What a blessed day!

Today was a fabulous Easter Sunday...everything went so well, and I felt so much peace and swelling in my heart today at church. I invited a neighbor to come with us, then have dinner afterwards. It was so good to share this day with her family.

I'm feeling blessed. I know my cup is full, and I have so much to be grateful for. I have really felt the Lord's influence in my life, especially lately. What a joy and a privilege to be able to share this with my family and those around me.

And here's a picture of my greatest blessings...all 4 of them. I love you guys! (And, yay, he wore the purple tie, although not so original...I saw at least 6 purple ties today)

Sunday Serenity...part 2!

Tomorrow is Easter. Last Sunday didn't go so well...as you may know from my post. I have high hopes, however, that tomorrow will be better.

First of all...it is 20 minutes shy of midnight, and we are finally done dying Easter eggs.

Second, I have successfully found Easter Sunday dress in varying shades of lavender for all members of our family. And, yes, Dennis WILL wear that purple tie...(I hope!)

Third, I had a lengthy visit getting to know my neighbor today and am assured that she is still planning on going to church with us tomorrow.

Fourth, I have planned and prepped a yummy Easter dinner. I also invited my neighbor, who's alone due to her husband being deployed, to dinner. I've been there, you know...

And last, because our meeting time is late in the day, we'll spend the morning sharing in the little joys of eggs and chocolate, and being together. Then I'll go to church and enjoy the talks and lessons focusing on the Savior's Atonement, surrounded by my family and friends. I am humbled by His sacrifice, but know I need to apply it more fully to my life.

At the end of the day, I hope to regain my lost peace from last week. I hope to be uplifted and spiritually fed. I hope to have spent an Easter Sunday welcoming the blessings of family and faith in my life. And, I wish the same joy for all of you this Easter!

Easter Blessings...

This Easter will be a little different for our family...I can't remember the last time we didn't have church services on Easter. This year, Easter falls on General Conference, so we'll plan to watch a session of conference in the morning (4 hour time difference, will be the live 2pm session). But, that means the kids will get up to hunting for eggs, we'll have a yummy family breakfast, watch conference, and finish the day with our traditional Easter dinner. From sun-up to sun-down, we'll be celebrating together.

Tonight we followed tradition and decorated eggs. Every year, the kids try to get the darkest colors possible. I took extra dye out of cups and ended up with this cool grey color. Hayden made this egg that looked like a rock.

During some decorating downtime, I opened a discussion about Easter and Christ's resurrection, probably not the best idea, because it ended up in fits of laughter and me stepping out of lightning strike distance as Hayden and Sabrina painted a picture of a modern-day resurrection. (Probably didn't help that Sabrina finished watching the "modern" rendition of Romeo and Juliet this week at school.) You know those moments when you wish your family was reverent and wise like a seminary video?....yeah, not today...

While they were pretty clever and having a good time, I want to make sure among all this fun and treats of spring that we remember Christ and how we can take His example into our lives. I found this short video on YouTube that is a great Easter testimony of Christ.

So, as we are yet again separated from our families by water this Easter, I'll count among my many blessings my faith and my funny, sweet family, and the time we share together. And, I'll leave you with a cute video of McKenna and a funny gift from her Oma. Enjoy!

Spring has sprung...

Today ended spring break. It went entirely too fast, as always. Didn't it used to be 2 weeks when we were kids?

This is how Hayden and McKenna kicked off Spring Break. He called it her spa day, but before Daddy freaks out, consider that he was charging her-- typical Hayden...

Then, with the upcoming move, I had a plan...clean up and clear out. So, the first three days were spent packing up winter clothes (won't need THOSE in Hawaii) and clearing all of our bedrooms of stuff that we didn't absolutely need or LOVE. (Sabrina pointed out that she LOOOOOOVED it all! Sorry, babe...what exactly is the purpose of the "blue box"? It holds all of your blue stuff?) One day I enlisted help...I thought maybe an impartial third party may help Sabrina cut some of those ties...and they did get a lot done! Thanks Melanie!

We took a day off and went to a hands-on science museum in Pirmasens with some friends...the kids had a blast checking out all of the displays. But, I think the tall slide was the favorite:

Friday we attended a going away party for the Post kids, as they will be leaving here in a few weeks. It was the perfect day to be out running around with squirt guns, and they had a blast! They sure will miss their friends.

Another fun photo op of spring...McKenna is 4 1/2, yet has never done well with Santa or the Easter Bunny...this year with some maneuvering...and under much duress, I got this great picture. The consumate professional model, you'd never know she was stuck to my leg, and I had to peel her off and put her on the bench just moments before!

I so look forward to spring, even with the two weeks of sneezing and itching eyes. At least I get to hunt for the perfect Easter dresses, and this year was no exception...It's no easy task finding matching dresses with the age difference between my girls. I got so lucky with these! Here are my little sweeties on Easter morning. Maybe I shoulda waited until the sun moved a little...sorry McKenna...

And McKenna actually took this one of me and Sabrina. She's a natural!

Well, that's a week's worth of news and hope you enjoy the pictures. It's never easy celebrating a holiday without daddy, but we'll have him home soon. Happy Easter and blessings of joy to all of our family and friends...we miss you, too!