Happy Easter Everyone!

Happy Easter

Here are a few pictures of my little Easter bunny and princess. She is so adorable I had to post these pictures. (Can you tell I am a proud mom?)

This year for Easter I really tried to focus my efforts on the reason we celebrate Easter. It is because of our Savior! So most of our Easter activities were related to His death and resurrection. Avery loved the fun things we did and it was fun teaching her about her Savior. It amazes me the things that she knows and remembers. She loves the gospel and speaks often of Grandpa Randy living with Jesus. Her simple faith is inspiring to me. Here are just a few fun things we did to remember Easter.

We made Resurrection Rolls and they were a hit at my house. They are about Jesus and His Resurrection in a way that Avery understands.

-Avery was given a crescent roll which represented the cloth that Jesus was wrapped in

-Then a marshmallow was used for His body and His purity.

-Then Avery dipped the marshmallow in melted butter which represents the oil for embalming.

-Then it was dipped in cinnamon and sugar which represents the spices used to anoint Jesus's body.

-Then His body was tightly wrapped up in the cloth and placed in the tomb (oven) while it was baking we pretended that 3 days had passed.

-Then when the rolls were done, Avery opened up her roll to find that the marshmallow had melted and Jesus had risen but that the white cloth remained.

It was a great way to teach Avery about the true meaning of Easter. It was simplified in a way that she understood. The rolls were really yummy too!

We colored a little coloring book I found. It was about the 7 days of Easter. Each day of the week spoke was Christ's last week and there were scriptures that we read for each day. Avery didn't totally understand but she really liked making the book.

Of course I can't totally deprive Avery of the Easter bunny, the egg hunts, and dying eggs. So she did get to do all of those but just a few days before Easter. She had a blast running around with her cousins looking for eggs. She got WAY TOO MUCH CANDY! But loved every minute of finding them. She also dyed Easter eggs with Aiden, Ethen, and Spencer. Let me tell you, Avery is all girl. She would delicately place in the eggs in the dye so as to not splash. while the boys would drop the eggs into the cup and dye would go everywhere! She used the egg dipper so her little fingers wouldn't get colored. But towards the end, she was dipping her little fingers into the dye.

She also had an Easter egg hunt with grandma Shauna but unfortunately I had to work so I didn't get any pictures. I know she had fun and can't wait to use her Wendy's gift card.

Honoring our serviceman, Jared!

We love our service men and women, especially when one of them is Jared! We truly appreciate his sacrifice for our freedom and safety. It is also a HUGE sacrifice for Kris and little Jack. So with his recent deployment, I thought it was a neat idea to get a military service flag for Shauna to fly at her home. She had never heard or seen these type of flags hanging in windows of families that have members deployed.

Now a little history of the flag so everyone knows about it! The flag was designed during WWI,becoming an unofficial symbol of a child in service. During WWII, displaying the flag became very common. Almost every home displayed the flag indicating the number of family members serving in the Armed Forces. In 1966, the Department of Defense declared the specifications of the design and display of the service flag. The flag is white with a red border. Each blue star represents the number of members serving (one star meaning one member serving). The color of the stars is symbolic in that the blue represents hope and pride. When a service man been killed a smaller, gold star in placed on top of the blue star to create a blue border surrounding the gold star. The gold star represents sacrifice to the cause of liberty and freedom.

According to the Department of Defense, close family members should fly the flag. So parents, siblings, wife, husband, and children. The flag should only by flown during times of war.

And there is your brief history lesson for the week!

So thank you Jared for serving our country and for your HUGE sacrifice. We pray for you everyday.

He got away!

Well, this year for St Patrick's Day Avery and I built a leprachaun trap to catch us a little green fella. We set out a lot of gold but when Avery got up, he had stolen all of the gold without the trap going off (better luck next year). He did, however, leave little green footprints and a pot of gold for us to enjoy then he escaped down the heat vent. Avery really wanted to catch one but that little guy was just too fast for us but we really had a fun time trying.

Then I made green pancakes and green milk for every one to enjoy on St Patty's day. Avery took green jello jigglers for her little class mates to enjoy. From sun up to sun down, I added green to everything! Dinner rolls, milk, peppermint brownies, if I could add green I did. Jason thinks he's going to be pooping green for the next week!

We've got the Winter Blues!

She is so excited to be put on her coat and hat...again.





