Easter Dinner with the Crawford's

 We celebrated Easter a week early for a couple of reasons.  Kim only has her children every other weekend and this was her weekend.  It was a good thing we planned early because Trisha's cousin was killed in a plane crash and they will have to leave Ohio sooner than planned.  Tragic loss to a family with three children from ages 3-13.  Keep them in your prayers.

 So to have a little spring time fun in the middle of a snow storm (where'd that come from?)

 Kayla and I bought colorful plates and cups.  Then we wrapped napkins and banded them with butterfly paper.  (Wishful thinking...)

 Ham, cheesy potatoes and green bean casserole was on the menu, along with pickled beets, red velvet cake, pineapple upside down cake and dirty dessert.  Yummo, we ate well!

 Kenzie has fallen in love with the "Popcorn Poppin' on the Apricot Tree" song from primary.  Kyle, Kayla and I have been on demand for days now.  If you put your hands up to your eyes then she starts singing with you...super cute.

Trisha and Baby Kooper are doing well.  Kooper is a snuggle bug, which I absolutely love!  Nothing better than baby smells.  I got the honor of rocking this little guy to sleep and we got to retreat to the quiet solitude of the TV room; while everyone else talked in the kitchen.

 

We got to see Kim and her kids too, its been awhile so it was fun to have them around and catch up on their lives.

 Klayton is good at alluding my camera, so I snuck a quick one of him.  Kyle sure does love having his brothers around.  The older he gets the more he misses being around them.  He sure does look forward to moving back up there.  We have 1 year down of his 5 year plan of getting back to MN.  I actually look forward to going.

 Grandma Beninghof ventured out in the snow.  Grandma Crawford was not as adventurous and declined the invite due to weather.  It sure is fun watching great grandmas in action.  Kayla and Grandma are cooking up a plan to get Kayla married in about a year.  It is so funny to watch them plan.  Kayla keeps telling Grandma she is going to make her a Great-Great Grandma first.  I hope they both get that wish.  Grandma gets to laughing with Kayla and those are priceless memories.

 

Before I knew it, Kayla had a pack of kids following her around and they were playing games and singing songs.  You just can't get enough of "Popcorn" when you are two.

 I was surprised to see the older kids join in, especially Kolton because he is a bit anti-social at times.  I was proud of Kayla doing this on her own, she will make an excellent mother someday.  I hope her and Grandma can execute their plan.

I think this little lady enjoyed herself.  I enjoy the toddler chatter.  It's funny the things that make you happy.  I was so ready for the next stage in my kids' life, that I just didn't enjoy these moments as much when they were little.  I will miss them when they go home, they are making our house feel warm and full.

 

 

I just love this shot of Grandma.  This speaks volumes as to who she is.  She is a listener, she really wants to hear and understand how you feel about things.  She is really engaged into the discussion and makes you feel loved.  I hope I can be a Grandma like her someday.

Happy Easter a bit early.

Two Cuties Came to Visit

 Nothing better than baby chuckles in the house.  Chatter from toddlers isn't half bad either.

The quietness in the house has been replaced by the hustle and bustle of some MN family.  It sure is nice to have visits to force you to get your house in order.  You know the things that you ignore because your too busy or don't feel like getting it? 

We have gotten a few sentences from Dakota.  I am grateful to his mission president for giving us much more information when he arrived.  I even got some pictures.  I miss the kid.  The Yukon sitting behind the house doesn't mean that Dakota's home from work, it means that he is gone.  Gone is fine, but I do miss him.  Kyle rearranged his room for company.  His "clean" room that he left, no longer shows that he was here, it is now "Dad" clean.  He is gone.  And he is well.  Thank goodness for the last part.

And then there were 3

Not much going on here compared to the fast and furious departure of Kota.  We haven't heard from him yet and are curious of how he is doing.

It seems like we have a lot of house projects to tackle now and need to prioritize.

What to do first...Kota's bedroom, kitchen floor and walls, finish back porch, back lawn ( puppies destroyed it), or the roof.  We have some expensive fixes that need tackled.  Forecast home improvement season.

On to the Next

This past week was fast and furious.  Monday 3/3, we heard the when and where of the mission, then we were busy finalizing and saying our goodbyes to family and friends.  We were action packed and working hard to get Kota ready to go serve the Lord.

 

 We booked a room in Canton to be closer to the airport.  Our final evening right before getting ready to go.

 It was a lot less difficult to let him go this time.  He is 20, and he can't stay home forever.

 As much as we would love to keep him, it was time to let go.  I couldn't ask for a better place for him to be.

 

 Goodbye, Ohio.  It's on to the next.

 

 Goodbye, Moose, we love you and know that you are going to make a great missionary and that

you will have so many great experiences.  We love you, and know that you are ready to go on to the next chapter of life.

In this House we do Second Chances

Sometimes we don't get it right the first time.  There is always room for improvement. 

Sometimes we can learn vicariously, sometimes we have to have our own lumps.

 But after we figure it all out we get to feel the glorious fruits of our labor.

Dakota Crawford is once again Elder Crawford, serving in the Utah, SLC South Mission.  He has worked hard to re-earn that title.  This time I think he intends on keeping it for two years.  It has been a long tough year, but he paid his due and the end result is all that matters.  If you want to follow him we will be maintaining a blog for him while he is gone,  The Best Two Years on my sidebar will get you there.  We love you Elder Crawford, no matter what!

Chili Cook-off and the Mission

A part of being the Ward Mission Leader is being in charge of the annual Chili Cook-off.  I will have to say that I HATE planning big parties.  Second, I learned a lot and what needs to go better for next year.  We had such a weak turn out that I don't think we had enough variety in the food.  There was a lot of chili and not a lot of anything else.

On a brighter note, we brewed some homemade rootbeer.  That was fun!

 I planned a photo booth for a little bit of extra fun.  Kayla and Grandparents enjoyed the props, as well as a lot of other happy people.

 A friend thought it was funny that Sheriff Crawford was vacuuming in his cowboy get up and pushing a purple vacuum.

Sunday brought us another big snow storm.  You know, I'm getting a little tired of snow.

 We were so busy on Saturday working out all the details to the Chili Cook-off that we did not know we had an important message regarding the moose.

This guy got reinstated to his mission, effective immediately!  He goes back to the Utah SLC South Mission.  He leaves Tuesday.  Fast and furious we are working this week.  I had already mostly packed his bags on my last snow day.  We are just working out some last minute details and trying to visit family.  (No more big parties this week.)  So much to do, but I am so happy to working hard to get him ready to go.  I sure don't feel as sad this time to let him go.  He's my baby and I'm going to miss him, but I sure am happy to let him do the Lord's work.  I sure am proud of him taking an extra year to get himself re-ready to go.  I think he has learned a lot and he will be a better missionary because of it!