It's So Hard to Say Goodbye...tear...

Before I begin this story, I have to explain something. I have a pair of brown sandals that I bought my junior year of high school that I LOVE!!! Seriously, I love those sandals. They have a buckle on them and are made out of leather and are just perfect. Well sadly, last year I ripped side of the strap on one of the sandals. So I haven't been able to wear them since last summer. But this whole time I have had the best of intentions - I am going to take them to a shoe shop and have them fixed. I am just waiting for the shoe shop to come to me. Well the shop didn't move fast enough...

Arturo is a very organized person that doesn't allow clutter to gather. My closet is kind of messy and shoes are strewn all over the floor of my closet. He took it upon himself to sort through my countless number of shoes and get rid of ones that I don't wear.

There were two pairs of shoes that he pulled out that he was set on getting rid of. The first was a pair of black sandals that I also bought in high school - I got them from Fashion Bug - just so you know. :) Kristine had the same pair of sandals and they are darling! Well the sole of the show had pulled away from the shoe and they were looking pretty sad. But I couldn't bring myself to throw them away.

He took care of that - right in front of me he ripped the sandal!!! Can you believe it? Now the sole was totally ripped away from the rest of the shoe. I literally screamed when he did it! You would have thought I was watching a scary movie. I was shocked, but I was willing to let go of those sandals.

Then he grabbed the brown sandals. Oh no you didn't!!! Then he started asking me questions. "How long have these sandals been in your closet - broken?" A year. "How much did you pay for them?" Probably $25. "It will cost most of that just to fix them and you don't even know how well it will work." Then he started pointing out how worn they looked. I couldn't see it because in my mind they are perfect. He knew how much they meant to me so he was being a little more gentle - he didn't instantly ripped them apart.

But suddenly, out of no where, he ripped them! AHHHHH!!!! I screamed and I may have started crying a little. Those sandals are perfect, how could you do that to them? They are innocent! Then he made me do the same thing to the other sandal. He assures me that we will be able to find more sandals but I don't believe we will. Those sandals have treated me very well and have been part of lots of great memories. Farewell my dear sandals. I love you!

I have attached the video.

Warning: The footage you are about to witness is very emotional. Tissues are recommended.

P.S. I have tried to upload the video three times and each time it has been unsuccessful. I will keep trying though because the video is super funny.

Farewell Vany!

One of my really good friends Vanessa (Vany) is moving back to Puerto Rico. All of her family lives there so she is moving back. Arturo and I along with a couple other friends planned a surprise party for her. She truly had no idea it was coming. They were all waiting out our friends' house for us to arrive. We had cake and some yummy food before going to Memory Grove. Memory Grove is one of the most beautiful places in SLC and I love going there. It is like a little oasis.


We threw around a frisbee and played some games. It was really relaxed and fun. Teaching Vany how to throw a frisbee was fun too. One of the guys there told her, "It goes where ever your finger points." Well she knew exactly what he meant but decided to make a joke out of it. "Oh really? So if I throw it to the right and then point to the left, it will go that way?" We played with that one for a while, laughing non-stop.

Afterward we all went to ward prayer. There were a ton of people there and everyone sang "God Be With You 'Til We Meet Again." It was the perfect evening and Vany had a wonderful time. I am really going to miss her. She is one of the sweetest people I know. She has been a great friend to me. Good luck in Puerto Rico Vany! We all love you.

Racing!!!

In Tooele at the Miller Motor Sports Park they have a deal where you get to do 5 go-cart laps for $5. It is on Wednesday evenings from 5-8. We got a group of us together and went last Wednesday. We got to the track at 7:45 and they said that we wouldn't be able to go because they already had a line and they wanted to be out of there by 8. Well Arturo doesn't give up that easily. He was very respectful but tenacious.

After talking to the manager, we were able to race. It was SOOOOOO much fun! Arturo and Joey (a friend of a friend) sped off really quick. So it was basically the girls who were racing by each other. Vany passed me on the 2nd lap and I couldn't believe it!!! I was not going to let her beat me. So my chance came when they guy waved the checkered flag. Vany got confused and thought it meant that we were supposed to stop. So she slowed down and what do you think I did? PASSED HER! I waved as I drove by and you should have seen how frustrated she was when we finished. It was all in good fun - Vany is pretty competitive.

