Easter - Hallelujah!

The Easter Bunny came by this year and the kids were so excited, Emma woke up at 6:20, which never happens!  I told her to come back at 7, which she did right on the nose.  They got some fun little toys and treats and were happy with their swag. 

Covey kept whacking his head with his eggs.  Silliness!

Emma helped me make resurrection rolls, which was a great way to start of the Easter, remembering the sacrifice of our Savior and the real reason we celebrate Easter.  The kids got dressed in their new Easter outfits.  I didn’t sew anything this year because I wasn’t sure when we’d be moving and didn’t want to be in the middle of something and have to pack it up and buy clothes anyways.  So the girls had navy and bright colored paisley, floral dresses which were so cute.  The boys got navy blue with bright colored striped ties.  Cal was jazzed because this was his first real tie, not a clip-on or zip tie, and Cov had a little bow tie they wore with white dress shirts and navy pants. 

Church was beautiful!  The Primary kids sang “Jesus is Risen”.  I had to help out and we practiced only last week, but they did so well and the Spirit was strong.  “Jesus is risen, Jesus our friend. Joy fills our hearts, He lives again.  Praises we sing to Him this Easter morn.  Jesus is risen, Savior divine.  Jesus is risen, Savior divine.”  What profound meaning those simple words have for us all!  Sister and Bishop Layton spoke.  Sister Layton said when she woke up she just felt like shouting to all the world “He is Risen!” She and our Bishop tried to sing together that morning, but they just couldn’t as their feelings for the Savior overcame them.  She talked about the Passover week, and it was very interesting and I learned a lot.  She said that when they would offer animal sacrifices before Christ came, they would place their hands on the animal before it was slaughtered to symbolize their pains, worries, and sins being placed on Christ and going away through Him.  That really hit me.  Bishop told a story of how his aunt and uncle were burned in a house fire, saving their five children.  The children all made it out and were healthy, but the parents all died right after due to burns and smoke inhalation.  One of Bishop’s cousins went back in the house after the fire was all put out and remembers seeing foot prints where some of the skin burned off onto the floor from his dad, who was barefoot.  Bishop’s uncle risked his life without hesitation to save his children.  “Oh how Fathers love their children!” He related this to how much our Heavenly Father and Savior loves us and how much they love us they do all they can for us.   I was so touched by their testimonies!  We were also able to sing my favorite Hymn #136 “I Know that My Redeemer Lives” so that made Sacrament meeting that much more special.

After church, we drove down to Utah to be with our family for the week.  The kids are going to miss a few more days of school at the end of this week, but we’ve got interviews and changes coming, so it’s okay. 

We went to Grandma Di & Grandpa Scott's first, Mark, Mayela, Amber and Grammie were all also there.  We enjoyed a nice dinner my mom prepared - the usual ham, cherry kolachies, asparagus, carrots, salad, mashed potatoes, and the cutest carrot cake for dessert.  The kids played outside with sidewalk chalk after dinner, and then the kids went on an egg hunt in the back yard. They were more excited about hiding a few eggs rather than finding them though.  Cov kept saying in a loud rough voice, "Yes!  I found an egg!"  He was pretty into it this year!  Em and Cal and Amber were pros and found them easily after so many egg hunts! The plastic eggs had candy, toys, erasers, hair things, and more in them.  The kids traded some of their goods. Grammie was teasing Cal at one point that one of the erasers was his, and so sweet Cal went over and said "Here, Grammie!" and gave her an eraser, though he knew she was teasing, he wanted to share.  Grammie's smile was so big and she was gladdened by Cal's sweet action.  It was a delightful time!

Then we went over to the Grandma Sue & Grandpa Dan's for their egg hunt.  All of the kids were able to find 12 hard-boiled eggs.  They dyed and decorated 8 dozen eggs the day before, whew!  Grandpa, Jerry & Jeff hid them all and they're notorious for making some of the spots very tricky, which they did again.  The kids found most, but they helped us find four or five we would've never found.  It's always so much fun to watch, I don't know if the parents or kids have more fun!  :)  The coveted egg was one Todd made that said "Well poop!"  I guess after decorating so many eggs he was at a loss for any way to decorate it, so that's what he wrote and all of the kids thought it was hilarious!  Cal was the lucky one to get it.  We never got the chance to decorate eggs this year, but we are so glad we were able to go down and celebrate with family and take part in our traditions.  The rest of the night, we talked and played and ate more Easter candy than we should've.  Sue gets everyone Easter goodies and this year the kids got bubbles and chalk.  The adults also get some treats and everyone gets their favorites.  We all get the same classics - Reeses eggs, lots of chocolate, and then Dave & I got these Dove coconut eggs we like a lot.  Some of the others got Peeps, the Hershey's eggs or whatever.  Yum, mabe I'll gain 15 pounds by the time our spring break is over.  

