April - Leroy Jenkins

We celebrated Easter with the Tates and Marmie and Grandpa. It was a fun and uplifting weekend with General Conference, Easter, April Fool’s Day, and family. I tricked the kids with brussel sprouts dipped in chocolate to look like cake pops for April Fool’s Day and it was really fun :).

General Conference was very special with the calling of a new prophet, President Nelson. I remember President Monson being called when I was on my mission in Toronto and the chance to make flyers and invite anyone and everyone on buses and street corners to come hear the living prophet speak. It was one of the few times we stood on a street corner talking to people, but we did it as a zone or district or mission for a few hours—everybody at once. I felt like the missionaries of old standing on a soap box sharing the good news of the gospel. Anyway, I digress…I remember listening to President Monson speak as a prophet for the very first time. We brought a brand new investigator with us from Cuba, whose first words afterwards were “I know for certain that that man is a prophet. I know it by the way he spoke and what he shared.” But I don’t remember a solemn assembly for President Monson in General Conference, though we apparently must have done it following his call. When this General Conference started and we began to sustain President Nelson it felt like most other sustainings. In my head I even remember thinking yeah, of course we sustain you, without a lot of emotion or feeling almost like it was just habit during conference. But all the sudden it changed—primary children, women, mothers, fathers, priesthood holders of various quorums, young women, all were asked to sustain the prophet individually. And suddenly it became much more real. And I could FEEL this tremendous difference. This power that came with that calling and the sustaining of a living prophet. It was a very touching experience, the way you could FEEL the power, support, love, and strength behind the true and living prophet. And the membership expressing their faith and support of him and his calling.

Dad went off to Goblin Valley with the Scouts so we went and played with baby animals at Hee Haw Farms. Alexa was a little animal whisperer. The boys (Tyler and our neighbor Tennyson) couldn’t catch rabbits for their life and were getting frustrated, but Alexa would gently and quickly scoop them up and then hand them to the boys to hold. She was so good at it! And she happily played with the ducks, chicks, piglets, baby goats, etc. We went on a wagon ride, played in the corn pit, went down silo slides, and rode ponies. We promised Tad he could ride a horsey for his birthday but none of the local farms opened until April for pony rides. We sure do love our little farm children.

I woke up one Sunday morning and my eye was swollen shut! Yikes! I tried our new health insurance app and did a virtual doctor’s visit, which was AMAZING. I scheduled an appointment on my phone to have a Dr call me in 15 minutes, and sat in my bathroom in a bathrobe on a Sunday morning. It was so much better than dragging kids to urgent care and paying $100! You basically face time with a doctor, who asked me questions and had me show him inside and outside of my eye, etc. to figure out what was wrong. Then he called in a prescription to our local Walgreens and we were done. Kyle was really sick and I was the only leader in Primary that day, plus Alexa was giving a talk. So I sucked it up and took my Quasimodo face to church. And left 2 days later on a business trip to Wisconsin with a still slightly funky eye. I got lots of weird looks, but confirmed I wasn’t contagious before leaving the house…

Alexa did a free community karate class and chopped a board in half. Here’s the video to prove it.

We’re enjoying the warmer weather and the chance to play outside.

Our other big news is that we got a new dog! Our good friends and neighbors, the Wilsons, asked us to dog sit while they were in Thailand on vacation. They were back for a week and called and asked if we wanted to keep their dog permanently. Diana was having a rough pregnancy, mostly on bedrest, and trying to take care of 3 other littles 5 and under so the dog was spending most of the day in the kennel because he was a puppy and still spazzy about potty training. So we inherited Leroy Jenkins, a 7-month old Dauchstaund. The kids think it’s hilarious that he’s called a wiener dog. He had his own dog bed but after a month or so we just got rid of it because he only wants to cuddle together with Roxy. Kyle thinks it’s hilarious that Roxy’s tail is usually whacking Leroy in the face but he just sits there and takes it--