We had a blast and we are probably going to go tomorrow too. :)

Oquirrh Mountain Temple

Our ward went to the Oquirrh Mountain Temple open house. My Uncle Steve gave us a tour. He is in a stake presidency in one of the stakes that has been heavenly involved in the open house. Having my uncle give us a personal tour was a really special experience. It was gorgeous inside! It was breath-taking! The theme in the temple is circles. The higher up you go in the temple the closer the circles get. They become more and more inter-twined.

The windows have stars in them and they look like crystals. The celestial room was so beautiful I cannot even explain it. I know there are lots of beautiful temples and that I will get to see them when I am endowed, but for now, I must say that that temple is one of the most beautiful temples I have seen. I felt like I was truly in Heaven.

Temples are such a sacred and special place and I am so grateful that we have temples all over the earth. I am so blessed to have 7 temples all within an hour drive.

Larsen Family Reunion

I absolutely LOVE my family. Our family reunion was a total hit. My parents were in charge of it this year. I helped my parents plan activities but they carried it all out and did a fantastic job. We had a variety show, a store for the kids to buy toys and some candy with their Lars Dollars, one day was spent at Alturas Lake, then we had a testimony meeting and lots of good food. One of the things I really liked was the dutch oven cook off and when we played steal the flag with glow sticks. It was pretty intense! The Larsen family is FULL of boys. So playing any kind of game with the Larsen family is intense. It was a blast though and I loved it. All three of my brothers played and they were amazing!

My nephew Ty found a hike that he feel in love with. He went up that hike probably 10 times. Now keep in mind, Ty is 4 years old!!! Getting to know my cousins kids was fun. There are a ton of new little kids in our family so remembering all of their names was tricky. My cousins Kara and Emma were especially fun to hang out with.

We stayed in cabins as families and our cabin had a few visitors - aka mice! Nice. But don't worry, they were caught and taken care of. The area we were in was gorgeous and the stars at night we awe inspiring. My family gets along amazingly well and there were no problems. I feel so blessed to have such a great family.

Arturo was a great sport and came up to my reunion. He couldn't come until Thursday, so he rode 6-7 hours in the car with my uncle who he had never met before. My Uncle Steve is a great guy and they had a good time together. They thing that was NOT funny was when they finally got to the reunion. I say my uncle's car pull up so I ran out of the lodge to see Arturo.

Well when I got out there, Arturo was not in the car. I asked my uncle about it and he said that he could not come. Yeah right! I know that they are both joksters. But then he told me a story that Arturo's grandma called and needed help so he had to go to Payson. Now that I believed. I was totally bummed! I walked back into the lodge and tried to take it all in. Then a few minutes later guess who walked in? Arturo! He had been in the back seat hiding under the luggage.

It was wonderful and I love my family.

A Must Read Book!!!

There is a new book by Brad Wilcox that everyone has to read. The book is titled, "The Continuous Atonement." It gave me a fresh view of the Atonement and it works in our lives. After reading the book, I had a renewed hoped in the Atonement and my faith in the Atonement grew by leaps and bounds. The way he explains things is so simple and easy to understand. After reading this book, the Atonement seems like something that is actually accessible now.

One cool thing is that I did a session of EFY last week and the session director was Brad Wilcox. I recognized him the moment I walked in to our fireside Sunday night. He took some time to talk to me about his book and gave me lots of great insights. Later in the week I was also able to participate in an interview with him about his new book. A girl from The Daily Universe at BYU came to interview him and he thought it would be nice to have me there since I had read the book. Read it. You will love it!

It's Already Over?

My first year of teaching was pretty much the best thing ever. I don't think it could have gone much better. I absolutely loved my students. They made me laugh every day and when I was extremely frustrated with a student or an entire class period, they would make me smile. The frustrating parts were few compared to all the wonderful things about teaching.

I feel really lucky to have chosen this as my profession. I love it and I feel like this is where I belong. I honestly cried when school ended. Thursday was my last day with my students and I cried a lot that night and also the next night. One of my students made a little book that I could have students sign. It was really fun to read what they wrote. Some of my students brough in gifts the last couple of days.

