March

March was a FULL month!  It's been a doozy.  But a good kind of doozy!

 We made a couple of birthday videos for family members, and sent them to them--the kids figured out how to play the Happy Birthday song on the keyboard, with each of them taking a note. Very fun!

Ryah has been experimenting with various hairstyles and loves to practice on Sierra.  Most days, Sierra has either me or Ryah doing some fun thing with her hair!  She does have some long, thick, beautiful hair!(Truth be told, I love both Ryah's and Sierra's hair. As my hair changes and lightens--read: goes gray--it's fun to see their hair and think, "That's the kind of color I used to have!"). :)

One Sunday, Sierra wanted to be 'matchies' with me, for church. She is a cutie!

Speaking of cuties...Ryah and Sierra, flexing! Tough girls!

The kids have led some more science experiments.  Sierra gathered the materials for this one.  Using a magnifying glass, to target the sun's rays/heat....and POP the balloon! We did it multiple times!

And after the balloon popped, Colton had fun using the magnifying glass and watching the heat shrivel up the remaining pieces of balloon! Oh, science...so much fun!

We had a very unexpected thing occur in March....one of the hardest kinds of surprises.

Jonnie's youngest brother, Adam (AJ), passed away on March 9th.  It was unexpected, but not a total surprise, if that makes sense.  He had struggled with damage to his brain, mostly due to drug abuse in his youth and from the resulting seizures that he had for a number of years.  

Death is always hard, but we do feel happy for Adam that he is now relieved from those afflictions.  We are grateful for the knowledge of the gospel, and to know that Adam's journey is not over.  He can have the chance to learn and progress beyond the veil, without some of the challenges he faced with his mortal body.  That knowledge does bring comfort.

Jonnie was able to fly up to Utah and attend the funeral on March 17th.  It was good to gather with his family--parents and siblings. (8 of the 9 siblings were able to be there in person, with Sherri joining virtually from her mission with her husband in Japan).  It was a blessing they could all come together.

I was not able to be there, as I was driving my Mom across the country.  But thanks to technology, I was able to join virtually, and watch the funeral online.

Each of the siblings shared some memories and/or thoughts about Adam, and also the gospel.

(Here is Jonnie sharing testimony of the Atonement of Jesus Christ).

Jonnie joined with family, in singing "Brightly Beams our Father's Mercy". It was beautiful.

The service went very nicely.  At Adam's gravesite, Jonnie's family--

l-r: Heather (his mom), Ben, Danny, Jonnie, Heidi, Merrilee, Charlie, Dean, Joy, Michael (his dad).

Jonnie and his mom--

Jonnie and his dad--

Marie was able to come down from Logan, for the funeral, so Jonnie saw her there:

Grandpa Smurthwaite and Marie:

There were many family and friends in Utah who were able to be there for the funeral service, so Jonnie got to see many loved ones.  He even got a picture with his 2 cousins, also named "Jonnie" (though I think they are spelled differently!)--

Meanwhile....

I was driving across the country.

My Mom finished her mission out in Washington, DC on March 13th.  I flew out there on the 11th, to help her load up and drive her car back home to Arizona.  She picked me up from my mission many moons ago, so it was fun for me to get to pick her up from her mission!

I got there on Saturday, and we got to do an endowment session at the temple.  One of the new senior sisters, to take her place, had arrived with her daughter. So the four of us went to the session together.  It was wonderful.  It reminded me of when I lived out in DC, when I was single, and how I was a temple ordinance worker there at that time. Special memories.

The next day, we went to church and Mom had lots of good-byes. So many people going to miss her dearly....I understand! She's pretty incredible and love-able! :)

Mom and Arabang (a woman she's worked with, getting her back into activity--and prepared to go to the temple!)

One of their investigators--

A young man in the ward, who has special needs, and LOVES to get pictures with the Elders. But, of course, Mom made the cut, too!

You can just tell how loved she is and how much she will be missed!

