Elder Quentin L. Cook

This Sunday, May 2, Elder Quentin L. Cook is visiting our stake and holding a special stake conference. What an opportunity this is for my children! An Apostle of Jesus Christ is coming to speak to us!

"An Apostle?" you may ask. Yes, just as in Biblical times, the organization of Jesus Christ's church has been restored to the Earth, and there are Apostles and Prophets as in olden times. And one of those Special Witnesses of Jesus Christ will be here Sunday, at 10:00 am at our stake center. I'll be there, front and center, listening intently!

John, Michael, and I will also be singing in the choir.

If you want to go, please email me, and I'll give you all the info. If you want to know more about the restored church, please visit http://mormon.org or http://jesuschrist.lds.org.

A.J.'s School Play: Character Counts

A.J.'s third grade class put on a small musical production called Character Counts. It was a cute musical play featuring fairy tale characters, and it was designed to teach important character traits, such as honesty.

A.J. didn't want me to take his picture at first, but I finally convinced him to let me get one picture. But I wanted to share all the pictures. :)

The video at the bottom of this post is of AJ (in the middle of the frame) singing with his classmates.

Michael and the Space Exploration Merit Badge

Michael has been working on the Space Exploration Merit Badge with his Boy Scout Troop. As part of the merit badge, Michael built a rocket. Here are a few pictures of the rocket and it's launch. (I would have filmed the launch, but Michael didn't warn me it was coming, and he was first, so the pictures of the landing will have to do.)

Sarah's Baby Shower

A friend of mine, Sarah, is expecting a baby next month. To celebrate, a baby shower was held at my house. It was fantastic, especially since Sarah's sister, Mary, planned it all. We had a great time!

I promised I'd post a picture of the blanket I made, so here it is. :)

More Tether Ball

This video was so large, I couldn't include it with my previous post.

*** I forgot to mention why I posted this video. Several months ago, John hijacked my blog and posted several things including this post about a "new word he created: boondoggle." A high school friend pointed out to me that boondoggle is actually a word, but doesn't have the meaning John ascribed to it. Nevertheless, the kids have taken this word and run with it. They use it several times in the video. ***

Tether Ball

We bought a tether ball for the backyard at Costco on Saturday. The kids love it and had a hard time looking at it, but not playing it, on Sunday.

Coloring Easter Eggs

We were late coloring our Easter eggs this year. Usually, we have an Easter egg hunt and color our eggs on the Saturday before Easter, so that Easter Sunday is focused on the Savior and the true meaning of Easter.

This year, General Conference weekend was also Easter weekend. This was great, because we were privileged to hear from the living prophet and apostles while celebrating the Savior's resurrection. But it also meant we had less time to follow our normal pattern on Easter weekend. As a result, we colored eggs last night (Tuesday).

The kids still had a good time and didn't feel they missed out on anything.

Family Easter Egg Hunt

For the past few years, we've had a family Easter egg hunt in the backyard. Because General Conference was Saturday, we didn't have the opportunity to do it before Easter. We planned to do it Monday, but it was pouring rain when we woke up. Thankfully, the rain ceased, and the sun came out. By Monday afternoon, it was dry enough to have our hunt. Here are a few photos.

Even Milo wanted to participate.

My Handsome Men

John took the boys to the Priesthood session of General Conference on Saturday evening. Don't they look handsome?

Bugs!

I found a huge bug in the kids' bathroom on Saturday. The body was close to 1 inch long. I captured it by placing a cup over it, then sliding a piece of stiff paper underneath, but when I tried to flush it down the toilet, it flew up and toward the bathroom window. Then I made John take it outside for me. :) He's such a good husband!

Jon

My brother, Jon, died in a car accident Thanksgiving weekend 1998. If he had lived, he would have turned 33 today. I didn't want to let this day pass by without mentioning him.




As sad as I was (and still am) that I don't get to see or hear from my brother daily, I learned a few things during this trial/experience. Some of those things are:

1.) Heavenly Father loves me unconditionally, and all my experiences "shall work together for [my] good." He can make good out of any trial if I allow Him to do so.

2.) I am blessed with a wonderful family, including two parents who raised me in a righteous home and taught me correct principles. I have 10 siblings (7 sisters and 3 brothers). I love them very much and am so grateful for them. Often I am asked if it was a good experience growing up in such a large family, and it was for me. I always had someone to play with, someone to cry with, and someone to fight with (when I was so inclined).

3.) The blessings of the Temple are real. Families can be together for eternity with the family unit preserved. Marriage and family relations do not need to end at death. Not only can I be with my husband and children again, but I can also be with my parents, siblings, grandparents, etc.




4.) Jesus Christ came to this earth to set an example for each of us, to atone for our sins, and to be resurrected. These three things allow me the opportunity to be resurrected and to live with my Heavenly Father and family again beyond the veil.


5.) Despite my imperfections, I can return to live with my Heavenly Father again. No matter how hard I try, I will never be perfect. On my own, I can never be good enough to earn the privilege of living with God again, but through the atonement of Jesus Christ, I can live with my Heavenly Father again.

Easter and General Conference

This year, General Conference falls on Easter. What a wonderful way to celebrate Easter by hearing the living prophet and living apostles testify of Jesus Christ, and to give us counsel for us in this time, pertaining to the problems we face.

For those who read my blog, but are unfamiliar with General Conference, it is an annual meeting broadcast at LDS church buildings (stake centers), over the internet (www.lds.org), BYU TV, and on many cable networks (find the channel in your area at www.bonneville.info). During this meeting, several speakers address a variety of subjects, all of which are timely and appropriate for the challenges we face at this time.

If you haven't watched it, I encourage you to take the time to watch it and feel the spirit associated with hearing living apostles and prophets speak.

In the spirit of Easter, I've posted some of my favorite pictures of the Savior below.

The resurrected Savior with Mary outside the tomb

The resurrected Savior with his apostles.

Jesus Healing the Sick at Bethesda


Jesus raising Jairus' daughter

April Fool's Day

David made dinner on April Fool's Day. Here he is presenting his creation: meatloaf and mashed potato cupcakes. Despite their strange appearance, they were pretty good. Thanks, David!

March's Pack Meeting: Paper Airplane Contest

AJ's Cub Scout Pack held a Paper Airplane contest at the March Pack Meeting. AJ was so excited and spent almost 2 weeks making paper airplanes. He brought them all with him and gave them away after the contest, including his plane that won first place in his division. He's such a sweet boy!



Of course, he didn't want me taking his picture, so here are the best shots. He's running away or hiding in two of them.

Okay, I've got a theme going... Still More Gardening...

We've been working hard getting the house in shape, and, lately, I've been working on the front planting bed. There's still quite a bit to do, but we're getting past the really ugly, dead stage.

Here's the bed after I weeded just a little:

And here it is now:

More Gardening...

I started some plants (vegetables and flowers) indoors some time ago in hopes of transferring them outside by early April. Here are pictures of their progress.

March 15 - 2nd set of starters

(1st set destroyed in El Nino rains)

March 16

March 19 (2nd and 3rd set of starters)

March 24 (2nd set of starters)



March 24 (3rd set of starters)

April 2 (2nd and 3rd set of starters)