Happy Easter

Every year we have an Easter party where we all get together and have a barbeque, an easter egg hunt, a treasure hunt for the pinata and then the breaking of the pinata. (The eggs are filled with candy and there is also a golden egg which usually has money in it, but this year had numbers ranging from 1-12 in them. After the egg hunt and they had all gotten their golden eggs then they were able to go retrieve a prize out of the prize box, starting with #1 on down to #12.) This year some of the eggs also had numbers on the outside ranging from 1-12. When the kids all gathered together to empty their eggs out, then Lorrie gave a short presentation using those eggs. Each egg had something in it pertaining to the Savior and the Atonement. It didn't take very long but was a good reminder of why we really celebrate Easter. I was surprized at how good the kids were because they were still waiting to go hit on the pinata. Kaci and Alex came and spent the night before and put together the treasure hunt for the younger kids. They had fun doing it and they did a great job. We had to hit the pinata in the garage because it was raining pretty hard outside. Gary took the basketball hoop into the garage, set up the pinata and away they all went--taking their turns at the little chick, seeing who could break it open. The younger kids didn't have to use the blind fold but if they were over 8 then the blindfold came on. They seem to manage some really good hits even with the blindfolds on. Ginger put the little bags together and had a name on each one. You almost hated to open the bags because she made them so cute, as is her style. We always have a fun time when we get together and I feel so blessed to have such a great family that helps make these get-to gethers such fun activities. Thanks everyone for helping to make this party so fun. You are all awesome. We really missed our Hawaii family. We were all together this year except for them. We love
you guys there in Hawaii and sure miss you a lot. Wish you were here

Lorrie


Jamie


Shane


Looks like Gary is tending the fire more than barbequing

Ginger


Hollie


Toni and Bella


Now their conversation ought to be quite interesting

Jonathon and Maddy


Colton, Evan, Eric, Zac and Matt waiting for Colton to read
them the clue


After the egg hunt--checking out the goods and emptying
their eggs out


Jeri helping Bella empty the candy from here eggs into her sack


Zac and Andre


Wow, Evan, what a stash


Alex


Mark


Jon giving Ginger a piggy back ride


Maddy is having fun with the eggs


Listening to the Easter message-look how reverant they are


Jon and Ginger also listening to the message


Tonia and Bella-amazing they can be quiet and reverant
after such a busy easter egg hunt


Matt and Kaci


Zac and Scott


Lee spending time on the computer


Here are Bella, Maddy and Livie, playing withthe empty eggs. They liked those a lot.

Here is our pinata this year. A chick.


The next pictures are of some of the kids trying to hitthe pinata. I didn't get pictures of the bigger kids or even when it was finally hit open :(

Here is Mark taking his turn. He swung at it just like
he was a super hero working on a big assignment.
You can tell by the look of the chick that he is not very happy at all.
happy at all.

Evan taking his turn


Here is Lee trying to see what he could do. He

is the biggest kid of all


Maddy had fun, but the bat was too big for her as it was
for the other little ones, but they all enjoyed just going
through the motion


Here is Livie


Now Tyler's turn. He did it the first time, but wouldn't
go back and try it again. He cried when they tried to
get him to hit it again.


Bella worked hard at trying to break open the pinata


The top came out of the pinata and so they had to do come
up with another way of holding the pinata up. Gary was so
ingenious--he came up with the plan of tying the rope around
the body. That's my husband for you--always coming up
with the good plan :)

Eric Lima is helping him. Eric came with Toni and Andre.

Here is the bird now lying on is side--waiting to be hit

It is always so wonderful to get together with my family. I love them so very much. They are all great! We enjoy each other a lot. And even though we have a fun time with all the activities, easter egg hunt and pinata, we need to take time to remember the true meaning of Easter. It is a special time to be able to honor and remember our Savior and his sacrifice for each of us. Without that sacrifice none of us would be able to return home to our Heavenly Father. The Savior died for all of us and we need to remember to that. I love my Savior for that gift that he has given to each one of us. What an example He is to me. I am continually striving to be like him--not an easy task.

Maddy and the Beads

Shane brought home a bunch of beads from New Orleans which he got whenhe went to Mardi Gras. When Maddy came to our house this week, we pulledthe beads out for her to play with. She just loved all those beads!She would put them around her neck and wrap herself in them and thenwalk or at least try to walk around with them on. There was one bigstrand of gold beads that she especially liked. She spent a lot of time playing with them.

General Conference Sunday

On Conference Sundays we all gather together at 12:30
and have our dinner together. Afterwards we sit and
listen and watch General Conference. It is always a nice
day and something that I look forward to. We are so blessed
to live in such a day and age where we can just sit at home
and see our church leaders and hear their great messages. I
think that there were a lot of the talks that were directed right
at me. I was grateful to hear the messages that were given.
I am grateful for a living prophet who leads and guides this church.
One that loves us and loves the Lord and listens to what He has
to say and twice a year we have the opportunity to hear from him
and our other general authorities. Wow, how wonderful is that!

"Happy Happy Birthday Jamie Dear"

It doesn't seem so long ago that on March 11 a beautiful little dark headed baby girl came into our lives. She weighed in at 7 lbs 8 oz. She was our fourth child and we were all so excited to have her, except maybe Brandt because that gave him three sisters and he was the only boy. However, he loved her and helped take care of her, just like the girls did. I remember when Jamie was about 2 months old I had her asleep on the bed and was doing something in the living room. I hear this little Brandt voice saying, "look mama, I'm holding the baby." I turned around and saw that he was carrying Jamie down the hall and was carrying her around her neck. I knew if I panicked that it would scare him and he would drop her, so I just had to casually walk over to him and carefully take Jamie away from him. Jamie has been a great blessing in our lives. We have been so grateful that she has always had good friends who helped her achieve her high standards. She had lots of fun in school and was involved in many things. She is still involved in many things and has done a great job in raising her cute little family who are her pride and joy. She is a good mother, sister, aunt and friend. Hope you have a great day Jamie. We all love you very much!