started feeling way old. These girls were so darling, though. They called out, "Sister Perry, come dance with us!" The cute girl in the white shirt is named Sage, and she came to every single one of my classes. I miss my EFY friends!

Here is one of my classes. We taught at the double Stake Center right across from the stadium (where I attended church when I first got married and had Alia). I had one of the Relief Society rooms, and it worked out perfectly. The classes were packed, but they were small enough to enable good discussions. I can't even begin to explain how neat these youth are. They totally paid attention in each class, they took notes, they searched the scriptures, they contributed neat insights.... I couldn't have asked for more.

In one class, we were talking about listening to the voice of the Lord, and I asked if any of them had had an experience with that that they wanted to share. One boy told about a time he was walking home from school with two guy friends and two girls--on their way back to one boy's house (where his parents were not home). He felt an impression not to go to that boy's house, so he suggested that everyone go to HIS house (where he knew his parents were home). The boys didn't want to, but the girls did, so he took the girls to his house, and they later called their parents for rides home. Well, the next day at school, the two guy friends were upset with him for ruining their plan (they'd had not-so-good intentions for those young ladies).

I pointed out that this is EXACTLY what we're going for. What a blessing that this young Priesthood holder was sensitive to the Spirit so that he could take care of these daughters of God and protect them from a bad situation. The whole room could feel a beautiful warmth and peace as we discussed this, and I think each of us left with a desire to always listen to promptings. I felt so strengthened by this stalwart group.

I didn't get any photos of my sophomore roommate, Laurie, or of my sister and nieces/nephew (next time!), but my trip wouldn't have been complete without seeing them. I'd planned to spend an extra week or so in Utah, but all that standing up during the conferences quite literally put me in the hospital (I go in for surgery on Tuesday), and I had to get home as fast as I possibly could. I've had some health problems for the past several years, and when I stand up, they are rally aggravated. It was worth it, but I don't think I've ever had that much consistent pain. I'm hoping that next year will be better!

Since I couldn't make it home in one day (driving alone with 4 children!), and since I desperately wanted to spend some more time with my friend Saren, I stopped in St. George for two nights and got to put my feet up while Saren waited on me hand and foot. She fed us, changed Spencer's diapers, took us swimming, and helped me recover from my busy week. We took these photos to put up on our website (http://www.powerofmoms.com/). Out of 19 photos, this was the only one that featured everyone looking in the same direction. Such cute (and blonde) children.

So that was my trip! It took hundreds and hundreds of hours to prepare, but I've dreamed of this since I was in high school. It was such a blessing from the Lord to finally see these dreams come true. Many people have expressed interest in also speaking at Education Week and EFY. If you're one of those people, you can apply through their websites. It's not an "invite-only" kind of thing, like many people think. It is very time-consuming, and you don't really get paid much, but the experience is really wonderful. I think life is more exciting and meaningful when you are working on projects that you love. Because I've started speaking at these conferences, I pay close attention to the scriptures as I study, I listen intently in General Conference and in Sacrament meeting for ideas that will strengthen others, and I try to be a good example in how I live my life. If you have that desire...go for it! Or if you want to attend and just soak it all in...please do!

All right, I think that's all for now!

Ethan the Jedi

Ethan had an exciting time at Disneyland Monday. He got to do the Jedi Training there...it was great! He's the little guy with the mouse ears on in the center.


They pick about 30 children out of the crowd, give them a light saber, a robe, and instructions on how to fight Darth Vader or Darth Maul.

Ethan got to fight Darth Maul, and he wasn't even scared! (I was, though!)

And just a little sidenote: if you want your child selected, go there early, sit in the front, and smile at the guy who chooses which children get to come up. I pointed at Ethan with a "Please pick my son--we'll be your best friend" expression on my face, and voila! Fun memories!

June Update

Life has been wonderful here at the Perry home. Busy, exhausting, noisy, and dirty...but wonderful. This little Spencer is keeping me on my toes. I wrestle him into his high chair and/or car seat 8 times a day, I chase him all around the house and pick up after him, and I desperately try to teach him how to talk. He's worth all the work.



Tonight I was feeling quite run-down, and the girls knew I needed a pick-me-up. They invited me to their room for a special "Love Presentation," in which they outlined all the reasons they love having me as their mother. It almost made up for all the whining and bickering that's taken place today. Okay, it TOTALLY made up for it!

We went to Naples Island for the annual pancake breakfast a couple of weeks ago, and the children got to have story time with the Contessa di Napoli (Queen of Naples). They had cookies, milk, a variety of stories, royalty, and a beautiful view. It couldn't have been better. And see how we brought our bunny with us? Yes, we have a bunny. (Details below)

While we were in Naples, we stopped by my old elementary school and visited the tree that I planted back in sixth grade. I was chosen to plant this tree for an Earth Day celebration back in 1990. I didn't feel that old until I saw how HUGE this tree has grown!

It was so fun to show the children where I went to school and daydreamed about the day I would be their mother.

And we had a quick, but great, visit with Eric's brother Jake and our beautful sister-in-law, Cami.

I'm getting ready to speak at EFY again this summer, so my nephews invited me to their ward fireside to practice one of my talks. Such a great group! Below are four of my nephews, my sister, two nieces, my brother, and my two daughters...and this is only a fraction of the family.

