Darr Family Blog

I’m going to deviate from my typical blog post format for this post. About a week and a half ago, we went to California to see Jason and his fiance Saira get married. We stayed at Mom and Dad’s for a few days, drove up to Central CA for Jason’s wedding (and saw the Sequoias while we were out there), spent a few more days at Mom and Dad’s (and went to the beach), and then traveled home. It was a whirlwind of a trip, but we took a lot of pictures. Consequently, this post is going to be mostly pictures and captions. I will try to stay in chronological order (or maybe not…we’ll see).

A Notable Thing that Happened This Week: Paul went to our HOA meeting and was elected as chairman for the Beautification Committee. I suppose the fact that he has organized our monthly park clean-ups played a big part in that. One of the first things he did was to rescue some trees that are planted along one of the streets. They still had their wire supports even though they have been planted for quite some time. Several of the trees had the wires cutting into the trunks (and one had even started growing over the wire and rubber). Hopefully now they will be able to heal and be strengthened.

A Funny Primary Moment or Two: Joseph took part in the Primary singing for Sacrament meeting today. He was able to get right up to the front this time, but Paul and I couldn’t help but laugh at his “performance”. He knew some of the words to the song (like most Sunbeams), but spent most of the time swinging his arms back and forth and draped over the stand, resting his head, lol. Later, during his class, his teachers told us that they were talking about the animals on Noah’s Ark. They mentioned horses and asked the kids what horses did (probably wanting the kids to make horse sounds). Joseph said that horses teach us to pray. ?! He started laughing afterward, so I think he was probably making one of his “jokes”. Either that, or he has already figured out that “prayer” in general is a good answer for a typical question in Primary, lol. 😉

Alright, onto the pictures!

This VACATION in Pictures:

Why this last picture? Well, see…

That time that I left my phone in a Tucson gas station restroom: I didn’t notice it missing until we stopped for the night a couple of hours later, in Deming, NM. I was frantic! We practically tore the motel room apart trying to find it. Trying to resign myself to the idea of it being gone forever, I heated up Joseph’s supper and set it before him, telling him to eat up. He reminded me we needed to bless the food, so I told him to go ahead. He said his normal things, paused, and then asked for help to find my phone. After he finished, Paul went out to look in the car one more time. As he was looking, a call came into his phone, from mine. He answered it. Apparently someone found it and was calling to see if there was a way to get it back to us. They were a few hours ahead of us on the road, but when finding that we were traveling the same route, they said they would leave it at the front desk at their motel (giving us all the information) and we could pick it up there. We did so the next morning. There are good people in the world! I’m also grateful for a Heavenly Father who answers prayers and for a little boy who was prompted to ask for help!

 

 

 

Weekly Happenings: We played outside as much as we could, since the weather has been beautiful. There have been playdates at the park, playing in the backyard, Joseph has been riding his bike around the block as we walk along beside him (as much as changing times messes with my head, I do love that it is light longer in the evenings during the spring and summer), and we have just generally enjoyed being outside. Having said that, my allergies have been out of control! I have to make sure that I remember to take my allergy medicine (and use my nasal spray) every day to keep ahead of them. The one major thing that happened this past week was that I took Joseph to get his hair cut. I took him to the same place as last time (with the car seat that he can sit in and watch a TV show while he gets his hair cut). Last time, he was really unhappy the entire time (he does NOT like clippers), so I didn’t take any pictures. This time around, it was much better. He only got a little giggly when the stylist was trimming his neck and around his ears. No crying, wailing, or flailing. 🙂

The Weekly Weather: As mentioned before, it was so pretty this past week! It’s been warm (but not too warm), sunny, and breezy. I hope it lasts a bit longer before summer hits!

What Paul’s Been Up To: Aside from school and work (he got stuck at work on Friday for an extra couple of hours because he had to help fix a huge computer problem with the library), he spent a lot of time on Saturday making our yard pretty. He transplanted our tomato seedlings (they looked a little shocked with the transplant, so we’re hoping they will make it, but if they don’t, I will probably go to Lowe’s to get replacement ones tomorrow). He also put down fresh cardboard, newspaper, and mulch in the garden bed (to help keep away weeds), and mowed both yards. I know it was a lot of hard work, but it pays off because the yards look great!

