Dear Kids,
      Today is Addie’s “real” birthday, but we’re celebrating it on Saturday at our Easter picnic, along with the birthdays of Julie and Ellie. Thanks, Missy, for organizing it! I hope we’ll see lots of you there. It’s at 4:00 pm, and I think we’re meeting at Al and Missy’s house. I miss the old Easter picnics, when you kids were little, and we got together with all the aunts and uncles and cousins, but I guess it’s a new generation now. Anyway, we’re looking forward to Saturday.
      And naturally Nora and James will have totally finished their move by then. Their “old” house is already filled with boxes that are packed with their stuff. Lots of friends and neighbors have come over to help, including the ever-crazy Dave Mikkelson. They can always count on Dave to help out and keep them laughing. I’ve been helping, too, by patching their walls, and painting over the holes, among other things. Since Nora has painted every wall in the house a different color (practically), it’s been a fun challenge to locate all the different cans of paint. I think I’ve used about 12 different colors so far. Luckily, they saved most of them. The past two days have been really quiet there, because John and Heather have been babysitting Addie and Ben, to help out. But the little cuties will be back home when I go there today.
      Amber came by on Monday night to visit. She’s in town because her best friend, Jenny Lynn, (cousin of the Hewards) is getting married tomorrow. Amber spent an evening making mints for the wedding, and visiting with us. She showed me how to find her blog, so if you want the latest news on Amber every week, you can log on to http://amberackerson.blogspot.com She said that her mom has purchased a townhouse in Springville and commutes to Salt Lake every day. If you want to see a picture of Ginni, just look in the current (April) Ensign, where there’s an article about family history missionaries, with a big picture. Ginni’s on the second row, just to the right of the center. She’s wearing a beige dress.
      John says he’s going to run the July 24th marathon with Donna. He’s already training for it. Go, John! It should be a fun day. Monica is still planning on the Salt Lake City Marathon, June 3rd. She says it’s starting to get hot in Tucson, and she wants to get Ramona shaved. So she took Ramona to the vet, but when he reached into the carrier to get her, well, I guess Ramona was a little aggressive towards him. So he said she had to have a rabies shot before he would shave her. Monica tried to tell him that was just Ramona, her usual little self, but the vet insisted, so Monica paid for the shot. She says she’ll take Ramona to a groomer to be shaved, now.
      Donna interviewed with the Church for a landscaping internship for the summer. She got to see a model of the new Draper temple. She says it’s sort of boxy, like the Cardston temple, and really cool. Donna is one of nine applicants for the internship, but she’s hoping they’ll choose her. Otherwise, she might wait tables. At least, she’ll be living here for the summer, for the first time in years. That should be fun. She can give me advice about the yard. Bevan is all into the Masters Tournament. When he was here Friday night, he was excited because Tiger Woods had done so well that day. Donna says she showed Bevan’s parents our pictures on Ackerson.org from conference weekend. They were a little shocked at the sight of the chocolate fountain. They like chocolate and all, but they thought that was a little overboard, just for a family party.
      My visiting teachers were here, and they asked my why I don’t work. I said I’m too busy. So I’ve been thinking it over, and here’s my job description: I’m a stay-at-home mom with an empty nest, but my tree is full of birds.
      I love you all! Mom