Easter Happenings

     It seems like Easter has been a week long thing for me. On Sunday, we had dinner with Nate's family and dessert with my family. It was Nate's last Sunday in Utah, so we wanted to go see both families. Church was particularly rough for me. I play the organ... and it was my month to play. So, I played the Opening, Sacrament, and Closing songs. That's not the rough part, though. I also had to play for the ward choir while they sang... and it wasn't just one song. It was 3! So I got up and down 6 times in an hour while Nate battled screaming children. Needless to say, it was a little difficult to feel the true Easter spirit.
     Of course the Easter bunny came to our house. He didn't bring much, though. The girls got one toy each and a coloring book and one egg filled with jelly beans. I didn't want them to be on a sugar high, but they seemed happy with what they got. I did get them little Easter outfits, and they looked absolutely stunning.

     When I was younger, I never really got an Easter basket. I always felt a little jipped as I saw all my friends playing with their toys. Sure, I got a new dress every year... but none of the candy or frills that usually come with Easter. And if we did get something, it was centered around the gospel. I was a little bitter growing up, but now I can understand why my mom did things this way. She felt Easter was too sacred of a holiday to get caught up in all the toys and candy. Now that I'm a mother and a little wiser... I didn't want to go overboard with my children.
     I want to instill a love of the Savior in my children. I want them to know why Easter is such a significant holiday. Of course they are too young to truly understand the divine mission of Christ. I don't want them to think that Easter is another time for candy and gifts, but a time of reflection and gratitude.

     The Easter spirit has continued on throughout this past weekend. I just got back for Women's Conference down at BYU. It was my first time going, and it was a little overwhelming. But I have been filled with a deeper love of our Savior and a greater desire to live up to the covenants I have made. I went to a seminar that was entitled "Believe in Christ" and two women spoke about the relationship between grace, the Atonement, and believing in Christ. The are both associate professor's at BYU and have PhD's. They were able to explain the gift of the Atonement in such  a way that it has impacted me deeply.

    I also had the chance to go see the Carl Bloch exhibit. I was so moved by the paintings of this man. He had such a different perspective on the life of the Savior that he painted emotions and feelings that pierced my soul.

    

     I know Christ lives. I am amazed that He would care about me despite my weaknesses and imperfections. I am a daughter of God who has a divine mission to fulfill as a wife and mother. I must carefully guard my family against the things of the world and to teach them about the Savior and our Heavenly Father's plan. I feel a greater sense of this duty as we prepare to move out of state. Utah is predominantly LDS, and we are going to be in the minority. My children will stand apart from others and will need to be knowledgeable in what we believe so that when they are asked why the do not swear, do not drink coffee, or why they pray daily, they will be able to testify with clarity and conviction.

     I love my Savior and I feel immense gratitude for the things I have experienced this past week.

On A Roll

Somedays,

ok, every day...

Ava says the darndest things!

Here's a snippet from today...

As Ava was pouting, she was folding her arms and acting mad.

I started to laugh and tease her, and she looked at me and said,

"Mom. Stop laughing! I'm trying to be mad!"

:)

Then she told her grandma that

"Today is the worst day of my life!"

:) :)

And then she asked me,

"Mom? What do you do when you

eat a gross hamgaber?"

And lately, Halle's been on a roll.

She has quite the little vocab going on. 

Of course she says the normal mommy, daddy, baby...
but here are some cute words she's picked up on.
Mine!
Dow (down)
Wha? (What)
 Neet (Nate)
Tee too (Thank you)
Lello (Yellow)
Lello (Flower)
Bloooooo (Blue)
I..... wub...... vooo (I love you)
I.... wub.... wawa (I love Ava)
I..... wub..... haddeeee (I love Halle)
Mammy (Grammie)
Deeee! (Cheese... when smiling for the camera)

Never a dull moment!

Oddly Enough...

