Moving up in the World

Many of you that follow the blog have seen my almost weekly updates on Abby's gymnastics and swimming classes. This past week Abby moved up to an older class! There are far more kids in the class and Abby is pretty much the youngest. I was not sure how that would go, but she was great. There are two teachers--Sarah and Sunny and they each have half of the kids at a time on an activity and then they switch. I think Abby will really enjoy this class.

Abby climbing up the rock wall.
Abby's teacher telling her to 'finish' after she flipped over on the rings.
Abby holding a 'V' sit.
Walking on the beam.
Abby was the only one in her swim lesson, so she had a private lesson. The teacher was really good with her one on one.
Thursday I was asked to play the piano for the Bakersfield Women's Business Conference. It was quite the event! My friend, Stephanie Holladay is in charge of much of the conference and she asked if I would donate some time and play the piano. I played for about 5 hours and was able to attend the luncheon. It was an excellent lunch, although the speaker was quite interesting. Let's just say we share a few different views on things!
. It was interesting to watch people as they walked by. I don't think some people even heard the music. They were too busy deciding what booth to go to and get free things! Many other people stopped to listen and really seemed to enjoy the music. I played some of my Dad's songs a couple times and those always attracted people. Many asked what song I was playing! You're awesome Dad! The biggest crowd was for one of Jon Schmidt's songs, "The Dumb Song." It has some big glissando's that always attract attention! Thanks to our wonderful friends the Henrie's for playing with Abby during the day. She had so much fun she did not want to leave!
Rabobank Arena in Bakersfield. The piano is set up on the right.
Aaarrrrgh!
Saturday our Bishop's son turned 4 and had a great pirate party. Abby loves pirates so she was more than happy to dress up and fight with a sword! We all had a lot of fun at the party.
Pirate Abby.
Abby and her friend Levi (his brothers take piano lessons, so he comes over every Thursday!)
Abby and the Bishop.
Cool cakes.
Grant the birthday boy with one of his cakes.
Trampoline
Speaking of moving up in the world. . . It looks as though we might actually be able to grow something! We have not had great luck in the past, but we are trying a raised garden. We planted strawberries, raspberries, boysenberries, peppers, tomatoes, watermelon, etc. Matt is afraid it will not get enough sun because of where we placed the garden. To our surprise I noticed something red in the garden this week. When I looked close. . . .a strawberry! Hooray! We have a strawberry!
And a baby green pepper.
Amazing!

Trump? Really? My Thoughts on Donald Trump

He is a self aggrandizing promoter who personifies much that is wrong with America. I’m not sure if he is really even serious about running for president or just using it as yet another way to draw attention to himself to increase his reality show ratings.

As a presidential candidate he has built his reputation on the Obama birther argument, that is, the ridiculous idea that Obama is an illegitimate president because he really was not born in the United States. Besides the fact that Obama’s mother is a citizen (which automatically makes her son a citizen regardless of where he is born), researchers have presented decades-old newspaper articles announcing Obama’s birth in Hawaii, and Obama himself has released both his short and long form birth certificates. Still, iron-clad evidence is no obstacle for irrational political extremists. The sad part is that he is actually influencing the political discourse with this garbage, and as people pay attention to it they are distracted from genuinely significant issues. I’m not sure if Trump is that stupid himself, or just courting this idiotic segment of the population for his own benefit, but in either case I don’t want somebody like that running our country.

The other way Trump has built support for his candidacy is through his supposed prowess as a businessman. Who better to save the American economy? Did nobody notice that Trump (or companies bearing his name) declared bankruptcy four times in the past two decades (1991, 1992, 2004, 2009)? If he was your personal investor he would probably put all your money in speculative companies, make lots of quick cash, take his cut, and then jump ship when your portfolio crashed. He is a user, and the economic roller coaster that he and corporate slime-balls like him create is the last thing our nation needs.

Happy Easter

Well this is definitely an Easter we will not forget. Before we traveled down to LA for Heather's surprise party they had unfortunately experienced the flu. But everyone was better and it had been enough time, that we didn't even think twice. On the way home Saturday Matt felt pretty awful and spent the rest of the day in bed. He was supposed to speak in Church on Easter and I planned on giving his talk for him if he was not well enough. I was also directing the Ward Choir. Then at 4 a.m. I started in with the flu and so we all ended up missing Church. A wonderful woman in our Ward directed the choir and I heard they were wonderful. How can it be Easter Sunday without going to Church?

