March

I was looking forward to this month with great anticipation. It certainly exceeded my expectations for being a busy one and passed just as quickly as I thought it would. 

Out of the month's 31 days, we had some sort of visitor or guest on 22 of them. I tended the Jolley boys, the Jensen boys, the Brown girls, Gabriel, and Spencer, and I hosted a baby shower and fed the missionaries. Matthew hosted book club and the Elder's Quorum game night. Matthew's Uncle Ryan and his family came to visit for four days, and Grandma J spent nearly a week with us. It was definitely a month full of friends and family!

  

The boys had parent teacher conferences at the beginning of the month and a short two day break from school. Then the third week of the month was Spring Break and we were pretty successful at filling it with a nice balance of down time and fun activities. The boys also completed a session of swimming lessons, showing quite a bit of improvement. Mercy had a lot of ups and downs this month, throwing tantrums and not eating or sleeping very well. But she has also been a faithful sewing companion, has gotten better at picking up her things, and has greatly increased her endurance when it comes to walks and hikes.

My friend and visiting teachee for the past two years, Diane Miller, moved at the end of the month. Her husband is in the Air Force and they were reassigned to Delaware. Diane has such a big personality and I've loved serving and getting to know her through visiting teaching. While one friend has moved away, another has settled here more permanently. Today we spent 10 hours helping the Jensen's move from their rental house to their new Mirehaven home just about a mile from us.

The last big thing that happened in March was the arrival of our new Stout Bell Tent. We did a ton of research and lots of discussing and praying over this purchase. We curtailed a lot of extraneous spending and after reaching our financial goals felt good about investing in this tent. It was delivered yesterday and we set it up right away. Matthew and I passed a couple hours curled up on an air mattress watching the Great British Baking Show on his laptop, then I went inside to sleep and he spent the night in the tent. All things considered, the first night went well and we are looking forward with great anticipation for it's maiden excursion in a couple weeks.