Easter Sunday

Courtney and Michael came to Utah this weekend for the funeral

of Michael's childhood friend.

Sad circumstances, but we're so glad we got to spend the weekend with them!

I am grateful that Christ atoned for our sins, gave his life on the cross,

for the miraculous gift of the resurrection and for eternal families.

I'm glad some of us thought to take pictures after church!

(But why are they such low resolution? 

Mystery solved--it was because Courtney sent these while on the plane. 

She resent new pics and now they're fixed!)

After church we had an indoor easter egg hunt because it was rainy and windy all morning.

Courtney laughed when she found out we still did easter egg hunts--guess she's been gone for a while!

I think Dan and I love the hunt the most. 

We fill the eggs together before bed and in the morning are giddy 

dividing eggs between the two of us and finding good hiding spots--

especially when some are extra hard to find. It's a little like Christmas morning!

Courtney made a chocolate pavlova for dessert!

It's practice for Michael's birthday cake next week and it turned out soooo delicious!

Think of a giant French macaron!

Courtney was wearing a denim shirt and I really thought she looked like me

when I was her age!

Dan had a good snooze while we were talking after dessert--right at the table. 

We really like this new furniture!

Look how cute this little munchkin is in her Easter dress and a barrette in her hair!

It's hard to believe some day she'll be all grown up. 

No rush. 💗

I Spy A Tiger

A photographer captured Nick racing at Sebring and attached 

the beginning of William Blake's poem to the pic:

Tyger Tyger, burning bright,

In the forests of the night;

What immortal hand or eye,

Could frame thy fearful symmetry?

Easter Reflection

Every year I hope someone will chop down this wonky imperfect tree. 

But every year, in spite of how broken it is, it blooms sweet, pale pink flowers.

Last week my friend said that as we follow our dreams, 

we're fulfilling the measure of our creation.

Thanks, tree. Thanks, friend.

For the reminder that beauty often comes from unexpected places.

And perfection isn't a requirement.

And no matter how broken we are, we can bloom again.

Replenishing

 I've been listening to a really lousy book the last few weeks.

Soooo depressing about a family of four--mom, dad, teen daughter and pre-teen son--

with POV's from each member over a year. 

It won several awards and was billed as "irresistibly funny" and no, it's not.

It's dark, crass and everyone just treats each other poorly.

I know that my book has a similar premise of a family struggling with grief and blame,

but there's hope, and that makes all the difference.

Since I've finished the book, I've been listening to inspirational podcasts, one after another.

I'm drinking them up like I simply can't get enough to refill my depleted bucket of 

uplifting audio material. 

I've especially enjoyed several Easter podcasts about Holy Week

and I've appreciated thinking about Christ's sacrifice the whole week, not just on one day.

***

We got this gorgeous flower arrangment from the company who made our custom couches

because the cushions were the wrong size, then the replacement cushions were sized even worse!

Fortunately they're being very forthright in remedying everything.

And these florals are a nice touch!

Silent Wednesday

 I listened to a wonderful Easter podcast with many insights about Holy Week 

discussing the individual meanings of each day.

In the podcast, they speculated about how the Savior may have spent "Silent Wednesday." It's unknown
since we don't have a record of that day. I appreciated their suggestion that perhaps he spent it as he did any other day--healing the sick, teaching and loving.

But I had a different idea. I like to think he spent it... silent.
What if two days before he knew his life was ending, he was given the gift of time

 to reflect on all the love and friendship and goodness he'd been a part of.
To contemplate the beauty of life on earth--maybe even more beautiful than he imagined.
To sorrow at saying goodbye, and for the pain his friends and family would feel.
To ponder the gravity of the upcoming atonement and crucifixion.

To sit with all the human emotions and just be grateful.

Quito, Ecuador--North!

What a day! 

We are all so excited for Nick to be a missionary in Ecuador!

Did you know Nick has been to Ecuador twice? 

Once when our family went to Quito on our Humanitarian trip with OSSO (read about it here),

and the second time when he went to Galapagos Islands with Dan.

It's so cool that we can somewhat visualize where he'll be serving!

Nick received his call at 10:47 am and opened it then (he was at the gym)!

His plan was to read it ahead of time and tell Camille, but keep it a surprise for the rest of us.

I love surprises, so I was great with that plan!

Camille showed him a fun app of missions around the world and everyone could submit their guesses.

It was so fun sending to our family and friends and getting their guesses 

and love and support throughout the day! 

He came home from Provo in the late afternoon so we could go to dinner together,

and chose Itto's, so Chris was convinced he was going to Japan.

Nick intentionally set up the red herring!

Dan asked him to tell us the date, but I immediately stopped them.