      My girls are at my in-laws house for the night, and I have the whole day to myself! I went to school this morning, and have just spent the past 2 hours cleaning my apartment. It's funny how I often crave moments like this. When I'm at my wits end and have not washed my hair for 2 days I often think to myself "I would give anything for some peace and quiet!" And oddly enough, now that I have a whole day to myself, I am missing my girls. Usually while I'm cleaning, I can hear Ava's sweet voice singing some made up song about South America and the ocean. (Those are her latest obsessions.) And mixed with Ava's singing is Halle's constant baby chatter. I'm usually interrupted 5 or 6 or 7 times by Ava hollering that Halle's pulling her hair, or things are a little too quiet, and I find my girls dumping gold fish all over the floor and walking over them.
     So, while my house is unusually quiet and peaceful, I was thinking about what I did with my time before I had kids. And I dare say that my life was quite dull. Don't get me wrong, I did fun things and went fun places, but I never knew what it was like to truly laugh or worry or cry. Sappy, I know, but it's true!
    Days go by so quickly and I just want to make time stand still. My kids are in such fun stages in life, and I don't want them to grow up. I don't want to have to worry about them dressing scandalously or if they're having sex with their boyfriends. I don't want to worry if they're doing drugs or if they're out drinking themselves senseless. I just want to enjoy these simple days where my biggest worry is telling Ava that alligators don't live in the ocean and that it's ok to have strawberry jam on her sandwich instead of grape jam. I want to enjoy watching Halle walking.... she walks like she's drunk and trips over everything! Then she'll get up and say "Whoa". I realize these days won't last forever, but for now, I'm going to enjoy washing grubby fingerprints off my computer screen.
     So, here are a couple of pictures that I could look at over and over again...

 It's hard to believe Ava was ever this little!

She loves to talk on the phone.

She loves to eat "cold cream"... Aka whipped cream

 I love this pic of little Halle. She has such a sweet look.

 It's crazy how absolutely tiny she was.

 Ava loves to do Halle's hair. 

What's funny is Halle actually sits still long enough for 

Ava to put hairbows in it.

 I was cleaning out the girls' clothes and came

across one of Halle's preemie outfits. 

She wore preemie sized clothes for the first 

2 months of her life. I thought it would be fun to have a comparison

20 months later...

Halle was thoroughly annoyed at the prospect of having to

lay down and get her picture taken.

 Halle loves to climb and swing. 

She recently discovered how to go

down the big twirly slide at the park.

She will hang and swing from the drawers 

and table in our house.

She is so adventurous!

This is what my couch looks like on almost a daily basis.

They were using it as a slide.

Both my girls just adore their Daddy. 

He loves to wrestle with them

and flip them around.

Slightly Not There

      I sincerely apologize to everyone I've talked to this past week. I have had so much on my mind that if you said something to me, I probably wasn't listening due to lack of sleep, or due to the fact I have jumbles of information swimming around my head.
     With that being said, I'm glad that things have started to calm down. It seems like this week has just been unreal. I find it kind of funny that the past 8 months I have really struggled with the fact that I wasn't able to make plans for after Nate's graduation. And now, I can make plans, but I find myself not wanting to. Not making plans was definitely easier than making plans. When I didn't have plans to make, I just took life day by day and worried about our future, but not too much. Now that there are plans to make, I have a constant headache thinking about everything that has to get done in the next 8 weeks.
    So, this week we have had to figure out our schedules.  Nate flies back to Virginia to spend a few days with his brother on April 28th. He comes home on Monday, May 2nd and takes a couple of finals. Graphic Products (the company that hired Nate) wants him to start on May 9th. We have decided that he will leave on May 7th (the day after he graduates) and take our car and drive to Oregon. Seeming as how we only own 1 vehicle, this presented a little bit of a challenge because I still need a car down here. After talking to a couple of family members, we now have that situation cleared up. Since we are the Resident Assistants for our court, I have to stay here until June 1st. I will continue working until sometime in May. My little bro, Nelson, graduates from high school on June 3rd, so Nate is flying home June 2nd to be here. We will pack up the night of the 3rd and Nate will drive our moving truck up to Oregon on June 4th and I will fly to Oregon with our girls on June 6th. Whew!
     What this translates to:
     1 .Nate has roughly 3 weeks left in Utah.
     2. I will be a single mother for 4 weeks.
     3.  I am selling a bunch of stuff so I don't have to pack as much.
     4. I am solely responsible for packing our whole apartment while working
 a part time job, being the RA for our court, and taking care of two kids.

    5. I will need to fit in time to have lunch with all my friends to say goodbye.

     While this sounds crazy, I just thank my lucky stars that I am not 7 months pregnant like the last time we moved. 

     We have all ready started to look for housing. Nate is going to have to pick where we live. This is extremely hard for me because I have hardly any control in making the living arrangements! Eek! I know he'll do a great job, and we have narrowed it down to 3 places... but still! Yikes. 

     I have been up countless hours this week just trying to think of all the things I have to get ready for the move. I have lists upon lists upon lists. At least that helps me. 

     So, again, I am deeply sorry if I'm just slightly not there at the moment. If any of you would like to bring me a giant Diet Coke, I will be your BFF for life. Ha!