Spring Happenings

Here is a catch all post for random pictures from the spring.  

The Young Women learned to decorate cupcakes... or mini cakes... I am not sure what those are.

St Patrick's day at Joy School

We went to the park on day in February and Dane found a bunch of sticks and carried them around for over 45 minutes.  He was like a work horse.

Dane likes to watch videos on the Church's kids website about how to draw things and then draw them.  This is a sunset over an ocean.

Sometimes Dane gets really into bags.  He carries lots of things in bags and carries the bags all over himself.  This picture is excessive.  Usually it is just one or two bags.  I think he gets the idea from Noah's Zelda books where link has a quiver with his arrows in it. 

It gets warm here in March.  But no matter how warm it is my garden looks like this.  Every March things seem hopeless.  I am sure all my plants and bushes are dead.  I didn't care for them in the winter like I should have, maybe the winter was too cold, maybe the plant is too old, maybe I should have started watering earlier.  Whatever the reason I feel so sad and so hopeless.  But by May everything is beautiful, green, and blooming.  Everything testifies of Christ.  Every year it is a lesson anew.  

We love when spring comes and we can play outside in the warmth.  

Megan took it upon herself to learn to make gluten free panikakers.  I was amazed and over joyed.  

Madison thought that was a great idea and decided to learn to make gluteness panikakers.  Now they often make themselves panikakers for breakfast.  I couldn't feel more proud!!  Now when I make them for  the family all 3 of us can work together and do 3 pans at the same time.  We get done so quick.  Having daughters is wonderful!

Late afternoon cuddles.  

Turning a box into a spaceship. 

They were playing in the back yard and Dane comes running in that Eve needs help.  I run out and see this.  haha  She was not too distressed.  

We go down to the open space often and play on the rocks.

For Easter I set up a wall of our loved ones who have died and testifying that becasue of Jesus we need not feel despair.  Here is what I posted on Facebook.

April 4th is one of those days that is written on my heart. This is the day my cousin, Mandi, died in a tragic car accident. She was 17 and was drinking and driving with some friends. I was 13. I put this “wall” up for my family 2 days ago as one of our preparations for Easter and I was happy to come downstairs and see it on this heavy day.

But I want to talk about something else. My children are teenagers now and it has caused me to think a lot about my teenage years and what mattered and what didn’t. This day mattered. The next week mattered, a lot. It may be one of the most important weeks of my life as far as shaping who I am, forming my testimony of Jesus Christ and His gospel, and understanding my family’s feelings and place in it.

We all loved Mandi. She was, for sure, the favorite. Her joy, sparkle, heart, smile…. everything emanated goodness. But her death was so unbelievably tragic, so many bad choices, so many mistakes. How could we marry these 2 ideas about Mandi, how could we make sense of this? We didn’t. We held both in the same space. We talked of both, we felt both. I didn’t realize it then, but that was huge to my ideals about the gospel of Jesus Christ, of who He is, how He feels about me/us, and what He is capable of.

In today’s world everything someone does is ok. No one is wrong and no choices should result in sorrow or punishment. It would have been so easy for our family (especially the adults) to say “Mandi is in a better place”, “she is so happy” “she is perfect now”. But no one did. They didn’t condemn her for eternity; we didn’t think she was burning in hell. But the gospel of Jesus Christ teaches us that all must come unto Christ and repent of their sins, and Mandi had repenting to do, and she would have to do it.

They didn’t push her cause of death under the rug, or “only focus on the good”. Kym and Greg, her parents, knew good could come from her death and courageously and selflessly chose to have an open casket (despite horrific affects of the accident) so we could feel the reality of such beauty and tragedy.

I remember vividly my aunt Kym, Mandi’s mom, who was swallowed up in sorrow and grief, telling me “you can still repent after you die and we can help her, please pray for Mandi, pray she can learn to repent and soften her heart”. I can not think of a more beautiful testimony to be born to a 13 year old. I did pray. I prayed for years for her. I dont pray anymore. She doesn’t need it. There is life and progression beyond the grave. That is what Jesus gave us. Beauty for ashes. And when we pretend there aren’t any ashes, we are saying we don’t need a Savior.

