Dear Family,
This is from the Barrus crew of Heber. David is finishing his job with Suncor next week and will be home to play dad more often. He turned down his job offer from Suncor few weeks ago, so he is going to work around the house and continue some other things on his own. Hopefully, I will get used to having him around more often and try to be kind to each other.
The highlight for us of the last few months was attending Abby’s and Travis’ wedding. And we are so looking forward to attending Reid and Rachelle’s wedding on April 26th. We feel so old to see our grown up nieces and nephews getting married, but it sure makes us happy to see them grow and become beautiful young women and men. Abby and Ruth were 3 years old (they were SO cute) when I moved to Michigan from Japan and they are so special to me. I got the flu and was really sick at Abby’s wedding and because of the fever and strong medicine don’t remember much that day except that Abby was so beautiful and they looked so happy. When my body is weak, I am more sensitive to the spirit and I felt really warm inside the sealing room. I was congested and choked my tears at same time. I felt that spirit so strong. I am sure that Grandpa Barrus was there in the room. I also forgot my temple recommend that day and David talked to the temple worker and he called our bishop to give me permission to attending the sealing. I thanked the Bishop later and he told me that he was away from home all day and was home only one hour that day. He received 3 telephone calls from the temple because the members of our ward, just like me, forgot their temple recommend. I am so glad that I made it.
Lillian and Marianne tried out for local musical "Music Man" and they got called back! But half of the shows were during the family reunion, so we decided not do it. Lillian and Marianne finished their piano festival and violin federation. Oh yes! It was lots of work. However, it was good. Lilly was saying “YES!” when her 2 students got all superiors at the Piano Festival and one of her students and Marianne were chosen to play at the award program in the evening. However, Lillian is thinking of quitting the violin and wants to take piano lessons from a professor. I will wait a few more years and see how things go. She is becoming a teenager and I cannot make her do things she doesn’t want to do. I don’t know if I can survive the next 10 years with teenage girls in my house. I now have so many gray hairs and wonder when I should stop coloring my hair. Lillian refused to go back to Japan this summer, so David purchased tickets for only me and the younger three kids. Lillian didn’t want to miss school, girls’ camp, friend’s birthdays, etc. I am so glad that Thomas, Marianne, and Hannah are excited to go back to Japan this summer even though they will have to attend Japanese school for 2 weeks. Hopefully, our visit will cheer up my mom and sister and not tire them out.
Thomas is getting headaches from school and does not wanted to go. Spring break was just great timing for him and he went to school happily this morning. We sometimes need a break to reset ourselves. I am glad that he likes home and playing Legos in his room.
Spring break was just perfect. We stayed home most of the time, cleaning, relaxing, watching movies, short music practices, rock climbing at the Fit Stop, and then camping at Goblin Valley. Hannah loved Goblin Valley so much! She said she wanted to live there forever. We originally planned on going to Capital Reef, but the camping sites were full so we continued on. The official campground at Goblin Valley was also full so we ended up just camping in the middle of the big rock cliffs. It was a pretty spot in the desert but with no trees, water, or toilet. Hannah and Thomas mostly enjoy their camping. Lillian wasn’t very excited about camping. She voted for staying at a hotel, but we decided to be a more active family, so we went camping for two nights. Lillian and Marianne enjoyed bow and arrows and hiking. Thomas enjoyed shooting and making all the campfires. He was the campfire master! David didn’t even have to wake up in the morning to make a fire for us. Hannah was just happy going hiking, collecting shiny stones, and making dirt piles all day long. We were pretty dirty with orange dirt, but it was perfect weather. On the way home, we stop to fish for a few minutes. David and Thomas caught a fish and it made our (my) day. Again, Lillian was not so excited about stopping for fishing. She stayed in the car and played games while we fished.
Lillian, David and I gave talks during the sacrament few weeks ago. Our talks were about the Plan of Salvation. It was David’s fault because he asked the bishopric if Lillian could speak in Sacrament meeting and then they also assigned us to speak. Lillian gave her first talk in church about friends and I was very impressed that she didn’t need (or want) her parents’ help. I am little sad that she has become so self-reliant and just needs a little help from her parents like driving her to friends’ houses, etc. She can probably survive and take care of herself without us if she had to. I better enjoy the rest of the kids now before they become teenagers. David has a calling as an instructor in the High Priest group and I still enjoy doing Activity Days. Lillian is a YW pianist and is also learning organ. Sister Clark in our ward offered to teach her organ twice a month.
We enjoyed Easter and conference. The Easter Bunny didn’t come to our house, but we colored some eggs and did egg candy hunts at Smith’s and the city park. Our ward has a little orchestra and Lilly and Marianne played the violin for the prelude music on Eater Sunday. It sounded good. I was so tired after the camping trip, so I slept and missed half of conference. I enjoyed Elder Ballard and sister Dalton’s talk on Saturday. On Sunday I was wake for President Monson’s talk about obedience and others on marriage and limiting our use of electronic devices. I definitely need to listen, read and study the messages again. We are working our family plan and we’d like to have goals, mission, and motto for our family.
I am anxious about the family reunion this summer. You can tell us which house you want to stay either Olson’s or Barrus’. Our house is such a mess right now. David is trying to re-organized the storage room and things have been everywhere for three weeks. That is driving me crazy, but I am sure that it will be nice once it is finished. Our house seems to be getting smaller now that the kids are growing bigger. We have been living in this house for almost 7 years and I am amazed at how much we collect things. Maybe it is time to move again or have a garage sale!
We love you!
David, Megumi, Lilly, Marianne, Thomas, and Hannah
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