Easter evening

Steve's sister Karen hosted Easter dinner for his side of the family. Her son Zach also has a birthday that week, so we celebrated both. It was nice to visit and hang out and she did ALL the work ... which was really nice! THANKS KAREN!!

Due to the wonderful "white" treat outside that morning, we had the egghunt in Karen's basement. The kids loved it. We also forgot our Easter baskets and Karen had gotten rid of all her shopping bags so we got creative on Easter baskets - a brown bag, a tupperware type container and Tay's lunch bag. :) It worked and they were happy!


All the kids together with their haul.

Easter

Its late ... but here are a few pics...

First, we woke up to find a BIG surprise from the Easter Bunny. Seems he had a little help from Jack Frost. ... Yes, this is our backyard and yes, this really is Easter morning this year... sigh!
Easter with the kids ... we do Easter and Christmas down in the basement in the play/game room because it means the kids can't see the stuff before we get in the room (our living room has a vaulted ceiling that opens up to the upstairs so they can see into it the second they open their bedroom door). The girls were all very happy with their Zhu Zhu pet accessories, new outfit and treats!
Taylor's favorite - a bag of Reese's pieces shaped like a carrot with only orange Reese's in it. Its one of her fave treats right now.
Not sure what the sour face was for ... she was very happy.
Jessica makes the littlest things seem like the biggest moment of joy! She is so fun right now!

Easter Treats

I decided to make some Easter treats this year ... Here's what we made:

Resurection rolls ... they got a little overdone, but it was fun to try. Definitely something I'll do again next year. We used a can of crescent rolls, wrapped them around a marshmallow, sealed all the edges and sprinkled the top with cinnamon and sugar. Then baked them. Super simple and super cute. The girls thought it was neat that they were hollow and it gave us a chance to talk more about Christ, His sacrifice, His resurrection and what that means in our lives. It helped us focus on our Savior who died on the cross, but is alive again and what a blessing that is to us.

We also made chocolate birds nests. Found the recipe online somewhere. But basically its just chocolate chips melted with a little shortening, then you mix in Chinese noodles (chow mein). You shape them into little nests and then add peanut M&Ms or jelly beans or whatever egg-shaped candy you want for eggs. We used Peanut M&Ms because Taylor likes them and I was hoping she'd try the noodles too (no luck, but they turned out cute and Steve and I REALLY liked them - sorry girls, guess we ate them all... oops!).

And I dipped strawberries too. Nothing fancy, but YUMMY!! I love this time of year when Costco has their strawberries! They are THE BEST!

Wow - catchup time!

I can't believe I haven't posted any pics of what's been going on in our lives since March! Oops... well here is a start.

Alyssa is in 4th grade. They do a Utah heritage program as part of learning about state history. They learn and perform lots of songs that teach them about the different groups and people who helped form the state of Utah. They also learn dates and county names and other interesting things. It was pretty fun. When they perform for parents, they all dress up in pioneer, indian, mountain men, miner or other early Utah history costumes. They did this performance on April 2nd, the last day before spring break. Alyssa really loves to sing so she really enjoyed it and did a good job.

Also on April 2nd, Taylor had her spring fling party at school. Three moms helped me and they each did a different activity. There was a pass the bunny game, making paper caterpillars and PLANTING carrots! I love being room mom for Taylor's class and being able to be at all the parties and see the things that go on in her classroom!


More to come!

Quick note

Things are going pretty well right now. We have some promising opportunities for Steve's company and we are very hopeful and optimistic that things will be back to normal by end of June. Here's hoping! And thank you for all the prayers and thoughts.

I have learned SOOO much these last almost 8 months since the company Steve worked for lost its funding. I have learned to trust my husband. I have learned to have a lot more faith. I have learned I can't control it all and to let go. I have learned to cut back and to say no to buying things. I have learned to be more creative on my meal planning. I have actually cooked a few new things (to those of you who know me well, you know this is big ... we were a meat and sides or eat out family, but I've actually cooked full meals). I've learned to look inward for strength. I've learned to appreciate the little things and to keep my focus on the more important things. I've learned to take a little time for me no matter what. I hope I've learned to judge others and their decisions less. You really don't know why people do what they do ... and sometimes although a decision may look frivolous or wrong, you really DON'T know the whole picture so you really can't judge. And I've learned several areas I need to work on and ways I can better myself. One of the biggest areas I want to work on, is being more aware of the needs of those around me and being more in tune with what I can do to help others ... what little things can I do to help ease their trials. It has been AMAZING to me how the LITTLEST things that others do for us can make such a BIG difference.

I am truly grateful to all of you who have reached out and done something for us (no matter how small). The Halloween candy, the box of go-gurts, the surprise Christmas check, a big bag of hand-me-down clothes, a shopping trip to the store, an article that has given me strength, yummy desserts for a casual movie night, words to a song that still sound in my head and keep me climbing, a soda and popcorn at the movie, the offer to pay for my GNO project, the emails and calls letting us know we are in your prayers... thank you! And I hope that I can return the favor to others when they faces challenges.

