Easter

 Our first annual, Easter Morning Sunrise Extravaganza was a hit! 

I had all of Monson’s family and Landon and Andrew join me at 6:30am by Adam's Reservoir just off of Gordon Ave in Layton while it was still dark. There were ducks on the pond, and the midst was rolling in.  It was freezing cold as we snuggled in our chairs and listened to the last 5 chapters in the book of Mark on Jesus last week, death, and resurrection.  The sun came up.

I bore testimony that I am a believer…that it really did happen.  We sang "Joy to the World" and "Christ the Lord is Risen today" as the sky went from dark to light.  We had maple bars, apple juice, Papa bread, and butter for our treats as we listened to the “Hallelujah from the Mount of Olives” by Beethoven, and then the “Hallelujah Chorus” by Handel.  We danced and marched around to stay warm.

  I brought some hard-boiled eggs so we could do our traditional egg throw– Monson was the winner.   It lasted about an hour– perfect!  It really was freezing.  I’m already thinking of next year and how to tweak it to make it better!  – including Wayne, will be able to be there next year!  ( He won't have a catheter in from prostate cancer surgery) We really missed his wise words. 

I have worn a cross every day this week in honor of Holy Week. I love thinking about the cross with the horizontal bar reaching out to love and include everyone, and the vertical bar reaching up to heaven to Love God.

Landon and Lexi brought in food for Easter dinner– we had their families, plus Jed and Camilla and girls- Roma and Margo, Paula Carlson and the Bayhams- (Monson and Lexi's good friends).  I had everyone do a big celebratory SHOUT with me before the prayer. We are grateful for the atoning sacrifice and resurrection of Jesus Christ. We did an easter egg hunt for the girls in the backyard.  Our yard is wide open and it’s hard to actually hide eggs there..they are basically just hanging out on the grass.  I also had the girls do Easter chalk art on the back cement – He is RISEN! He is Risen indeed!

Roma, Tayla, Avery Bayham, Lady and Elsie

What I wore in March

March Happenings

We celebrated St. Patties day singing at a rest home!  We all wore green (except Bob Farley) and Wayne had a giant leprechaun hat to wear and pass around to the residents who sang with us.  It as a fun idea.

My Sister Liz's friend gave me a Lucky sweatshirt because of my Instagram whatluckywears account.  They are so cute.  This came in clutch for St. Pat's day as well.

My girlfriend group is going strong... our gathering for March was at Jo Murdock's home-- she made delicious quiche and salad for us and we discussed the Give them P.I.E.-- praise, inspiration and encouragement book by Pinegar...and then I did a thrifting demo and what I thrift and how to do it and how to wear it.  It was fun.
 

Our new branch was invited to the Linden Temple Open house for a 6am tour...that's right 6 am... it was early travleing from Ogden, but so worth it.  Many of our members can't be around anyone under 18-- so they did this special for them, plus a breakfast after at a nearby church.  It was great to have so many of our guys there.  

Tina Patrick, Me, Brigit Adams, Annie 

This is our new Branch members board that we try and keep up to date for all of us to get to know each other better. 

I go on a duck walk most mornings.  I love to walk to the Kays Creek walkway along the Layton Park.  It's a paved trail that follows the creek and features two duck ponds.  I'm becoming very adept at speaking duck.  There are a lot of Mallards with their gorgeous  green heads, and Canadian Honkers that fill the ponds, but we also have a brown looking Mallard called a Khaki Campbell, a black duck with a little white on the chest and a yellow beak called a Duclair, an all black duck with a white beak called a Coot, a bluish beak duck with a mostly gray body called a Blue Swedish, the white storybook looking duck called a Pekin, and my favorite  - the ornamental duck that toally looks fake, or like an artist painted it- a Wood duck.  I walk, pray, recite my Psalm scriptues, see the squirrels and talk to the ducks and catch a gorgeous sunrise.

Grandkid game night

 Grandkid game night was all Easter-related– Easter coloring pages, we colored eggs, and talked about the Easter story and different Easter symbols – and watched a bit of "The Chosen" where Jesus rides into Jerusalem on a donkey and explained Palm Sunday.  We gave each of the kids a palm leaf to wave.  It was good. 

                                                         

We love living close to Maverick and Arctic Circle for game night fun.... we walk and sing as we go.

We also walked to Arctic Circle for ice cream. 3 of the nuggets didn't wear shoes and none brought any type of jacket, so we went right after dinner when it was still ight out, and had to pull two in the wagon, and Tayla borrowed shoes from me.....

They also spent a lot of time jumping on the trampoline, exploding some Peeps in the microwave, playing dominoes, and starting to learn how to play mahjong.  It was a good night

Sophia

 We love our oldest granddaughter, Sophia.  She is a goer.  She is her brother's biggest cheerleader. She has a ton of supportive friends, she dares to do things out of her comfort zone, ( Sophia and friend sang the National Anthem in front of her whole school). She loves her little cousins and aunts and uncles and makes time for grandkid game night.  She is funny and confident and navigates her two worlds (her mom's home and her dad's home) pretty well.  I know at times it's overwhelming for her, but she continues to work on those relationships. 

She had a choir concert and her Centerpoint Academy show in March and she was impressive in both.

Her Viewmont Concert choir is really impressive. they sang Hallelujah from the Mount of Olives.  that is some difficult music.  I wanted to give a standing ovation when they finished. 

Sophia in front row - second one in from  the side...curly hair.  

We are her biggest fans!

Sophia peeking out on the stairs behind the girl in the black dress. She was in Footloose-- she played Lulu-- one of the adults, Ren's - the main guys' aunt.  She had a few lines and did great.  Her hair was on point!

We adore our Sophia.

43rd anniversary

    We've had a great March and went down to St. George to the Belnap resort two times.  The first weekend we went to shows at Tuacahn- Creedence Clearwater Revival and the Eagles cover bands with the Lakes, Cashes, and Belnaps-- we caught dinner with the Binghams as well at Capelletis.

Laura, Me, Diane Lake and Heidi Bingham

 We found a garage sale.... and got a great Persian rug and a big giclee painting of a sunrise.  These are our Anniversary gifts to each other this year... all for really great price.

We love spending time at the Belnap resort... we play a lot of games, and this time we taught them Mahjong. They loved it.

We got Mexican food-- my favorite-- and going to see the "Project Hail Mary" movie.

We biked a ton...  I went on two different gorgeous mornings, and Wayne went three, totaling 73 miles.

This is what we look like on our 43rd Anniversary.....  I'm so grateful to have married my Wayne. He loves his family and the Lord fiercely.   He is steady and kind and funny and adventurous and adores me.