may days: Church Stuff

May started off on a high note: a Sunday School adventure with the fantastic Raquel! I pulled up to her curb, she hopped into the truck, buckled her seatbelt, and pulled out a jar of Nutella and two spoons and we were on our way! We spotted Jared at his snow cone job, so naturally we had to stop and scare him ;). Then we hit up Subway and split a footlong - we helpfully nicknamed Raquel's portion 'the exotic half' to make things easier for the nice employee while we rattled off which toppings we each wanted. I'm 88% sure he appreciated our help.

 And then we busted out the Nutella and talked some more. Raquel is bright and fun and slightly boy crazy and loyal and valiant and talks almost as much as I do, so of course I love her.

One Saturday afternoon Grandma Pam came over after her shift at the temple and Carma was all dolled up for a baptism and they just looked so cute in their coordinating eyelet outfits that I had to take some (poorly lit, sorry!!) pictures. 

 

Grandma Pam and Carma and I reunited a few days later for our stake Relief Society women's conference. So cool - they had different service projects set up around the church for women to come and participate in during the hour leading up to dinner and the speaker. Carma and I wisely avoided anything sewing/artistic and found a happy spot in the room writing letters to servicepeople :). The theme for the evening was "A Shower of Heavenly Blessings" and the decorations and dinner were perfect, and what I heard of the speaker (Carma wasn't suuuper cooperative with letting me listen) was excellent.

That same evening, the men and wee ones of our ward were out at the orchard to thin some peach trees! 

 One May weekend found Chuck and Bishop Swenson taking four of the Priests on a campout and hike to... Leslie Gulch? Pretty sure. Adam, Dakota, Noah, and Andy all seem to have had a swell time:

as did the leaders ;). As always, after seeing the sketchy terrain and narrow gaps, I was happy to have remained home.

Another day, another trip to the orchard - our ward has like a bajillion trees (okay, maybe just 50? 60?) and thinning is a pretty slow-going process. Imagine finding a clump of grapes... and pulling a bunch off... so that only a few remain, each a fist width apart... and each tree has lots and lots of such clumps. 

The boys usually help for a bit... and then play with friends the rest of the time. Works for me! Carma hung out in the baby carrier for a while before getting down to explore, and it reminded me of one of her first orchard visits almost exactly a year ago:

 I say this all the time, but the orchard is such a beautiful place to spend an evening, especially serving alongside other members of our ward. 

At the end of May, Sister Corse and I got to have a little field trip to attend Naomi's end of the year choir concert. (Bonus was finding Janell there to sit with!)

 We were happy to chat with Naomi as we left and tell her how amazing she was and get a couple pictures :).

Next up in May: a Utah trip for Sammy's graduation! If I use my 'Daniel Tiger' time wisely, it might get posted tomorrow ;).