It's May!

What a whirlwind few weeks it's been! Despite Parker's increasingly busy school schedule (the end of the semester is coming fast), we've managed to cram a lot of stuff into our days. A few highlights:

***On Monday, April 27, we took Richard (a deaf man in our ward) and his translator, Sis. Sparks, out to Smash Burger for FHE. Hamburgers are Richard's favorite food, and when Parker found that out, he decided right away that he needed to try one from Smash Burger. We had so much fun getting to know both of them better. Richard is so inspirational. His life is difficult, but he is always happy and warm and interested in others. Parker inspires me too; he has been quick to befriend Richard and has a goal to learn sign language this Summer.

***May 1st came so quickly! I feel like March and April were here and then gone in two blinks. Crazy. We celebrated our anniversary a couple days early and made hamburgers for dinner, then we went to see the new Avengers movie. It was better than I thought it would be. We had to leave our sweet little Gage with the Hansens, and I'll admit, I had to wipe a tear or two away as we left their house and drove to the theater. But he did great. And it was so fun to be together, just the two of us. When we came to pick Gage up, we brought the Hansens two cherry cheesecakes. Earlier this week, Matt had asked Parker for the recipe, and Parker mistakenly told him it called for 3/4 c. lemon juice instead of 1/3 c., which resulted, as you can imagine, in very lemony cheesecake. So we felt like we owed them. 

***The next day, I gave a short presentation about my mission for the primary's "Mini MTC" activity. The kids were cute, and it was fun reliving some of the experiences I'd had in Paraguay.

***May 3: Our 2nd Anniversary! We're not very good at celebrating those. Maybe someday when we have more funds. But I am certainly grateful for the kind, smart, adventurous, funny, spiritual, sensitive, positive, talented man that I married. Parker is my best best best friend.

We also had a special stake conference on this day because a few general authorities were in the area for meetings. Elder Ulysses S. Soares of the Seventy spoke to us. It was excellent, of course.

***Robin and Tanner came to visit for a few days. It was fun having them here. We ate chicken carnitas for Cinco de Mayo, played Boggle and Settlers of Catan, watched Cosby, and did a little exploring of St. Louis. My personal favorite was our stop at the Basilica, which I'd never been to before. It's an architectural wonder. Very neat.