Happy, Happy Birthday, Mother dear!

Happy Birthday to my Mother, Donna Hamblin, today!  What can I say, my mom is great!  She can run circles around me...always busy, always ambitious...she never slows down!  She can make a mean macaroni salad in a few minutes flat...whip up about a dozen or more homemade pies every holiday... continues to find some project or job, no matter what.  Sometimes she makes me tired when I watch her hustling around.  My mom once told me that as a punishment when she was a child...she was made to sit and watch while everyone else worked, and she wasn't allowed to, and that it was the worst!  ( I could only hope for such a punishment!  lol!) 

She met my Dad when he went off to BYU to school, and he was living with my mom's grandparents...they fell in love, she waited for him while he served a mission, and they were married just shortly after he returned.  They are still sweethearts today!  They have served 4 missions together, and countless hours in the temple, etc.  They enjoy traveling, and many other things together.

My mom is and has always been the best example to me.  She tried tirelessly to teach me what I needed to know, although I wasn't a very good student.  She makes her bed everyday...I do not...she washes the dishes immediately following a meal...I do not always...she can sew, can, cook, clean, etc. etc...which I do now also, I just don't always choose to do it or with the vigor that she does it.  I know she has a testimony...I have heard it, I believe it...She is charitable, loving, dependable, a little stubborn, and very much in control!

She is a living legacy, of which my children have learned...and my grandchildren are learning from...so even if I wasn't a very good 'student'...she continues to teach us all...and maybe someday I will grow up and be more like her!   Happy Birthday Mom.....I love you!

PenNsyLvAniA!

I was able to fly out to Pennsylvania to visit Jaron and Heather and the kids over the Easter Break.  What fun it was to see the kids again, I have missed them!  I was able to do some fun things, got to see where Heather is attending school, where Ashton and Lilly go to preschool everyday, where Jaron works now at Panera Bread (yummy food, by the way...) and where Emmy and Carter go to school.  It was fun to walk around Catawissa and enjoy the beautiful spring weather and warm sunshine and finally see where this little Simonson family lives!  I brought some little Easter dresses for the girls...they looked so cute in them.  Lilly has grown into a little girl since I saw her last, and Emmy is such a lovey young lady...

On the Saturday before Easter, the Easter Bunny brought the kids some wonderful surprises!

Emmaline  

  

Carter

Ashton

and Lilly

Gramma Kristi got them all new PJ's for Easter, since Ashton had gone to bed in tears the night before because "he didn't have any jamas!" to put on to come downstairs and cuddle with Grandma. 

Then I was able to go out with Jaron and Carter golfing.  The weather was awesome, so nice and warm and GREEN!  It was fun to ride in the cart and watch them golf.  (I sooooo wish I could golf!!)

After that, it was time for a good old fashioned Easter Egg Hunt!  The American Legion had hardboiled and colored a gazillion eggs, and had scattered them all over the lawns for the kids to pick up.  We didn't really understand that they had numbers on them, in which they would turn in for prizes at the end...that would have been a good thing to know...but the kids had fun anyway, and still ended up with a few prizes!

After a nice couple of days of watching Conference and visiting, which also included a trip to Rita's for some outstanding Italian Ice and Frozen Custard, a "High School Musical" marathon, and some delicious egg salad sandwiches...it was time for a little trip down to Lancaster Co. to visit Amish-land!

On the way to take Grandma to the airport...we decided to visit Intercourse, PA and go to some quaint Amish shops and villages and eat some good Amish food...we had planned to visit Hershey also, but the time got away from us on a fun buggy ride around the countryside...so I guess that will have to wait for another visit!  It was a lot of fun, and great to see the kids!  Thanks, Jaron and Heather for the FUN time!

Oh, That I were Amish...

I think the world became fully aware of the Amish Community of Lancaster Co. PA, when the shootings in a small Amish school took place a while back.  I was priveledged to visit this beautiful countryside...and experience the peaceful, quiet ways that these people live each and every day.  Oh....the Amish Way!!

We visited a little place called Intercourse, PA...and took a little horse and buggy ride through the homes and farms of these quiet, humble people.  I felt very awed by the beauty...very calmed by the peacefulness...very inspired by the simplicity of their lives...and very blessed to have visited for a day!

We asked our buggy driver so many questions about the Amish.  He was not Amish himself, but his father had been Amish, and he had Amish relatives...his Grandma, cousins, Aunts and Uncles.  His name was Kaleb, and some of the things we learned were...

1. You cannot join the Amish faith...they don't convert anyone, you have to be born Amish to ever BE Amish (sad for me...I was really thinking about becoming the first Mormon-Amish!)

While our horses were trotting down the street, another buggy came cruising around us like a flash!  Our driver said that sometimes they purchase old race horses to pull their carriages around, and they can go pretty fast!

2.  Different orders have different rules or variance of use of things such as electricity and such...Some have a few electric outlets in their homes...but don't use things such as TV or radios.  Some use no buttons or snaps on their clothes, while others do.  Most have ovens and washers (electric), but use generators, solar panels, windmills, and such to power them.  Almost every house you can see clothes waving in the breeze to dry.  They are usually very high, on a pulley system.

While we were there, it was the Monday after Easter, when they take time off from their labors and spend the Easter weekend with their families...eating a big feast together on Sunday, and then relaxing and playing with their families on Monday.  We saw a few out fishing together on a pond, some youth out rollerblading down the roads...and yes, the plows sitting vacant in the fields...

3.  When the Amish are around age 16...they go out into the real world to experience the lives of ordinary people...called rumspringa...or "running around", and they can then choose to be baptized into the church between age 18 and 22, or they can choose to leave.  During rumspringa, they sometimes get a car...smoke, drink...experience all the rebellious things teenagers do sometimes. 

We saw these three young ladies going down the road on their scooters and rollerblades!

4.  When they are courting...they drive a "courting wagon" that is open, like the one in the last picture.  This ensures that everyone can see what's going on!  Amish only marry once they are baptized into the church and only to other members, if they want to marry outside the church, they must leave the faith and choose not to be baptized.

It was very beautiful and a fun day!  As you can see...I couldn't keep from snapping the photos!