Spring is Here! I think...

Lots of exciting and not-so-exciting things have happened over the last couple months, and I am determined to write them down. There will be lots of random moments in this jumble that is our life in the Ho House.

The first one is about Brandon. Love of my life.  Back in March, Kayla and I decided to go to the park because it was a BEAUTIFUL day.  We were having a really good time until a crazy little idea popped into Kayla's head.  Our park is right next to an elementary school, and this school has their own small playground.  Kayla saw it and wanted to go over to play there.  The whole time I was trying to explain to her that we can't play there. Being a 2 year old, she doesn't listen to anything you have to say unless it's something she wants.  We get to the small playground and I finally pick her up and try to start walking back to the playground she CAN play on. Being a 2 year old, she's kicking and screaming, making it very difficult for her mommy to carry her anywhere without a lot of effort. When I put her down I noticed that in the thrashing and crying, she had broken my necklace.  It was a simple necklace: a silver chain with a tiny CTR ring looped on it; the CTR letters were actually a Chinese character.  The ring was one of the first gifts, maybe even the first gift, that Brandon gave me when we were dating.  It had fallen off when the necklace broke, and I didn't realize how much it meant to me until it was gone. We went home and Kayla told Daddy why Mommy was sad and said that he could fix it.  Brandon put the chain back together, and that made Kayla happy.  She said "Daddy fix it!" He comforted me and I was resigned to the ring being lost. 

The next day was Sunday. Brandon was busy with church meetings, so I didn't see him much until the evening.  When he got home and into more comfy clothes he got a text message and told me he needed to go back out again.  There was nothing surprising in that, so he changed, left, and I finished making dinner.  He came home soon after that with my tiny CTR ring.  Then he went on to tell me how earlier that afternoon he went out looking for it but couldn't find it either.  He asked a couple people he met at the park and asked them to keep their eye out for it and to contact him if they found it.  Someone did! I couldn't believe it! Brandon was so sweet to go and do something like that for me. It's those simple things that he does that means so much.  I'm really lucky to have him.

I felt like I needed a picture break before I moved on to the next fun event in my life. This is a picture of a few of my tulips that came up this year in my garden.  They all turned out so beautiful! I love my tulips!

One of the biggest events in March, for me, was Brandon's birthday. I've been planning it since the beginning of the year, so I was very excited for it to finally come.  Brandon turned 29 this year, so I wanted to make it a memorable one.  It's his last year in his 20's; we needed to celebrate! So I surprised him by taking him to Nickle City in Orem. He knew we were having a party, but didn't know where exactly.  We got a group of friends together (and their families) and had a really fun time.  Brandon was surprised and very very happy.  We had pizza, cake, and  ice cream.  Unfortunately, I was an idiot and didn't take pictures of my beautiful cake that I made!  It was a two-tier cake with yummy cream cheese icing (dyed blue) and surrounded by twix bars. I had balloons for the kids (including Brandon), and I still have some left over on the ceiling of my house weeks later!  The best part about having a party at Nickle City was that I didn't have to worry about the entertainment.  They could just go and play games! I loved it! Brandon loved it; and Kayla really loved it! We'll have to go there with her again.

The next day, we went to the Filmed in Utah Awards.  Brandon's feature film, Missed Connections, was nominated for 9 different awards.  Unfortunately, we didn't win anything, but it was fun to get all dressed up and go to the awards ceremony.

Now we enter into the month of April.  It's been a pretty interesting month.  Some good. Some not so good.  So here we go!

The first weekend of April is always one of my favorites.  It's General Conference weekend: two days of spiritual enlightenment from the leaders of our Church.  One of the traditions we now have in connection with that weekend is visiting my brother, Clark, and his family.  Either they come down to us or we go up to Idaho to visit them.  This time around, we went up to them.  They have a little girl about 9 months younger than Kayla, and they have so much fun together!!!  Sometimes it's so much fun, the mommies don't get much out of a talk or two...but these cousins sure do love each other.

One of the things I like about April, beside my beautiful tulips, is the warm weather after a long winter.  Having a very active child cooped up inside for that long just makes us all go a little crazy.  So on any warmish day, you can find us at the park.  Hopefully with some of our friends, too. Parks make everyone so happy!

This is Kayla with her friend/cousin Amy. They love playing together!

