Easter Celebration

 

No words in Christendom mean more to me than those spoken by the angel to the weeping Mary Magdalene and the other Mary as they approached the tomb to care for the body of their Lord: “Why seek ye the living among the dead? He is not here, but is risen” (Luke 24:5–6).  With this pronouncement, those who have lived and died, those who now live and one day will die, and those yet to be born and yet to die had just been rescued.  As the result of Christ’s victory over the grave, we shall all be resurrected.  (Thomas S. Monson)

I love Easter.  As I struggled to begin to express what it means to me, I went back to President Monson's words.  He puts into words the feelings of my heart.  Knowing that this life is not the end but a prelude of better things to come helps me put into perspective challenges and trials that come in this life.   It gives me hope and fills my soul with peace.

 Sharing the story of Easter with the children was a highlight of the day's activities.  My Mother commented on how quiet and attentive they were.  I was impressed with how much they knew about this sacred event - they have been taught well by their parents. 



We had the traditional egg hunt.  It was chilly outside so we did it upstairs.  Each of the children had their own color of eggs to look for, so all of them wound up with the same amount.   Being the Cougar fan that he is, Ross always chooses blue!

Lizzy's favorite colors are pink and purple, so she was happy for the pink eggs.  Lincoln didn't really care - he was just excited each time he found one that was green.

 

Reading their new Easter books to Great-grandma and Uncle Brian.

I love the two belly pictures!

No chocolate eggs for Benson this year!

The Pond

I look out the window and what do I see??  Popcorn popping . . .no, the apricot blossoms were frozen with the cold weather.  We didn't see too many bees out when the tree was in full bloom, either, so I will consider it a wonder if we even have any apricots to eat this year.   I have a new water garden!  I wouldn't be surprised to look out and see frogs hopping around!  If you use your imagination the lilies kind of look like cattails and the if the water continues to rise, the pansies might look like lily pads by the end of the day.   I keep wondering if these rainy days will ever end.  We did have a nice weekend, though.  Kevin mowed the lawn for the first time and said that the peas were actually up!  I had pretty much given up on them, figuring those seeds were rotting in the soil.  I am grateful that there will be peas to eat in a couple of months - if we ever have more than one or two sunny days in a row!  We live in a desert and how many years have we prayed for rain to have water for the summers?  Now we are praying for the water to stop so that we won't have a repeat of 1983 when State Street in Salt Lake City was turned into a river.

To the left is a picture of Centerville during that same time.  The street is not identified, but that year Barnard Creek was diverted to run down Barnard Street (just a half block to the south of us).   Church was cancelled so that the men could fill sandbags.   When they redid the street they used concrete and put in a drainage basin at the bottom of the street in case it happens again.  Stay tuned . . .

Sights of Spring on 200 East

Do I dare say it aloud?  After so many days of rain and snow, it is really feeling like spring.  At least for today.  Tomorrow may be a different story.  It took me a little longer today to deliver flyers on our street.  I love to take photos of flowers and there were many things that caught my eye.  Here are a few:

 This was a hard winter on my pansies.  It makes me happy to see their faces peek through the snow as it is melting.  It was a hard winter on them as they were under a lot of snow for long periods of time.  "Pansy" is not an apt description for these flowers.  They have to be tough and sturdy to survive winter conditions.  I love all varieties and colors.  Have a nice spring day, everyone!

Birthday Celebrations

Yesterday we gathered at Justin's to celebrate April birthdays.  From young to old, everyone enjoyed themselves.  Thanks, Brian, for sharing the pictures!

Although you can't see it, Lizzy is playing Angry Birds on Justin's phone.  Ross was using Joe's IPad to play the same game.  Lincoln likes to play as well, and was sad when Joe had to leave and take the IPad home with him.

Steve and Diane were here for the weekend skiing.  The Popes should have been on vacation, but April showers brought leaks through the roof.  Grandma and Grandpa came down to join us.         

Abigail's six month birthday!

Love those kissable cheeks!

The many moods of Lincoln!

Thank you, Justin and Crystal for a great Sunday!  

Bedlamites Part 2

In yesterday's post I wrote that Elder Holland had created a new word - bedlamites.  I learned that the word bedlamite was not something he made up.  It has ancient origins and means a crazy person or lunatic.  Thank you, fellow blogger, for setting me straight.  I know I will never forget the meaning of it!  I think that all of us have had our bedlamite moments . . .

Bedlamites

Today during General Conference, Elder Jeffrey R. Holland created a new word, which will become commonplace among members of the Church. http://lds.org/general-conference/2011/04/an-ensign-to-the-nations?lang=eng  He was talking about parents' efforts to hold Family Home Evening in spite of the bedlam - and the bedlamites!  It piqued my curiosity to find some bedlamite stories in our own family.  I didn't find anything related to a particular home evening, but I did remember a picture that I took. It was in December of 1990.   Five bedlamites were responsible for this disaster:  Every toy that we had was pulled out of toy boxes or off the shelves.  They emptied all of the puzzle pieces out of the boxes.  I don't think I've ever seen such a mess since then.  Needless to say, it took us a long time to get things picked up - especially sorting all of those pieces to the Smurf puzzles.

As I searched through my journals, I did find an amusing incident that was tied to a family home evening in August of 1992.  It reads as follows: 

Four more weeks(until school starts), can I survive?  Not if too many of the days left are like these.  When I gave out job assignments today, I was yelled at, given all sorts of excuses; and in general, no one cooperated.  Their jobs have stretched until nearly 2:00 this afternoon, and they did not really have long ones!  Brian had to first make his bed and then pick up his room.  I was mending in the sewing room.  He came in with very sad eyes and a quivering chin and said, "I guess you won't be seeing me much anymore".  I looked at him puzzled, and then caught on.  "Are you moving?", I asked.  "Yes", he replied.   I asked him to please do his jobs before he left.  He didn't like that and was still threatening to move this afternoon.  Tonight is Monday, Family Home Evening.  I always have a good treat for them.  Tonight there will be none.  When they ask me why, I will pull out my list of reasons - all of which are the very same ones that they gave me this morning.  I wonder how that will go over?

Curious as to how this worked, I continued reading in my journal and found out that Justin stalked off, Megan burst into tears, Katie retreated to her book and Brian knew he wouldn't get a treat because he hadn't eaten his dinner.  Bonnie must have been the only one who did her chores that day, because she and I went for a Blizzard at Dairy Queen. 

Kevin, Katie and I had a good chuckle today as I read this account to them.