All of the gifts were very thoughtful and kind. Logan, my student who gave me a clapper for Christmas brought in the grass we had grown in class when we were talking about agriculture and overgrazing. It was really long since he hadn't cut it at all. It cracked me up that that is what he brough in - he has a pretty funny sense of humor. Sidenote - for those of my students who are reading this, just because I did not mention your gift or card by name does not mean it was not important to me, I loved them all. Logan's was just totally random.

I worry that next year will not be as fun or as wonderful as this year was. Could it get better then this year? I don't know. We will have to wait and see. Right now, I am enjoying my summer and loving the fact that I can sleep in. Oh yeah!!!

Oh Canada...

If I knew the Canadian National Anthem, you better believe I would start singing it right now. "Why is Christie randomly singing the Canadian National Anthem," you may ask? Well my friends, I had the opportunity to go to Calgary with Arturo over Memorial Day Weekend. Lucky for me I already had my passport from when I went to Brazil. So off to Canada we went.

His family lives in Calgary, so we went to visit them. We drove there in a Malibu with 3 other girls. And guess where your's truly got to sit a majority of the trip...that's right, in the back seat, in the middle, on the hump. Awesome! It really wasn't that bad though because I am kind of fond of the only guy in the car and he happened to be sitting by me. :)

I thought Calgary was beautiful! The Rocky Mountains were breathe taking. Calgary is surrounded by mountains and forrests. So in the middle of the city there will be large sections of pine trees - it is beautiful. The weather was perfect, so I was a fan.

One of the things that I loved about our vacation was that it was really relaxed. We didn't have a really packed schedule, so we could just do whatever we wanted to. We left Wednesday after work. The three other girls we rode with were Carlisa, Jen and Heather. Jen is from Calgary as well, so it was her car that we took. Arturo knows Jen from school. She was very normal and fun to travel with. The other two girls kept us on our toes.

We let Heather drive at one point and let me tell you one of the many things she said in hopes that it will kind of give you hint of what it was like having her drive. Here is the scenerio - it is 12:30 at night and we are in Butte, Montana. So it is extremely dark with mountains surrounding us, so there are many turns. Not too long after she starts driving and taking many jerky corners she says, "How are you supposed to know when to turn? How are you supposed to know when the road turns?" AHHHH!!! Needless to say she only drove for 20 minutes and then Arturo took over. Phew!

On the way home, I was not sure we were going to make it through customs. Carlisa had to go to the bathroom really bad and we had to wait in line forever. She thought she was going to die and we all thought we were going to die because they were never going to let us go through customs with one of our passengers having a melt down. Once you get into the customs area, you can't get out of your car, so she was stuck in the car. Arturo said, "Great, once they see I am from Colombia, they are going to think Carlisa is on drugs!"

Now for some of the things we did while we were there. The first day we were there we went to Daniel's recital. (Daniel is Arturo's little brother.) I felt like I was right at home going to one of my mom's piano recitals. It was even held in a piano store, just like my mom does. We had a BBQ every single night!!! On top of that, we had some kind of meat for lunch every day too. Now, let me tell you a little secret, Arturo loves meat, so we had lots of it. At one meal we had hamburgers with bacon on top and then a sausage on the side. I am pretty sure we had potatoes with it too - that was a staple at nearly every meal. Good thing I am an Idaho girl right? My dad would have died watching me eat all that meat. At home, I never eat that much and for some reason, I always leave a little at the end that I don't eat. In my mind, the last piece is going to have all the fat in it and it is going to taste nasty, so I don't eat it. Weird, I know. But in Calgary, I ate it all - last piece and everything.

Arturo and I got the chance to wash and clean out a car for a friend of his mom. Her friend's husband had just passed away and she couldn't drive his car since it was a stick. She wanted to sell it but needed to clean it first, so we went and picked it up and cleaned it. I cleaned that car while he cleaned his mom's car. It was extremely dirty! We washed it once and probably should have washed a second time. The inside was like the outside and once we were done with it, it looked like a completely different car. We are going to open our own car detailing company.

We also got to go to Banff National Park, which was also stunning. We only got to go for a few hours, but it was wonderful. The natural beauty there is incredible. The City of Banff reminded me of Jackson Hole a little. However, there was this incredible hotel that looked like a castle, and there is nothing like that in Jackson.

This is getting really long, so I am going to try to cut it down. Sunday I surprised Arturo by singing a muscial number in his ward. His mom had set it all up a couple of weeks before we went. The lady that accompanied me was very talented, so it made it really easy to sing with her. It went well but a couple were confused as to who I was - that was until they saw that I was with Arturo and then they figured out why I had sung in their ward.

