I had a wonderful time with my children and grandchildren during spring break. Danelle and family and Aimee and family came from Texas so only Scott and his family were missing. The sisters had a great time reminiscing and all laughed long and cleansingly hard. We had a cornbeef and cabbage feast with huge reuben sandwiches for dessert (only the men could consume those!) The kids went hunting for the leprecauns gold (instead of an easter egg hunt) since this is when they were here. After visiting several parks and finding gold bags full of candy and scattering a few pennies in return for the leprecauns to find (so they will be sure to come back next year) we returned back to our own park across the street for a family soccer game and then another feast. This one the Cafe Rio pulled pork salad a recipe that Marilyn had posted on her blog. It was a big hit except the diehard mexican food lovers (Vince and Dennis) stated that while it was delicious, it was NOT "mexican" food despite the tortilla and the Rio in the name. We finished up the evening playing Scattagories. The cousins also had a great time reconnecting. Both Vince and Dennis are considering moving back to the Phoenix area which would be great! But of course there are a multiplicity of other factors that would have to be considered before making that decision.

Holly and Jonathan will finally be closing and recieving the keys to their new house this week possibly by Tuesday or Wednesday! Finally the underwriting is finished and the papers are at the title company. They are so excited and ready for this move. We will miss them a lot. Especially Marvin, he is so attached to the kids and especially Jonathan Robert. He loves playing with him and at 2 and 1/2 JR is delightfully fun to play with. Even his mess making skills are developing. Last week, Marvin laughingly tells me that JR had crushed a pack of crackers and scattered them on the floor. Holly was admonishing him as she got out the vacuum and was vacuuming up the layer of cracker crumbs. Jonathan Robert thought she was enjoying herself so much (he loves to vacuum) that he went and got another pack and was following behind her, crushing and tossing more cracker bits in the wake of her clean sweep.

I have another incentive to get on the bandwagon and lose weight. My work company (Hospice of the Valley) is sponsoring a "Biggest Loser" contest. Which will have cash bonuses and prizes for losing weight. While these prizes pale in comparison to the TV shows booty, it should be fun! and any incentive to get on and stay on a healthier lifestyle is welcome. Weigh in is tomorrow. The contest runs in four 12 week sessions--so for an entire year. Bonuses of ten dollars per each 10 pounds and a $200 prize winner each session are offered. I am getting out that book I started in January (Danelle gave me an LDS focused 12 step book "He Did Deliver Me From Bondage" by Colleen C. Harrison) which Danelle, I and Aimee were going to work on it together but everyday life got in the way and we didn't manage to hammer down all the details of our meetings---so as usual, I didn't follow through with reading and working through the steps. So here's a big breath :0 as I open it and dive in again. I want to learn to love walking and exercise! I want to find love and comfort in something other than food. I want to be (and look like) an active, fit person

Denver (my brother) has scanned in pages of my grandmother's book so that instead of taking all the time to type it into the computer, I can just proof read and correct the mistakes that the software translator might create when it reads the scanned pages and translates it to a word document. It will be much faster and I plan to do quite a few pages today so look for a new post this evening in the ACROSS THE YEARS link at the top right of my blog.

We have really been having some beautiful weather here in Phoenix!! This is the time we all love and the reason why we put up with the LOOOONG hot summer!

I'm going to close and get started on something else so--until we meet again, may God be with you!