Just a few more hours! We can wait!

So fun to have all of Nick's friends come over--most we haven't seen in a while.

Chris and Camille, of course.

Also past and present bishops (also good friends): Corey, Daren and Dave, & Rob W.

Parents who have loved Nick since he was a preschooler:

Rigbys, Moffatts, Hoggans & Afflecks. 

Family: Diane; Sheree, Jared & Soren and a fun surprise to have Ethan P. drive up from Orem!

All the support made us feel so good and so loved.

Quito was our friend Mike R.'s mission and they were psyched! 

Mike P. also spent time in Quito and John M. was in Guayquil.

And Eric R. was originally assigned to Quito until because of unrest he was reassigned to Paraguay.

Monet's husband, Carson, also served in Quito for four months then was reassigned with Covid.

Four other Olympus missionaries are in Guayaquil 

right now so it will be fun for Nick to connect with them, even though its a different mission.

We planned to be on Instagram Live, but the connection went down right

before he announced the location!

So poor Courtney, Michael, Marty and Lizzie, all my sisters and mom and everyone else checking in

was left in a lurch and suddenly my texts were blowing up but I had to ignore so I could be in the moment with Nick. Sorry everyone!

Nick is very excited to serve in Ecuador. 

I found this picture of us when we were there in 2011.

Who would have guessed then that when the little boy in front would grow up,

he'd come back as a missionary?!

Waiting

I was wide awake in the middle of the night for an hour.
I think I couldn't sleep because I'm excited for Nick's mission call.

Blessings and Missions

Nick received his Patriarchal Blessing this morning.
Words can't describe the emotion of your hearing our Heavenly Father's words,

through the Patriarch, meant especially for your child. 

The veil was thin as we were reminded that as much as we love our son,

God loves him even more. He has a plan for his life and has blessed him 

with spiritual gifts, talents and unique characteristics that will bring him joy and peace 

throughout his life.

What an important reminder to both Dan and I that as much as we'll miss him

while he's on his mission, this is an important step in his spiritual growth

and will bless both Nick and the people he serves.

***

As a continuation of this amazing day,

Nick, Camille and Christopher came to church with us and stayed for dinner so 

Chris could share stories give advice to Camillie about serving in the Hermosillo, Mexico mission.

We had so much fun going through photos and enjoying Chris' memories and

laughing at some of his antics. As we flipped through photos, we were moved at his love for the individual people he met and served, some who were baptized. In particular, we came to a photo of Umberto and Chris got serious. "My first day we knocked on Humberto's door. 

He opened and we introduced ourselves as missionaries with a message about the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

Umberto eagerly welcomed us in and said, 

'I've just prayed that God would send me an angel to help me.'"

Umberto was caught up in a gang and wanted to turn his life around.

His parents were strong Catholics, but they fell in love with the missionaries,

defending them and their message to cynical friends,

as they saw their son turn his life around, get back in school, find a job 

and start progressing toward a more hopeful future.

"This is what a mission is all about," Chris testified.

"We laugh, we have a good time. You work hard, you stay positive. 

You miss your family but you also, with time, get into a routine you love.

You grow closer to Christ.

But that's all secondary. 

Being led to someone who is praying for help to change and desiring to come unto Christ,

and you being an instrument in God's hand, that's your whole purpose."

The Temple Together

 Dan and I had a wide open Saturday at home together, 

something that's been pretty uncommon for the last year.

As I made plans for the day, I felt a quiet prompting to consider going to the temple.
I only had to think about it for a minute before I knew that was exactly what I wanted to do today.

I asked if Dan wanted to go with me. 
(Is it ever fun after you've imagined a whole day with oodles of time to do whatever you want,
to have your spouse suggest, out of the blue, if you'd like to get dressed up and spend a few hours at the temple? Rarely.)

But Dan agreed. Especially with Nick's Patriarchal blessing tomorrow

and his mission call coming Tuesday (!), we wanted to be in a place where we would 

feel an abundance of God's peace and love.

In a prayer when missionaries were mentioned, I wept.

In the Celestial Room, Dan and I talked about Nick's mission again

 which made me start crying again and Dan said, "Don't look at me or I'll start to cry."

So I looked away and we both laughed at ourselves,

so happy our son is planning to serve a mission,

and so sad we have to say goodbye to him for two years.

Hidden Creatures

SIX!

We also had dinner with a group of friends at Rigby's home and it was so fun.

They had a girls table and a boys table and it was perfect.

Art Project

We're getting a custom painting for our family room and I've narrowed it down to two photos.

The artist, Colby Sanford, came by so we could meet and he could see the space 

and he was absolutely darling and so talented.

