The Beautiful and Magnanimous Lady Hiva

March always presents an opportunity to celebrate Lady Hiva. This year was different because Lady Hiva started to work so we did not have her all to ourselves this year. We had to share her with her colleagues! But even that was fun in a way. They found out that it was her birthday and they put up some banners for her--even when she had just started for them. 

The night before Madre and Kell came up and had dinner with us. It was fun to have dinner with them. We went to Texas Roadhouse--I was excited because they have really good salads. The server saw that Madre and Kell brought a "Happy Birthday" gift bag and asked who had a birthday. They offered to allow Lady Hiva to sit on the "saddle" while everyone sings loudly to her. She declined. Sad. It would have been a great photo moment! HAHA

I allowed the two Muggles to stay up late with me to decorate. They raided the décor bins downstairs and it was fun to see the result. VERY COLORFUL! We had sparkling center pieces, Dia de los Muertos garlands across the room, colorful balloons covering the living room, and colorful cards. They had so much fun doing it and were so proud of the result. 

Once Lady Hiva was done with work we went to See's Chocolate for her to use the gift cards she was given. We ate dinner at a family-owned Indian restaurant and we went shopping for her to buy some clothes. it was fun to see her so happy to buy clothes for herself--her first paycheck had come on her birthday! What a way to celebrate!

There were so many people, from all over the world, that wished Lady Hiva a happy birthday on social media and several that came to the house with gifts and food. What a fantastic way to let this amazing woman in our life know how much we love her!

We had fun making homemade pizza the next day from Koala Bear's new "Princess Cookbook." Lucky Dragon played all the songs on the piano he has taught himself to play by ear-- "Happy Birthday" "Haunted Mansion" and "Tower of Terror" because he knows those are his mum's favorite rides and DisneyWorld. 

Then Lady Hiva baked bread for neighbors. She cannot go without serving others, even on her day. 

Telling Stories With Rocks

 

A few years ago I had a desk that was next to an amazing person--Patti Rokus. As you normally do when you have cubicles next to each other, Patti and I talked about life. We have both since moved on to other career moves since that time, but some things stick. 

One of the things Patti shared with me, and with our family, is her love of telling stories with rocks. At the time she was piloting a storybook for Easter about the Atonement of Jesus Christ. She gave a copy to us and that has been a family favorite over the years. Especially because Lucky Dragon LOVES rocks. He collects them from all over the world. 

In the recent General Primary Broadcast with the General Primary Presidency from our Church, Patti made an appearance and taught children from all over the world how to tell stories with rocks. Our little Muggles were so excited to see her. "Hey! That is your friend! We gave us her book!" 

For Family Home Evening this week we decided to go find our own rocks and tell stories. We collected rocks from the banks of Utah Lake. It was fun to forage for rocks and get excited as each of us found a rock that was "SO COOL!!" 

We brought our rocks home and washed them all up ready to represent our thoughts! Can't have dirty rocks for that! HAHA

As they were drying Lucky Dragon could not help but start. As we were doing other things he made a menagerie of dinosaurs. It came complete with volcano and a sun! 

Our first task during Family Home Evening was Koala Bear gave a lesson on the importance of baptism. Lucky Dragon will be baptized this year if he chooses to, so we have been talking quite a bit about what it means. After the lesson we each had to make a rock tableau representing baptism. When we were done we each took turns telling what it all meant. 

This is my future representation of Lucky Dragon's baptism. He is coming up out of the font. I am holding his hand. Lady Hiva and Koala Bear are on the left watching (notice the long hair) and the angels in Heaven are watching from above. 

Lucky Dragon depicted the baptism happening in the chapel...notice the roof and the steeple. He is under the water being baptized (see the person prostrated). I am the one baptizing him. 

Lady Hiva chose to represent her own baptism. You can see her dad baptizing her on the very right. She is holding his hand. Her mum is watching on the left standing above the stairs down into the font. She has a birthday cake with an 8 on top because she was baptized on her 8th birthday and then there are some balloons to celebrate. 

Next we all had to make an animal. Lady Hiva made a shark eating a jellyfish. 

I made a bird (above) and Lucky Dragon made a giraffe (below)/ 

Our next challenge was to make flowers. I made a bouquet in a vase. Lucky Dragon made seeds falling from a packet. and Lady hiva made a dandelion blowing away in the wind. 

This was a REALLY fun activity! It is something we will do again for sure in the future. Thank you, Patti, for inspiring us!