Aaron, Camile, Carly, Ellise, and Aubree

Sledding in Arlington, Mass. This is the park we play at when we go to the Temple. There is a beautiful view of Boston from this hill. 

 Carly got glasses in January. She was so amazed at the details she can now see.

 Aubree and I take playing house pretty seriously. I had a baby this day. I've never had such an easy (and short) pregnancy and delivery. Aubree is such a proud big sister.

Aubree is famous now. She was in the newspaper a few weeks ago. (Story time at the library)

Ellie was baptized by Aaron on March 1st. It was a beautiful service. There were several people from our little branch there and several friends and neighbors who aren't LDS. We were especially grateful that Grandma Kathy and Grandpa Leon, and Nanny Nette and Grandpa could be there.

This is the only picture I have of Leon and Kathy here with us. So sad! Aaron and Kathy are doing family history and Leon is reading scriptures (pretty typical).

 Also while the grandparents were here we went to Newport, RI to the National Museum of American Illustrators. We love Newport! My parents stayed in a hotel while Aaron's parents were here, so the girls got to spend a couple nights at the hotel and go swimming. After Aaron's parents left my parents moved in with us for the next week and a half. They cooked, cleaned, fixed up, did laundry, entertained and spent quality time with the girls.

We also went to Haverhill, Mass to see the statue of Hannah Dustin (my 11th great grandma on my Dad's side). I wrote a post about her here. We also got a little pamphlet that told us her story and also included a letter she wrote to her church when she was much older. It was so cool because she included some of her favorite scriptures in it, and specifically which scripture she had in her mind during her captivity - Psalm 43 and Psalm 118:7. She said, "… I am Thankful for my Captivity, twas the Comfortablest time that ever I had; In my Affliction God made his Word Comfortable to me…" We had a family home evening lesson a couple days after visiting her statue about how trials can bring us closer to Heavenly Father and he can comfort us during hard times.

One morning Grandpa saw Aubree sitting on this bench and she explained to him that she was in timeout. So Grandpa held her on his lap and told her about a time when he was a little boy and tried to carve something and ended up cutting his hand. He also told her about how life was sometimes hard for him too when he was a little boy and how he liked to have his Mom hold him close and she would bounce him on her leg. (Now I know why my Dad likes to bounce his grandkids on his lap.) It was so sweet to see my Dad hold her close and show her such love and sympathy.

The picture hanging above my Dad is a puzzle that Ellie sent to Nanny Nette and Grandpa for Christmas. After they put it all together, my Dad "engineered" it into about 8 pieces, plus edges, and sent it back to us to put together and keep. (They have no where to put it now that they're homeless.) So, we put it together and then I glued it and framed it for Ellie's birthday.


We LOVED having family here - we are so lucky to have such wonderful grandparents for our kids!