Learning the Ropes

I'm still working on learning how to use the camera. Unfortunately I don't have nearly as much time to spend with it as I would like. I took a few more shots of the flowers downtown, since my lunch break seems to be the only time I can squeeze in some quality time with the camera.

Tanya had asked me to take some pictures of purple flowers for a friend of hers. I took quite a few pictures, but I didn't get any that I really loved. I definitely need more practice!

Easter Bunny

Apparently my family has a tradition of doing the Easter Bunny part of Easter on the Saturday before the actual Easter holiday. Somehow I did not remember this and was reminded of it by my mother on Thursday night.

After she told me about it I thought, Wow! My parents are so smart! That makes it so much easier to "enjoy" the whole Easter basket-egg finding-gorging on candy thing and still reserve Sunday for the celebration of the religious type Easter (and not have hyper kids during Church!).

So...this year we picked up an (apparently forgotten!) Easter tradition from my family and celebrated the Easter Bunny on Saturday morning. I am now a big advocate of this approach. It was much more relaxed and fun for every one.



Some Easter basket treasures....


The Easter Bunny was cheap this year. $1 bubbles were a big hit though.


We had a little egg hunt in the backyard since I have not been able to bring myself to brave one of the city sponsored ones. I have nightmares of my children getting trampled and then coming home empty handed to boot.


Intense concentration is required when peeling an egg you are going to complain about eating about 10 minutes later.


Liam attempted to eat the egg before we had taken the shell off and managed to give himself a good schmear of blue lipstick for the rest of the day.

It was a wee tad cold outside, but so nice to have a relaxing morning to enjoy the time with the kids.

Temple Square

If you have never been to Temple Square in the Spring, you are really missing out. It is absolutely lovely. They plan the gardens out in great detail and are constantly replanting to make sure there are always blooms to look at (so even if you don't go in the Spring it is still worth the time!). My kids absolutely love going up there just to look at the flowers and the waterfalls.

I was able to spend a couple of hours with the camera up there this week and this is what I came home with.






Plan a trip! It is definitely worth a couple hours if you live nearby.

Easter Message

Pre-Easter Preparations

Decorating Easter eggs is one of those things that strikes fear into my heart. Multi-colored dye with the potential of staining anything it touches, hanging around in liquid form, and actually meant for child participation. Scary! I feel the need to go break out the spot remover just thinking about it.

Apparently it scares Liam too.

We took precautions (note the large field of while in the photo – hooray for white plastic garbage bags!) and managed to escape without incident.

Matt got involved and made a very interesting rainbow spotted egg using the wax from a candle and soaking the egg in increasingly darker colors. Apparently the process required intense concentration…

Happy Birthday Dad

Happy birthday to one of the most humble,

generous,

spiritual,

wise,

and amazing people I know.

You have been my inspiration,

my confidant, my comforter, my example,

and my friend.

I love you so much.

And I'm grateful for every minute of your 72 years

that I have been able to spend with you.

Hermana Dinner

Some of the "Herms" from my mission got together at our Mission President's house for a Dominican feast last Friday.

I wasn't sure how well I would do with the food. To be honest, thinking of Dominican food kind of makes my stomach turn. Nearly 8 years later, I still cannot eat rice and beans together.

I was pleasantly surprised though. The food tasted really good to me (miracles!) most likely because of the talented ladies that made it and the great company.


Thank goodness el Presidente got the chicken foot. This one had longer claws than normal and totally freaked me out. (I woke up to chickens being slaughtered outside our bathroom window for 6 months. I will never forget the flapping sound as they hit the bucket...{shudder}.)

I wasn't the only one that enjoyed the food. Look at those clean plates!

I had a wonderful time eating and chatting with everyone. It has been way too long since I have seen most of them.

Pres. and Sis. J. were gracious and kind hosts as usual. I feel so privileged to have served with such an amazing bunch.

Thanks to Perry and Sis. J. for organizing it, especially on a night I could be there!