And this is Kayla with Cami playing "Ring Around the Rosie" 

The other fun things that come with warm weather (though I guess it's not really necessary, just nice) are BBQs and S'more nights at our fire-pit.  I had given Brandon a s'more box for his birthday, so we could keep all his yummy s'more making goodness all together.  Best present ever! A friend of ours had a birthday the same day Brandon planned a S'more party so Brandon asked me to make a s'more cake.  This time I took a picture!

I found the recipe on Pinterest, and it's super yummy! It's a graham cracker cookie with a brownie mix and marshmallow cream in the middle.  I think I'm going to tweak it a little more to get the sizing right.  Right now, it's a little on the thick side (I think at least 6" tall). Needless to say, Brandon will appreciate any "testing" I do on this yummy thing.  Now all I need is a kitchen torch...

The next best thing about April (most years anyway) is Easter.  It's a time to celebrate and remember the sacrifice of our beloved Savior and His resurrection.  Our Father in Heaven loved us so much that He sent His Son to suffer for our sins and die for us.  Our Savior loved us so much that He experienced the atonement so that we might one day live with Him and our Heavenly Father again.  What ultimate examples of love.  And if we love them even a little bit, then we must do our best so that the Atonement wasn't made for us in vain.  I've been thinking a lot about this and families in particular.  Christ atoned for us so that we can be forever families.  He was resurrected so that we can one day be resurrected with our families, too.  It all boils down to families.  Everything.  The gospel, the purpose of the Church, our purpose here on earth, and the ordinances we do for ourselves and those that are dead.

I love my family, all of them.  They enrich and bring joy to my life.  Raising my daughter has really challenged me and helped me become a better person.  I have such hopes for her, but ultimately I hope that she continues to be the happy, sweet girl I know she is.  

Easter morning, when I dressed Kayla up in her pretty dress (thanks Mom!), she wouldn't stay still long enough for me to get a decent picture, so I had to get a video instead.

That afternoon, we did a small Easter egg hunt for Kayla (loved it), and then had the Bobo's over for Easter dinner.  I really liked the idea of making dinner extra special for that day.  We had ham, slow cooked scalloped potatoes, rolls, salad, and deviled eggs.  Everything was so delicious!  I feel a tradition coming on...

And that brings us up to date to this week.  And though it's only been three days this week, they have been pretty full, kinda stressful, and pretty much  overshadow all the good things that happened this month.  At the beginning of April, Brandon went to play basketball with the Elder's quorum.  He stretched, warmed up, and then started to play a game of 21.  He shot the ball, then seeing that it wasn't going to go in the basket, went to go after it.  He took one step, heard a pop, and went down.  It wasn't a loud pop in his ankle, and he didn't feel a whole lot of pain, so he came home where we elevated it and put ice on it even though he didn't get much swelling.  We later got a brace, and he went on crutches for a while until he felt good enough to limp along without one.  He continued to get better, but was still having trouble putting pressure on the front part of his left foot.  On Sunday (the 27th) as we were coming home from church, Brandon decided to try his foot out a little bit.  He didn't put a lot of pressure on it, but it didn't take much for the rest of his Achilles heel to tear.  That same day, we went to a friend who's a physical therapist and he did a reflex test and told us that it had completely torn. We then speculated that it had partially torn at the beginning of the month and then finally finished tearing the rest of the way that day.  Monday, we make a lot of phone calls to various doctor's offices, and finally found one that accepted our health insurance (I didn't realize that would be the hardest part of the process, but that's another rant for another day).  We went in today and they verified via a sonogram that it had indeed torn all the way.  Brandon will have surgery.  He's going in tomorrow to consult with the surgeon and will then schedule a time to go get that done sometime within the next week or two.  It should be a one day hospital visit.  No overnight.  Just the surgery and then a boot for however long it takes to recover.  Hopefully everything will go that easy, so I will be praying that happens.  Through this whole thing, Kayla's been really sweet and understanding that her Daddy can't always pick her up and run with her like he used to.  She's confident that the doctors will fix Daddy's foot. I love her for that.

So with all of April's ups and downs, I'm really glad it's over.  May, here we come, whether I want it to or not...I'll just be happy if it's warmer that what we've gotten so far this week (rain, snow, and lots of chilly wind). May it be filled with warm park days for Kayla and safe recovery days for Brandon.