Easter Blessings!

Easter was a little unorthodox for us this year. Just a little unusual. Perhaps it was the weather. I was so thankful for a mild February and now I am paying for it with an unusually snowy April.

But also, this year, Easter Sunday fell on the first week in April; which for Latter Day Saint Christians is the week we hold General Conference every Spring. General Conference is a weekend of meetings that are the same for every member of our Church worldwide. The Conference is televised and because we live in Utah, we are fortunate enough to be able to watch Conference from the comforts of our own home. We had a wonderful time watching Conference. Matt and I both mentioned that we are so thankful for our dvr so that we can watch the sessions over and over again! Watching Conference with little kids isn't always easy, but we have found some fun ways to keep them entertained and engaged.

Anyhoo, since we were having Conference on Easter Sunday, we didn't have a Church outing where we could wear all our pretty Easter clothes. So, the Sunday beforehand, we decided to pull out our Easter duds when we went to the Blessing for Penelope, the new baby of Matt's sister Raegan and her husband, David. She was so precious and it was really a joy to see so many family and friends there!

And that brings me to the attempted photo shoot. The weather on this day was glorious!! Tori was excited to be outside and went straight for the daffodils.

But once we wanted her to pose, she was outta there:

We corralled her over to our selected background and she was off again!

We finally got a semi-decent shot in between sprinting sessions...

And then she was gone again. So, we got one of Isaac and Daphne, who were crying because the sun was so bright. Little Vampires that they are. They are struggling to emerge from their winter hibernation.

We had a beautiful time celebrating Penelope and had a yummy brunch with family and friends.

We then decided to have an Easter Week, where we had a full week of activities and family home evenings leading up to Good Friday and Easter Sunday. This was not a perfect experiment, but we definitely had some fun and spiritual evenings together. Unfortunately, I did not have the foresight to take pictures of these fun activities... :(

But we did have lots of fun- we learned about the Triumphal Entry and went on our own triumphal walk singing "Hosanna to God and the Lamb", which the kids enjoyed. We also had our very own Last Supper where we tried to have traditional mediterranean foods and then we were able to wash one another's feet. We did a few other things and had so much fun. The week wasn't the ideal fairytale that I had pictured in my head, but I got a lot of ideas for next year and I think the kids learned a lot, specifically about this:

"A new commandment I give unto you, That ye love one another; as I have loved you, that ye also love one another." John 13:34

So, even though we weren't able to do every single activity I had planned, we began Easter Sunday with a spirit of Rejoicing- for He is Risen!
We don't do anything too big for Easter gifts, just a few little goodies in the Easter baskets when they awake in the morning:

Victoria is really excited about her marshmallow bunny lollipop:

I love their little morning faces and hair- (Daphne wanted to have our roses in the picture!)

Daphne got her own little apron that is her size, which she loves! She is my little kitchen helper and always wants to wear my aprons- so when I saw this cute one at Target, I knew it was just the right pick!

I also forgot to take pictures of all the egg -dying fun, so here they are with a couple of their eggs:

My little sleepy-heads!

Then in between the Sunday sessions of General Conference, we made a mad dash to Nanny and Papa's house for our Easter Egg hunt! Here is a view of the spectacle.... notice everyone gathered around the tree, where Matthew and Jude hide eggs so high that no one can retrieve them. It's always to fun to have small children staring up at the tree hopelessly.

Daphne Doodle:

Victoria didn't really get what all the fuss was about with the eggs. She was much more interested in "feeding" the neighbor's dogs. I say "feeding" because she is always too frightened to actually feed them herself, she just wants to watch us feed them!

Isaac

Tori thought the Easter basket looked like it might make a good necklace.

EASTER SNOW!!!

And then we headed back inside where it was warm to count the eggs. Victoria loved this part. It was at this point that she realized maybe there was something to this egg hunting thing after all. She opened an egg and looked at me as if to say, "Mom! Did you know there is candy in here!?"

Daphne and Lydia:

I got the lovely honor of making the traditional Bunny Cake this year. I had lots of help from my sweet Isaac and Daphne....

We had a truly wonderful time celebrating the Resurrection of our Lord and Savior this year- it's always fun to add new traditions to our festivites. Even though I sometimes wonder if any of our little activities are connecting with their spirits, I know that the Lord wants us to teach them about the love of His Son. And I know that it's sinking in somewhere- it may be years before we see much of the fruit of this labor of love, but there is no labor I love more. Being able to be a mother to these three precious spirits is honestly the most joyous calling I have in life. It is my prayer that God will use Matt and me to shine His love through us... that their hearts may be drawn to their Savior. So even though we broke up about 25 arguments during the course of this week's Easter activities, I know that they have each gained a stronger testimony of the Atonement of their Savior.