What Sarah’s Been Up To: I have been plugging away at teaching piano (I had one student drop, but another started up), working on my visiting teaching stuff, and getting my choir prepared for the Easter fireside our stake is putting on tonight (our choir is singing a piece). There will be musical contributions from each ward in the stake, a combined Primary choir piece, and a combined stake choir piece at the end. I think it’s going to be beautiful! I will also be glad when it’s over because I get very nervous leading in front of big groups.

What Joseph’s Been Up To: In addition to conquering his fear of the clippers, he has had a great time playing outside and with his friends. He has also made great strides in potty-training (due in part to me and Paul reminding him every couple of hours that he needs to go potty). I think it’s been four days now that the only Pull-ups I need to change are stinky ones. Yay! There was one funny thing that happened as he was racing me up the stairs one evening. He realized that I was kind of close, so he threw his socks down the stairs. When I told him he had dropped them, he told me I needed to get them. Pretty soon, I heard him triumphantly crowing that he had won. I think we may need to talk to him about ethics, lol. 😉

This Week in Pictures:

 

Weekly Happenings: This past week we officially welcomed spring…with almost the entire week being rainy, hahaha. We didn’t really do too much outside of the house, consequently. We celebrated Saint Patrick’s Day by having shepherd’s pie. Paul took this past Thursday off in order to get some stuff done in the yard (he was going to do homework, but decided that since Thursday was actually clear, he’d save the homework for a rainy day…make hay while the sun shines). Friday morning dawned with the discovery of a couple fun nature things: 1) we saw a sprout come out of the cup that Joseph planted some seeds in last week with his Primary class and 2) some birds decided to build a nest on our patio (one of our friends who bird watches called them Phoebies…they look a bit like a sparrow). Later on Friday, Joseph and I braved the elements and went to the zoo (the weather was actually clear while we were there, it only just started to rain as we were walking to the car to go home). I also took him to the mall yesterday so that Paul could get some homework done in peace. 🙂

The Weekly Weather: As mentioned before, the weather was rather dreary this past week. This week is supposed to be much better, with more sun and warmer temperatures. I bet that pretty soon I will be complaining about the heat and humidity, but right now, it feels pretty good.

What Paul’s Been Up To: He did quite a bit of work in the yard (mowing, fertilizing, weeding, etc.) and it shows! The grass is greening up and looks really nice. He also built some raised garden beds and planted some blackberries. You can read more about the process on his blog, here. Oh, and he planted the pumpkin seedling which had quickly exceeded its original home in a plastic cup. When he’s not doing yard work or working, he’s spending quite a bit of time working on his classes with the Pathway program. For one of his classes (a religion one), he has to keep a running journal about his reading. His journals are usually formatted like this.

What Sarah’s Been Up To: Not too much, actually…still teaching piano (I had one student decide not to take lessons anymore, but another who is showing interest in starting, so it will work out), still leading the ward choir (we performed our Easter music today and received many compliments), still doing the visiting teaching coordination (almost all my slips are passed out…I may just mail the last two), and still maintaining the household (everything’s relatively clean, hahaha).

What Joseph’s Been Up To: Last Sunday (while I was typing up my blog, actually), he and his little buddy next door (a little boy about 6 months older than he is) were communicating to each other through the windows in our respective living rooms (since they line up perfectly). They told each other jokes, showed each other toys, and did a myriad of other things. It was pretty cute. We also spent some time this week making sock puppets (his friend had some extra supplies left over, so his parents decided to share with us), which Joseph loves. He loved the zoo, and was happy to go to the mall (since it meant he could play in the Lego Store). I did end up purchasing a mini kit for him to get to put together with Paul…who am I kidding? Paul put it together with Joseph’s help (since the instructions are still a bit over Joseph’s head). The past few nights, he’s been complaining about the dark at night, saying that there are monsters. I know this is a natural part of childhood, but man, it’s frustrating. I just keep reassuring him that everything is okay and that there is no such thing as monsters. The other night, he asked specifically to have his plush armadillo, spider, and Angry Bird in bed so that they could protect him. I found his choice kind of amusing.

This Week in Pictures: