Spring at the Herbert's

 Here are some pictures of how we spent the first few months of 2024

Dane and Eve got really into legos

Madison asked me to do her hair for.... something.  haha, I can't remember what but all I cared was that she asked me to do her hair.  Maddie doesn't ask me to do much for her and she NEVER wants me to do her hair, and she usually doesn't trust me to do anything right (haha).  So this was such a win for me.  

We pick up about 20 holds from the library a week.  I guess that wasn't enough because they opened up a library card over in the other county and now I get to pick up  20 holds form that library once a week also.  All of these are ours.  wonderful.  (eye roll)

I never take before pictures because A) I don't think to.  B)I rarely intentionally start a project I just start doing things and do it until I have to move onto something else. and C) I don't think I do things that are very extrodinary and worth having a before and after.  But every once in a while I am like, "wow, I just did this really cool/hard thing that it is awesome, I am awesome.  But no one ever SAYS that to me so then I take and "after" picture.  But one spring day my friend to Dane and Eve for the day and I cleaned out the garage.  It was a DISASTER and I was so proud of myself.  It took like 6 hours.  (for the record not one person in the family said a word about the clean garage)  But that's ok, I didn't do it for them, it was driving ME crazy.  Between my knee surgery and broken foot last year SO MANY THINGS got cluttered and messy so I have just been trying to fix as much of that as I can without getting too behind in life.  

Coming out of the temple one rainy Saturday morning, it was beautiful.

We went to a park and some of the kids climbed up onto some slack line poles.

I was cleaning out a drawer and found some old lists, I thought I should snap a picture before throwing them away for memories sake.  

These are lists of things I either want to buy, do, or get done.

and these were our April 2024 general conference schedule.  Who would be gone and at what times and the one on the right were all the potential watching times.  

Dane and Eve playing in the fairy garden while I did some weeding.

Here is a Facebook post about this picture:

Today’s kind of a hard day. I’m so grateful for a mother-in-law who gave me the gift of gardening. First day of restoring my garden. Hopefully it will restore my soul.

*****

After posting this on Facebook I had several wonderful friends and family check in on me.  I felt silly.  It wasn't anything big.  Life with teens is just hard.  I wish I could weed and cultivate their lives the way I can my garden, but I can't, only they can.  So I did it to my garden instead, with a hope and a prayer that my efforts will be sanctified in other ways.

Eve gave Dane this art she did.  

Swinging at the park with Linken.

Megan and Maddie stayed up late one night fort he release of Taylor Swifts new album.

They rated each song as they heard it.

Art

During Spring Break the three of us went and worked out at 5 am.

Reading a book while Dane and Eve were swimming

My Facebook post about THIS picture:

Whenever I read this book, or even hold it in my hands, I feel like time and space gets a little bit smaller, and I enter a period of holiness. I cry every time. Even though there is nothing in the book that is sad. I have read books by dead authors before. But this one is different. Kate is different. I didn’t know her, but I felt like our spirits knew each other. I always felt kinship and I yearned for a conversation for years. Her death was a real loss for me, a longing that would never be fulfilled. A dear friend gave me this book for my birthday, having no idea how deeply I wanted it. I am eternally grateful to the men and women who published this book for Kate, posthumously. #kateholbrook

Megan helping Brock with homework.  Sometimes my soul sings with so much joy I can hardly contain it.