This is what he sketched from my two sample photos:

For this one we would take out Lexie and add Nick.

And this one he'd use the kids above and add to the path down below, removing Miles.

I have to decide by this weekend which picture we want to go with,

and unfortunately, I preferred the river and Dan prefers the path from Box Canyon.

But I could get on board with it.

I think I like the river because the kids are the main subjects with lots of movement.

And with the mountains, the vista is the focus.

Warm Weather

Welcome Spring! 

It's been so nice this week, I wanted to put out the patio furniture.

When I look at the calendar I realize it's too soon.

But it really feels like summer is around the corner.

RS Service Activity

We had such a fun service night for the Relief Society birthday celebration.

I have the best committee and here's the key:

When we meet we figure out the jobs (decorations, food, invitations, paper goods etc.)

and then everyone chooses a responsibility they feel good about.

Someone called it delegating. But it's not. I don't have to tell people what to do.

They choose what they'd prefer. It's so great.

We've got a couple people who are super confident with decorations. 

And some of us who dread decorations assignments.

A couple who are happy to cook.

One who says she's a horrible cook (and her sister on the committee confirms).

Most of us are happy to walk the neighborhood delivering invites,

and one who knows herself well enough that she'll never get around to it.

A few of us don't have young children so are happy to come early and stay late.

We tell those with littles whose husbands are traveling or working late to go home,

we've got clean-up covered.

As the committee chair, I'm the organizer, which is perfect for me.

And as someone without littles at home, I'm happy to take extra jobs to pull everything together. 

The RS Presidency member over the committee is darling but has three young children,

so I try to not let her do anything extra because she has so many other responsibilities.

(She always takes one of the assignments, which is much appreciated.)

BUT she's very organized and I can always bounce ideas off of her to help 

ease my mind when I start to stress about final details!

I've got wonderful feedback about the activities, 

but honestly it's the committee working together and the epitome of many hands make light work.

The Relief Society Presidency wanted us to do a service project,

which quite frankly, I wasn't that excited about at first because, you know, extra work.

But within minutes, I knew it was the right thing to do.

For starters, we'd have more people come because an evening together in the church 

is more enjoyable doing something for someone else.

(And we already have the summer party in someone's backyard 

and the Christmas party at someone's home which we just gather and visit.)

And, once I started researching projects, I got excited about the opportunities to serve.

My rule was no quilts, no sandwiches and no hygiene kits.

We needed something new.

We made journals and quilted felt hearts for Hearts Knit Together,

an organization that donates kits to families arriving in shelters, escaping either abuse or violence or refugees. They support all the shelters in Utah.

I thought this was a wonderful opportunity, perfect for the "Relief Society"

to ease the burdens of our unknown sisters.

The projects were simple, so could be done easily (even the sewing) while visiting with 

the people working around you.

Hearts Knit Together gives out 7,000 hearts and journals a year.

(This was the project I blogged about a few Sundays ago that I cut hundreds pieces of scrapbook paper down to size to cover the composition books.

We made 30 hearts and 100 journals.

I volunteered to bring the birthday cakes.

Last Christmas at our neighborhood ladies party, someone brought an olive oil cake 

from Tulie Bakery and though the name is off-putting, it was the 2nd best cake I've ever had.

(Still remembering the one in Los Angeles at Margie's baby shower.)

I really wanted an excuse to have another piece of that cake!

Good thing I saved myself a slice because by the end of the activity they'd been devoured.

At 8:00 I snuck away to join Camille's Instagram Live for her mission call opening.

I nearly fell off my chair when she got called to Hermosillo, Mexico!

We're getting together for Sunday dinner and Chris is going to tell her

everything she needs to know!

Scattered and Gathering

 Yesterday in Sunday School we had a discussion about Christ gathering his people who have been scattered on the isles of the sea. Our teacher made the observation that we're all people alone on islands from time to time. And I commented that just that morning when I woke up I was feeling scattered. 

While the scriptures talk about a literal scattering of the tribes of Israel and Jews,

we can liken the scriptures unto us and our lives and I see "scattered" as a metaphor for the unease I sometimes feel.

Home from a long trip. Tired from a long (fun) day at an amusement park and days sitting in the hot sun and that off-feeling from not sleeping in your own bed for a while. 

Laundry to do, messes that I'd forgotten about while I was gone that still needed tidying. 

The low level anxiety at being in charge of the Relief Society activity on Tuesday that required me to immediately jump all in contacting the committee, following up on responsibilities 

and finalizing last minute details. 

Make a cake for Chris' birthday. 

The scriptures teach that after the literal scattering, there will be a literal gathering,

bringing all nations and people unto Christ, where God will do a marvelous work and a wonder,

 restoring all people from a lost and fallen state to a knowledge of the Messiah and a Savior.

