Easter

April Begins

Easter weekend we hosted an Easter egg hunt in our backyard. We knew of some community egg hunts going on in our area. I did not want to find out just how crowded those events were going to be. So I invited some friends to come to our house instead.

Friday evening was our hunt. Druceal Sheldon came and brought Bruce and Lillian. Laura Elliott came with Julia and Antonio. Natasha came with Eli and her baby Alexia.

The children hunted for eggs then enjoyed their finds. We then let them use up that energy supplied by the sugar intake...on the indoor bouncy house. 

The week before Easter we were organizing and cleaning our home in preparation for visitors. Sterling's uncle and aunt (Dave & Rebecca) along with their son Connor and Sterling's other cousin Nikki came as well.
Sterling fixed up our downstairs bathroom which had been waiting since November with the wall torn off and the shower torn out. He replaced the wall and upgraded our shower to look really nice. Restocked our guestroom with treats as we always do for visitors.

General Conference

Sunday for Easter it was General Conference. We had watched Conference Saturday while cleaning the house but missed the beginning. We did not pay attention to the parts such as the opening exercises. So we missed the part where a terrible event took place. A sign of this changing world. 5 different people called out to oppose instead of sustain the church leaders!
President Uchtdorf was taken back by it. He didn't even look up. It seems his heart was wounded at that. How horrible to be called of God and leading the church and have a group call out like that...saying they do not like that you are in such high position or they do not think you are doing a good job. 

I missed it when it happened but I looked it up and watched it online later. I also watched a news clip interview of the people who stood to oppose. They said they have issues with some things and are unhappy that the church leaders won't meet with them. I am betting they have spoken to their bishop but they want the highest church leaders to meet with them and address their complaints.
During the interview the members said they plan to build up their group to oppose the leaders and do it again next Conference. The sad thing is that it probably won't be hard for them to find more members willing to oppose openly.

Perhaps they feel that they are doing a good thing. That by causing trouble they will be heard and if enough people are behind them the church leaders will eventually listen and change things in the church.
The trouble with this is that it's The Church! It's lead by God! It's not some government or community group lead by man with many flaws needing improvement.

God has called these men to lead the church and He will guide them to make any changes He would have in His church.

God does not submit to the desires of the world. He does what is best. He sees far more than any man on earth. He is wiser than any man on earth. We do NOT and CANNOT know better than God.

Easter 

Easter morning the kids found their baskets hidden from the Easter bunny. Athena got a a big, soft fluffy, pink rabbit. Bigger than her. She also got a special Easter book that her daddy bought her...a lamb hand puppet book.

The boys got new puzzles and candy.

We watched the Sunday morning session of Conference. Sterling made a special Easter lunch with a nice big turkey. Sterling's relatives arrived in time for lunch. We were able to start catching up with them over that wonderful meal. Then they helped us out by taking our family portraits. We had the studio set up in the livingroom. We dressed up in Easter colors and got some fun portraits done. Athena wasn't happy about it and started refusing to do anything without her big pink bunny. So her bunny is featured in the last portrait. 

I edited the portraits during the afternoon session of Conference...I was so excited about them.

The boys have enjoyed having relatives at our house to give them attention. 

Mommy Daughter Trip

Monday morning Athena and I said goodbye to everyone. She and I got on a plane and flew to Vegas. Athena has slept in 'til 10:00 that morning proving to me that she was sick. She usually gets up at 6:30.

So it wasn't much a surprise when I found my seat on the plane, sat down, and Athena threw up on me. I cleaned it up as best I could as quick as I could to prevent stench.

Luckily the flight attendant moved the man who would be sitting next to me. So Athena didn't have to sit on my lap the two hours but could lay down or sit on the seat next to me. 

She slept the first 15 mins of the flight, was unhappy and squirmy most of the flight then slept the last 15-20 mins. 

Dad picked us up and drove us to Logandale. Athena had refused to take any medicine that morning. But I brought her Ibuprofen. When we got to dad and mom's house I put her medicine in some apple juice and she drank it just fine.

It turned out my mom was really sick as well. 

Alissa gave birth to Jasmine last weekend. Mom went and helped out but probably overdid it and got sick. So we are taking a few days for Mom and Athena to recover so we can go visit Alissa, James and the baby.

Monday we took a relax day. Tuesday we relaxed again but went out to dinner in the evening. Nephi, dad, mom, Athena and I went to Mesquite to dinner. Moroni lives in Mesquite and works at the Walmart there. He met us for dinner and we caught up over Mexican food.

We stopped at Walmart to pick up some things on the way back.

Athena is doing better but is still sick. She has her moments of feeling well where she can play happily. She enjoys being outside. Dad has lot of flowers and plants in their yard now. And as it has always been ...my dad likes taking the young children outside to explore the yard and enjoy the fresh air. I love that. The moments he has with my children exploring the beauty of the earth.

We will Skype with Sterling and the boys today because I know Athena misses them. She loves our own home and our family. She was really in the mood to be with her daddy the couple of days before we left. So I know she is missing him most of all.

Today we will probably go see Nephi Poll Vault for the high school.

Tomorrow we will go spend the day in Cedar City to visit the baby Jasmine and her family. Helping Alissa with the house and James.

Then Friday Mom, Athena and I will go to Vegas. We will eat at Mom's favorite restaraunt Zupas for dinner. And attend Zack Guymon's wedding reception in the evening. I am excited to see Zack get married! 

I will be here until Monday when we fly back to SD.