Another adventure we experienced was coming home. We were supposed to leave Monday and be back Tuesday morning so Arturo and I could go to work. Well, Jen the girl who's car we took, got the 24 stomach flu and was tied to the toilet. Needless to say, we were not going anywhere. Thankfully I have good friends at work that helped me get ready for another sub. We got back Wednesday morning about 3:30 and then I went to work that day. It all worked out well. On the way home, we stopped in IF and my parents had sandwiches ready for Arturo and I. It was nice to see them.

Canada was tons of fun and beautiful. I highly recommend it to everyone! P.S. Loonies and toonies are one and two dollar coins respectively. Those are nicknames for coins in Canada, just so you know.

Hero in Education ...WOW!!!

The City of West Jordan Chamber of Commerce gives out an award called Hero's in Eduction to teachers in the city. Students nominate teachers and then based on the comments written by the students, they select winners. The Chamber selected 10 winners this year and 4 of them were from my school. Another interesting thing is that 3 of the 4 teachers were history teachers. Now for the amazing part....one of which was me!

I couldn't believe it when they called my name as one of the winners. I received a certificate, a gift certificate and all the letters my students wrote. It was so neat to be able to read what they wrote about me and why they nominated me. It made my day to know that my students think so highly of me. :) As a teacher you are never really sure how much they are learning or if you have much of an impact. Reading their letters though helped me see that I have had an impact on them.

A lot of them said that I am able to explain things in a way that makes sense and stinks in their minds. Now this part isn't a huge surprise for a lot of you - but they said I am very enthusiastic and happy in class which makes it more fun. There were some other things they wrote, but I feel a little self conscious writing them on here. I just had to share because I was pretty excited. :)

Extreme Makeover Home Edition

I just have to say how much I love this show. Watching the reactions of the people who they help is so exctiting and inspiring. Regardless of how crummy your day has been, watching that show makes you smile from ear to ear and lifts your spirits. I do not even have to have watched the entire episode - just seeing the end where they get to see the house is exciting.

The family I watched today was a guy with 5 teenage sons. They could not stop hugging everyone, yelling and jumping up and down. I loved it. I am so glad there are still shows that make you feel all warm and fuzzy inside. People still care and people still serve strangers....love it.

Introducing: Arturo Urquijo

Yes, that is right, he is smiling. Isn't he darling.

Me, just messing around while Arturo is talking to his mom.

This was us at Extravadance at BYU-I. I LOVE Extravadance!!! I was so glad

he was willing to go to it with me.

At the Tabernacle for a Orchestra on Temple Square concert.

Doesn't Arturo look great!?! Oh wait, that is my car. He he he....I bought a new car in January and I absolutely love it.

So, I must admit that as I wrote that title, I felt like I was a mother and I was making the first post of one of my kids. You know when someone has a baby, they say, "Introducing...." Well, that is how I felt. Well Shawri has been giving me hard time about wanting to see pictures of this mystical man that I am dating, so here you go.

I am dating a amazing young man by the name of Arturo Urquijo. So, if you are like me and wondered how on earth you say his last name, the best way I can tell you through written text is or-key-ho. Anyone want to make guesses where he is from? I know, his name totally sounds English. Drum roll please...............Colombia. How on earth did we met you may ask? Well my friends, that is a great question.

Tyson Smith lives in Salt Lake as well. So Arturo happened to be at Tyson's work and started talking to Tyson. He asked Tyson he if was LDS because he wanted to find a good ward to go to. Tyson isn't active any more, so he told him to call me. Arturo didn't really feel comfortable doing that, so he didn't - for 4 months. Then in August he sent me a text and the rest they say is history. We dated during the Fall and broke up the first week in December. We started dating again in the middle of February, and may I just say I am so glad we are given second chances!

I could go on forever telling you funny things that we have done together or things that I really like about him, but I will just tell you a few and then post some pictures. Oh, I also have to add that he thinks he looks goofy smiling in pictures, which is why he chooses instead to pull the model face on a lot of pictures.