A few weeks earlier, we talked about the events leading up to the atonement, cruxifiction and resurrection.  Lucy especially liked the story of the triumphant entry into Jerusalem, where the people waved palm leaves.  She kept going around all month with leaves she'd found saying "Hosanna!"  Not to mock the event, and we made sure to tell her how sacred those words were, and that the people used it out of love and respect to honor him, but she loved practicing doing that and told us she did it because she loved Jesus.  

There was a media campaign by the church this Easter time called “Hallelujah!”  I was going to do the Handel’s Messiah Hallelujah virtual sing-in, but thought the submission deadline was later, so I missed it.  I love this inspired work by Handel and love playing through and singing the songs for fun at home.  Watching the completed video was enough to make me break down with tears and make my heart burst with joy!  So beautiful that all around the world, God’s children are exclaiming “hallelujah!”  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=akb0kD7EHIk

According to Merriam-Webster, the origin of hallelujah is Hebrew and means "praise ye the Lord".  It is "a shout or song of praise or thanks to God."  "A shout or song of praise or thanksgiving."

They also had another beautiful video https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p2wdMwpYByI.  It included some of my all-time favorite scripture verses from Isaiah 53:                                                            

2 For he shall grow up before him as a tender plant, and as a root out of a dry ground: he hath no form nor comeliness; and when we shall see him, there is no beauty that we should desire him. 3 He is despised and rejected of men; a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief: and we hid as it were our faces from him; he was despised, and we esteemed him not.  4 ¶Surely he hath borne our griefs, and carried our sorrows: yet we did esteem him stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted.  5 But he was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities: the chastisement of our peace was upon him; and with his stripes we are healed.

"He is Risen!"...3 little words that changed our world.  I know Jesus Christ came to the earth and died for us so we all could have his enabling help, grace, forgiveness, happiness, consolation, and life eternal.  #hallelujah  

I love Him, I am thankful for His simple, yet powerful life and the way He gave himself for all of us so willingly so we could have help and hope in this life and know there is a life to come with Him and our loved ones so wonderful we know not anything like it in this world!  Truly, praise ye the Lord - hallelujah!

Spring break in four states

Spring break started off a day early, we had to pull the kids out of school Wednesday so we could be on time to Rapid City.  Dave had an interview for a job as the Director of Clinics for Regional Health in that area.  We also wanted to look at housing since Dave has a 1 in 2 chance of getting this job so hopefully if he gets it we don’t have to go back and forth so much and we could get an idea of what’s out there and the areas we’d like to live.  They had 24 qualified applicants, conducted reference checks and back ground checks first, got a bunch of information from the HR department, had phone interviews with 4, TOOK a leadership test, and 2 (one is Dave!) got in-person interviews.   

The day we traveled with pretty snowy and the roads slick but we made it with no road closures.  We met with a realtor right when we got there and she was very on top of it.  We looked at several houses, then we went to dinner at Texas Roadhouse, and then looked at another for sale by owner home.  Then we checked into our hotel.  We stayed at the Rushmore, it had some fun touches.  The kids loved looking out the big windows and they kept saying that the presidents on the wall were looking at them or making up things the president’s faces were saying to them and cracked up over that.  Everyone was pretty wired from sitting and being good all day, so it was a little stressful getting the kids to be quiet in the hotel room and while.  But when they all fell asleep, ahhhhh, it was nice.  I fell asleep before a couple of the kids.  They watched the Avengers.  Dave did some more preparation for his interview that night, and then we took him bright and early to his interview. 

