Easter Gratitude...

 

 

I have always loved Easter and tried to focus on the real meaning of Christ's resurrection and atonement. I get semi irritated by the Easter Bunny (who visits on Saturday, not Sunday), and my kid's excitement over candy! One friend said their bunny comes on the first day of Spring...that may be in our future! Since my brother, Paul, died, it has brought even more meaning to the "holiday". Easter has become my favorite holiday because it's a time to reflect on how grateful I am to know that I WILL see my brother again! It's a painful separation, and every day I miss seeing what his life here would have been like. I miss talking to him...he was one of my biggest "cheer leaders". But I still feel his presence and know he is part of my life. Of course I think about how grateful I am to know of eternal families and that I will be with all of my family forever, but I don't like to imagine loosing anyone else! The experience of loosing Paul so suddenly has really brought the reality and fragility of life close to my heart.

 

James and I learned that a friend from college lost his young wife to cancer this week. It was very aggressive and seemed to happen too suddenly. They have three young children and are trying to compile memory books so that the kids will be able to know and remember their mother. It 's just a heart breaking thought that a mother will miss raising her children. We witnessed this couple's courtship while at BYU and I know how in love they were. We would listen to stories of how the husband was so enamoured with his future wife as they were dating! It's easy to think "this is not fair!" But, we have been given the healing power of the Atonement, and the blessing of eternal families. Perhaps it was a tender mercy that she passed on a few days after Easter when her friends and family had these thoughts of the resurrection fresh in their mind.

 

Yesterday I had the great privilege of attending the sealing of a family in our ward to their adopted son from Ethiopia. I have been good friends with Melanie for a few years since we really bonded as visiting teaching companions. I have heard of all of the joys and challenges they have faced through the adoption process...the spiritual experiences of knowing these sweet boys were meant to come to them, and also the challenges that come with adoption. It's been a journey, but I know as I witnessed the family come together all dressed in white around the alter in the sealing room, it was more than worth it to them! The spirit was so strong, and it was amazing to look around the room and see all of the love and support this family receives from their family and good friends. That is what the gospel is all about!

 

In Primary today, I asked Melanie and two of her sons who were in the room to come up to the front. I asked Deklin, the oldest at six years of age, to tell us what he did the day before. I was so impressed that without any prompting he told us how he got to go in the temple and be sealed to his little brother Silas! I then asked the Primary kids if we could sing "Families are Together Forever", and I heard a couple of the kids exclaim "that's my favorite song!". The Spirit was so strong, and as I looked around the room I got so emotional because I could SEE that the kids got it...they were feeling the Spirit too! None of the adults in the room could hold back their emotions and the tears of joy were flowing. I don't know if I will ever forget that "moment"! Shortly afterward I was in the hall talking to a wise friend and relaying the special moment. She was in tears, and she commented how interesting it is that life is made up of moments. You work so hard to get to one of those life changing moments (like making it to the temple), and then it's a moment that impacts your eternity.

 

It's been a great week of reflection, but I don't have the words to adequately express the feelings in my heart. The thoughts and experiences this week have left me spiritually uplifted in so many ways. I am grateful for a loving Heavenly Father who knows me individually, and he is so aware of how to teach me through experiences. I am so grateful for the empty tomb and the  words "He is not here; He is risen!"

Tulip Festival...

Ok...so I LOVE the tulip festival. I may have been a little excited about snapping pictures. I may have taken over 100 that day, kind of like James and his waterfalls when we were in HI. I tried to limit my post to just a few "flower only" pics. Most of them have the kids included to make them more interesting. We ended up buying a season pass to Thanksgiving Point which I'm so excited about! They are opening a new discovery type museum that we can go visit for free anytime now! It was such a perfect day: low 70's, sunny, no wind, no crowds, and the tulips bloomed early this year and we caught them at their peak (so we were told).

Love these two cuties. It's fun to see the kids pair off...so glad we have an even number so no one gets left out!

I've always wanted to go to Holland to see the tulips! Maybe this is just as good? I'll tell myself that until I get there!

There are 55 acres of gardens to roam through. And for our kids that means tumbling, cartwheels, rolling down hills, running, etc. with all of the freedom they want! It's so fun to watch them play and be kids without T.V., electronics, or even regular toys to play with!

There is a fish pond where you can buy fish food and feed these greedy fish. We are too cheap to buy food for 25 cents! So our kids resorted to digging it out of the cracks of the Trex deck! It's gross, really, to watch these huge fish swarm together and fight over the bits of food. They have huge mouths, and I wonder how they even notice that they get a tiny of pellet of food in their mouth!

James had an urge to relive his BYU days of sliding down the polls. You aren't allowed to at BYU, and I think he got called out more than once for his childish behavior! I insisted on sticking to the paths through the gardens, and James promptly reminded me that I don't have to obey the BYU rule of "Cougars don't cut corners!".

We found a huge chess board and checker board where it was fun to take a little break to see Jackson and James battle. They were doing really well (Jackson says he was winning), until some little kids came by and kicked down several pieces. Their mom was a little to late in putting the kabash on their fun!

