Spring Has Finally Arrived !!

Spring Fever has hit ! Today was one of the first really nice days that we have had all year.....it was 65 degrees, and beautiful out. However, we weren't the only ones who thought about getting outside and enjoying the day. Everybody and their dog was out !! (and I literally mean everyone and their 'DOG') The gas stations were lined up a dozen deep....people were standing in line to get into Costco at 9:30 in the morning, and they don't even open until 10:00.

Ron and I drove out to Anacortes and just enjoyed sitting along the shore watching the boats. It was still pretty early in the day, so the air was cool. We sat on the tailgate of the truck and soaked up the sun.....it felt wonderful!

Our little outings are usually spur of the moment adventures......we decide where to go as we are driving. We decided to drive over Deception Pass to Whidbey Island. As the day wore on, more and more people started to show up. We got out and went into the little shop at Coronet Bay......we used to stop there all the time when we had a boat. It hadn't changed much.....except that they didn't have any little pecan pies.

The Marina is still the same......but the tulips are blooming so that made the docks even prettier.

As we headed back into Skagit Valley, the cars started getting thicker and thicker. People were everywhere! I guess that because it was such a beautiful day, that everybody (and their dog) wanted to go look at the tulips. We tried to take a short cut to avoid the traffic, but it was so backed up that we gave up, and just found our way to the freeway. As we drove south to our exit, the Northbound lanes of I-5 were at a standstill.....it was a total parking lot of traffic from downtown Mt. Vernon to past the Starbird Exit.....which is at least 6 miles away. This was NOT the day to look at the tulip fields.

The only tulips I wanted to see today, were in pots at Coronet Bay......that was plenty!

It was just a nice way to spend a Saturday morning. Wish that you could have come with us!

Preston and the Stake Choir

The Arlington Stake held their semi-annual Stake Conference April 16 & 17th.....the meetings were absolutely wonderful. I'm still the Stake Music Chairman, so I conducted the choir. We recently called Jenni as the Stake Choir Accompanist, which I am very grateful for.

During the last song that the choir sang, Will had just taken Taylor out in the foyer (because he was jabbering like crazy) so Preston (who will be 3 in June) was supposed to sit on the pew alone while Jenni and I went up to sing and play. However, he didn't like the idea of sitting there alone, so Jenni brought him up and sat him on the first riser where the choir seats start.

As the choir stood, Preston stood up too, climbed up on the riser next to a soprano, gave her a little shove so he would have room to stand beside her. He started waving his arms in the air, mimicking me as I conducted the choir. As the choir progressed into the song, Preston noticed that all the members of the choir were holding music folders, and that he didn't have one, so he promptly got down and walked to the pew where he had been sitting and picked up a hymnbook.

By this time, Will had come back into the chapel and noticed Preston heading back up to stand in the choir.....and grabbed him so he couldn't go back up. Poor Preston came unglued! He started to cry.....big tears! He wanted to go back up and sing in the choir! Neither Jenni or I knew that any of this was going on, because we were concentrating on the music, so we heard about all of this from both Will and the first counselor in the Stake Presidency, David Flake, after the fact.

I'm sure that it was a traumatic thing for him at the time, (and I'm sure he got over it fast) but I just thought that it was so sweet that he wanted to "be there" next to mom and grandma and do what they were doing. Preston, I sure love you!