Easter Sunday

Pre Easter photos just for fun

 Easter Sunday morning

Blue & Gold Banquet

Spring Break Roundy Family Style

We got two school days off for Spring break. So we didn't go far. Friday we drove about an hour to our first stop...the Spearfish Fish Hatchery. 

We fed some fish from above them on a bridge. There were tons of fish attacking the food we dropped. That was fun to see them jumping on top of each other trying to get the food. 

 We saw some different kinds of fish being raised there. Then we hiked a little and Athena started wetting her pants. We didn't realize it and she doesn't tell us lately. Her new thing is "trying to hold the pee in" she told me. Doesn't work. In this photo we can clearly see her attempts and the later photos show her wet pants. We were oblivious because they day and scenery were so spectacular.

 Luke had fun with a camera of his own.

 A train car that use to deliver fish

 They had an awesome playground just outside the fish hatchery. 

Next we drove another hour to Devil's Tower. A national monument...the first American national monument, in fact!

 The first thing we came across when we got near was a prairie dog city. And they were out and having fun. So we stopped and watched.

 This one started dragging it's body along the dirt and reaching as if it were in need of saving.

 The boys did some worksheets to become Junior Rangers. Then we went on a hike around the tower...in a circle. You cannot go on the tower unless you are a mountain climber! And we saw a few of those on Devil's Tower!

 We stopped a few times on the road trip so Ster could catch some images of wildlife. Here is the coolest one...a bird straight of a Harry Potter. Atleast it seems to me (Tiffany). It was a big bird in a huge nest way up on top of a power line pole.

 The funniest bird was an owl on a powerline...because we stopped and photographed it only to learn it's not even real....

 

Here is "the Sacred Stone" ...a sculpture so visitors can photograph the tower as if surrounded by smoke...since the tower is an old old volcano. Athena was amazed at the tower simply because it is a volcano. She desperately wanted to go to the top and look "inside." When we explained to her that only real mountain climbers can go up she said "But I'm a mountain climber!"

 Of course the photos don't do this view it's true justice but it's a nice reminder to how breaktaking the view actually was that day.

 

We stayed the night in a nearby town called Hulett. We could have easily gone home but this was part of our Spring Break trip. The best part about the hotel was the pool! Our kids crave pool time because we don't go swim very often. So we swam that afternoon, that evening after pizza and a movie, then again the next day before checking out of the hotel.

That night Athena slept with me and Ster slept on Athena's trundle bed. Why? We had all gotten some weird stomach bug previousely (excluding Ty). It was weird because nobody threw up. We were just queesy and had bubbles in our stomaches. 

Athena seemed to be affected by it at night. Maybe three nights before the trip she ended up staying most the night with Ster downstairs getting little sleep. Then Friday night she was sick again so it was my turn to have her all night and let Sterling sleep.

Saturday we drove home, stoping for lunch at Mcdonalds in Spearfish.

The rest of that day went like this...down time at home for dad and the kids while Mom got dressed up and went to the stake center for The Garden performance runthrough. 

Sterling brought the kids to the performance to see mom sing. 

I was hoping for a main solo before I even knew what the production was about. But all the soloists were chosen before the first choir practice. And once I started learning the music and finding how complicated the pieces were and how high some of the parts went I was thankful to be just in the choir. Then I was asked to sing solo for the last song of the event. After an hour of singing for practice before the event started then another hour of singing for the actual production I knew my voice would be getting tired and my throat drying out. So a solo at the end is a scary thing. But I drank lots of water. And there were many other people thrown into my musical piece so it wasn't much of a solo. But the part I did sing alone was gorgeous. I was confident and practiced and ready. 

Sterling said afterward "You should have been one of the soloists!" Two of the soloists were quiet and not confident enough to sing their parts in front of the stake. So yes, I probably should have been a soloist. 

Lachoneus said "Mom, I liked your voice the best" which made me happy!

Sitting on stage watching Ster in the front row keeping our children behaved for an hour made me flash back to when I first met Sterling. I could see him sitting on a pew next to me...our first ever conversation written on paper as sacrament meeting was happening. I had no idea that day the amazing potential of this man. To bring me so much joy and take care of me better than anyone else could. This man who is a brilliant father to our children. I am truly a lucky woman.