Hello Again, Hello...

(Are you all singing the Neil Diamond song now?)

Wow, I haven't posted for awhile!  I spent last weekend with my Mother in the hospital so I have been a little busy again. She is doing great now, thank goodness, and life has settled back down to a more normal pace.

The one nice thing about having her in the hospital was that I got to see her and my Dad a lot more than usual. I was pondering about that while I was there with her...how there are always blessings in the midst of adversity. She was in the hospital for four days, but by the second day was feeling much better, so it was nice to spend time just talking to her and other family members that came to visit.

I know I have said this before, but I sure love my family! I had some more fun family times this week that I wanted to blog about.

On Sunday night we had my brother Adam and his family over for dinner. My Dad ended up coming as well for a few minutes from the hospital. It was nice to sit and visit with them and their kids. The kids were so excited to be there and were really cute! I like having our whole family together, but it is nice to be with the individual families as well and have some time to talk. I was so busy with dinner and visiting that I forgot to get pictures, but it was a really nice night.

After dinner, Jen and I went to see my Mom and got to visit with my brother Seth and some of his kids, so I got to see lots of my cute nieces and nephews that night.

On Monday, one of my sister-in-laws Janelle had her appendix out (lots of hospital stuff this last week) so Jen had their kids. I was working at AF a 12 hour shift, but Jen brought the kids to see my Mom and they came up and saw me at work briefly. It was fun to see them again!

On Tuesday I went to my niece Holly's "Hope of America" program at the Marriot Center, where 5th graders from all around Utah County come together to present a patriotic program. It was a nice program, but most of all, it was nice to spend time with my brother Jon and his family.

Holly was able to participate in the program and was really excited about it. They did a great job and I enjoyed the patriotic songs and the presentations. At the end of the program they turned off all the lights and sang a song about being a light to others using flashlights. That was my favorite part of the night. It was very powerful!

Here are a few pictures from the program:

I thought it was so neat how they had the kids sitting to make an American flag. It was really well done!

My brother's family after the program.  I love how this picture turned out!

Holly and I after the program...Isn't she cute! I can't believe how old she is!

Last night Jen and I had dinner with my sister Michelle and her family. That was really fun to see them again. It has been awhile since we have seen them for some reason, and it was really nice to visit.

I had Jenni and Joe-Joe in the car on the way home and when we got to my house, my other sister and her husband were pulling up from taking my brother-in-law's Mom (who lives in the same condo building as we do) to dinner. The cousins were really excited to see each other, so we ended up having the kids come up and play while we talked.

Later, we decided to go get ice cream and I had Jenni, Joe and Emma in my car. They were so cute and fun together. I just love spending time with my nieces and nephews!  They were laughing and singing together and just so cute, so when I stopped at a light, I turned around and snapped a picture of them.  Aren't they cute?

As we were driving, I pointed out the sunset to them. It was so beautiful and peaceful. I told the kids that whenever I see a beautiful sunset, it helps me remember how much Heavenly Father loves us, so Jenni told me I needed to take a picture of the sunset.

It's not the best, since it is from the car window, but I thought I would put it in anyway because it reminds me of my fun night with those cute kids.

It has been a great week! I was reflecting this morning again about how blessed I am. I have all these wonderful children that love me so much, a wonderful family and friends, a job that I love... I could go on and on. I really do have a wonderful life!