because she was the mother of all living

Genesis 3:20 And Adam called his wife's name Eve; because she was the mother of all living.

And that is why Mother's Day is for all women and not just women who have physically given birth. Eve wasn't a mother yet, but she was the "mother of all living." It goes with Sheri Dew's talk "Are We Not All Mothers?"

Thank you to all the wonderful women in my life (my mother, sister, mother-in-law, sisters-in-law, daughter, daughter-in-law, friends) who have been such marvelous examples to me and who have taught me so much. Thank you all for greatly enriching my life and helping me to find joy. Happy Mother's Day!

It's been a good week. Having 4 of my 5 children home is great...and kind of weird! Twice this week we were going in 4 different directions.

And congratulations to my sister and brother-in-law, who, after having been an empty-nesters for a while, welcomed home their youngest from his mission to the Philippines this week. What a great Mother's Day gift. Welcome home, Jake!

Also deserving congratulations are Glen's and her husband who were set apart as missionaries today and tomorrow they will report to the MTC for training before heading to Iceland for 2 years.

And also our niece who was set apart tonight as a missionary and is entering the MTC on Wednesday and well be serving in Alabama.

Such exciting times.

Two weeks of seminary and 3 weeks of school left...

Ryan's home

Thursday afternoon, 14 of us converged on the Reno Airport to welcome Ryan home from his 2 year mission to Louisiana. It was awesome. Grandma had made signs and bought balloons.

We then all went out to eat at King's Buffet, then headed back to Fallon, where Ryan had a brief interview with the Stake President before he was released. He is now an "RM."

Friday was a game day per Ryan's request. Alex stayed home from school and he, Ryan, Eric and I played games while Glen and Hannah had to go to work. We were later joined by some cousins. It was a fun day.

King of Tokyo is a simple, very fun game

Eldritch Horror--complicated, but I finally caught on and we saved the world
(since 4 of the 6 players were new to the game, it took a whopping 4 1/2 hours to play)

Ryan will give a brief report to the High Council tomorrow (Sunday the 3rd). He should be speaking in Sacrament Meeting on May 17th--the same day that his cousin Jake, who gets off his mission to the Philippians this Thursday May 6th, will be speaking in Vegas. Ryan is also lined up to give a youth fireside on the 17th.

This weekend marks the 6th week of our family's No Treat Challenge. Ryan just joined us on this challenge yesterday. We have added to the details--May 31st marks the 10th week of our challenge, so we are allowing one day of treats (not planning on binging, though) on June 1st before we will be starting on another 10 weeks stretch. For the most part, it hasn't been too hard, though Hannah has a work environment that is more tempting than ours as the families of the patients often bring treats to share.

Eric will be graduating with an AA from WNC on Monday May 18th in Carson City. Glen, Ryan, Hannah, and I will be attending. Congratulations Eric!

The next day will be Glen's birthday.

Only 15 instruction days left of school and then finals week. I cannot tell you how beautiful those words are to me. I am so excited.