Seven Months - Finding Happiness

Michael has been so wonderful over the years taking pictures of the children. He wanted to make sure that there would be plenty of documentation of their lives. One of the shots he often has them do is what I call the "looking toward heaven" pose. You see that in the two pictures shown here of Lynette.


So my dearest Lynette, I'm looking toward heaven and remembering you today as it's been seven months since you left us behind. At times I forget and think about calling you about some little thing and then I remember that you can't get my calls right now.

I'm working at discovering joy in my journey here. I was reminded about finding happiness by a dear friend who gave us an Easter card with this quote:

Happiness is like

A butterfly which,

When pursued, is always

Beyond our grasp,

But, if you will

Sit down quietly,

May alight upon you.

-Nathaniel Hawthorne

I think I'm getting a little bit better at sitting quietly, if not always literally, figuratively. I am sustained, I am blessed, and sometimes I am also happy.

NS

Fun with Carynn, Jamie and Ty - Easter 2012

We were so happy when we had more visitors from up North! Bret, Laura and Ethan came to see us in February. Now it was Carynn, Jamie and Ty's turn! They arrived Wednesday night and we immediately put Jamie to work! Thanks so much for installing the new faucet Jamie. It makes a huge difference!

Thursday afternoon/evening was Girls Night Out and Boys Night In. Carynn and I did a bit of shopping, ate a yummy dinner at Chili's, had a pedicure and then came home. The boys enjoyed grilling steak with some if not all of the trimmings.

Other memorable moments are highlighted below.


Saturday morning we all went to the Ivins City Easter Egg Hunt. It's not much of a hunt really, but still is was so much fun to watch the kids scramble for the eggs. The whole thing including travel time to and from took less than a half and hour. Ty "found" 34 eggs, plus the 2 "starter" eggs they gave him totals 36 eggs! Inside each egg was a Tootsie Roll mini and a little roll of Smarties candy. The master of ceremonies said that there were 12,000 eggs. In less than a minute they were all gone. Thankfully they divided the park into age groups so the little ones weren't with the older kids. Here's some pictures. Adults were able to "help" but they could only point. They couldn't touch the egg. Ty, of course needed little if any help, but Jamie went along to hold the basket.


Then it was time to go to downtown St. George and check out the Art Festival. Even though this is our 4th winter here, Michael and I had never done that. We had a lot of fun and so did Ty and his mom and Dad.

Ty had fun decorating his binoculars. He also used chow mein noodles to make a nest for a peeps chick and her jelly bean "eggs." What a fun idea!

Ty has the best view riding on Papa's shoulders!

This sequence of pictures shows me bravely running through the fountain (right before the center one started up. Whew-I barely made it in time. Then Ty and I together and finally Ty had a ton of fun and hardly got wet at all running through himself.

We had our Easter Feast Saturday evening since Carynn, Jamie and Ty were heading back up to Bret, Laura and Ethan's on Sunday after church. To change things up a bit we ate al fresco. Saturday evening it was gorgeous outside and the ambiance of the fountain, water and sunshine were hart to beat. Cornish game hens ala Carynn were the main course. Afterwards it was time to color the eggs. Ty had fun and of course we made what my kids have always called the "poop" egg. While I may not appreciate it's name, I appreciate the tradition that my 4 started long ago. The "poop" egg is dunked in all of the colors multiple times till it reaches the right shade-whatever the right shade is.

The Easter bunny hid the eggs outside this year since it was so nice. Ty had a fun time finding them. We made sure that we shared the real reason we celebrate Easter with Ty too. It's fun to enjoy the secular part of the season, but just like Christmas, Jesus is the reason for this season too!

Our Savior Lives and we will all live again too!

NS