Randomness

I photograph my kids a lot.  Ok, so I admit a lot might be an understatement.  But, many times they ASK me to photograph them.  They love to do goofy things and have me photograph them so that they can instantly see it on the back of the camera.  They think it is hilarious.  To be honest, I think it is pretty funny too :)

Another Great Season as Catcher

Dallin is playing the catcher position again this season.



As usual, he is doing an awesome job!



And taking it very very seriously.  A little too seriously for my taste.  But at least he is really applying himself.



I just wish he would put as much effort into to school work as he does into baseball!!!



He sure loves it.  Even if it does hurt every now and then.  He came home last night from practice with blood all over his shirt and a swollen nose.  Apparently he accidently used his nose to try to catch a pop fly.  But that didn’t deter him.  Nathan said that after it stopped bleeding he got right back out there and started playing again!  He’s got a game tonight.  Wish him luck!

Girls Camp Hike

To get ready for girl’s camp this year, all of the girls had to go on a 3 mile hike.  They all met up at Jennings State Forest for a little trek through the woods.

Layton and Mandy came with me to take a few photos before we headed out to Dallin’s Baseball game.  They were super excited about the feathers they found!

Before getting started, the girls each received a glove for picking up trash.  This was the day before Earth Day, so in addition to hiking, they would also be helping with the big clean up effort at the park.

Layton and Mandy showed them the way to go.

Not really, but they thought they were :)  After snapping a few photos of the girls heading out on the trail we left because Dallin was playing baseball that morning.

I’m thinking that was a very good idea on our part.  Everyone that I talked to after the hike said the number of ticks was insane!!!  It’s like they were swarming the area.  Some people were covered with them!  Crazy!  I sure hope it’s not going to be like that at the camp we are going to this summer! Ick!

Something that makes me happy…

You know how sometimes you just stumble across something that makes your really really happy?  Well the music from The Piano Guys does it for me.   It can make me smile even on the worst days.  They have lots of songs that I like, but here are a few favorites:

When that one plays in the car, even the kids get excited.  I love that they love it.

Another favorite is this one:

It just blows my mind!

And watching this guy play the Harry Potter theme is amazing!

That was filmed in real time.  His fingers just move that fast!!!!

For a nice light hearted laugh – enjoy this one:

Anyway, hope your day has been brightened, I know mine has!

Learn Spanish from Layton

Lately Layton has gotten into this thing where he likes to name things in “Spanish”.  He does know a couple of real Spanish words, but for the most part he just makes them up.  Here are a few examples:

Water – hunto

Shirt – dabber

No – quanto

Shoes – topper

Car – doppy

Food – copper

Mommy – tumpy

Book – choppy

Paper – chopper

Desk – compy

It totally cracks me up because he is completely serious when he tells what the “Spanish” word is for something.  That boy is a mess!

Dallin is really good at…

Negativity  in our house is major problem.  The kids constantly fight one another and complain about each other.  It drives me CRAZY!

So yesterday to try to combat some of the negativity, I pulled out the old saying, “If you can’t say something nice, don’t say anything at all”, given in my best Thumper voice.  I even decided to help them out by giving some examples and saying some nice things about each of them like:

“Dallin is really great at doing math and playing catcher in baseball”

“Mandy is really great at reading and giving awesome hugs.”

“Layton is really great at being cute and giving the longest kisses ever.”

For a minute I thought that they were really catching on to the idea when Mandy pipes up with, “Mom, I know what Dallin is really good at.”  And so me being the unsuspecting parent that I am, innocently asked, “What?”.  And boy was I in store for an answer.  She said, “Dallin is really good at making me and Layton mad.”

I’m thinking maybe she didn’t quite get the concept after all.  Oh kids.

Baskets and Eggs

Saturday morning brought us a visit from the Easter Bunny!!!  That rascal always likes to hide their baskets from them.  Crazy bunny!

They loved all their gifts and then were ready for an egg hunt.

This one was EGGxtra special because some of the eggs had money in them.  Layton was really in to that :)

After a few hours at a baseball game, we decided to decorate eggs.  But not just any eggs – rice krispie eggs – Yum – Yum!! 

And then we closed the evening with my favorite video of the Savior’s last days, The Lamb of God.  There are several other videos now about the end of Christ’s life, but this one still draws me in.  I think part of it is the musical score.  It is awesome!  One of my favorite scenes in the movie is the exchange between Christ and Pilate.  It is at the 3 minute mark in the clip below.  (The clip below is only the first of three parts of the movie, you can see the other two here and here.)

Pilate asks, “Art thou a king then?”  And Christ answers, “To this end was I born, and for this cause came I into the world.”  John 18:37

That exchange just holds something for me and makes me think of my own purpose in coming into this world.  Am I fulfilling it?  I don’t fully know the answer to that question, but hope I am.  Believing in Christ and having faith in His teaching certainly makes me feel like I am on the right path.

