When Did That Happen?

Each birthday for my kids reminds me that I am getting older. But I love them anyway. It was Alicia's turn this time, and she loved it.
We decorated the family room and surprised her with it. We did the same thing on Anne's birthday and I suspect it will become a tradition. Alicia even mentioned it a couple days before.

Since we are working on our family garden, Jared got her some personal garden tools. Boy, was she excited!

And because Alicia got gift on Anne's birthday we got her one too. After the gifts we went out and worked on preparing the garden more. They loved using their new tools.

Alicia had been requesting roasted marshmellows for several days, so Bahnka did a bbq for her b-day dinner. He also made his wonderful potato salad.

I did it the easy way this time and just made a no-bake cheesecake. She didn't mind, and no else did either. It was wonderful with the fresh strawberries. It was a really great day and we had so much fun together as a family.

Garden Week 5

Look at that!!!! Don't they look great! I am so proud of them.
In the back is the tomato plants, standing all fabulous and beautiful. We are going to put them outside this weekend or the next one.

On the front left, are the 6 pea plants. In the middle are the tomato late-comers. And on the right is 2 ziccinni plants and 2 pumpkin plants.

I decided this morning that each day they shall go out onto the patio, to enjoy some extra sun and fresh air. I can't believe I never did a garden before this. It brings so much satisfaction and the kids love it just as much as I do.

Blanket Fort

Jared go the fabulous idea to build a blanket fort for us to sit in as a family and do a little story reading. Anne and Alicia were so excited about it. Katie loved going in and out over and over again.

Eventually Katie figured out how to climb into Anne's bed. Then she tried to crawl onto the blanket ceiling and fell through. That was the end of her adventure with the fort. We put her in her crib with toys. I think this may become a family tradition.

Inspirational Music

My wife just barely showed me two videos on youtube which really touched me. I would like to share that with you.

The first one, is the song “The Prayer” which was written by David Foster and performed many times. I believe this version was recorded during the Christmas season of 2009. I don’t think I have ever heard a more beautiful version of this song even though some of my favorite singers have performed it before. Just another testimony of how strong the spirit works through music. Enjoy:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2k9OC2ycCaQ

This second one, is a song that is called “The Lords Prayer”. It is a beautiful song but very hard to sing. I have heard several attempts to perform this but have not heard many successful versions. David Foster explains a little bit in his intro, about how this version came about. It was probably recorded during the same time “The Prayer” was recorded. Again, I was deeply touched by the wonderful spirit and the very beautiful arrangement of this prayer. If you don’t know, the soloist is Andrea Bocelli, an Italian singer who is blind. David Foster is playing the organ (plese note that he is not using any sheet music) This combination makes it just that much more powerful.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TAFj2-u2cGQ

Easter and Conference

We had a fun but quiet Easter. Beate and Ray made a wonderful breakfast for us. My favorite were these cute hard-boiled eggs.

We had our Easter Egg hunt after the girls took naps. Katie loved finding the candy. I tried to get videos of it, but Anne was running around to fast to cooperate much. She was just so excited. Alicia was a bit more cooperative, but mostly the videos is of me and Katie.

We loved conference and the girls enjoyed the first 10 minutes of each session. Katie loved dancing the the Tabernacle Choir (her first time dancing on her own). I loved the Spirit and hearing all the counsel from our leaders. General Conference are my favorite weekend in the year.

Family Outing

Jared had Friday off from work. Since the weather was so beautiful we wanted to get out and enjoy nature. Our first stop was a local trout farm. The girls love to see them and watch them swim.
We got some large preztels as a treat and Beate got a whole smoked trout. She loves smoked fish. I was brave a tried a piece and confirmed that I don't like smoked fish.

The rest of us has lunch at Burger King. Both Anne and Alicia got a crown.

This is what happens when you sit in the car for a long time.

Our last stop was to visit the grave of Jared's Grandpa. We don't get up that way often so we took the chance when we could. Ray and Jared explained to the girls who it was and Ray even tried to explain to the about the body and the spirit. I am not sure how much they understood, but you have to start sometime. It seemed kind of appropriate with Easter this weekend.

And think Ray and Jared loved taking turns on the motorcycle the most.

Coloring Eggs FHE

The Monday before Easter we colored Easter Eggs with the girls. This is something my family would do at Easter and we always loved it. So I really wanted to do it with ours.

I got one set with a special "pen" to write on the eggs. Jared tried a couple but it wasn't really a good system. But he is a good sport for trying.

I think the girls had a great time and they were so patient waiting for them to be done. We took turns picking primary songs and other fun songs to sing, while we waited.