BIRTHDAY FUN

Wednesday was my birthday. The last birthday I can enjoy before I turn that awful, horrible 5 - 0!!!

It was a great day. The night before after coming home from Wicked Jason had a dozen roses waiting for me with a beautiful note. I got a wonderful phone call in the morning from Christine and the boys. They sang happy birthday to me and Carter sang all the words, it was so dang cute! My family met me at Paradise Bakery for lunch which is always yummy. To top it off it was a beautiful sunny warm day which made it extra special!

That evening my wonderful daughter cooked me a delicious dinner with apple dumplings for dessert. She did such a wonderful job (which she always does) and it was so nice to just have a quiet evening with the people that I love so much!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY BRAD & WICKED!

Last Tuesday was my son-in-law Brad's birthday. We celebrated by going to Texas Roadhouse for dinner. Brad is a wonderful man who works very hard to support his cute little family. He is devoted to my daughter (which I am so thankful for) and to his two cute boys Carter and Easton. He is faithful to his Heavenly Father and honors his Priesthood. Brad has been a wonderful addition to our family and we are so grateful to have him! Happy Birthday Brad.

After dinner Scott, Christine, Brad, my mother and myself went to see Wicked at the Capitol Theater in Salt Lake. It was a wonderful production!!! I am so grateful to Scott for standing in line for 6 1/2 hours to get these tickets. He even went without drinking water the evening before so he wouldn't have to go to the bathroom and lose his place in line!! Thanks again Scotty!

After the play Christine got a wonderful surprise, she got to meet John Bytheway and his beautiful wife Kim. We have long admired John and we have listened to many of his talks. He was very gracious and kind. It was a wonderful added treat to our evening that had already been so wonderful!

SPRING BREAK TRIP

We had a wonderful experience going back east to see some of the church history sights over spring break last week.

First we visited Winter Quarter's and saw the beautiful new temple there next to the cemetery where 300+ pioneers are buried. We had a wonderful sister missionary from Tonga share the stories of these saints and bear her testimony to us. We learned so much about the Mormon Battalion and the role they played in Sutter's Mill and clearing the road over the pass in the High Sierra's for other people to come through.

We then visited the tabernacle in Kannesville and headed to Nauvoo. I can't even begin to describe in words the feelings I felt as we drove down the main road into Nauvoo and I caught my first glimpse of the temple. Tears rolled down my cheeks as I saw this beautiful building standing where there had only been a huge indentation for so many years. That temple stands as a testament that nothing will stop the work of the Lord. God will triumph no matter how hard Satan and other people try to destroy the work.

We visited several of the sites in Nauvoo and Scott and I attended a temple session on our second day. Jason was going to do baptisms but he was ill and spent the whole day in bed. It was a wonderful experience to see our friends Dennis and Carolyn Horan who are serving a mission there and also the Mc Ghies from Alpine who are there on a mission. We attended the Rendezvous that the missionaries perform in the evening and it was a wonderful show.


I was especially touched by this statue of Joseph and Hyrum on horses. The plaque tells of how they rode to the top of the hill and looked back on the beautiful city of Nauvoo and then Joseph looked at the temple that was partially completed. He then said to Hyrum something like, I fear the saints have no idea what trials await them. Joseph and Hyrum then rode off to Carthage never to return again.

We reluctantly said good-bye to Nauvoo and went to Carthage to see the Carthage jail. My dad's cousin and her husband are serving in that area also and they were at Carthage to take us through on a tour. They made it very special by sharing with us some extra things that are not told to everyone.

We stopped for several hours in Carthage to get Jason to a doctor and got a prescription for his sinus infection and headed south and west for Adam-Ondi-Ahmen. We were fortunate to have one of my friends from high school set it up so that we got to meet with some of the missionaries serving in the Independence Missouri mission. It was a wonderful meeting at Adam-Ondi-Ahmen. Not only did we learn so much from Brother Brickey who spoke to the missionaries but the spirit that was there was so powerful and sweet.


