Young?... I say yes!

So I had to share my day, so that I can remember this birthday! Aaron is the sweetest man in the whole world! He set everything up for today to prove to me that I am still young. The kids (We know that this means Aaron) gave me the WII Fit, to prove that in the WII Fit world I am younger than my real age. We went to Chico and went for a hike at bidwell park, which was beautiful and so invigorating! Then we went and got some lunch, did some shopping and then went for a bike ride at One Mile in Chico. It was so fun to have an entire day to do some things together that we rarely have the time for. The day made me feel so carefree and worry free, like I did during my twenties. When we got back this evening to pick up the kids from my parents house I was amazed by him. I knew how tired we both were, and yet he went and mowed my parents lawn and then went and changed a flat tire for my sister (all voluntary). He is always so willing to help and to please and I am so grateful for him! I am one lucky young woman!

Deacon Camping Trip!

Aaron and Christian went on the Deacon overnighter camping trip to Yuba Falls. They were so tired when they got back. They said they were freezing through the night and couldn't sleep. Christian took a long nap on Saturday, but Aaron wasn't able to. Aaron said there was a lot of poison oak up there and was really worried that he'd get it. He's had it once before and he doesn't react well to it at all. Well, yesterday, 4 days later... Christian ends up with Poison Oak! He is doing really well, we got the right prescription cream and it seems to be clearing up. I think that they both learned a ton from the trip!

Eye opener!

I have started a blog this week on some of my ancestors and have been typing in a lot of stories and information about them. It has been such a neat experience! I have learned that I am lazy compared to all that they had to do. I am grateful for technology, and to be born at a time when I don't have to milk a cow and churn butter. I love that I can throw my clothes in the washing machine and the dryer and not have so much back breaking work. What a blessing that we can travel by car or plane and not have to deal with storm and weather problems that they had to. I am also so grateful that we have come so far medically. I really needed to have this experience this week, I tend to look at the glass half empty at times and forget how many blessing I do have. As I turn my heart to my fathers, I learn and grow and am blessed in ways that I'm sure I can't even understand at this time. My heart is full!

Snow trip... in April?

My little daredevil, giggling the whole way down!

My family

Christian kept throwing snowballs

Meliah on one of her backwards runs

Making a snow angel

Aaron carried this around with him as his shield. He was the only one that would allow Christian to throw snowballs at him.

Lizzy and I getting ready to hit the slope

Christian and Aaron

We had such a wonderful time in the snow today! I will always have sweet and bitter memories of my childhood snow days. Being one of 8 kids it was always a fight for the best snow gear. We never had enough! I usually ended up extremely cold within the first 1/2 hour rigged up with bread bags on my tennis shoes and socks for mittens. I do remember crawling through the coolest tunnels ever that my brother, Martin, would dig through the bushes to the side of our house. It was a special priviledge to be able to enter one of his snow caves. I seemed to always be the target of a snowball thrown by one of my brothers. Martin was the best snowball maker and thrower ever, so I would try to be on his team every time. When I got a little older my parents purchased some property up on a hill that was nicknamed sled hill. Every kid in town would go sledding up there. They were some of the steepest scariest rides you'd ever take. I was never a dare-devil and was so afraid of sledding. Those hills terrified me! Today, I realized it really isn't so bad. It was really warm out. Things still haven't changed for me! I didn't have snow boots or snow gloves, but that didn't stop me and luckily it wasn't so cold that I wanted to stop after a few minutes.

Easter Sunday!

Way too much candy!

Aaron entertaining with the bunny in a hat

Aaron and I

The kids with Grandpa and Grandma Eller

Meliah and her cousin, Lexie

The kids with their cousins, on the Eller side (Bella wouldn't stay in the picture, she was seriously mad that her sister was showing off that she got both the silver and gold eggs)

Lexie handing me her eggs!

Meliah and Lizzy during our travels! Such cute girls!

Mom reading her mother's account of the life of her grandfather, John Julius Delchamps.

The kids with Grandma and Grandpa Warren



We had such a nice weekend! Conferences were amazing and make me want to be a better wife and mother and person. We were able to go to Chico on Sunday and stopped and saw my parents in Gridley on the way back. We had an easter egg hunt indoors in Chico,ate and watched conference then headed back home. We stopped in Gridley and played some games, Grandma and Grandpa gave each of the kids a "Who is your Hero" poster for Easter (Scripture Heros) and Grandma shared a story of J.J. Delchamps and his uninhibited, boisterous personality and love of baseball. It was the perfect Easter Sunday!

Saturday's Easter Egg Hunt

Decorating eggs

Christian found the jackpot!

The kids going through their baskets

Cousins running down the hill acting like birds! The dog joined in too!

All the youngest cousins on my side of the family

We had a wonderful day at the Pietz' house today! Ate pizza, went on an easter egg hunt, jumped on the trampoline and some of us went on a short hike. Everything was so nice except that Ivan broke his finger. He is such a tough boy though... I could tell he was hurting, but he still went on with his day. We always love to go where we can roam and enjoy the outdoors!

Giving blood

So, I went to give blood on Tuesday and had an interesting experience with almost passing out afterwards. I gave myself an hour to do it which normally is plenty of time. Right after I had finished filling my bag,the nurse that was helping the guy sitting next to me called for my nurse to help her. I looked over at the guy's arm and the nurse was trying to stop the blood and called for my nurse to help her stop it. Well, I looked over at exactly the wrong time and saw a ton of blood. I am sure I turned grey because the guy with the bleeding problem told my nurse to get back to me. She flipped my chair up and put cold compresses on my neck and head. I was so close to losing it, but I didn't pass out, thank goodness. But I think I may hesitate a little more before I donate again.