Abundant Recompense Copy

We spent a quiet and enjoyable Easter at home this year, just the four of us. Of all the places she could've stepped, Bryn managed to tromp right on this poor little guy while looking at another egg farther away. The cat sure appreciated it. You might want to turn up the volume a little for these videos.

Spring has been my favorite season for as long as I can remember. I love seeing little patches of green starting to come to life amidst the drab wintry yuck. It seems like around here Temple Square gets a jump start on the rest of us somehow. We spent an afternoon there last week and the flowers and trees were so pretty. After lunch with Daddy the kids and I took a long walk to the Salt Lake City Library which is so cool - especially the kids' section. Here's one of the little nooks you can cozy up in to read. It's like an attic. We rode all the way to the top floor in the glass elevators. This video is only about the bottom two, because I had a death grip on the railing on all the higher ones. The kids were thrilled with the ride, though. Especially Bryn, as you can hear. After the library we headed to the Slurpee store and back up to meet Daddy and head home.

I have thoroughly enjoyed every minute of making this quilt for Bryn. It got me through a long winter. I've loved the design ever since I saw it (as a baby quilt) here . It was so fun to pick out a million different fabrics and to see it all come together. I'm pleased as punch with the finished product. Now we've just got to get Bryn into a big girl bed so she can actually use it. Details, details. My mom and her friend quilted it and I LOVE how it turned out. The middle has a fun little swirly pattern and the outside has more swirlies with hearts. I love the heirloomish look the quilting gives it. Addison and Bryn had a blast playing on the finished product. I've started one for Addison too.

For our 300th post, I just wanted to take a minute and comment on the uncivil tone our political rhetoric has taken in recent days. Budget debates, involvement in another international conflict, and the continued culture wars - these are deeply divisive issues, but do we really have to make every conversation an opportunity to score cheap political points? Me and Michelle were talking about this lately, and we both feel that the following video really gets at the heart of the way politics should be: OOOOH, you and Oregon just got RICKROLLED !

We spent last weekend in St. George. Nate was invited to give a presentation to the community on Carl Bloch, a famous artist that he just wrote an article on a few months ago. The presentation went great, and his grandparents, uncle, siblings, and parents (and me) were all able to go. Here he is 'neath the all-seeing eye in the St. George tabernacle where it all went down. Addison and Bryn had the best time in St. George. They always love getting spoiled by their grandparents. They slept for at least half of the drive home, but when Addison woke up he was pretty adamant that we needed to turn around and go back to Grandma and Grandpa's house. Luckily we'd just stopped in Scipio, which has a petting zoo complete with a zebra, so that distracted him long enough for us to get him back in the car. Nate spent a lot of the time there preparing for the presentation and also doing research for another presentation he's got coming up in a few months. On Saturday, though, he was ...

THE ROAR SHOW! This kills me. Addison came up with it (including the name) all by himself. I take great pleasure in offering him a cat or a giraffe to join the show and listening to him very graciously decline the offer and patiently explain to me that my animal is not a "roarer." He's also into making "dinosaur trains" lately. These little guys can be tricky, because they fall over pretty easily. He has learned to keep himself in control when that happens and instead of getting upset he informs me that the dinosaurs are "not doing bery good." And bonus! A dinosaur train with animals.

So, mormon.org features a bunch of profiles where members of the LDS Church explain who they are and what being a Mormon means to them. Michelle's profile went up recently, and I think it's just awesome. Check it out here:  mormon.org/me/3SSZ/

Here are a few that are too good to pass up. Addison leading the music during general conference with a qtip. No idea where that idea came from. Cupcakes! The view while Bryn plays the piano. Nate taking out the trash. Addison dressed as some combo of a ninja turtle/Iron Man/sword guy. A few weeks ago Nate was kind enough to take Add home teaching and to his meeting following so that I could just chill with Brynny for awhile. We went for a walk where she actually got to walk - not just sit in the stroller while we chased Addison on his trike. It was really fun to play and have ice cream together, just the two of us. These two love each other.

Well it's official. The Ogden temple is closed for at least two years for major renovation. One of the great things about living in Utah is that chances are good that there's a temple close by, no matter where you live. We have greatly enjoyed being able to attend the temple frequently because it is only 20 minutes away. It's a hard thing to do even then when you throw kids in the mix, so we're definitely going to be missing the proximity as we haul it to Bountiful for the next little while, which is double the driving time. As a final farewell to the Ogden temple as we know it, Nate did an awesome family home evening last week. He drew out a treasure map and let Addison navigate us to the treasure (X marks the spot). Addison LOVED it. He's big into directions and landmarks, so he was definitely digging it the whole time. Surprise, surprise, the treasure was the temple. We made it there and got out to walk around the grounds and snap a few pictures and just enjoy th...