Out Like a Lion

As long as I can remember, my Mother has been a weather watcher. As a child, I remember her excitement to declare the March proverb based on the first days of the month's weather pattern. If it was sunny & calm, Mother would say, "March is coming in like a lamb, so watch out! It will go out like a lion." There were a few years where March came in & went out the same & that made for some interesting discussions with her. If you are looking for another explanation to the origin of "In like a lamb/out lion" or visa versa, you might talk to my brother Bob, the astronomer. He may tell you the phrase apparently has its origins with the constellations Leo, the Lion, and Aries, the ram or lamb. It has to do with the relative positions of these constellations in the sky at the beginning and end of the month. Since I haven't been able to see the stars for many nights due to constant rain clouds, I'm going to have to go with my Mother's March theory. I've never seen more hail occur in my life as I have seen here in Newberg these past few days. I'm so sick of the cold & wet weather pattern we've been stuck in the last 2 weeks. Fortunately, I just watched the forecast for this first week of April & I saw little sunshine icons on everyday this week! (better not be an April fool's joke!) I also saw a 65 degree day on Thursday! Woo hoo!!! Can we redo spring break this week?

So, with the coming out of the sun, I can get out & start running off the extra 5 pounds I gained from eating out & scarfing Whopper Robin eggs all last week.

Tonight, I'm sitting on my cozy couch decompressing after a Sunday full of stake meetings. We are full speed ahead on planning Youth Conference coming up the end of June. One exciting development out of the meetings today was that Kenneth Cope is coming! I was able to be home this afternoon to relax with Chris & the kids. We fed the missionaries for dinner. Chris grilled his special pork ribs & red potatoes in between hail & thunder storms. We kept food warmed in the oven until the elders got here. It was yummy! One of the elders was halarious & kept Craig & Cassie's attention throughout dinner. He is from Layton, UT & had all his middle & high school ID cards in his wallet. We had interesting discussions about school mascots, testimony bingo, cereal box characters & Harry Potter. It always makes me smile when I see the impression the missionaries make on our children. We've had them to dinner on a regular basis the past couple of months & this particular appointment, Craig stayed dressed in his church clothes all afternoon just because they were coming. How cool is that!

On a basketball note, the March "madness" is over. All the number 1 seeds claimed final 4 spots in San Antonio. I've always had tremendous respect for Coach Williams & hope his Tarheels get to cut the nets down in the Alamo Dome this year. As for my women's basketball story of the week, I have an unbelievable one. While Cheri, Cassie & I were out shopping around the area this week, we spotted a Nordstoms Rack store. I'd never checked it out before, so we went in & sifted through the racks of clothes. Cassie convinced me to come back to the shoe section with her to see what was there. (we wear the same size shoes...so we make joint decisions on shoe purchases.) I came across some Nike Air hightop basketball shoes! For $13.95! SOLD! I can't wait to try them out this week.