Hello Everyone,

We hope you are all doing well. We had a fun week and a good, busy weekend.

Monday was a gorgeous day so some friends and I and all of our kids met at a park. The weather was in the mid 60’s. There are some pictures below of that day. Later on that week we met up with basically the same group of people for a playgroup. The kids enjoyed themselves as usual. As always, Clark went to storytime, but we picked up Bronson Smith and he came with us. Clark and Bronson went right in to storytime and seemed to enjoy it. Ms. Linda, who does storytime, told me later that she enjoyed having them in there. So they must have been good, right?

During our weekly shopping trip I met a fellow and he told me his niece had three sets of twins within 5 years. Next time I go I might keep a tally of how many people tell me I have my hands full. I also saw two ladies from church during that trip.

Sometime during the week, I think Tuesday, we babysat the Nyberg kids. Shanna and Haley are a couple weeks older than Jeffrey and it was cute seeing all three of them together. Pictures below.

Lee has been working on a case report. After he finishes that up he’ll hit practicing for boards hard. He’s been reading through the material and practicing as much as he can on his current patients. I can’t believe they’re only a few weeks away! I am so glad that part III is his last test!

Saturday started out as a lazy day. I slept in and Lee made French toast. A little after 9 am, Bronson’s dad, Brooks Smith—he’ll graduate the same day as Lee and be an M.D., called and said he was going to Lowe’s for a free little father/son build-it-yourself type of class. He invited Lee and Clark to ride and attend with them. Clark loved it! He built a periscope. He even received his own safety goggles, shop apron, a patch for completing the little class and a certificate! Clark was very surprised to find out he could keep these items. He loved it. I picked them up from Lowe’s and we headed to a children’s clothing consignment sale. On the way there Clark had his goggles on for a little while. It was funny. We’ll post a picture of our little carpenter soon.

After the consignment sale, we went straight to the church for choir practice. We are going to be singing on Easter Sunday. I don’t know what we are going to do with the kids…Then we came home and did a couple things and then got ready to go to the adult session of Stake Conference. Melissa Smith, Bronson’s mom, babysat all of our kids for us so Lee and I could go to the session all by ourselves. It was great. Since our kids have been born that is the first one I have gone to without kids. Lee’s gone to some without kids, but that’s because I was out of town with them.

Elder Hardy presided at Stake Conference. We really enjoyed it. I believe he is also over Public Affairs for the Church in Washington, D.C. If not over it, he’s involved somehow with Public Affairs. He is a fun speaker to listen to. It was great hearing about his childhood and the things he learned from his father regarding the gospel. His dad died of a heart attack when Elder Hardy was 16. Right before he spoke, he had all of us sing Praise to the Man. He focused on one of the lines from the first verse, “Sacrifice brings forth the blessings of heaven.” There was a lady there originally from Puerto Rico and she talked about how her family implements the gospel in their home—what they do for family scripture study, family home evening, participating in General Conference, etc. What a neat family they have. She said the morning of Stake Conference they eat ice cream for breakfast. I think we might have to adapt that to our family! We also heard today from the Stake President and how his parents came to hear the gospel and become members of the church. When Elder Hardy spoke today he talked about a bicycling race he did once, up Mount Washington—an 8 mile race, uphill. He talked about how this 80 year old man passed him and beat him in the race. We thought of you, Dad R!

I am so thankful that we have the freedom to worship as we please. I am so grateful that we have a living Prophet, Thomas S. Monson. Just as there was Moses and Abraham, we are so blessed to have a Prophet too! It was a nice Stake Conference.

Today we are enjoying being with each other and talking with family. We’re excited for Stacie and Lena and their upcoming babies and for Darrell starting his PhD program this fall.

We hope you are all adjusting to Daylight Saving Time. Lee and I are so tired that I don’t think it will be a problem. (Did you know that it’s incorrect to say Daylight Savings Time? Thought I’d pass it on.)

Lee found out the other day that he is scheduled to take boards on a Sunday. Pray for him that they will change his time! We weren’t aware that boards were even being held on a Sunday. Lee doesn’t even study/do school work on Sunday. We don’t even watch the Superbowl because it’s on Sunday. So he was not pleased to find out that he has to take a test on Sunday and one that he is paying several hundred dollars to take. I wish we would have looked at the dates more closely when signing up. Oh well.

We keep forgetting to list what we chose for the Army. We should hear in a couple weeks or so where we may go this fall. Choice 1 is our top choice.

1. Missouri
2. Arizona
3. Kansas
4. Virginia
5. New York
6. Texas
7. North Carolina