I had to hold James back from going over and pushing the boys all the way into this fountain. I would have let him if it didn't have signs all over that instructed everyone to stay out!

 Since we bought a season pass and could go to the petting zoo for free, we did! The kids got a pony and a wagon ride and loved it! Blaze watched the kids before us take their ride, and he carefully picked out his favorite pony he HAD to ride on. So cute!

 

Jackson rode atop the biggest horse there and loved it.

We met some of our Williamson cousins: Chris, Lynsey, Kaia, Cruz, and Lyla for dinner and ice cream at the cafe there. James and his brother Chris really enjoy riling up this group of kids! It had really cooled off by that point, so Lynsey and I stayed inside the restaurant while I handed off the camera to James...again! At least I got a couple of good shots from him this time!

It was a happy day because Blaze got to have ketchup! I stopped buying it long ago, so it's a treat for the kids to have it. So much so that I guess he wanted to smear it all over his face to snack on later! This was such a perfect day with our family, and it makes me long for the long warm summer days even more. On the way home our kids were reminiscing about our Hawaii vacation and asking to go back. James and I were feeling the same way...when can we go back. It's been a year...too long. I think we will have to hit Kauai next year or the year after!

Yellow Fork Canyon Hike...

We have enjoyed doing a little exploring up on the trails behind our neighborhood, but on this Saturday we thought we'd try out a hike in our local canyon since it was spring break and soccer games were cancelled. It was a very warm morning at the Easter Egg Roll, but when we got to hiking around 2pm, it was cooling off and we had some intermittent rain on our journey. The trail we took is also a horse trail, so one couple stopped and let us pet their beautiful horses. Our kids decided that we need a horse, and James said he's good with that because then we'd have to move and have lots of land. So there you go...it's settled. We're getting a horse. Ha!

Alanna wasn't in the mood to hike apparently. We had to turn back and get a band aid, stop several times because she was about to pee her pants but wouldn't go outside, etc. At one of her bathroom stops a few feet off the trail, the boys saw some baby snakes...and James says they were rattle snakes! Good teaching opportunity about staying on the trail right there!

We didn't make it to our planned destination because the rain kept coming stronger and stronger. If James had it his way we would have forged our way up the mountain, but we took a family vote and he was out voted. But I would have vetoed the vote if it had gone the other way! Anyhow...it's the joy in the journey, not the destination, right?!

Easter Egg Roll...

Jackson has become pretty good friends with a boy from school, Jaden. Coincidentally, James used to work with Jaden's dad, Jay, at Lockheed when we first moved to UT. They hosted an "Easter Egg Roll", and invited our family to attend. It was pretty awesome. They were inspired by the official "Easter Egg Roll" that takes place at the White House in D.C., which we heard about when we lived there, but never attended. There was face painting...Blaze chose a car, Paul a dog, Alanna a cupcake. James and Jackson were too cool, but we were trying to convince James to get a hotdog on his face! He HATES hotdogs!

An Easter Kangaroo from "down under" made a special appearance!

There were timed wheel barrow races. James's time was 20 seconds...I think he won. He did have a light load though!

My pics got out of order. This is cute little Cache sporting the bunny ears that Alanna won at the party.

Side walk chalk contest! Jackson ended up winning one of the "guess how many Jelly Belly's" in the jar contest. He brought home a sizable quantity of Jelly Belly's that lasted less than 24 hours at our house!

Of course, there was an egg hunt. Alanna and Blaze made out really well despite missing the "kiddie" entrance time.

There was a bounce house and fishing pond.

In this game you had 30 seconds to dig through the wood shavings and pull out as much candy as you could (not that anyone needed any after the egg hunt!). If you found a golden ticket, you also got to pick a bigger prize. They were nick knacks from Jay's current company, SAIC! James got a kick out of that, and our kids made out with fancy notebooks and headphones!

 

 What a fun idea and great addition to our Easter Saturday! We are lucky to have such great friends!

 

 

 

 

Easter Bunny 2014...

The Easter Bunny visited our house on Saturday morning bringing some new church accessories, a little candy, and an egg hunt. It was so fun that the Easter Bunny brought a dress that I love :), new earrings, hair clips, and a special handmade CTR necklace that the Bunny's good friend made! She was very excited... mostly to practice jump roping with the Hello Kitty jump rope!

Blaze loved his Ninja Turtles puzzles, and he goes around talking about his "blue liquid bubbles". Not just bubbles, or blue bubbles...LIQUID bubbles!

Paul was excited about a new tie and a Slinky.

Jackson finally got his first "real tie" and has learned to tie it on his own!

James always likes them to do a "bunny" pose. So silly!

My little beauty is growing up too fast!

As is my handsome Blaze!

Too bad these don't come in James's size!

And it's not Easter without the Robin Egg smile.

The kids dyed about 30 eggs, and somehow a few of them were found a week later in the backyard. I had to convince them to just throw them away and not eat them! They get pretty attached to their artwork!