And like this literal gathering, I've learned what I can do personally to gather myself--

focusing on the Savior brings me peace and grounding:

Time to myself journaling, reading scripture and praying.

Sunday inspirational music.

To-do lists to organize my responsibilities and thoughts.

An inspirational Sunday meeting where speakers testified of experiences 

where they'd felt God at work in their lives.

Interesting Gospel discussion in Sunday School.

Time with my family.

"Come unto me," proclaims Jesus. 

Not as a dictator, because if you don't you better watch out.

But as the ultimate teammate and friend:

 "Come unto me, and I will give you peace."

Chris is 23!

Happy Birthday, Christopher! 

Chris is a friend to everyone and knows how to make all he meets feel like a million bucks.

When he left on his mission, I ached at the thought of not seeing his smile.

But we got to FaceTime every week so every Monday his energy and joy filled my little phone screen.

Chris has never shied away from hard work and you can always count in him to lend a hand.

He's a wonderful validator and is good at seeing life through another's perspective.

He's a literal mover and a shaker in that his whole life he was always running, jumping, flipping--

climbing trees, flipping on the trampoline, backflipping on the ground, 

climbing the doorframes, doing pull ups, skate boarding and skiing.

This year I've seen him make strides in learning to slow down.

He is dedicated to fitness, but also meditation/yoga, scriptures, morning sunlight and cold plunges.

He's finding the right balance for him between social and alone time.

He's been working three jobs as well as going to school this year!

He's in the t-shirt business working to grow sales and customer service;

works for Cottonwood in their online rental services;

and is TA'ing for a finance professor including guiding grad students in making spreadsheets 

to analyze their business ideas. 

Something I love about him is he is so open with his feelings and descriptions of the day/week etc.

and doesn't mind listening to my going's and feelings as well. 

Before we left for our trip, I wanted to get all the shopping for his birthday dinner done since it was the day after we got home. At Whole Foods I was questioning the man at the fish counter about ordering crab or freezing it etc. Told him it was my son's request for his birthday dinner and we'd be traveling, etc.

The man said, "So cute! How old is your son turning?"

"Oh, he's turning 23!" 

Ha! The guy thought he was ten or something.

No, but I told him crab and artichokes has been his birthday dinner request since that age!

Once when we were in Alaska as a family feasting on crab,

at the end of dinner, the rest of us were scouring our last bits of shell for one more bite.

But Chris had methodically and patiently cracked his crab legs, and made a big pile of meat--

not eating any of it until he'd found all the meat. Then got to savor every delicious bite.

We were all jealous.

Hogwarts!

Last night in one room, Angela and Courtney shared a bed with Camille in the other bed

and Dan and Nick shared a bed in the other room with Michael in the other bed.

Kind of fun to have a girls room and a boys room!

We were up and at 'em by 6:30 a.m., out the door by 7:00 and waiting in line 

for early admission by 7:20.

We entered the park by 7:50 and everyone beelined to Hagrid's Motorbike Adventure

because you can't use Express passes and the line gets suuuuper long.

I think we were on the ride by 8:40.

And it was sooooo fun!

So fun in fact, that we went back later in the day and waited for 85 minutes to do it again!

(The only thing we'd do different is have butterbeer to drink while waiting in line.)

Afterward we ran to Velociraptor to get there before general admission park opened,

and we loved that ride so much, we waited in line to do it a second time!

(Michael was really sly about not setting any expectations for the rides or giving anything away.

He's really good at that.)

Last night we planned to take The Hogwarts Express (train) from Diagon Alley into Hogwarts

but it broke down and wasn't running.

Unfortunately it was broken all day today too. 😕

We ate lunch at The Three Broomsticks (a little slow and mediocre food, but we sat down at 11:40 and when we left around 12:30, there was a really long line. So glad we ate when we did. 

I suggest the fish and chips--what Camille and Nick had. They said it was pretty good.)

We talked all about our favorite Harry Potter movies and memories.

We rode Hulk rollercoaster, did the Drop/Blast ride

(where on our second round Nick, Camille and I were just about to blast off 

when the ride stopped because someone wouldn't put their phone away.

Then it timed out and we were rerouted to the other side, which we were glad about because Nick's safety bar unclicked one click and didn't feel tight enough and the seat next to me was broken.)

We had to leave the park by 4:15 ish so we shopped for candy and fudge and I got one last butterbeer and as soon as we came out of the bar, the train reopened! 

We were almost first in line! 

Hogwarts/Harry Potter Magic Miracle.

We flew back home to Utah and Courtney and Michael get one more day at Harry Potter World!