The interviews started at 7 a.m. and went until 6 p.m., with only two 15-minute breaks.  He started out with the CEO of all of Regional Health, met with all of the people he’d be working directly with, the providers, the nurses, all of the staff all got to interview him or have a meet and greet with him.  Dave said it went really well and he feels that everyone really liked him but it really just depends on the whole situation with his ex-CEO now.  They are going to call him, as well as other managers and doctors Dave worked with, and his old CEO who hired him.  So we know everyone is going to give great reviews, except for the one who forced him out we are unsure but are praying he gives Dave the credit he deserves.  So now we wait for around 2 weeks, they are going to tally up the scores and call these additional references.  He also got a call this last week and is going for an in-person interview in Hailey, ID next week.  So now the waiting game but it is exciting he is getting close to a few here.  It’s just such a long, comprehensive interview process at this level. But the light at the end of the tunnel is near!  It would be funny if he got this Rapid City job; a couple of years ago when we enjovisited Dave said we should move to Spearfish, SD next.  And he’s talked about it several times since.  Well, Rapid City is pretty close, and we could go visit Spearfish, but it’s just a little too long of a commute.  But that would be funny if his vision came true. 

While Dave was off at his interview, the kids and I kept busy.  Cov kept going to the window and calling out “Dada!  Hi Dada!”  (He’s recently started calling him Dada instead of Daddy like he used to, he he!)  Lucy was getting dressed and missed Daddy and used her shirt to give Daddy a “hug”.  We started off having breakfast at the hotel.  The kids loved the omelets, and doing cheers with their fancy glasses.   They had pretty good manners, but when I left for a minute to help one of the other kids get some juice, I came back to Cov smearing his yogurt fingers all over the booth seat.  Kids, oh sometimes it’s exhausting teaching them manners and what is and isn’t appropriate.  But hopefully it will be pay off, and it has a little because quite a bit people comment how well behaved our kids are.  Sometimes.  ;)  We drove out to the mall and saw a bunch of animals at the pet store, hit up Claires and a few other shops Emma was interested in, played on the vending toys, played in the indoor playground, and then got a gumball at the end.  We also saw the Easter Bunny, who the kids all called Creepy and they refused to get near it.  Then we went to lunch at good ol’ McDonald’s.  Though I have to say, this play place was one of the best I’ve seen, it was set up like an obstacle course and so fun for the kids, they stayed forever and played away!  Even Emma, who is growing out of things like this, really enjoyed it.  We went to the Journey museum after lunch, and it was a great museum for kids!  There were tons of interactive and hands-on activities.  They enjoyed the dinosaur and paleontologist section the best, I’d say.  They all loved the large microscope they had there as well and wanted to look at each sample slide.  Cal and Cov were excited about the giant dinosaurs, but it scared the girls and was too loud, they said.  By the end, we were dressing up in old pioneer get ups when the kids started getting a little cranky.  Nap time!  We went to the car and just read some books for little while Cov had a power nap.  Then we went to a park, and played at the 2 playgrounds, and walked around the river and little dam there.  It was pretty and the kids wore themselves out.  Success!  Cal got a hurt leg but was hoping it was broken so he could go to the hospital and see Daddy, lol!  The kids all missed Dave and I did too, of course. There is a lot to do in and around Rapid City, so that’s nice.  We picked up Dad and went to Longhorn Steakhouse for dinner.  Yay for steak.  I saw a sign that day that made me giggle in light of all of the Presidential election hulabaloo going on right now.  It was a pizza restaurant and it said “Pizza for president.”  Yeah, this is the first election I’d rather vote for a non-living thing over what our choices for president are currently.  Anyways, we had dinner and talked about the day’s events.  Dave was exhausted, it was a draining day, but a good day.  We went back to the hotel and crashed that night, everyone went to bed rather early.  

