Happy Birthday Matthew

Early this month, we flew to Denver to celebrate Matthew's birthday. We planned it to coincide with Nathan and Natalie's visit as they were heading to Iowa for the summer. My dad and Annette also joined us so he could ordain Matthew a high priest. Debbie is a lovely hostess and we had a great time.
We celebrated Matthew’s birthday by spending the morning moving rocks. Who says that the Salt family doesn’t know how to have a fun time? The rock moving extravaganza was part of some landscaping efforts in their back yard.
Later we went to a movie and we played a lot of games together. As usual I lost EVERY game—but I loved every minute of playing together. Well, ALMOST every minute—losing Quiddler by nearly 200 points was not exactly my favorite part of the game playing. HAHA
Even though we enjoyed working together no one thought to take pictures of us covered with dirt. These pictures of us all cleaned up will have to do. :)

A rainy day full of joy

A couple of weeks ago, we had a rain day and schools were closed. So, I used the day to make quilt squares for a fund raiser for MD Anderson. The project is to raise money to help cure ovarian cancer. I had decided to make the squares in memory of my mother. As I am learning to quilt, it was fun making the squares. It is also a good cause but it mostly it made me feel close to my mother. I had been thinking a lot about her because I had recently heard a lesson about how from the beginning of time, God has used angels as His messengers to convey love and concern for His children. Elder Jeffrey Holland said, “Usually such beings are not seen. Sometimes they are. But seen or unseen they are always near… But I testify that angels are still sent to help us, even as they were sent to help Adam and Eve, to help the prophets, and indeed to help the Savior of the world Himself. I ask everyone within the sound of my voice to take heart, be filled with faith, and remember the Lord has said He “would fight [our] battles, [our] children’s battles, and [the battles of our] children’s children.” And what do we do to merit such a defense? We are to “search diligently, pray always, and be believing. Then] all things shall work together for [our] good, if [we] walk uprightly and remember the covenant wherewith [we] have covenanted.”

It just made me feel like my mother would really be someone who would volunteer to come be near us whenever we needed love and comfort. She did a great job of that while on this earth.