One more thing...

Not only did I have a great time hanging with my friends at Women's Conference, I had a blast at dinner one night with several of my cousins! Kathy Clark and her girls Kim, Kerrie and Annie and her daughter-in-law Andrea as well as Julie, Kathy's sister and I all sat at Cafe Rio eating yummy salads and talking non-stop! It has been way too long and I loved every minute. Living so far from everyone can make me a little complacent and detached...I am grateful for family who makes being together a priority and who reminded me of the importance of keeping family bonds strong. I am blessed to be part of such a great group of people. Thanks girls...let's do it again next year! (Sorry. No picture! I am so lame.)

Catching Up

Grant played his final flag football game in Saturday. It has been a great way to keep playing, even though it is different than tackle...Grant even forgot that he was playing "flag" for a moment and tried to clothesline a guy...he had some great catches and they played tough...Mom is glad to not be running him to practice...summer is almost here, which means a lot less running around!


Bill and I spent 4 wonderfully peaceful days at the Marriott Harbor Beach Resort in Ft. Lauderdale, Florida. Our idea of a vacation is sun, water, a good book and someone waiting on us! We were not disappointed! We had never been to Ft. Lauderdale and loved it...the coast anyway. We can't speak for the inland areas. We didn't really venture far from our hotel. We ate at The Cheesecake Factory (twice) and Bubba Gump's (twice) and took a great little river cruise that spotlighted some of the wealth in the area! I had no idea. It was amazing...all of the yachts and mansions...simply amazing! I also had no idea that Ft. Lauderdale is nick named "The Venice of the United States"...hundreds of miles of inland waterways. Venice, Italy has fewer than 100 miles. Also, from our hotel room we saw several cruise ships leave from the very busy Ft. Lauderdale Port...we longed to be passengers on one of the ships...one day soon we hope. We spoke to our missionary...not ON Mother's Day as planned. His calling cards wouldn't work...I was very sad and disappointed. But we did speak on Monday...he is well and speaks with a thick Spanish accent! He struggled with English...always a good sign that he is speaking a lot of Spanish. Bill spoke to his Venezuelan companion...all is well in Colombia! 8 1/2 months to go! Time continues to fly!







My annual trip to Utah for BYU Women's Conference. I had a wonderful time...being with friends is always the highlight for me. This year I had so much fun with Jennie, best friend from college and Lorie, best friend from my youth. Also, Sue Vunder, Lorie's mom and the best Laurel Advisor ever. It was therapuetic spending time with all of them. Sue fills a void in my life that I hadn't tapped into lately. She and my mom were very good friends...that connection touched me deeply. I am blessed with amazing friends...such a lucky girl, I am.


A trip to a local "trade days" and I came home with these wonderful things! And such a deal...both of the planters for $52. I love them!



The pool is ready for swim season...now if the weather would just warm the water up. Soon enough we will be loving the air conditioning and the pool will feel like bath water...we LOVE Texas!

London England

Christine and I spent Spring Break in London for her senior trip...wow have times changed! I think I stayed home when I was a senior for Spring Break. Needless to say, we had a great time. I only posted some of our pictures...for fear of boring the reader...certainly I will scrapbook more and hopefully document our experiences in greater detail in my journal. I wish I would have taken it with me. I do have notes. But being "in the moment" would have been better. We saw lots of sights and met some wonderful people from all over the world. London is much more diverse than I had thought. Lots of French and Italian folks...many who spoke only a little English. When asking for directions, we often would be met with a blank stare. I learned to read my maps thoroughly and ask store keepers for help. We found the English people to be very kind and patient. For such a big city, we never really felt rushed. We have made some lasting memories for sure...because after all, we are in the business of "making memories". Sorry for the few imperfections on this post. I don't have the energy to fix anything...too many other things to get caught up on....Enjoy!








We went to Church in Hyde Park. This is the same building Bill's dad served in as a missionary in the early 60's. What a diverse group of people. We enjoyed being there.



We made our way to the Apple Store in Oxford Circus on Regent Street most every day. Internet in our hotel was ridiculously expensive, so we emailed for free. Thanks Apple! (Plus, they had a great bathroom, which I rather enjoyed!)




Holy Heck! Most of the time these escalators were operating, but ocassionally we came across some that weren't. In those cases, we hoofed it! We climbed many a stair during our stay!!! No need for the gym.






The Changing of the Guard at Buckingham Palace was interesting. The whole process took about 30 minutes...it was nothing like I had imagined. The band played "Copacabana" and then an ABBA medley. I was expecting some "royal" music I guess. There were a ton of people there to see the event. Glad to have been a part of it.







The London Eye...we just took a picture. I am way too whimpy to go up in that thing! But it looked cool from a distance.



The River Thames and the Houses of Parliament are in the background.



