Easter Fun

We had our traditional Easter party on Sat. April 4th. Everyone gathered together at our house at about 3:00. We started with a barbeque of hamburgers, hotdogs and lots of salads. Everyone ate till they were stuffed. Then the kids gathered together and started their annual Easter egg hunt. There were lots of eggs to be found. We started Maddy and Tyler first on the hunt. A few minutes later Evan and Mark went out to find eggs. Then the rest of the bigger kids went out to find their eggs. They all had a fun time. After they counted their eggs and goodies they then went to break the pinata. This year instead of hunting for the pinata, they broke it first and there was just a few things in it, and a clue. Jamie and Shane had set up a treasure hunt using the coordinates off of a compass. The pinata this year was Mickey Mouse. He turned out pretty darn cute, even if I do say so. We were so glad that we did the party on Sat. (which we would have done anyway) because we had better weather on Sat. than we did on Sun. It was cold and windy, but at least it was dry. We woke up on Sunday morning to snow. I have a couple of pictures below as to the before and after. On Sunday we all got together again and had our General Conference dinner and tried to listen to the Sunday afternoon session. Again, we all ate too much, but had a super time being together and holding baby Benjamin, which we all fought over. Thelma came and stayed with Gary and I for the weekend. It was nice to have her at our place, but she was probably very overwhelmed with all the kids for both days. I hope she got some rest. She waits and serves everyone all the time and it was her time to relax, but with all the kids I don't know if that happened.

This is how nice things looked on Sat. Green, clear, windy and cold, but snow cleared away



Now here is the very next day. Woke up to a good couple inches of snow.
Glad we had our party the day before.

Easter bunny cupcakes that Lorrie made. She is so creative.

Here is a video of our Easter activities.

Make a free photo slideshow

Spirtual Feasting

Yesterday and today we have had the privilege of sitting at the feet of one of our General Authorites, Elder Robert D. Hales, at our Stake Conference and learn from him and also Elder Stephen Lund of the 5th Quorum of the Seventy and our wonderful stake presidency.
After last nights meeting we got to go up and shake Elder Hales and Elder Lunds hands. What special men they are. They looked so exhausted and yet they took the time to greet every person that wanted to meet them. You could certainly feel their spirit of love for us and for the Lord. It has been such a spiritual feast and everyone just hated to have these meetings end.

Our Stake President taught us on receiving our own personal revelation and why we may not be getting that revelation. Some things may be 1. Unworthiness, 2. Pride- what do I expect out of life, not what God wants, 3. Contention, 4. Cares of the World- are we trying to keep up with the Joneses, want it now and will pay later or listening or playing to the media and the digital world.
He also taught that:
*Sacrifice brings forth the blessings of Heaven
*Sacrifice is an eternal investment
*We need to keep our spiritual gas tank on the top half of full and not let it get below 1/2 (reading the scriptures, prayer, service--daily)

Some of the things that Pres. Hales taught:
*Our children aren't ours, but are loaned to us
*We are too quick to judge our successes and failures
*We need to pray and ponder so our eyes of understanding will be opened
*We all will be tested
*Chains of hell are literally dropped from those in Spirit Prison when their temple work is completed, if they have accepted the gospel
*Remember that the Savor has suffered our pain, our illinesses and he knows how we feel
*We get greatest relief from our pains when we serve others
*We all want to hear "well done thou good and faithful servants" and we will if we but endure
*End every prayer with "thy will be done"
*Our Savior was soooo obedient to the will of God. That is why he did what he did, because God asked him to do it and because he loves us
*When the Lord needs us to help are we there to help or are we sleeping like the apostles in Gethsemene
*When the Savior was praying in the Intercessory Prayer in the Garden of Gethsemene do you think he is praying to himself. No he is most definitely praying to his Father, to our Father.

I am so grateful to belong to a church that has such great men at the head. Men who carry the spirit with them and who are willing to teach us. What a super way to start preparing for General Conference in 2 weeks from today.

Brother/Sister Time

On February 27, June got her brothers and sisters (at least those that could come) together at her house for an evening of good food, good company and good conversation. She made a yummy turkey dinner with all the trimjmings. We missed Jeanne, Jim and Lyn.
Here are Jane, Roy and June

The "Outlaws." I like what Roy said about being an outlaw or an inlaw. He said "I would rather be an outlaw because outlaws are always wanted." And that is so true, especially with this bunch. Here is Bill, Roy, Jane and Gary

Bill and Roy

June and Roy

Jane and Phil

Phil, Roy and June enjoying yummy food

Bill and Karen

Phil
Gary and Joanne

Aloha

Aloha means hello, goodbye and I love you. Lorrie and I left on Jan 6th for our trip to Hawaii to go see Toni/Andre and Brandt/Amy and their families. We were so excited to say Aloha (hello) to them and Aloha (I love you) we said many times, but so sad when it was time to say Aloha for the last time as we were leaving. It was a good trip and we had lots of fun. For the first days I spent most of my time at Brandt and Amy's house and Lorrie stayed with Toni and Andre. Then we traded and I went to Toni's and Lorrie went to "The Other Lancasters". Actually I said Aloha for the last time sooner than Lorrie did. I left a week earlier than Lorrie. She was lucky enough to be able to take more time off than myself. Most everyday we all got together and went somewhere on the island and had fun just being together. The kids were good, but I am sure they got tired of being in the cars and their car seats. The events listed below are not necessarily in order of the days that we went.

