Easter 2019

I'm happily sitting on the waterfront at Lake George right now, having spent the morning water skiing with my cousins, sister, husband, and kids.  Jason and Eli are out sailing on the sunfish while the others are inside grabbing lunch.  Zoe is watching all the boats come in and out with great concern while Alesia plays with Anders on the dock.  Papa Kay is next to me, occasionally beckoning the kids to come closer by rattling his box of tic tacs.  All in all, life is good.

Internet service out here is pretty patchy, but since I seem to be momentarily connected, I thought I'd share some photos from another moment when life was good.  Here's our clan during Easter 2019.  

I hope my kids never want to stop dying Easter eggs.  For me, it just wouldn't be Easter without them.

This one reminds me of southern Utah's red rocks.

The minion was more successful than our sugar crystals.

Easter morning.  Lucky for us, the Easter bunny was right on time.

The most memorable Easter present was a cup of caterpillars.  Absolutely perfect for our bug lovin' girl.

All dressed up for church.

Aw, our house looks pretty cute with its daffodils and ivy.  Despite all the imperfections, it does feel like home.

Jason must have already been at church meetings since it was Brooklyn who hopped out to take the photo so I could hop in.

Talia took this next set of flower pictures.  I adore her artistic eye.

Meanwhile, Annika found some more "friends."  She collects snails by the dozens until Jason rehouses them in the compost bin.  Hopefully they enjoy their new home at the dump.

After church, we headed up to Logan to have Easter dinner with Grandma Susie and Grandpa Charles.  Dinner was so amazing that I forgot to take a picture of it, but at least I have a couple from our Easter egg hunt.

Afterward we walked over to the Suisse's to meet Dave's baby goats.

Annika was in heaven.

Our Easter was simple: family, friends, friend, and a church service filled with beautiful music.  I wouldn't have it any other way.

Flowers Forever

Since we finally finished the winter snow photos a couple of posts ago, it seems appropriate to now highlight spring flowers.  Flowers make me so happy!  Their bright colors make my heart smile after all the winter grays.  This first group of photos was taken at Temple Square in the middle of April.  We were excited to hang out with cousin Ruby since she'd been staying with family in Arizona while her Mom and Dad were in South Africa. 

 

When it comes to flowers, the beds around Temple Square are as beautiful as it gets.

Here we are at Temple Square once again a few weeks later.

Lest ye be fooled that my children actually pose nicely, this is what the first fifteen pictures looked like.

It's hard to take a bad picture of the temple...

 ...but some moments seem particularly extraordinary.

Speaking of special spring sights, I spied this double rainbow right outside our chapel.


And now for the gals at Red Butte Gardens.  I think Eli may have been at baseball game.

There's nothing sweeter than having your best friend be your sister.

Littlest sisters included.

Don't be fooled that all of our spring days were beautiful.  We had tons of rain.  I took a day off of work to chaperone the kindergarten field trip to the zoo, and it poured the entire time.

Back to sunshiny days, here we are playing yard games at Justin and Brianna's place in Millcreek.  What a great view!

Closer to home, we found the most magnificent flowering tree a few blocks away from home in the cemetery.

Talia found it the perfect place to read.

Our friend Melanie showed us this beautifully moving headstone.


Last but not least, our own little blossoming crabapple...

...and crimson tulips.

Happy belated spring, world!

Rockin' the Photo Shoot

Growing up, my Mom often wore a sweatshirt with the following slogan:  Stress.  It's what happens when your mind says no but your mouth says, "Sure, I'd be glad to!"

Back in March I found myself in a very stressful situation when a friend from church asked if our family would like to be in a photo shoot.  Her MBA Program at BYU was helping out a local entrepreneur with some advertising and needed family models.  I don't what is more puzzling: why anyone would ever think of us, or why I would ever say yes?

In the end, our rough and tumble crew had a good time.  We got to meet a lovely artist/author named Patti Rokus who tells the stories of Jesus through rock art.  

The kids really enjoyed hunting for rocks and making rock angels of their very own.

I like this one of Mary and Joseph watching over their babe in a manger.

For the rest of the photos, all credit goes to the professional photographer.

See more of Patti's art and beautiful books at rockstellstories.com .