My two favorite church hymns are side by side in our hymn book. "Because I have been given much" and "Lord, I would follow thee" Both remind me to give, to share, to serve, to not judge, to love ... to be like my Savior. But I've gained a new, deeper perspective. I've realized it doesn't take "much" to be able to give to others. And it doesn't have to be the poor and destitute or a BIG project. Like I said, its the little things ...

And that's just the things I've learned that I can think of and list off the top of my head! I'm grateful for trials, I'm grateful for prayers, I'm grateful for friends, I'm grateful for my family and most of all I'm grateful for the peace and comfort I feel from my Heavenly Father and Savior ... even when it doesn't show on the outside!

3-2-1 blastoff!

Steve has always dreamed of seeing a space shuttle launch. He LOVES anything that flies and the more power it has, the better. We've talked about it for quite awhile but haven't done it. But now there are only 3 more missions scheduled. So, when STS-132 stayed scheduled for his birthday, we decided it would be a fun little trip for us. We have tons of frequent flyer miles so it will actually be rather inexpensive too. Originally, we thought astronaut Steven W Lindsey would be the commander of this mission, but he will be on the last mission in September instead. Anyway, we tried for tickets last week, but the NASA server crashed from the volume of people trying to get them. So they tried again today, and ... we got them! We will be at the Visitor Center. We wanted to be on the causeway, but those sold out too quickly. Needless to say, we are very excited! Wahoo! Looking forward to a needed and exciting break for the two of us. Happy Birthday Steve! I can't wait to blog OUR pics of the launch. Hope they turn out!

Allergies

I LOVE SPRING. I REALLY DO! Its probably my favorite time of year outside. After a long winter, the flowers start blooming, the grass turns green again, you hear the birds chirping, its warm enough to be outside all afternoon and evening and yet cool at night so we don't have to use AC. Its just beautiful! But this year, I'm bugged! I've always had a little bit of spring allergies, some years its worse than others but NEVER has it been this bad. We're at 10 days and it has been getting WORSE AND WORSE. The coughing started about 5 days ago and the tightness in my chest had gotten almost unbearable today. I haven't slept well in a week. I had finally decided I was in denial and that my "allergies" were actually a cold. Today, Steve convinced me I should go to the dr because it wasn't any better. So I went ... 2 hours and 45 min later I left with the diagnosis that it is just allergies. He said that sometimes your airways will swell just like your nasal passages which makes it hard to breathe. He said he can't hear anything in my lungs when I breathe, my blood oxygen levels are GREAT, and I'm not running a fever. He said my ears, nose and throat look like allergies - they are clear not yucky like with a cold or other gunk. The only thing that concerned him was I weeze when I cough. He gave me a breathing treatment which didn't help much and several medicines to help with all the different symptoms (coughing, tightness and source of the problems - allergies) so I'm headed to bed now and hoping I can sleep. I don't usually sleep well when Steve is gone, so here's hoping the medicines help! :)

Oh, and if anyone reads this tonight or Thurs morning, please keep us in your prayers. Steve has some big meetings tomorrow that we are hoping go well. Bless him to feel calm, confident and to have a clear mind so he can present well and then that he will be able to travel safely home (he's in Wisconsin).

Cravings ... (NOT pregnant)

First and foremost, please understand this is not an announcement or a hint or anything of the sort ... I am NOT pregnant. But I still crave things! What do you crave?

I crave Sushi ...

I crave chocolate ... a big piece of rich chocolate cake or a big brownie (no nuts) with a big glass of milk or strawberries or pretzels dipped in it! Yummy!

I crave alone time ... time to unwind, do whatever it is I want -whether that's clean house, blog, scrapbook, surf the internet, watch tv, read a book ... just time that I don't have to account for, time I can spend ANYWAY I want, time that nobody else will judge me for what I have or haven't done, time I don't have to answer the phone or answer to ANYONE ... I wish I had Hermione's time changer (Harry Potter) and could go back in time. I wouldn't alter history, I would just get more done and feel less guilt for doing what I wanted. I got a little of that today - THANKS Steve for taking the kids to the BYU clinic. But when I'm tired I crave that time more often!

Those are the things I crave most often. I've had a lot of the junk food lately - including some good chocolate, and its beginning to show. :( I need to cut back on my calories and increase my activity... Every day when I get weigh myself, get dressed or even look in the mirror, I think I will do something about it. I do ok for a few hours, maybe even the better part of the day, but then something will taste good, so I just keep eating more and more of it. I know I should quit eating so much, but I'm just not committed yet. I eat seconds and thirds sometimes. And I eat snacks a ton. Why? I honestly feel like I use a TON of mental and emotional energy being so disciplined -not spending money on anything extra, on constantly pulling back the reins on what me and my kids need/want, working every chance I get, taking on extra projects to earn extra ... I am so careful to not spend money and to spend as much of my time working as I can, but food is the one place I can splurge ... so I do splurge often! Sushi is one of the things I don't splurge on much lately, probably because its not cheap. REALLY wishing I had tonight. Then maybe I wouldn't splurge on all the junk that I'm sure I'll find around the house.

So, what is it you crave?