And you know what? So have I.

"And we talk of Christ, we rejoice in Christ, we preach of Christ, we prophesy of Christ, and we write according to our prophecies that our children may know to what source they may look for a remission of their sins. " II Nephi 25:26

A Visit From GiGi

Since I am so horrendously behind on my blog, please forgive this short post. I'm hoping to get updated before our upcoming trip to TEXAS!!! That's right ladies and gentlemen... the Hunters are bound for the Lone Star State and are we ever excited!

Anyhoo... way back in March... yes, I said March,

we had a fantastic visite from our beloved GiGi. Here she is with two of her biggest fans: The week she visited was my Spring Break from school, but the kids still had school every day. It ended up being a nice transition from the constant fighting and vying for GiGi's attention. Victoria got her time during Kindergarten and then Daphne got her time after half- day kindergarten and then Isaac got her time after school.

We actually had nicer weather that week than we have had for much of the Spring since then. I unwittingly traded in a beautiful Spring for a snowless February. I'd like to re-negotiate.

One of our family "things" is that each of the older children has a picture of them and me next to their beds. I started it with Isaac as a little extra night-time comfort when he is feeling a little lonely or scared. It worked so well that we did one with Daphne, also. I have been trying (unsuccessfully) to get a cute picture of Tori and me to continue the tradition. So, GiGi to the rescue once again... she got this cute shot of us on her last day here!

It had been a while since Mom had seen victoria, and she's pretty slow to warm up, so I was curious to see how she would deal with her. Mom, always a child's best friend, brought two adorable little dress-up hats and made instant chemistry with Tori. She still held back some- but these definitely broke the ice.

Surprise! It's Tori!

Always singing, here's my Daffodil with her microphone:

My silly boys:

Victoria chatting on the phone- ( This was St. Patrick's Day, hence the green)

Hangin' at the park...

GiGi was pretty impressed with the view to the East of our home- I suppose we sometimes take it for granted, although I feel like I am constantly reminding the kids about how blessed we are to live by such gorgeaous mountains. Anyway, I thought I'd share so you can all see.

If I took a picture now, it would be even more breath-taking. Lots more green and a little less snow on top!

"You fill up my senses, like a mountain in Springtime..." Name that tune!

Girl Time

Our past few posts have been a lot about Isaac, so I thought I'd tell you what we girls have been up to lately...


We've been doing really important things.


....Like putting on lip gloss and smiling at ourselves in the mirror.



...Like taking two or three bubble baths a day...

And of course, we've been playing dress up. Lots and Lots of dress up!

But most importantly, every day we have to help Daddy get dressed! (Remember if you receive this in an email you will need to go to the actual blog site in order to view the video!)

Things I Love About this Video:

1. The sheer volume of cuteness

2. Tori's "Ummmm..." at the beginning.

3. Her little proud dance

4. The way she names all her family members at the end, including my Mom, GiGi, who was staying with us at the time.

5. Daphne's artwork all over the walls

6. Tori's awesome morning hair!

7. The fact that there is no diaper under those pj's cause she's exclusively a potty girl now!

Things that bother me about this video:

1. The fact that you can see the inside of our too cramped, too filled closet

2. The brass

3. My messy house in the background

A Play, A Birthday and A Baptism...

The first week of March was a little crazy for us. Firstly, I was involved in a musical production at our Church called Women At the Well...
Women at the Well is a production that tells the stories of the women who knew Christ through scripture, narration and song. You can find the cd here.

This was such a wonderful experience for me and I loved being able to worship Christ through song with so many other amazing women from my ward. We all learned and grew spiritually and from what I hear, it was equally uplifting to those who watched. It did not occur to me to take any pictures of this event, but it was so memorable and edifying! If you missed it, I *think* we will be performing it again for the stake sometime this year. At least we were asked to do so...

Then, a few days later:

I turned 30. Really. I'm not quite certain how this is possible, but that week was a pretty big week for us! We don't really go all out for our birthdays much- it just seems unimportant since we became parents. We do try to spend extra time together and do something. Of course in our very lean, newly married years, that something was smaller. But it always seems to be the time spent together that counts. So, thanks to Matt's brother Jude and his wife Natalie, we were able to have a nice long date. The next morning, my sweet husband and kids brought me a delicious breakfast in bed. Yum! Thanks, my sweet ones! My husband even cleaned the house and got me lunch at Cafe Rio before we got on with the real event of the day:

Believe it or not, our sweet, darling Isaac chose to be baptized this day! Happy Birthday to me! Just before we left, (Isaac was outside playing basket ball with our neighbor), and I said," Isaac, why don't you invite him?" Well, he didn't have any clothes to wear, so we offered him some of Isaac's. And he said YES!

