Easter

Happy Easter everyone! (although it's a little late)
We had a great time this weekend it was spring break and so we decided to go visit Great Grandma. We drove up Fri. afternoon and had a birthday dinner with Janese, Loriane, Lenard and all their families. It was fun to see everyone, but we missed having mom on her own birthday dinner.

On Sat. Grandma and Grandpa hosted the egg hunt. (there was even money in some of the eggs.) Grandma gave everyone a number and you could only take the eggs with your number on them. The exception to the rule is the Gold and Silver eggs. Jake found the gold one and made $10! Even though Eric didn't find a gold or silver egg he still was so excited to get the money so he could buy a singing bunny toy he wanted at the store.

He had the best afternoon, playing with his cousins, watching "Scooby-doo" on cable, and eating all his Easter candy. Robert was happy watching March Madness Basketball. And I had fun making some earrings with Janese. She has taken up jewelry making and is quiet good. Thanks Janese.

We had to hurry home for the Symphony that night. Eric liked it "OK", but he really enjoyed the guest percussionist, he was amazing. So we were listening to Tchaikovsky's 4th and at the beginning of the 4th movement there is a huge explosion of music. Of course I jumped in my seat and Eric just about died laughing (silently of course) because the program had said that if you fell asleep during the quiet 3rd movement the 4th would "rudely awaken" you. Thanks to everyone who came with us, we had a good time.

Sunday morning Robert awakened us with the "Hallelujah Chorus" from Handel's Messiah. It's a good reminder as we celebrate the Resurrection. That Christ has broken the bands of death and we are all redeemed through him. I'm sure we sang for joy that first Easter morn. My sister brought over her web cam so we could Skype Mom and Dad in Hawaii. It was fun to see and hear them. They got our package on Fri. so there Easter treats took about four days to reach them.

At church our choir sang an Easter Requiem and Robert had a solo. It was beautiful, the song ran through my head all day, it was lovely.

After church we went out to Tolman's to have Easter dinner and hunt more eggs. I was helping the 18 mo. old and he kept saying "where's it?" then as soon as he saw an egg he would run as fast as his fat little legs would carry him to get the egg. It was cute to see. The kids had fun and when all the eggs were found we went inside to dump it all in a big bowl to share. (even Eric was coxed into sharing after we explained that there was no money in the eggs, and he checked to make sure :) We had a good time Thanks to Ben and Megan for hosting.

We stopped at Grandma and Grandpa's later on and had a nice visit with them, since we had missed their egg hunt on Sat. Then back home to bed, it had been a long weekend.

Robert and I went over to Wellsville on Sat.for a graveside service. (The funeral had been in Idaho that morning) It was the daughter of one of his coworkers. She fainted and never regained consciousness. The Dr. still don't know why.

It really made me think about the atonement. How grateful and awed I am for my Savior, for what he did, so I could be saved and redeemed at last. That my family and I need not part at death forever but for a short time, until we can be reunited for eternity. I can not express how much I need and love my Savior, Jesus Christ.

St. Patrick's Day

Dad: Why do we celebrate St. Patrick's Day, who was St. Patrick?
Eric: St. Patrick was the guy who discovered leprechauns on the 17th of March.... in Ireland.

I wanted to tell everyone about our vacation. (I hope nobody thinks I am bragging, I'm not trying to. I just love hearing about what other people are doing and I hope you like hearing about our family as well.)

We (Robert, Me, Eric, and Sam) left Mon. morning at 4:15 am. I thought Eric would sleep until the sun came up but he had a hard time because he was so excited. I on the other hand slept much of the morning.

The problem with going to Disneyland in Feb. is the snow. When we drove through Beaver and Cedar City the roads were icy. There was a bad wreck on one of the hills north of Cedar. (kind of scary)

We made it safely to St. George, and had breakfast at McDonald's. Eric played on the deserted playground until we were done eating and ate his breakfast in the car. (all part of the plan to stop as few times as possible.)

We made a few bathroom breaks and stopped to eat lunch and play tag in Barrstow. We got to Anaheim about 3:00 pm. Checked into the hotel and walked across the street to Disneyland.

We had a great time some of Eric's favorite rides were: Space Mountain (the dark roller coaster), Buzz Lightyear Astro Blasters, Roger Rabbit's Cartoon Spin, Big Thunder Mountain Railroad, Indiana Jones, The Tower of Terror and his most favorite was California Screamin'.

My favorite was the Tower of Terror. I love the free fall feeling. As Eric puts it "I was hovering over my seat!" The first time we went on the T of T I rode next to Bonnie. She did not like it at all. I like some of the slower rides also like the Fairytale Canal Boats and Peter Pan's Flight.

We didn't think much would scare Eric, on the rides, but we forgot about his uncles. When we went on the Indiana Jones ride he sat between Adam and Sam, who made it scarier than it normally would have been. He refused to go on it again that day. But the next day his Dad talked him into trying it again. "I conquered my fear Mom!" he told me. And now he loves it. Although he looks down when the ride goes past the statue (if you look into it's eye, according to the film (in the cue line) you get lost in "The Temple of the Forbidden Eye.") And he ducks when the darts are "shooting" at you. (air blows past) I think we rode it 4 times.

The crowds were really small. The longest line we waited in was 45 min. for the Finding Nemo Submarine Voyage. It was a neat ride but way too long line. Most of the mornings and evenings you could get on a ride in under 15 min. It was really nice because we could ride some of the big-attraction rides more than once. And we could ride Buzz Lightyear over and over trying to get a higher score. Sam of course got an insanely high score. (You get a "laser" and are trying to hit targets, the ride keeps score for you.)

In the slide show you can see the Jedi Training Academy. This was a show we saw on Wed. Eric, Sadie and Brigham were picked out of the audience to participate on stage. It was fun to watch how seriously Eric was taking his training. At the end of the training each padawan had the chance to fight Darth Vader or Darth Maul. Eric did an excellent job remembering his training during the fight. The force was strong with our younglings.

The weather was really nice the first 3 1/2 days. It was 80 on Wed. but on Thurs. afternoon the wind started to blow. Fri. was cooler around the high 60s, and Sat. when we went to the beach it was too cold to stay more than a few minutes.

Over all it was a great week! It was fun to have almost everyone there, and to make fun memories with everyone.

Our worn-out family drove back Sat./Sun. We stayed with Uncle Pete in St. George Sat. night.
We had a great time, but Robert and I have decided that Disneyland is great every 4 years or so. Eric begs to differ.

Our Disneyland Vacation

Here are a few shots from our vacation. In the left hand bottom corner is a speech bubble icon, if you click on this you can read my captions. (Just put your mouse over the corner if you don't see the icons.)