Easter Lillies...

Easter has become my favorite holiday. It's hard to beat Christmas, but they are really one in the same since Christ came into the world to give us the gift of eternal life. Ten years ago, Paul died not too long before Easter, so the day took on a very real significance then. I had always had faith in the Atonement and knew that Jesus Christ lived, but that knowledge become so much more real after loosing Paul. A couple days after he died, it was Sunday and I remember wanting to go to church so I could feel the Spirit, but also not wanting to be around people who didn't understand what I was going through. I ended up sitting in the foyer during the second and third hour going through the scriptures reading everything I could about resurrection and the atonement. The Spirit testified so strongly to me that Paul and the rest of our family would in fact be together again. So much so that I remember wanting to stop people walking by to tell them it's true, this is the best news ever. It was a bit silly because as members of the Church our testimony is based on Christ and the gift He's given us of Eternal life. But it was SO real that day, and the months to follow. That Easter was so special as I listened to conference and to the Spirit again confirmed these same feelings. 

Every year since I really look forward to Easter Sunday and focusing on the Resurrection through personal study and lessons and beautiful music at church. Our Primary chorister introduced us to a couple of incredible songs called "Gethsemane" and "Miracle" that teach about Christ in such a way that hearing or singing those songs brings me to tears every time! They have been favorites for my kids too, and they will watch the accompanying slide shows on YouTube over and over again! 

When Paul died, I was living in VA but came back to UT for the funeral, of course. My parents received countless flowers, cards, and gifts. My favorite of all the flowers was from my high school friend, Kathlea. She sent the most gorgeous arrangement of Easter lilies that smelled so fresh and sweet and were so pure that I immediately associated them with the Resurrection. Seeing Easter lilies is another thing I look forward to each year, and the scent brings sweet remembrance of that time when Heavenly Father sent so many tender mercies my way to help relieve some of the disparity of death that I felt. This year mine started blooming the day before Easter, and today it opened up into several huge pure sweet smelling flowers, just in time for their special day!

Perkins Family Easter 2016...

If I decorated for a wedding or or formal event, I would choose lavender and green as the colors. I've been in love with the combo ever since I saw "My Best Fri"end's Wedding! These colors are beautiful for spring too! I made peanut butter chocolate frogs with green candy melts to go at each place setting too...they were delicious little frogs!

These guys played a marathon game of Star Wars flicky

Of course, we had to have an egg hunt with candy filled Easter Eggs!

We ended the evening opening eggs containing scriptures about the Crucifixion and bearing testimony about our Savior. I LOVE Easter and all the meaning it has...especially the gift of Eternal life and the change to be with our family for eternity! 

Just Eat It!

Sweet Cassie gave Kristi and I a set of tea towels for Christmas with some funny kitchen sayings on them: Chop it like it's hot, Whip it Real Good, and my fav, Just eat it! I felt like it was the perfect motto for our kitchen, and I'm hoping it sends a subliminal  message to the kids as they sit at the bar for 2 hours trying to shove down their dinner! They were not as excited about the addition! Masey Johnson was over and totally got it and was singing and dancing "Just Eat it" to Michael Jackson's "Just Beat it".

Learning to rollerskate...

Paul generously offered to teach Blaze how to rollerskate, although Paul can't rollerskate. He only rollerblades. I looked out the kitchen window to see Blaze rolling down the grassy hill with a pole and lots of padding! Is this roller skiing? I was laughing so hard!

Most Adorable Hedgehog!!

This is Alanna's first year competing in dance, and she is in the Production number themed Alice in Wonderland. She is one of the Queen of Heart's hedgehogs, so they are the "balls" of the Queen's croquet set! It is THE cutest thing ever!

Last Saturday was the first competition. She did not want to wear the body wrapper and change in the locker room, so she changed in the car and walked through the parking lot in her costume instead. As we walked up to the high school, lots of people were smiling at her and telling her how cute she looked. Alanna DOES NOT like that sort of attention, and she was mad! She was stomping her feet and telling me how much she hated the costume. I had to turn my head because I was laughing uncontrollably! Luckily, when we hit the locker room, someone gave her a team gift. It was a bag filled with socks, Pringles, mini donuts, and grape juice. That's the way to make her change her attitude...but not enough to pose for pictures still. She was thrilled to find out that they scored "high gold", and she is hoping they do as well at future competitions.

Today was picture day, and it was so fun watching her pose! Jenny and I were talking about how fast they've grown since they were 3 years old, and it's so bittersweet! I do love seeing all the progress she's made tumbling and dancing! And it's great for her to see how her hard work and practice time is paying off.

Pi 2016....

Chocolate Cream Mousse Oreo Pi to celebrate! I think Alanna was pouting in her room , unfortunately!

Bake Sale Fundraiser...

Jackson and Chase attended a couple of Pow Wow sessions at BYU to earn their three citizen ship merit badges. The community one required them to complete and 8 hour service project, and Chase invited all the ALPS friends to help feed lunch to homeless kids at the Road home. Jackson is always wanting to run a bake sale, so we thought this would be a fun way to get our neighborhood involved in contributing too. It was a huge success! They earned around $250, which will provide 3 lunches for the kids there! We have such a generous neighborhood. I loved seeing kids come with their allowance and parents explaining that they would be helping kids who didn't have food to eat.

Blaze's Special Surprise!

The movie theaters around here have been having $5 Tuesday with cheap popcorn, so it was a great excuse to take Blaze to see Zootopia! I told him before I dropped him off for school that I would have a big surprise for him later on. He didn't forget, and when I picked him up he asked if I had a cookie for him or something like that. When we drove up to the theatre and I told him what we were doing, he was ecstatic! Victoria from school had seen Zootopia, and he wanted to see all of the funny parts she talked about. I bought him popcorn, and he didn't offer me a single bite! And he made it last through the entire movie too! It's so fun sitting next to Blaze during movies because he will laugh like he is being tickled! And, of course, he couldn't wait to brag to his siblings about his special outing with mommy!

Provo City Center Temple Open House...

I couldn't get tickets for the open house because they would be gone as soon as they were available online! On the last Saturday it was open, we finally go to go and waited standby. We actually only waited about 40 minutes, which was amazing for the last weekend night! It was beautiful, of course, and the kids definitely felt the spirit. Afterward we went to the Pizza Pie Café where Blaze apparently ate enough to throw up all over the car on the drive home! It's always an adventure!

More Dr. Suess...

Jackson, Paul, and Alanna each read us a Dr. Suess book. Blaze got a Dr. Suess quiz book from the library that I helped him read to everyone. Next year even he will be able to read us a book all by himself!

Dr. Suess Celebration...

Green eggs and ham, of course! This year, the kids decided they did not like scrambled eggs, so I had to separate all of the eggs to die the whites green. Ugh!

It was fun to make a rainbow cake with my airbrush kit. Blaze correctly told me the order of the colors of the rainbow! We had rainbow fishy crackers to go with One Fish Two Fish Red fish Blue Fish. There were tomato and cheese skewers to make the Cat's Hat. And Jackson drew Grinch faces on our cups and impressed us all with his artistic talent!

Loving the Library....

All the kids beg me to take them to the library. I love how they love to pick out their own books, and the three older ones can all read the same books now and can give recommendations. We have the coolest library with interactive "toys". Blaze and Alanna wanted to get a picture curled up in the giant "S" in the middle of the library.