Spring '24 Things...

Boy oh boy am I spending a lot of evenings and weekends a the office these days. I feel I am abandoning my family- which I don't think they are too sad about ;)
The kids said every time they search my location it shows I am at the office. 

The next room I wanted to tackle is the main work space. We have all of these matching desks now and one big room. I chose this warm orange to paint the work area and my favorite creamy white for the opposite wall. I will eventually add some trim between the orange and cream to give it a more finished look. I did have a team come in and help me for a night with the orange, which was fun!

It feels like it is starting to come together. It's nice to look at a warm color instead of the dingy grey-white with patched holes.

I found this credenza on fb marketplace for the last office space, and it looks great here. Perry, one of our board members donated this painting of Haiti women doing washing. I think the colors look great on this cream wall. I added a vase from home and filled it with some stems from Hobby Lobby.

 

One Monday night phone call with Adren, he suggested we have a family prayer together since we were all headed to bed soon enough. Jon called on Adren to say it. As he prayed, I felt the spirit so strongly. He gave the sweetest prayer, praying over each of his siblings one by one, then Jon and I. His words were so tender and sweet. It warmed my heart so much and I couldn't keep back my tears. As I peeked I could see others were wiping away tears as well. By the end, my tears were streaming. Adren then said, "Amen! Love you all! Good night!" with a big smile- and was gone. The rest of us sat there stunned, wiping away tears. It made us laugh!

Cash hosted a family dinner, and the Shafer's almost didn't come because Harrison was in the middle of home MTC. We all wanted to see him before he headed out, so he did his class upstairs and was able to join us later. Before we left I had the cousins gather for a last photo, which turned into a group hug. It was so sweet! He is going to be a great missionary!

As we were walking out, I spotted LT wiping away tears. We hugged and cried and said this is the best of times and the worst of times.

The best family ever!

Later that night, Eli texted that he and friends were out at the lake and could actually see the Northern Lights! He said it was amazing. I was all cozy in bed but Jon couldn't resist and drove out to see for himself. Soon enough he came back home and convinced me to go out. It was, indeed worth it!

The skies looked so pretty! These photos above are to the North, and the one below is to the South. I thought the contrast was so neat!

Back to the office for some quick accessorizing and fluffing.

 

My Aunt Chris posted this cute photo of Grandpa and Grandma Taylor. I grab any photo I can!

My first Mother's Day without all of my babies around. It makes me extra grateful for the ones that are near and the one that is far. I sure love these guys so much! They have all changed my life completely for the better, even though it can be hard at times. I often wish I was a better mom, or that I could redo things in the past. But even through my flaws, I love these kids so very much, and they are the best part of my life. My daily thoughts are of them, my constant prayers for them, and my main hope is that they can develop a personal relationship with their Savior and learn that His Atonement is everything.

We had our parents over for dinner. As Jon put on the finishing touches, I appreciated this moment that even as our parents are getting older, all four are with us today! :)