Our Passover Seder

To help the kids understand what the Last Supper might have been like and open up a fun opportunity to talk about events in the scriptures, we decided to have our own little version of a Passover Seder.  To get the kids prepped for the event, we watched The Prince of Egypt

to learn the story of Moses and how the Israelites were freed from slavery.

Then we set up our special Passover dinner, complete with fancy china to eat on and glass goblets to drink our grape juice from.

That is actually the first time I have ever used that china even though I have had it for years.  See the pretty napkin?  And the lovely cut work flower on it?  That is a one of a kind piece hand stitched, along with the table cloth by my great-grandmother, Grandma Sims.

We even ate by candlelight to make it more like what it would have been like in the old days.  The kids really liked that.

It was really fun researching about how the Passover is traditionally celebrated.  It was interesting to see how different sects of Judaism celebrate it and even how some of the traditions vary from family to family.  Some things were of course common throughout, such as only serving unleavened bread, or Matzah.  In fact nothing that you cook for the meal can having leavening in it.  We actually really loved our homemade Matzah.  You are supposed to cook it in less than 18 minutes – and that includes the time to mix the ingredients, roll it out, and then bake it.  Needless to say, since I had never made it before, I didn’t quite make the 18 minutes – but it worked for our purposes.  The short time and unleavened bread represents the speed at which the Israelites had to travel out of Eqypt – so quickly that they could not even let their bread rise.

We found it especially tasty topped with this brie cheese dip.  It is covered in garlic, almond slices, and mushrooms and is FABULOUS.  This is definitely something that we’ll be making again and again!

Another important part of the event is the Seder plate which contains different things that symbolize events surrounding the exodus from Egypt.  This is what we had on our plate:

Bitter herbs to symbolize the bitterness of their lives as slaves.  Charoset (a mixture of apples, honey, nuts, cinnamon, and grape juice) to symbolize the mortar that they used to build the Egyptian pyramids and temples.  A spring vegetable (we used cucumber even though it is not very traditional, but it is a vegetable the kids like), to symbolize the hope springing forth that they would be delivered.  The cucumber was dipped in salt water that symbolized the tears that they shed unto God pleading for their freedom.  Red beet to symbolize the blood that they painted above their doors that the destroying angel might pass over them.  An egg to symbolize new life – their new lives of freedom once they were delivered from bondage.

After we discussed these things with the kids, we talked with them about how Christ celebrated the Passover during the last days of his life.  We talked to them of how it was at this special dinner that Christ introduced the sacrament to his apostles.  As we took our bites of matzah, we talked of how it symbolizes the body of Christ.  As we sipped our grape juice, we talked of how it symbolizes the blood of Christ.  We talked of the covenants that we make each week when we have the bread and water at church.  How we promise to take upon us His name, keep His commandments, and always remember Him.  And in return, how we are promised that if we do those things we will have the Holy Ghost with us always.  We followed up by watching this bible video of the Last Supper:

It was definitely one of our most memorable and I think effective discussions of the sacrament and repentance that we have ever had with our children.  In particular, I think Dallin really took it all in and understood it deeply. 

I absolutely loved the experience and I have a very good feeling that we will probably make this an annual event in our home. 

I also loved what we had for dessert :)  Since it couldn’t have any leavening in it (like yeast, baking powder, or baking soda), I had to go searching for a recipe that didn’t contain any.  Luckily I happened across this flourless chocolate cake and we were in heaven.  It was like eating the silkiest richest chocolate ever.  I made it in cupcake tins to have the perfect size little individual portions.  This is most DEFINITELY something that I’ll be making again!

Obviously we are not Jewish, nor did we have a complete seder with all of the prayers and other traditions that go along with it.  But I don’t think our version will offend anyone, at least I hope not.  I loved this article about the Passover written by Rabbi Hirschfield in which he said:

Who doesn't need to be reminded that however dark and cold the winter has been, the promise of spring -- of rebirth and renewal is always there? Whether discovered in the story of a nation that goes from freedom to slavery and back to freedom again, or in the story of one who lives, dies and is born again, we must all locate how to celebrate that life holds more possibility and potential than we first imagine -- that there is reason for hope, and that in celebrating triumphs of hope from the past, we can unleash new stories of hope in the present and in the future.

Happy Passover Week to everyone and thanks Mama for joining our special celebration!

The Mustache

At the dentist office, Dallin got to pick out a little toy.  Of all the things he could have chosen, he went with a fake mustache.

He is such a nut.  The funniest thing to me is that he said he was just trying to look like Grandpa when he was younger.  What do you think?  Did he succeed?