After the meeting we visited Far West, Liberty and Independence. We met another beautiful sister missionary in Independence who shared with us the stories of the Saints and her wonderful testimony. Jason really connected with her and they had a wonderful conversation. She told us that she was from Murray, Utah and that she was the only member in her family. She shared with us how she was working very hard to get her family to join the church. As we were saying our good-byes that evening she asked if she could write to me. She told me that she needed a mother who would understand her and what she was doing. She needed a mother to get excited with her about what she was doing and to give her some encouragement. My heart ached as well as being touched by this request.

Then it was time to head home. We stopped in Denver long enough to see Garth and Lisa (Sorenson) Jensen. What a beautiful house they have which is filled with the spirit!

It was a bitter sweet feeling as we pulled into the driveway. We had felt the spirit the whole trip and had learned so much and met so many wonderful people. We didn't want that to end, but to see Christine and Brad and the boys, and to sleep in my bed felt so nice.

EASTER

The first Sunday of every month my family does a dinner/family night. We each take turns hosting the dinner and everyone brings something that they are assigned to bring to help with the food. We sing Happy Birthday to everyone who is having a birthday that month (this month it is almost half the family).

April was my month to do the dinner. It is always interesting to try and fit 26 or more people in my small house, but somehow it always works out. Since Scott, Jason and I are leaving for Nauvoo and will be on the road Easter Sunday we did an early Easter celebration. We had the traditional ham dinner and then had an Easter egg hunt for the kids afterwords. I was so glad we had such nice weather for the hunt and so the kids could go outside and play, it made it a little easier on space inside.

It was a nice afternoon with everyone. The food was good, we had some good laughs like Christine fixing up Jason's hair to look like Edward's. (For those of you that don't know that is the Edward from the Twilight movie.) And most important the desserts were fantastic!

COOKIN' KIDS

I love that my kids love to cook. Everyone of my children love to watch the Food Network and then take their ideas to the kitchen and explore and create. Christine evens wishes that Paula Deen was her mom.

Christine is a fantastic cook! She loves noodles, Mexican style food and dips for crackers or chips. She made the best fish tacos for Carter's birthday dinner with the halibut that Brad caught when he went to Alaska last year.

Daniel loves spicy food. The hotter the better for him. We would watch the Food channel and he would tell me how we needed to change a recipe or come up with ideas of how to make a recipe better. He could cook up some of the best meals (just have the tums ready because he loved to spice it up).

Jason has just recently found this to be fun. Jason loves sweets and tends to go for making desserts, he also loves pasta. He made this cake today and it taste awesome! He made a caramel frosting that went in the middle and then just a buttercream frosting with red coloring for the outside. I was pretty amazed at how it tasted because it didn't look as good as it tasted. He learned that you need to make the frosting more stiff for it to look a little nicer.

I'm so glad that each of them enjoy experimenting and taking on the challenge of baking and cooking. I've always encouraged them to be in the kitchen with me and have asked for them to help out as much as I could get them to and I guess it has payed off.

A NICE SURPRISE

I got an email the other day with this picture of Daniel. It was sent from a bakery/deli in Kailua-Kona called "Buns In The Sun". The mission leader in the ward owns the bakery and Daniel goes and eats there a lot. The mission leader took this picture and then sent it to me. He told us that in the two weeks that Daniel has been there he has increased the work greatly. We were so proud. This just made my day to get this. I thought it was so thoughtful of this man to do this for me.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY CARTER

We celebrated Carter's 5th birthday last Wednesday. I can't believe I have been a grandma for five years! What a great 5 years it has been though. Being a grandma has been one of the greatest joys of my life.

Carter has been a very special boy in our family. He has had challenges but doesn't seem to let them get him down. He is a loving and thoughtful boy and often thinks of kind things he can do for others. I love it when Carter puts his arms around me and gives me a big hug. I love that he loves to come to Grandma's house and even have sleep-overs sometimes. I just love spending time with him, he always gives me a new perspective on things.

I love you Carter!