Lorrie and I went to the Polynesian Culture Center. It was a great day. We saw lots as we walked around to the different areas that represented the different islands of Samoa, Figi, New Zeland, Hawaii, Tahiti and Tonga. It was fun to see their different dances and modes of living.
We went to the LDS temple (which was closed) and we saw the temple grounds and went into the visitors center. It was a nice visitors center and had a Christus that you saw when you first walked in. It was awesome. We went to a buffet later that evening and then to the evening program which was very good. The best part was the fire dance that they did. I wish I could have taken pictures of it, but we were so far up and it was so dark they wouldn't have turned out so I didn't even try.

These pictures are taken of the river program. We watched as the different islands presented themselves in their costumes and did their dances for us, as they went up and down the river.

Lorrie and I in front of a big bunch of coconuts

On the dinner cruise. Lorrie, Brandt, Amy and myself all went on a dinner cruise. It was a lot of fun and we had a good dinner of chicken, rice and salad. The only bad thing that happened here was that our cameras batteries died. Now what a fluke that both cameras die at the same time. We did get a few pictures, but there was a beautiful sunset and some whales that we didn't get.
The dancers

We got a complimentary non alcoholic Mai Tai. It was very good

We headed out earlier than usual, so we could climb Diamond Head before it got too hot. Andre carrie Olivia on his back, Toni carried Elena and a backpack and Bella walked. They all did great. This was Elena's first hike. She did great!
Diamond Head

Livie is just totally limp on her dad's back

Pictures of the waves beating upon the ocean. I loved the ocean and the waves. They were just beautiful.

This is a sunrise that Amy and I saw after we had taken Brandt to work. We sat on the beach and watched the sun come up and listened to the waves come in and out and watched the sand crabs digging. It was so peaceful and relaxing.

We went to the Flea Market to see what we could see. Just about everything we saw in one booth we saw in the next, but it was still fun to wander around the big long line of vendors.
Flea Market

Toni and Andre blessed Elena on Sunday and we were happy to be a part of it. I was surprised at how big of a ward they had. And of course the people were friendly and welcoming. I loved the church that they had-the halls were all outdoors. I thought how appropriate for a Hawaiin church.
Elena's Blessing Day

Amy, Brandt and myself went to the Royal Birthing Stones on Oahu. Here is some interesting info about the stones. This is the most sacred site in central Oahu. For 800 years, this is where the Royal women were brought to give birth to potential alii (Were managers of people and land and were thought to be gods). It is believed that all children of royal lineage were thrice blessed and elevated to a higher status if born at KuKani Loko, the center of the earth. Also, the rocks, according to Hawaiin belief, held the power to painless childbirth. Birth rituals included 48 chiefs who pounded drums to announce the arrival of newborns who were likely to become chiefs and the chiefs also were the ones who would give the oral recitation of the birth, since nothing was written at that time. Some of the stones were used to map stars and seasonal changes.

Birthing Stones

When the baby was born a runner would take it and run about 500 ft. to this place where they would then bury the umbilical cord and placenta

This is a flowering bush that was at the site where the placentas were buried. Very unusual and exotic
We then went to Wahiawa where the Keanianileihuaokalani healing stone is. Tradition says: When the most sacred of Mo'i, wahine, (the royal women) after childbirth, would bath in the cool springs of Haelmano. It was this mingling of blood and water culminated into the healing mystic rains that fell upon the land, people and most importantly Keanianileihuaokalani giving the healing stone its healing powers. On the day of a royal birth, all work stopped in anticipation of the first healing rains that would be generated from the blessed event.

We went to Pearl Harbor and took the tour over to the USS Arizona Memorial. It was pretty awesome to know that over 1,000 soldiers died within minutes on that ship and over 2,000 total.
Pearl Harbor

One little monkey with another little monkey on his back

We were glad Austin came with us. Not sure how many times he has seen this, but he was a good sport and accompanied us that day

On the boat that took us out to the memorial

When you are on the memorial, you can look down and see the USS Arizona where the 1,000 sailors are buried

I love the way Livie sits like this

Part of the USS Arizona

Livie with her little Baa that she just loves so much

Bella with her Pound Puppy that she loves too

Went to the one of the beaches to see if we could find any turtles. They often come onto the beach to bask in the sun. We were lucky because 35 year old Butus, the sea turtle was basking in the sun. They have him roped off so no one can get too close because he will bite you and bite hard. We were also able to see some other turtles swimming in the ocean. It was pretty cool.

Of course we had to make a trip to the Dole Plantation. We took pictures, walked around and had some pineapple ice cream that we all shared. Mmmm mmmmm good. We all enjoyed that.
Dole Plantation

This strange tree is a eucalyptus tree. It was very interesting with all the different colors on the trunk

And of course we had to feed Goldfish Coy.

A baby pineapple

We went to one of the Botanical Gardens. What we saw was very pretty but we were quite disappointed because there wasn't too much to see. We started out on the upper level but couldn't get the stroller down to the lower level. When we asked one of the people there she said that we shouldn't take kids down to the lower level. So that was that and we left.

This is a eucalyptus tree

Look how big the leaves are compared to Livie

I thought this was a really unique plant

standing in a bamboo grove

My last night there I was going to go camping with Brandt and Amy on the beach. However Andre was told he was going to have to work all night and since I was there to help Toni I decided I had better not camp overnight and stay and help her out. However, Toni, the girls and myself went to the Bellows camp site where the Lancasters and Lorrie were camping and we had a barbeque and the kids played on the beach and then they played hide and seek in the dark. Needless to say they had a ball and when it was time to leave there were two little girls that were not very happy.











Some Parting shots