Sister missionaries in the ward--

And the Elders--

We took one sweet lady home after church...she LOVES Mom! She even made her a number of African dresses to take home.  She cried when we dropped her off. It was the sweetest...

Mom comforting her--

Monday, we packed up.  Mom finished packing things in her apartment, and I carried it all out to the car and played "tetris", trying to fit it all in.  Jonnie is usually the master at this, so I tried to channel my "inner Jonnie", and I did pretty good! We had a car-top carrier, too, and used that, as well.  She has lived there for a year and a half!, so there were details to take care of. And then, we were off. That first day, we just drove to Charlottesville, VA--a few hours away.

Somehow, I didn't get a lot of pictures on our 2,685 mile journey! But, we got lots of quality talking in!!

Jonnie was a huge help, finding and securing our hotels each night.  Tuesday, we drove to Chattanooga, TN.  We passed through the Great Smoky Mountains, just for fun. It was beautiful!

Wednesday, we drove to Shreveport, Louisiana.  Thursday, we drove to Bulverde, Texas.  It's outside of San Antonio.  We specifically went there, because Maddie lives there!  Maddie is Deron's girlfriend.  Deron is my nephew/Mom's grandson, and he is currently serving his mission in South Carolina.  Maddie has been such a great support to Deron, and she and Mom talk on occasion.  It's fitting--since we visited Deron when we drove Mom out to her mission (when he was working in Indiana), and now we visited his girlfriend, Maddie, on the way home from Mom's mission!

Maddie took us out to dinner (and her parents joined us, too!).

It was good to meet them and get to visit with Maddie!

Friday, we drove to Las Cruces, New Mexico. And then, on Saturday, we got home to Anthem, Arizona!

Maryland, Virginia, Tennessee, Georgia, Alabama, Mississippi, Louisiana, Texas,  New Mexico, and Arizona.....those were all the states we passed through on the way home!

Lots of driving!....we were excited to reach Arizona!

Mom's birth state, too!  She's home, a returned missionary!

Jonnie and the kids greeted us when we got there.  It was awesome. Mom said, "They have signs and everything! I think I'm going to cry!"

I'm so proud of the kids.  

I was all set to go pick up Mom and help her get home, when we found out about Jonnie's brother passing away, and then the funeral the following Friday.  Jonnie got a ticket for just a quick trip, but he still would be gone for two nights and a full day--leaving Thursday evening and returning Saturday morning. Jonnie prepared them with everything they needed (which I'm so grateful to him for!!). 

And I'm so grateful that these kids are the kind that we could leave on their own.  We did tell our friends/ward members around the corner, just so they were aware.  And Sis. Allen came and took them to the park on Friday with her and her kids, just to get out and enjoy the weather. But....the kids did so great! They did their chores, they did some school stuff and games and activities.  Janson had made up a "to-do chart", and had their day organized.  They had devotional, they did chores, they read and played games, they cooked and cleaned up....they played together and watched out for each other.  They had scripture study and prayer together.  They took care of things! So proud of them!! My heart was full.

AND they made welcome home signs for Grandma!  It was so fun.

Our returned missionary, Sister Craig! :)

Everyone helped unload Grandma's things, and they made quick work of it!

They've wasted no time enjoying having her back!

She was released on Thursday, March 23. I got to listen in on that, and it was a great experience. She will be visiting her kids and grandkids, and come back here in between. And she will have us as her "home-base". I'm grateful we can have her live with us, and grateful to my family for helping her feel so at home!

Daxton and Sierra enjoying some puzzle activities while I read "Little House" during school time. 

Daxton enjoying his church "activity days" trip to the fire station!

Janson and Ryah were to submit pictures for their online school's "yearbook", even though they opted not to get one.  I love these pictures of them--I can't believe how they are growing up!

And now, the end of March, we enjoyed our own "Spring Break".

Tuesday, we got to go to our monthly "Temple Baptism" trip.  Love doing that!