We loved Westminster Abbey. We couldn't take pictures inside the Cathedral, but here is Christine in the Nave, looking out onto a beautiful lawn area.



Outside of Westminster Abbey
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Fourth row seats to see Les Mis! Incredible as you might imagine. One cannot see Les Mis too many times...:)



We are inside the Tower of London with the Tower Bridge in the background. We spent several hours wandering around the tower...very interesting things to learn here. We also saw the "Crown Jewels" which we loved.



Walked on the Millennium Bridge across the River Thames to the "Globe Theatre"...patterned after Shakespeare's original theatre.



One of my favorite pics of Christine in the "Fashion" section of the Queen Victoria/Prince Albert Museum...what a ginormous museum that is!



Warwick Castle was amazing. It was beautiful and ancient...isn't everything in England? We hoofed up 530 steps through 3 different towers and had sore thighs as proof. What a cool place little Warwick England is.




This is in Stratford Upon Avon, the town where Shakespeare was born...a quaint little place. We stood in the room where he is believed to have been born over 400 years ago! We didn't have much time here but did enjoy a great lunch in a French Cafe before boarding the tour bus for Oxford.
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We're in Oxford at one of the many colleges...the place is amazingly ancient! The good weather didn't last and we had traveled 1 1/2 hours outside of London so we were bound to hit some rain...it was lovely just the same!

Utah

Christine and I spent last weekend in Utah on a Snow College trip. We were only in town for 2 days and tried to pack a lot into our time. Christine spent the night with her assigned "ambassador" at Snow. They took a tour of campus, ate dinner at "Roy's", a local pizza joint-complete with a performance by the Polynesian Club, attended "West Side Story", a play on campus, and then headed back to the ambassador's apartment for a movie and some "girl fun". I spent the night in the luxurious Willow Creek Inn...the ONLY hotel in the town. Nothing like a little Subway sandwich, the Olympics and a good book to help pass the time. I woke up to many inches of snow...I needed a push-broom to clean the snow from the car. It was kind of cool though. I got Christine and we headed to Provo to meet some dear friends for lunch. In fact, we spent the day visiting a few of our favorite people in Utah County. We spent Saturday night with my best friend from high school...Lorie Creek. For me, that was the highlight...nothing like several hours of trips down memory lane...very fun. The really cool part of being with the Creeks, was that Christine, who had never met them before, said that being at their house was the best part of her trip. That's how cool Lorie and Chris and Kyle are. I loved seeing John and Sue Vunder, Lorie's parents too. The visit was pretty emotional for me. Sue and my mom were very good friends. I hadn't seen her since Mom passed away...every now and then I "lose it" when I am reminded that Mom is gone...such a dang bummer. Anyway, the trip was fast but fun. We didn't have enough time to take care of college business...no time to tour on-campus housing, or the institute or BYU's Study Abroad office (an entirely different subject), but nothing that can't be handled over the internet. I hope Christine will be happy in Ephraim...it's a tiny campus. She should be fine....crazy to think she will be off to college in a few short months.

Let it Snow

Early this morning the snow started to fall and it has been snowing for the past 14 hours! In many parts of the world this isn't abnormal...but in our corner of Texas, this is quite rare. The kids did go to school today, but tomorrow school is cancelled, which means building more snowmen and trying to find a hill to sled down. Check out the snowman Garrett and Grant built. Can you tell who it is? Yep. Adolf himself...they are crazy! Wouldn't want to make a "normal" snowman.

A JOB at last

After several months of searching, Bill has landed a job that will keep us here in the Dallas area for a little bit longer. I have to say how proud I am of his diligence and tirelessness these past months. Looking for a job can be an overwhelming prospect, yet Bill never flinched and remained steady in his search. Although he has been working consistently since November doing "project" work, this new position is permanent...well, as permanent as a job can be these days. So the Caspers will breathe a sigh of relief and settle in for a little while longer in the great state of Texas! Garrett and Grant are thrilled to be staying, Christine is leaving in August anyway, so is indifferent, Bill is just happy to be using his brain again, and I have learned to adapt to the "whatevers" of life...Texas is fine with me too. We mentioned staying to William in our weekly letter but he didn't comment on the matter. I guess he's busy with more important matters.

A Year of Service

It's been a year since we dropped our missionary off at the Provo MTC. I never thought the time would pass so quickly. Many prayers have been offered in his behalf...for growth as he learns a new language, for safety as he traipses around an uncertain area of the globe and for an increased knowledge of who he is and who his Savior is.

Colombia is a place William now loves. He has been loved by companions and members and investigators. He has helped to bring many people to an understanding of "Where they came from, why they're here on earth and where they will go after this life."

William is happy, healthy and "anxiously engaged in a good cause."

What more could we ask for.

Life is good.

We are blessed.