Abby is so far still healthy (knock on wood) and has been quite bored with her sick parents today. She did open up her Easter basket this afternoon and immediately put together her puzzles. I am sure we will have to fight with the swords later. A friend of hers left his sword at our home and she has played with it a lot. So I found swords for all of us to enjoy.
Abby is such a wonderful little girl. She keeps asking us if we feel better and just wants to be cuddled with. I can't wait to feel better!
While Abby and I were in Tempe Matt worked so hard on our backyard. He finished as much as he can do on the pond. He is going to get some more professional help to do the electrical wiring and pump and filter so that we know it is done right. But just look at all of the rocks he hauled in and put in place. (The tree in front is our clementine tree--it will not go there when it is planted!)
He also put together our raised garden. What an amazing man I married!

California Party!

After Abby and I returned from Tempe we washed some clothes and all of us headed down to LA. Matt's sister Heather had a birthday on Friday, the 22nd, so her husband Brandon and I planned a fun surprise party for her on Thursday night. She did find out right before coming back to her apartment, but we all had a great time. We had excellent food thanks to Matt's Mom and Dad and the best part was everyone hanging out. I think Heather said it was one of her best birthday parties ever! Abby and Dexter love to play together. They enjoyed jumping off a chair into Brandon's arms. The best part was watching them cheer each other on!

We gave Heather a great new cookbook that I really want too!
Friday morning we went to see our friends Mike and Jenny Wilcox and their very cute family. They have a new 5 week old daughter named Paige and we loved holding her!
Abby likes to flip over on anything and here she is using Matt!
Friday afternoon Abby and Dex died eggs and we hid plastic eggs for them to find. They are so cute.
Abby, Dexter, Grandpa Roger after a spaghetti dinner.
Abby crashed on Grandma after a long and fun day.
Abby and Matt playing on the bed.
Abby and Great Grandma Ruth playing in her room.
Aren't families the greatest?!

Arizona Sunshine

Friday, April 15 Abby and I drove to Tempe, AZ. I was nervous about how she would travel since this is her first trip potty trained. She was unbelievable! She held it for over 5 1/2 hours and finally I stopped and took her to the bathroom even though she did not ask. She was a perfect angel on the drive. We sang, listened to music, she read, played with Mickey, Minnie and the Toy Story characters, colored, did flash cards, etc. We had so much fun.

Our trip was full of fun and friends. We stayed with the Taysom's and Abby was able to play with Natalie's niece, Caely a lot. Here they are reading.
Ready for Church.
Saturday we woke up early and went to the Phoenix Zoo with Natalie, Caely, our friends the Jones' and a friend of Natalie's. We saw tigers, lions. . .
Mandrills
and even rode a camel thanks to Natalie's friend!
After baking in the Arizona sun (I forgot how hot it is!) we drove to Bahama Bucks and had a Bahama Mama Rama. So yummy.
After a brief stop at Natalie's Ward barbecue we drove to her Bishop's beautiful home and played in their amazing but very cold pool. It was cold even on my feet! Abby would shake with cold and then get back in! Crazy girl!
Sunday we went to Church in our old Tempe Ward and it was so wonderful to see so many friends. We do miss our Tempe friends!

Sunday afternoon we ate lunch with Carric and Jenny Smolnik.
Our rental car had a flat tire, so Carric took it off, put on the spare, and helped us switch the car. What a pain! Thanks you guys for lunch and all of your help!
Sunday night I attended a mission fireside and the choir I conducted for two years, the Arizona Deseret Choir performed. It was so good to see all of them. I really miss them. Carric is now conducting the choir and they did a beautiful job. I really want to start my own choir!
After the fireside we stopped to see the Jackson family. I taught Cami and Hannah piano lessons and we all became such good friends. Abby loves them so much and Lynn would always spoil her. Hannah played the piano for us and she is playing so well. It is amazing to think of where she was years ago when we began lessons and how beautifully she plays now. Makes me so happy to be a teacher!
I also attended the Mesa Temple while we were in Arizona. It is difficult for us to get to the LA Temple, so I took advantage of a temple so close. It felt so good to escape from the rest of the world and focus on the most important things in life. I am so grateful to Carric for watching Abby so that I could attend the temple.
I already miss the Arizona sunshine!