HAPPY EASTER and HAPPY GENERAL CONFERENCE WEEKEND!

I hope everyone had a wonderful Easter. I feel so badly that I didn't get the bloc posted this week.  I had a good start on Sunday but then it got late and I had some distractions, and it got later, so I went to bed fully planning to finish it on Monday.  The days just got away from me so I"m combining two weeks into one blog.

Last Saturday we had a cute family of 6 get baptized and so on Easter Sunday five of them were confirmed.  That took most of our Sacrament meeting, but what a great reminder of how important the Gospel is in our lives.

We came home after Church and enjoyed dinner with Adam, Cory, Sammi, Paul, Lily, Jake, and Milo. It was so fun to have them and when dinner was over we watched some of the videos of the kids when they were little. We are so blessed with technology today.  Thanks so much for the family photos I received this afternoon -

Angella has been mothering sick kids this week.  Ben had an ear infection and Hollie was diagnosed with Strep.  Both are doing better, but we missed them!  

 Kim and Chris at a Polish Catholic church that blesses Easter baskets every year.  People bring their decorated and filled baskets and the priests bless them.  Their good friends, the Dubiels (Stake President) have been going since President Dubiel was a kid.

Mike and Barbi with Courtland and Allyanna

We made it through SPRING BREAK 2024!

Jonathan had to be in Salt Lake towards the end of the week, so Kate and Sayre found some fun things to do while he was gone.  Sayre decided to have a birthday party for Rex (his dinosaur), complete with snickerdoodles and birthday presents (rocks he painted and wrapped)

Ben made brownies and Eilis and her cat, Juno, slept in ~

 

Jake spent one night with us, and while I was in a meeting the next morning, he made a spear and shield out of computer paper and tape.  I love the creativity!  Jake and Paul both got haircuts and they are so handsome 😁

One story I wanted to share about Jake is that he loves Subway sandwiches.  What has become a tradition for him is whenever he orders his sandwich he always asks the person helping him what kind of cookies they think are the best.  Then he orders the cookie and gives it back to that person.  After we got his haircut we went to Subway and the lady who helped us didn't know what to say when he gave her the cookie.  It is such a sweet thing to do, and what a great example!

Jake also received the Student of the Month Award at his school on Friday.

Congratulations Jake!

Hollie and Ben came for the weekend and this morning after conference Ben and I took Sendai for a walk. Ben got tired and kept insisting we had walked 16 miles even after I told him again and again, it was only 1 mile.  Our weather has been sunny, but cool and very windy - so 1 mile was good enough for me.  

When the girls were little we took lots of walks to the little bridge that crosses over a small creek.  It used to be wooden but a couple of years ago it was updated to concrete.  Ben found some treasures to bring home - skipping stones

Before Ben left today he wanted to play a game of Chutes and Ladders. However, he didn't want anyone to play with him, because he "wanted to win" 😂

Love these kids 💕

Blythe, the badminton queen, and also team captain are JV champions!

Way to go, Blythe!

KIM and I are finishing up another term of school this week.  Wow!! I have loved my class and learned so much, however, I don't remember ever having all of the assignments, and busy work, reading, and writing, when I was a young college student.

In one of my reading assignments this week, I literally had to look up half of the words  - this is just a sample;

"Poststructural methodologies, therefore, criticize the use of linguistic categories (e.g., gender, race, class) that are fixed, unitary, and essentializing. Consequently, poststructural feminists question the very existence of restrictive social categories by recognizing the fluidity and contextual embeddedness of identities".   Yikes!  17 pages of this 😳

Yay! I just have to take my final on Wednesday and then I get a little bit of a break before starting again.  Kim is signed up for two block classes which is what I am hoping to do, but won't know for sure until I meet with my advisor on Friday.  

GENERAL CONFERENCE

I loved conference this weekend and I loved that there were so many talks about the Temple.  I think we  all recognize that life is getting harder, our society and political system are a little crazy, and the power we receive from going to the Temple may be what helps us get through it all.  President Nelson told us that we could expect to receive revelation, answers to prayer and increased power in the temple.  Dad and I are so excited to return to working at the Temple in May.

I am so happy that Kate and Jonathan are getting a temple in Des Moines. It will be a little closer than Nauvoo, and much more accessible. 

Speaking of Kate and Jonathan - They sent me their stay-in-pajamas-conference-day photos.  Thanks!

I hope you all have a very wonderful week!  Whether you are 6 or or 48 you are my favorite people in the world, and I pray for you every day 💖

“Love of the Lord is not complete if we neglect our neighbors.” — Elder Stevenson.