So Arturo is very outgoing and makes everyone feel comfortable and important in an instant. He is quick to notice the needs of other people and anything that he has, he is willing to give to you. He is always sharing...no matter what it is and no matter how little left ther is. :) He is extremely whitty and has a great sense of humor. He loves to sing kareoke with me, which is great. Arturo also loves food and likes to cook. Dancing and good music are also some of his favorites, which I am pretty excited about! Over the last 6 months I have become really lazy with cooking and I will admit that I will have cereal for dinner. Well, he has done his best to make sure that I don't have cereal for dinner any more.

I will stop there, but I will include a few captions to explain the pictures. I hope you enjoy them. I sure do!

A Plethora of Information

I have a bunch of little things to write, so here goes.

1. I am singing with the Salt Lake Combined Institute Choirs this Saturday in the Afternoon Session of General Conference. I am going to be sitting along the far right side about 5 rows up, in the middle of the row. I will be wearing a blue shirt. Look for me!

2. So to conclude the story about my speeding ticket - the judge could car less that this was my first ticket and that I never drive on that road. This is what he told me, "Well, my first ticket was in a school zone and I have always remembered that. Now you get to remember this for the rest of your life. Your fine is $100." End of story.

3. This week we have been talking about agriculture in class. We were specifically talking about overgrazing yesterday. Well, I drew a fantastic rendition of grass on the board and asked my students to come show me what proper grazing would be versus overgrazing. When I handed them the eraser, I told them they had to moo like a cow as they erased it. Well, my 6th period went to town with that idea.

I had kids on the ground acting like cows and mooing like crazy. Then I had another students, Tavane, who is hysterical might I add, acting like a chicken and bossing everyone around. The science teacher and I always give each other a hard time. She heard the mooing, so she had her class moo back. It got louder and louder and louder - I could not stop laughing.

Then, to top it off, one of my students who was acting like a cow, asked a girl to hold his bag of ice that he was using to ice his knee. Once he got done acting like a cow, he took back the bag of ice. This is when it got interesting. Raegan turned around with an ice cube in her mouth and said something to Nick. "Did you eat my ice?" asked Nick. At which point, Raegan turned around with a sheepish grin on her face and just smiled. "You did!!!" The whole class lost it. Raegan had opened his bag of ice and eaten half of it. Hysterical.

4. I leave for NYC in a week. My friends Tara, Katie and I are going for my Spring Break. I am super exited. I have never been there before. I get to see Wicked too! Woot Woot!

My First Ticket!!! AHHHHHH!!!

Today is a very sad day in the life of Christie. I would ask that you would all join me now in a moment of silence. .................... So here is the story. This morning we had a bad snow storm hit. There was an accident on the 201 which is the road we usually take. So instead we took I-15. As the road comes into town it changes from 50 to 35. So I was slowing down as I was approaching the sign. When I got to the sign I think I was going 40. Right then I see a cop turn his lights on and pull out. I could not believe it!

On Thursday I was stopped by a cop because he had looked up my license plate number and it said that my car was not insured. Well, I showed him my insurance card and he accepted it. But then he told me that I needed to get a Utah drivers license or it would be a $1000 fine.

I changed car insurance companies YESTERDAY and I couldn't get a new license because it was a holiday. So when I got pulled over I was terrified that I was going to a $1000 fine plus get a fine for not having my new insurance card. Thankfully, he said nothing about either of the issues.

He pulled me over because he said I was speeding in a school zone. I was completely confused. I could see the flashing lights of the school zone ahead of me, so I was going to slow down when I got to them. But he said there was a sign before that and that I was in the school zone already. He wrote me down for going 25 in a 20 mph school zone, thankfully. I was going 38 but he was kind. He said there is a driving class that I can take that may take it off my record. I am totally bummed though. I am exceedingly sad that my perfect record has now been tainted. Sad day.

Short Skirts and Rainy Winter Days

At my school, the dress code says that girls skirts have to come to atleast mid-thigh when they are sitting. One of my students, Savannah, wears a skirt that is mid-thigh when she is standing. However, she almost always wears leggings with it, so I don't say anything.

But yesterday she was not wearing leggings with it. We were in the computer lab working on their letters to a legislator. Everyone was working, so I thought this was the perfect chance to talk to her. I just said, "Savannah, could you come here for a second." Now, I have to tell you that Savannah is one of my best students. She has tons of personality, she works hard and she does well.

