Home again, home again....

A short pictorial narrative of our trip to Memphis:

And a video of the actual graduation of Dr. Benjamin Rich Scoresby:

Are We There Yet?

It always sounds so fun and easy in the planning stages; reality is often long, boring and tiring. After traveling to Memphis three weeks ago, and Aberdeen, SD, two weeks ago, Joanna and I headed out a week ago for Provo. Our objective was threefold: pick up Janet for a summer at home, let Joanna visit all her friends in Provo, and attend a neice's wedding in the Rexburg Temple. By the time we got home last night, we were incredibly sick of traveling.

There is nowhere in the world like Provo. While we were there, we were able to go to the Provo Temple, to visit with family, and to enjoy some time on the BYU campus. On the way up to Rexburg, we stopped in Salt Lake and ate at Tucano's, courtesy of our friend Andy. The Rexburg Temple is beautiful and it was fun to visit with more family.

Check in next week for the latest installment of our travels. We're not done yet! In fact, we're starting to feel like the traveling gnome. "Where in the world are Margaret and Joanna?"

For Easter, Rene and I and Joanna, Emily and Preston drove 8 hours to Aberdeen, South Dakota to visit my mom. We were also able to see my sister Susan and her family. Although the drive is sort of boring, it's always worth it to be with family. My mom cooked so much good food! We all attended stake conference on Sunday before grabbing a bite to eat and heading home. It was a broadcast stake conference involving 61 stakes and 1 district. It was very good and we enjoyed discussing it as we drove home, thanks to Preston's great notes. All in all, it was a very happy weekend. (Grandma looks pretty good with her eyes closed, too!)

She's baaack!

A week ago, we had the joy and pleasure of going to the airport to pick Joanna up after her mission. It has pleased us to see how she has grown and how her mission has blessed her. It will be fun to have her around for a little bit while she figures out the next step in her life. (By the way, we took her coat to the airport with us because we knew she'd be cold after coming from Destin, Florida.)

After a day at home to unpack and get organized, she and I hopped in the car to go to Memphis to help with brand new baby Macey. I don't think we did that much to help; Ben and Shannon are doing a great job with her. But we could provide some moral support and it's always such a joy to meet a new grandchild. We'll get to see both Afton and Macey in three more weeks when we go down to Ben's graduation. Woohoo!

While Rene was in Miami on business this week, I had the opportunity to go to visit Joseph, Tracy and Afton. Afton is turning one this week. We didn't do anything special. It was just fun to spend time with Afton (Joseph and Tracy, too.) Afton is a cutie--a very good sleeper and eater and very good-natured.

We dressed her up in a fancy headband, which she normally wouldn't stand for, but this one seemed to be okay. Don't worry, Shannon, we got one for Afton's new cousin, too. Also, Tracy bought her some Crocs and she was so funny walking in them.

One of the words that Afton says really well is "Coco." Coco is her best buddy.

It was rainy in the DC area, but spring was definitely underway there. The forsythia was out and some of the flowering trees. Grounds crews were already planting spring flowers.

Tracy and I tried to make a cute bathtub birthday cake for Afton. We had a few problems. If it turns out, I'm sure Tracy will post pictures of it. Happy Birthday, Afton! Grandma had a great time visiting.

So, now I want to share my happiness with you all so you can be warm and happy like me. We've had two very nice days in a row, with more in the forecast. Our outside thermometer says 49 degrees right now. The fifties tomorrow!

The sad thing is that I don't think there's one of you faithful readers who hasn't been much warmer than that already this year.

I'm not really a big squirrel fan. Apologies to Luana Byington and to Ben and Ryanne Roberts, but I find them noisy, messy and not afraid of humans at all. I think the lady who lived here before us fed them. Maybe it's because our house is surrounded by woods on three sides, but we have lots and lots of big squirrels. We have gray squirrels and black squirrels.

Ever since last fall, the squirrels have been on overdrive. And they don't hibernate. They are pretty good at going from tree to tree around our yard, but they also run across the top of the snow and dig little tunnels.

One day recently, I looked out the patio doors in the dining room and thought I saw a giant squirrel running back and forth on a path we've shoveled back into the woods. Then I took a closer look and realized it was one of our cats. Haha...well, some of the squirrels are almost as big as a cat.

One day in the fall, I looked out of Janet's bedroom window and there were SIX squirrels in the front yard. This is a poor picture, but I can see five of them. The black and gray squirrels hang around together.

Our family room windows are right at ground level. They always doing something right out there.

They also come right up on the deck and come up to the patio doors.

Here's a black one going headfirst down the tree.

And finally a little video of one on our deck.