And good ol' Daxton babysat Sierra, so the rest of us could go. So nice!

Wednesday, the kids and I went to the Phoenix Zoo!

I love hanging out with these guys. They are fun.

Daxton and Sierra, hand in hand (melt my heart), heading up the tower to get eye to eye with the giraffes.

Sierra's growing!

Panthers! A favorite of Colton's!

They had a new 'dinosaur/prehistoric' area--specific to ones they believe were in AZ.

Pretending to be so scared!

Fossil dig--

We were quite impressed with this area. Apparently, after April 30, you'll have to pay extra for it. (?)

So, we had fun enjoying it!

Remember starting back in KY, when these guys were so little, and they'd all sit on some animal statue at the zoo? Those were fun days....

Now, they don't fit quite as easily (long legs), but they still do it! I love it.

And these days are fun days, too!  I love every stage with them!

(See what I mean about long legs? Good grief!)

Dax is a big fan of the komodo dragons!

And Sierra loves the flamingos (or ma-flingos, as we say--quoting Dax's mix up once years ago).

She likes to stand on one leg, too!

Sierra has picked up on the feigned scared-face from the other kids...she's too cute!

We saw lots and enjoyed the beautiful weather. It was a great day!

Peek-a-boo, Ryah!

The kids didn't quite measure up to the bird painting...but insisted that I would. They were right! Perfect fit, huh? :)

Colton first spotted the elephant, and helped Sierra. So sweet--

Taking it all in--

Cutest elephants I've ever seen--

The orangutan house! (Look at those 3 monkeys.... ha ha. just kidding). :)

Daxton and Sierra watching the orangutan in action--

Towards the end of the day, we saw this explanation about a particular bird, the Golden Conure.  It said, "These birds often live with their parents for many years.  By helping raise their younger siblings they learn how to be good caregivers."

Janson said, "Aww....I like that." Me, too.  We can relate. Family. Love it!

Thursday, we visited the Hall of Flame--the World's Largest Museum of Firefighting!

It was INCREDIBLE!  We saw firefighting methods dating back to 1725!! 

They told us about how they made long chains of people in the community, passing buckets of water to the main firefighting "machine", that would pump the water out at the fire. 

And how they had this wooden device that when swung, it would make this loud sound (kind of like New Years Eve toys) that let people know to come and help put out a fire.

They have an amazing collection!  We were blown away.  They were from the US, England, and even Japan!  The oldest was from 1725, but they were MANY from the 1800's and the 1900's. It was cool to see how it evolved.

They call this the "Cinderella".  It wasn't actually used to fight fires, but it was a celebratory kind that was used in parades and such. Fancy!

They had one engine that kids could climb on and dress up, and feel like real firefighters! :)

Sierra was in heaven!

The big kids enjoyed it, too!

Pretending to put out the fire--

Everyone dressed up! So much fun.

It was actually cheaper for us to buy the membership, than just day passes for all 6 of us. So, we did! And we are glad--we already have plans to go back and visit it again. And take Jonnie and Grandma!

It is amazing all the history there--we learned a lot, and there is so much more!

Oh, these cute kids...they would be disappointed if I didn't include all 3 of their pictures here.

They had videos, too.  Some old video footage, which was awesome. And also some video about "Smoke Jumpers"--that's a brave work, I tell you!

What a cool place. Such a great find!

We also decided to let Sierra see the first Harry Potter movie. I read the book to her, she's been to Harry Potter World with us. And she's going to have to wait until she's a little older to continue on with the books...but we decided to have her enjoy the magic and see just the first movie (edited, of course).

She loved it! It was so much fun to watch her face.  She remembered the book impressively well and followed the story.  She would just light up! So fun for everyone! :)

March was a big and wonderful month.  I love my family. Yep, I say that often. It's true!

Life is good.  Challenges along the way, with huge blessings, as well.

My view on a recent morning workout....Love it.