Mother's Day

Well, it was a great Mother's Day, and I hope that all the Mothers that may read this had a great day. Carl was sweet and got me a nice necklace and bracelet, Byzantine style. Mostly silver, with some copper links in it as well. He found someone that makes them by hand, interesting, huh? Imagine really fancy chain mail, made into a bracelet and necklace with the links all woven together to form a metal cord.

Other than that, it was a pretty lazy day. We went to sacrament meeting at church and that was really nice, the children got to sing a couple of songs, it always makes me cry (well a few tears at least) to see them up there. Since we had stayed up so late the night before and finally put the kids to bed at 11pm, we decided to leave after sacrament and make all the children take mandatory naps. So, it was a quiet afternoon. They were all so tired and church is right during lunch time, and me not being prepared again, didn't pack the lunch of crackers and dried apples during sacrament. It really was a recipe for disaster. I did get the girls both dressed nicely in their easter dresses I made them, with matching hairdo's and bows. I have really been meaning to get a nice picture of them, but hadn't yet. So, I just did it, even though I was a little late for church.

Saturday we went down to Louisville in the afternoon. Carl got to go to an outdoor store and see a Backpacker Magazine presentation about their latest gear. The girls and I went to World Market (my favorite store) and went shopping while Carl and James were at the outdoor store. On my way to World Market after dropping James and Carl off, I noticed a huge billboard next to the road for a gun store. So after I picked Carl up I told him about it and he walked in and said it was a "real gun store". Carl said he hasn't ever been in a gun store with more guns than this one. Now, I like guns okay, but really this was quite a site to see. Carl thinks there were no less than 1,000 handguns on display and the same for long guns. Pretty cool, it shows you the freedom we have in this country. While there, Emma got her first gun; now she is 6 and James owned 3 by the time he was 3. So, Emma's first gun is a small .22 rifle called a Cricket, with a hot pink laminated stock. It is really cute. Afterwards, we went to dinner at Skyline Chili and then went to the Pottery Barn store so that I could decide if I wanted this particular bedding I had seen in the catalog. Carl and the kids were patient with me as I spent 90 minutes in there fussing over what shams, decorative pillows and throws I want for the master bedroom. Since tax season is over, I have been working on all of my projects again. I am getting new carpet in the master, I painted a new color in there, replaced the old brittle blinds, and I am getting new bedding. The walls are taupe, carpet dark reddish brown and the bedding is yellow. You can look it up at Pottery Barn, it is called painterly paisley. It is really pretty. I am also repainting my kitchen cabinets and have bought a new light fixture for it. The kitchen here in Kentucky is truly hideous. Painting the cabinets will help a lot, but I am still undecided on what color to paint them, white, green or something esle maybe.

As of late, we have been resurrecting our old hobbies, well, Carl mostly. He has put off his interests for years in the pursuit of a degree, then work, then moving to NC, and then a job that made him travel 67% of the time. So, he got a membership to the range here in KY for Christmas and has tried to go every week with James. James is apparently becoming a pretty good shot, even with a .45 handgun. Pretty good for little James. The Westergard arsenal has had 3 new members added within the last 6 months as well: Sig Mosquito; a shotgun; pink cricket.

Carl has also started doing more hiking again. The trip planned this fall with Poppa going down the river in Jackson Hole on a Canoe, has really got this all going. So, James and Carl are going to spend some extra time, Jesse is going to come up from Denver, and they are going to go backpacking for a week. Carl has been really enjoying getting ready for the trip, planning, buying maps, laminating them, buying a compass for James, a new cooking stove, freeze dried food and a bunch of other stuff that I really don't know what it is. He really is like a kid at Christmas time, that is how excited he is about this trip.

James had his 3rd baseball game last Monday, and hit the ball, got on base, then even made it around to home. The coach was really proud of the entire team, he said he had never coached such a great team, in 7 years, as he coached last week. Everyone was working together really well and playing well. James is enjoying baseball, but it is interesting to see him line up with all the other players, he is easily one of the smallest ones.

Well, on Friday we leave for Germany for a 2 week vacation. This will be the trip of a lifetime, 3 kids and 3 countries in 2 weeks. More to come.