Friday, we ate breakfast together, and then met up with our realtor again.  We saw some homes we really liked, but the housing market is so hot right there houses are going under contract in a couple of days after being listed.  So some we didn’t even get to see yet.  We saw a few we really like.  At this point, it’s deciding if we want to buy a new construction home and finish off the basement, want a better school, or want more land.  So we will see if any of the homes we looked at are still available if we get a job offer.  We went to lunch when we were done.  Then we drove out to Wall and visited Wall Drug.  The kids got a kick out of all of the statues and photo-ops.  It was starting to snow again while we were out there.  We checked out all of their shops of western wear and trinkets, saw some of the animatronic singing, talking and moving people, got to pick out a treat in the sweet shop.  Dave and I chose donuts (which were delicious) and the kids picked suckers.  We drove to the Badlands after that.  It was lightly snowing, so we didn’t get out just drove through but it was beautiful!  The kids liked it and thought some of the rock formations looked like rainbows.  They also liked the mountain goats we saw grazing.  The roads were very curvy and Dave kept teasing the kids we should drive off, but Cov kept getting worried and saying “Don’t drive down there, Dada!” and finally he said “Daddy, I love you but don’t drive down there please!”  Ha ha, we all busted up!  We drove back and went to Marco’s pizza for dinner.  While we were waiting, the kids played on the arcade games (not that we actually ever put money in there) and we did play foosball.  We had pizza and tried to pry the kids off the games.  Then we went to the hotel and went swimming, which is always a highlight for our littles.  Bedtime after that.

Saturday, we drove to Mt. Rushmore and saw that.  We decided not to actually go into the park because we have before and we were short on time.  But we saw it and got some pictures.  Then we drove to Hot Springs and went to the Mammoth Site.  It was quite the story and sight!  The kids all learned a little something and liked touring the excavation site, seeing the lab, touching the replicas, digging, and making rubbings of prehistoric animals.  We drove around Hot Springs and grabbed some lunch, then drove home.  We made it home without too much excitement  and the kids did great in the car.  It was a great time and we hope and pray everything works out and we end up where we are supposed to be!

Spring? Break

Sunday we came home and enjoyed a wonderful Easter morning and church service.  Then we were off right after church again to head to Utah!  See Easter entry for more on that.  

Monday, we were able to sleep in and enjoy the morning.  It's been a much needed, restful break!  We met up with Mark, Mayela & Amber at the arcade.  The kids all had so much fun together!  Then we went to lunch at Chile Amor with them, it was amazingly delicious!  Sue also came with us, which was so fun to spend so much time with Grandma!  We went to Mark & Mayela's house next and did a little flying of the quad copter, played some video games and watched the kids.  It was hilarious because Covey really likes Mayela, but not her kisses.  He'd wipe each one off and get this funny look on his face.  We were dying!

Tuesday, we got to play in the morning with Tayla, Kaison & Brody.  We had waffles, made forts, and played away.  These kids all have the best time and did really well until lunch time and we were playing Scene-It and it broke out into a fight.  So we put the game away.  We had a gift certificate that was about to expire for Ruth's Diner, so we went there with Sue.  It was so tasty!  But all this eating out is going to make me gain 10 pounds over the break, AHH!  Then, Julie & Todd came over so we hung out and played and chatted with them, which was so fun.  We also watched the BYU basketball game, which they lost, boo!  It was a great day though!  

Wednesday, we slept in again, moseyed around, packed our stuff and took the kids to stay at Mark & Mayela's for the night!  They had so much fun going to the park, playing games, playing video games, playing outside, and watching the Princess Bride.  Then my mom took them the next day and they had fun playing outside, making snickerdoodles, and going to see the movie Zootopia!  The last day, Grandma Sue watched them and they had a blast being there for the last few hours.  Thanks for watching them, family!

We headed up to Idaho for another job interview for Dave, this one in Hailey Idaho.  "I think we're alone now!" we sang on the way up.  As much as we love our kids, it's so nice to just be alone sometimes!  We stopped off at Twin Falls to see Dave's Uncle Mac & three of his cousins hard at work at the accounting firm during tax season.  Always fun to see them, they're great!  And Aunt Marsha came down, she's the sweetest!  Love them, they're such good people and they're hoping we get this job so we can join in on family activities and such.  We went to Johnny Carino's for dinner and enjoyed some quiet conversation and relaxation.  Then we drove the rest of the way to Hailey, which was a nice drive.  We checked into the Wind River Hotel, which has been nice.  We went swimming and soaking in the hot tub which we had to ourselves, relaxed together, and Dave prepared more for his interview while I finally started watching Fuller House on Netflix.  It was a little different but I loved it and laughed a lot and Dave even got a little side-tracked and liked it more than he thought he would.  So nostalgic, that used to be my favorite show, so "have mercy"!  I seriously though never watch TV, except for family movie night, or the news occasionally, or shows with the kids here or there, so this was weird but kind of nice for me.  We slept well that night.