I was quite astonished, and Isaac was really happy. He and the neighbor are still good friends after all the water under (and over) the bridge. So, we were very happy to have him with us.

Although we got off to a rocky start (going to the wrong Church building and all... only in Utah!), we started our little Baptismal Service. Matt's sister, Paige, led the music for us and his cousins, Austin and Lexy offered the prayers. Nanny shared her thoughts on Baptism and Jesus Christ and the Plan of Salvation, with lots of involvement from a teary-eyed and spiritually moved Isaac. Melt my heart. What joy to watch your child embrace his Savior. After that, Isaac was baptized by his father! And following the baptism, I was able to share a song, I Know that My Savior Loves Me. This was such a sweet moment for me; Isaac was mouthing the words as I sang. Isaac's other cousin, Sydney, spoke about the Holy Ghost- it was just perfect and right on his level. Thanks, Syd! And then we had the confirmation. And all of the sudden, there he was: All bright and shiny and clean and accountable! Sniff, Sniff. I can't believe his life is going so quickly- it was really just a minute ago that he looked like this:

and just one minute later that he looked like this:

or that our family picture looked like this:
... and now looks like this:

It is completely amazing to me how time flies when you are having fun! The past eight years of being a parent have been the most educational, draining, awe-inspiring, humbling, rewarding and absolutely loving years of my life. My heart bursts to think of all that God has given me by letting me parent these three, precious children. I pray that His strength will make my offering enough. Enough that they will know how deeply they are loved; by me, as their mother, but more importantly, by Our Father in Heaven.

We even tried to get a "big family"shot, but they all turned out blurry :(.

Then we went back to Nanny and Papa's for some of Paiges amazing Basil Pesto Pasta and Macaroni and Cheese. Yum!

Isaac received many lovely gifts in honor of his baptism. New Scriptures from Nanny and Papa:

A new tie:

His very own picture of the Savior:

and lots more...

Tori had her first encounter with our brand new niece, Penelope. Victoria was overwhelmed with joy! She kept ooing and sighing and trying to lay on her. It was too, too sweet.

And finally, after a long day, we headed home. Just as we were about to get out of the car, I was thinking that I should ask our neighbor is he would like to come to church with us the next day. But before I even had a chance to say something, he said, "Is it okay if I go to church with you guys tomorrow?"

And we all said, "Yes!"

Absolutely. And he did.

We have a scout!

That's right, Ladies and Gentlemen. I have a child who is old enough to be a Boy Scout. I am a little overwhelmed by this prospect. In addition, I am, well...apprehensive.
Don't get me wrong: We love the Boy Scouts of America. We support them financially every year and think that they have great programs to assist parents in molding their boys into contributing members of society.
I just have absolutely no clue about anything scout related whatsoever. I don't even like thinking about scout related activities because it automatically makes me think of camping. And I think we all know how I feel about that.
So. Isaac is a Wolf. He has a wolf book and has to learn about something called a bobcat and do all sorts of "fun" stuff. We went to his very first activity, which happened to be the Blue and Gold Banquet, celebrating 100 years of scouting.
We had to make a cake to decorate and oh yeah, get his scouting attire. (That was purchased exactly one half hour before the banquet.) I'm such a good mom. Ha! (Matt got it for him right after work!)
Here we have Brother Page, who informed Isaac that as the newest member, he would have to be branded. He told him that the had a poker that they would dip in hot ashes and then brand on to him. Isaac looks a little nervous.
Of course, the metal was cold and the "hot ashes" were flour, but it was all in good fun. Isaac just made a funny face and was such a good sport once he realized that he wasn't going to be burned.

Here he is with his branding... he had just gotten over strep throat and looks a little drained still. Poor little guy.

Then we got to commence the cake decorating with the provided materials. Isaac came up with this idea on his own!

I thought it turned out pretty cute.

I guess we'll see how scouting goes- I'm excited for him to get to learn new things and feel involved---- even if I have to do "scouting" stuff, too!

Abe Lincoln says.....

"Be honest: Do you like my beard?" Daphne has been learning about Presidents at school. Well, she was learning about them in February. So, when Matt gave hear a beard in the bath, she automatically said, "I'm Abe Lincoln!"