March winds blow!

Happy Sunday!  It is very windy today!  I love listening to the wind, but I'm sure glad we don't have to be out in it much today.  We are fasting today for various things, going to church, and then joining the Johnson family (Scott and Marie) for dinner at their house.  Then the kids will go to a stake fireside.  A busy Sunday!

The rest of our weekend has been fun, too.  On Friday night, Rhiannon went to the high school's Mr. BHS pageant with friends, and Wade went to Halle Evans' birthday party (he has been to a lot of bday parties lately!)

Then yesterday Wade went with his Boy Scout troop to the Trona Pinnacles for a fun morning hike and lunch.  Rhiannon spent a LOT of time working on homework, Jason worked hard out in the backyard redoing sprinkler lines for the garden area, and I went to a Women's Conference at the stake center.  That night Connor Litton invited Rhiannon and Wade to go play games with a bunch of young single adults--they were some of the youngest kids there but had a good time.  It was nice of the Littons to pick up Rhiannon and Wade--I went and got them about an hour later (both kids said they didn't want to stay long because they were TIRED, haha!)

I also wanted to mention the kindness of neighbors this weekend.  Kristin Hawkins brought over some divine chocolate cookies to thank me for helping with her friend that she'd brought to Women's Conference.  She had to stay in the gym the whole time helping with the service projects, and she'd been worried about what to do with this new acquaintance who wanted to come.  Jesse was great and easy to talk to--it wasn't a big deal at all, but Kristin sure was grateful.  What a sweetheart!   That afternoon another neighbor, Margo DiDomenico, came by with some wrapped "puzzles" for the kids.  They were boxes of Cheez-It crackers, haha!  The kids were ecstatic and I sent them straight out the door to go thank her.  Margo had seen a funny post I'd put on Facebook about how the kids were down to their last box of crackers, haha!  What a thoughtful, funny thing to do!

We are all counting the days to Spring Break--one more week!  We don't have any big plans set--Jason has to work much of the week--but we are all looking forward to some down time and a family camping trip that Friday and Saturday.

A side note:  I complained about the early-morning barking dog on Facebook, and the next day it stopped.  I have had decent, uninterrupted sleep since Thursday and I feel like a rock star.  Sleep is good for my soul, haha!

"Good Neighbor" FAIL

Last night a police officer approached us outside, asking questions.  We learned that a home in our neighborhood was robbed--in broad daylight thieves took furniture, paintings, and firearms.

The worst part is that I saw the guys in the act of doing it but didn't think anything of it.  There have been so many people in and out of the house over the past two weeks since the wife of the elderly couple living there died and the husband went with relatives out of town.  Carpet cleaners, realtors, and many more.

So, when I saw that the "For Sale" sign was removed earlier this week and these guys were moving furniture out of the house, I assumed they were getting the house ready for new occupants.

EPIC fail.

It has been a big wake-up call for our neighborhood, to be more vigilant and take note of suspicious things, to take better care of each other.

I was running an errand this morning and saw three strange cars in front of that house again, so I stopped and asked them what they were doing there.  One man at his van looked at me like I was crazy, spit tobacco juice out the side of his mouth right in front of me, and replied that he was there with the realtor, changing locks.

Classy, dude.  Thanks for changing the locks, but I've got my eye on you now!

I don't ever want to forget this, so it's going on the blog!





Yesterday we got a letter in the mailbox from our neighbor who lives right across the street from us.  Steve and his wife Harumi moved in a few months ago.  His letter was so kind, so thoughtful, we just couldn't believe it!  I called him up after dinner that night and said he sure knew how to make someone's day!  I also told him that after reading his note, both Jason and I hoped he hadn't heard us yelling at the kids to keep working!  We had a good laugh over that.  You'll have to read the note to understand:

 

 

 

 

Now, I hesitated putting this on the blog because I didn't want to toot our own horns, so to speak.  We were just outside doing one of our many family work projects.  I decided to put the letter on here for three reasons:

 

1.  So that it will make it into a blog book at some point and be a fond family memory.

 

2.  To remind myself and everyone that you never know who's watching and learning from your example,

 

3.  and you can never underestimate the kindness of a well-timed letter!