Thursday was the day of the big interview.  Dave and I went to breakfast here, and then he got spruced up and ready to go.  I stayed in the hotel room for a while and studied my scriptures without interruptions or noise, then started working on the computer and this here blog.  It was quiet, and kind of weird!  His interviews concluded for a while around lunch time so we headed to Ketchum to explore and then for lunch at KB's for amazing burritos.  I was teasing Dave because he still had more interviews later that day so didn't want to change completelely, but didn't want to spill on his shirt, so he threw a t-shirt over.  He's so funny, he was joking he was setting the new fashion trend there.  Then we drove around the towns in the area to see what kind of homes were for sale.  The housing is super expensive there!  Even dumpy trailers that have mold growing in them are going for around $200K, yikes!  Then he had to go back for more interviews, so I walked down the main street and went shopping a bit.  After he got done, we went to dinner with three of the employees from the hospital/clinic at a sushi/Chinese place Zou 75. It was very good, and the ladies were very nice.  That night, we hit the gym, went swimming again, watched some TV, read, and went to bed.

The next morning, we went to Twin Falls and met Aunt Marsha and cousin Dennis' wife Paula at the temple.  We did an endowment session, it was beautiful and so nice to sit with these ladies.

We got back to the kids, giving them all Idaho Spuds and then we took the them to the park.  It was such a beautiful day, spring is the best!

It did happen to be April Fool's Day, and everyone came over for dinner to celebrate Dave's birthday.  We had a bunch of veggies & ranch and Little Ceasar's pizza, of course.  The girls put scotch tape all over the entry way, so when Grandpa came home from work the idea was to make him run into it.  They thought they were pretty funny.  Grandpa gave them a complimentary chuckle.  Lucy also put a blanket over the cat and said "April fools!"  For dinner, I made "orange juice", which was a packet of mac & cheese powder mixed with water.  Their faces and comments were so funny!  "What's wrong with this juice?"  "This juice tastes so different!"  We all got a kick out of it!

Then we had cake & ice-cream to celebrate this cute man with the family!  He's 34 this year.  Wow!  We're getting old!  ;)

Saturday was General Conference, yay yay yay!  We enjoyed watching the sessions, and the kids were pretty good.  Emma loved drawing pictures about the stuff she heard.  The kids built a big fort in the living room and enjoyed that.  They also went to Uncle Randy's "man cave" and set up the new tent he got.  It was a great place for them to be during conference.  We had been reading about King Benjamin lately and how the people set up their tents towards the Prophet and the temple, so they said it was like that!  In between sessions, we went up to the Nicholls Park and had a picnic with Aunt Christie, Grammie & the Richins clan.  We ate, went on a little walk in the forrest and the kids ran around the castle park.  It was nice to see them for a bit!  I am so thankful for General Conference and that I get to hear words directly from God to me.  Whether it's something one of the speakers says, or something the Holy Ghost whispers in between or after, it's always just what I need!  And during the last talk by Elder Holland, I felt the impression to not just let General Conference last a couple days out of the year but to make it last all year long.  I love listening to the talks over and over again and am going to make a goal each week depending on a talk I listen to.  While the men went to the Priesthood session and then out to dinner, the girls and kids went to the park to play and then had taco night.  Em also got a haircut, it was a cute one!

I am so thankful for Conference.  It gives me the peace of mind, direction, assurance, call to repentance, and that feeling of God's love!  During conference, I got the impression that Conference doesn't just last a few days out of the year, we can make it last all year!  By re-reading, listening to, and watching, which is so EASY now, and then applying, we can have that happy feeling we get during Conference.  Then, when Elder Holland gave the closing talk, that totally hit home with me and that thought I had the day before.  Don't let the dinosaurs of tomorrow get us!  :)  

                       

Anyways, here are a few of my favorite quotes (credits on the photos) I think of often since then, and the inspiration that came and are on my notes.
                                          

                                                  

                                        

                                                  
                                 
                                         

                                                 
                                                  

                                         

Sunday, we went to my parents and had a breakfast with them and Mark, Mayela & Amber.  It was tasty!  Then we feasted on the last day of General Conference while we worked on a 3D castle puzzle and feasted on Pace popsicles.  That afternoon, we drove home.  It was a good spring break, but good to get home after a week and a half of being away!  Now...just to keep applying for more jobs in the meantime and wait and see where we will end up!