In what felt like the depths of hell for our family during April of 1998 (and for years following) our family felt it. We didn’t try to excuse it away, or pretend that everything was sunshine and rainbows. But we did have hope. We knew Christ could fix this, and it needed fixing. Mandi made mistakes, the worst kind of mistakes, and horrific consequences came from them, she needed a Savior, one had been provided, and she would need to turn for Him for salvation. Her sweet smile and joyful personality weren’t enough to save her. She needed Him. - she would be lost without Him.

This also taught me that my family believed the gospel of Jesus Christ even when it was hard. They didn’t take the easy way out and say things that just “felt good” or were “nice to hear”, they testified of the truth, even though the truth was hard to hear right then. But because it was based on eternal truths it was sweet to my young soul and I knew that Mandi was safe in the care of her Redeemer. My mom, dad, aunts, and uncles all taught me that during this week 25 years ago.

Because of Jesus Christ, death hath no sting.

Dane set up his own preschool and red his toys a book.

These girls!!  They have taken up crafting again.  Madison has really gotten into water coloring.  She is very talented and totally self taught.   I would love to see what she could do if she tood some lessons.  Then they both got into redoing18 inch dolls.  They color and cut their hair, design and make clothes, and paint their faces and bodies to look a certain way.  After they did it all to their old dolls they started having me buy old dolls from garage sales.  Currently Megan has gotten back into painting canvases.  One of the great benefits is that they spend a lot of time together and enjoy each others company and friendship a lot when they work along side each other like this.  They share ideas, encourage and compliment each other, and help each other.  

We had a woman join the church in February.  I wasn't a huge part of her conversion, but I was invited to come to a couple of lessons and she asked me to speak at her baptism.  

Marisa was the real person who stepped up and helped her along her path. 

One Sunday evening we took a walk and I asked for a picture.  Most grudgingly obliged - except for Dane, he almost always refused to take group pictures.   Brock put his arm around me and I about melted!  Brock and I don't get along great these days.  I am not 100% sure why.  He much prefers Jason and sort of sees me as a reminder that he is a child or something.  He pushes back against everything I say, even if it is positive.  But when he put is arm around me I thought, "Maybe he still loves me and it won't last forever."  Also, now that I am seeing it, his smile is adorable.  He rarely smiles like that for pictures - it seems to be a genuine happy smile.  We don't see that smile much these days - it is not the he is unhappy.  Teens just go through these phases and every once is a while you get a glimpse of that 7 year old you thought was gone forever.  

I didn't take this picture, but Katie did and text it to me.  They are so cute! 

I went to White Chocolate with some women for my friends Kayleen's birthday.  I can't believe we have lived here 10 years and it was the first time I went.  It was so so yummy.  I wanted to try one of everything.

They turned on the river!

Dane is starting to read.  He would rather read with Jason than me.  

One day Eve was the only kid in the library kitchen.  Sometimes it is nice to play all alone!

They were SO excited when our flowers started blooming.  They would check on the progress everyday.  They were thrilled when the blossoms on our tree came out.  Dane got really into gardening and wanted to plant seeds everyday.  I gave him pop corn kernels and old pinto beans to plant, thinking that was safe.  he planted hundreds of them all over my garden.  Apparently pop corn kernels are real seeds, imagine my surprise when we sprouted corn stalks and actually bean plants in my front yard garden! haha

Madison is really into hair, make-up, clothes, skin care and anything you can buy at Target.  Megan let Maddi do her makeup one day for church.  It was so sweet.

cuties

Our girls soccer team went to state and for "special time" Jason and Brock went.  (we won).  My neighbor, Jen, saw them there and sent me a picture

These two don't sleep in their beds.  We put them to bed in their beds, but then they set up a "camp" around their night light and read books and play with stuffed animals sometimes for hours.  I have actually learned they also play made up games together, they tried to teach it to me one day.  

As it got really into spring we went to Hudsen Gardens.  It was one of those perfect days.