So when she came back to where I was, she leaned over and said, "This is about my skirt isn't it." I replied, "Yeah, how did you know?" "I just had a feeling. Would you like me to go change?" I said yes and off she went to the locker room to grab her gym shorts. Amazing!!!! It was just that easy. I gained a lot of respect for Savannah at that moment. Kids can be wonderful.

I was expecially grateful to Savannah for being so repsonsible after having a very infuriating discussion with one of my other students. We have been working on this letter to a legislator project for two weeks now. It was due Friday. On Thursday while we were in the lab typing up our final draft, one of my not so favorite students asks me, "Since I am not doing this project - since you never explained it to me - can I work on my CTE homework?" AHHHHH!!! I just about lost it! I couldn't believe she had the nerve to say that to me. No other student seemed to be having a problem, just her. Everything had been done step by step in class - it was fool proof. Or so I thought.

I told her we would discuss it later. After all the students were working, I stepped out of the lab to talk to her. She tried to blame me and then tried to blame her mom and then said that her mom would not let her do her homework for punishment. When I reminded her that all of the work had been done in class, she again, blamed it on her mom. I wanted to strangle this girl!!! At any rate, I gave her until Monday to have the entire project completed. It is worth the equivilent of 3 quizzes, we shall see how it goes.

Add to that, that the next day I had a student cheat on a quiz. One of my best students told me that she saw this kid cheat last week and told me how he did it. She wanted me to know so I could watch for it this week. Well, sure enough, he did it. I wrote him a note and told him I knew he had cheated, so he could do one of two things: 1. Come talk to me and confess and then we could work something out or 2. Not talk to me and I would give him a 0% on both quizzes. He chose not to talk to me about it. I lost a great deal of respect for that student and I am extremely disappointed in him. Student-led Conferences are coming up in 2 weeks (basically parent teacher conferences, except the students come with their parents.) You had better believe I will be chatting with his parents. I figure that in the mean time, they will notice that his grade dropped from a B+ to a D in one day. I am going to let him try to explain that to them.

Now for the rainy winter day portion of my title. A year and a half ago when I lived alone in my aunt and uncle's basement apartment, I went for a lot of walks. It was during the Fall, so the weather was gorgeous. Living by myself stunk and no one was interested in getting to know me, so I filled my evenings with long walks. Since then I have become a huge fan of walks.

In honor of my long walks, I decided to go for a walk today. I had straighted my hair today, so I was a little bummed when it started to rain on my walk. It was only a drizzle, so I did not worry about it. My walk was wonderful! Walks are so refreshing and lovely. I can just think and in the mean time enjoy the beautiful scenary. The homes around where I live are amazing! They are classic homes that all have their own character. I love the area I live in.

Our New Bishop

I am pretty sure that our new bishop would be a little uncomfortable with me posting this, but here we go. A new bishopric was sustained in my ward 3 weeks ago. When they announced the name of the new bishop, every persons head turned and you could see that people were wondering. His name was Thomas L. Monson. Hmmmmm....

Well, it is true, our new bishop is the son of the prophet!!! How crazy is that? He is a wonderful guy, very down to earth and easy to talk to. His wife is lovely. She is from Ucon and instantly we got along very well. Bishop Monson said it is still a little odd when people bear testimony of the prophet. To him, his dad is just his dad - nothing more or less. He is a wonderful bishop and I look forward to getting to know him. Perhaps we will have a FHE with the prophet sometime...yeah right. Oh well, I can hope. :)

If You Sing in Conference, They Will Come

I am in the Institute Choir presidency. Each semester we have around 30-40 people in choir. However, that ALL changed this semester. We are singing in the March CES fireside and then we are singing for the Saturday Afternoon session of General Conference. Well, well, well my friends, the masses have now appeared.

The first week of this semester, we had 130 people at choir. We thought that was a TON! On no, no, no. That was only the beginning. The last two weeks we have had 230 people. Clearly, we cannot have that many people. So Brother Keaton made attendance the deciding factor in whether of not you get to sing in the fireside and conference.

It has been amazing to me to see the enormous number of people that have shown up. It is exciting and I am glad to see that this many people want to be involved. However, I must admit that I am a little sad that I know there will never be this many people again - unless of course we sing in conference again.

I must also add that Julie Taylor and Jennifer Dutson are in choir with me and I am so glad. Look for the little section of people from Skyline when you watch conference this April.