Here are the 10 of us! Lisa, Dad, Mom, Page, Laura, Robert (on the top row) and Ryan, Susan, Me, and Linda on the bottom row. We only get together once a year, if we're lucky, so this was a real treat!

Most of my wonderful in-laws got to come, too. We missed you, Bob! And if anyone is looking for a handsome guy to marry your sister, my little brother Ryan is available!

Eric took Ethan to the Father/Son Campout, and I don't think Ethan could have been happier than he was with this FROG! They even brought home 20 tadpoles, but 19 died the first day, and the little one who survived accidentally got cut in half when we were cleaning the water. Sorry, little guy!

And as convinced as I was that we'd NEVER get a bunny, we now have a cute little "Snowball" in our family. Our neighbors didn't want it anymore, so we bought it from them. Living with us has got to be better than being put to sleep, right? I've never seen such a cute bunny. He lets the girls swaddle him and hold him, and he's so patient with Spencer's noises and craziness. I think he was made for our family.

Doesn't he look happy to you?

So that's our update. Have a great day!

I haven't been much of a blogger lately...we're getting ready for a relaunch of The Power of Moms, and I have been a little swamped with all these cute children who have been off track for the whole month. We have had a great time together, though. Here are a few photos to give you a glimpse of what we've been up to.

Ethan found a little bunny outside--our neighbors just let it roam, so he decided to give it some love. He loved this bunny so much that we even drove an hour to a bunny adoption center to get our own, but they wouldn't let us have one. Bunnies don't like children or loud noises. They need to be inside an air-conditioned house, and they need a big huge pen to hop around in (they bring the bunnies to your home if your application is approved, and they check your home to make sure it's suitable for the bunny). A bunny also needs a friend, so you have to adopt TWO bunnies for $85 each, and you have to let them roam your home for three hours a day. By the way, they might chew your baseboards or carpet. Their pen needs to be cleaned twice a day, and you'll want to schedule regular vet visits. You can't ever let them outside because they might eat a fungus, and you can't hold them because they have a delicate skeletal structure, and you need to give them lots of baskets to chew up, and you have to spend $60 a month on hay, and you have to commit to this for thirteen years. We're considering a dog.

Easter Sunday, we tried to get a picture of our family, but Eric had meetings before and after church, and Spencer was really tired from nursery, and it was sunny, so no one wanted to look at the camera. Such cute children, though. I love these guys and gals.

Alia and Grace are almost young women! Every time I remind Eric that they'll be leaving Primary soon, he covers his ears and yells, "STOP!" They're such fun sisters.

We had a little Easter egg hunt with our ward, so maybe this can count as our Easter photo.

Spencer is our little darling/dickens. He's so happy and fun, but he's also CRAZY! In the last four days, Spencer has broken my cell phone in half, thrown Alia's clean laundry in the kitchen sink, sunk a Book of Mormon in the bathtub, poured a bowl of sugar in the margarine tub, emptied the dishwasher all over the floor, and made me chase him all over the park, all over the church, all over the house, all over the yard, etc. I am tired of this. I hope he will calm down a little bit soon.

He's also "mommy's boy." This is how I plan my Relief Society lessons.

We got to go to Utah to see Eric's family, and it was a wonderful trip. Tricia, Eric's sister, planned a fun treasure hunt for the children, and she gave them these fun prizes at the end. We love Eric's family. They are all so thoughtful, and they welcome us into their home and treat us like kings and queens. I don't know how I got so lucky to marry into this family.

Here are the girls and Eric with Eric's Dad and Mom...sorry, Evan, I didn't get a photo of you with your eyes open. You still look handsome, though.

Eric's grandma invited the children to her ceramics studio to paint some creations of their own. Aunt Tara joined in, and they all had a blast.

Spencer loves his great-grandpa. He is one of those "salt-of-the-earth" kind of men.

Spencer loves his great-grandma, too...especially since she let him hold this red balloon.

Uncle Jon just got his missio call to the Philippines!!! Hooray for Jon! He will actually be right next to his sister's mission, and they'll overlap for several months there. Such a miracle. We're thrilled for both of them!

I'm enjoying my mission as a mother, and this month we decided it was time to go back to Disneyland. I used to work there in high school, and I have sure missed that place. Spencer doesn't love the lines, but he thinks the rides are great. I'm grateful we are able to go...it's a blessing to have something fun to do while Eric is "bishop-ing."

This is a photo I had from "Pajama Day" at school before they went off track. Ethan really wanted to wear his Batman PJs because a cute girl in his class has Batgirl PJs and he was desperately hoping they could match. Too bad, though, she wore some pink ones that day. Maybe next time, Casanova.

Alia put together a timeline of her life for a school project, and it made me realize that my children are growing up WAY too fast. I love this little girl...and her sister and brothers, of course! The other day I was too tired to get packed up to go swimming, and Alia came up to my bedroom with a clipboard and said, "What do you need?" I told her what I wanted in each bag, and she and Grace got everything together for me. I'm loving this! It kind of counteracts all of Spencer's antics.

And here's a little video I took when my children were playing preschool downstairs. When I was in college, this is how I imagined motherhood. Of course, not every day is like this, but when these precious moments come, I soak them up!

All right, it's naptime. Have a great day!