Since Hawaii, our lives have been in the usual rut. We cannot wait for Spring to come. Avery

drags me out every day to see how our tulips are doing. She can't wait for warm weather!

We did break out and make our way to Salt Lake. We got tickets for Avery to see Disney on Ice. It was a painful month waiting for this to arrive since she asked me every day if it was time to see the princesses dance on ice. So the night finally arrived and she squealed with delight. We had fantastic seats!!! We got to sit on padded seats which made my night (I hate sitting on hard chairs, it ruins the event for me). We were on row 1 so no one blocked our view and all of the characters were right in front of us. It was a great show because Avery's attention was focused on those Disney characters!! She was mesmerized and so cute when she waved at them. Here are a couple of pictures from our night.

Isn't he thrilled?????

And we are so excited we can hardly stand it!!!

I will add video when my computer doesn't freak out when I try to add them.

ALOHA!

WARNING: This is a LONG post!

Well, despite my anxiety with leaving Avery for a week, I had a wonderful time spending the week in Hawaii with Jason. It was beautiful, RELAXING, and warm. We spent the week in Oahu, soaking up the sun and taking in all the gorgeous scenery. It was a long flight over there, just about 12 hours because of technical difficulties with the plane and strong head winds. We made it and spent the week doing whatever we wanted. The island is like I remember it, not much has changed. I went about 10 years ago with Kimmer, a good friend of mine. So here are some pictures of our fun filled week!

Day 1

It was late when we got into Honolulu so we ended up just eating dinner and sleeping! We were exhausted.

Day 2

The Polynesian Cultural Center was pretty fun and we learned a lot. We learned that Americans are pretty boring and have no culture to pass onto our children! But it was a lot of fun and we got to visit the temple visitors center. The temple was closed for renovation which was disappointing to hear. But Jason tried to start a fire from wood and almost had it but didn't have any coconut hair to get the flame going. Darn it! We also got tattoos from one of the villages. On the way to the PCC we hiked to a lighthouse found on the east side of the island and many times whales can be spotted from here.

Day 3

We spent the day in the sun and I paid for it for the rest of the week. I got REALLY burned but it was worth it. We went snorkeling at Hanama Bay where the fish are unreal! Jason saw a whale out in the distant come completely out of the water. I was pretty upset that I didn't see it since I was the one wanting to see a whale. When he was snorkeling an eel freaked him out and he quickly swam back to shore. After we got enough rays, we hiked up to Diamond Head. There are close to 200 stairs you have to climb in addition to all of the switchbacks. The view makes all of those stairs worth it! Once again, absolutely stunning! We were stuck in traffic longer than it took us to hike. 2 hours stuck in traffic-horrible!

Day 4

We visited Pearl Harbor and anyone who has visited understands the magnitude of this event. Visiting a historical sight has so much more meaning than learning about it in a textbook. It is a sight that everyone should visit when going to Hawaii. We also experienced the flea market at Aloha Stadium and it was like any other flea market. But we did get some good deals! We headed up to the Dole Plantation and this is where I fell in love with pineapple ice cream. I loved it! While I was there, I learned that pineapples grow from the ground, not a tree! Who knew? It was a beautiful plantation but above all, the ice cream was the best!

Day 5

AWESOME! This is all I can say about our kayaking trip to an island called Monu'lua Island. The water was GORGEOUS! It was 4 mile round trip with crystal clear water the entire way out. I could see the bottom of the ocean the entire trip which was breath taking. Jason would ask, "Are you going to paddle?" because I would get caught up with the view and looking for turtles and Jason would end up paddling by himself. Needless to say, the next day I didn't have a sore muscle to speak of unlike Jason whose upper body was sore! When we got the to island, we+ saw a hidden tide pool that Jason took a dip in. It was a place where Hawaiian royalty came to vacation. We had lunch then headed back to Kailua beach to snorkel. This beach is by far my favorite beach. It was amazing and in fact, it is rated the second best beach in the world. So you can understand why it is so awesome. But it was a fun adventure that ended up being the funnest activity we did!
Day 6

I had been waiting for this day. It was my shopping day at Hawaii's outlet mall. Banana Republic and I are great friends! They have great clothes for work so I stock up while I am there. Needless to say, it was a successful shopping trip. Even Jason came away with a few things!

Day 7

I was determined to see a whale when I was in Hawaii since it is the season they migrate to Hawaii to give birth to their calves. So I booked an awesome tour that includes swimming with dolphins, turtles, and whale watching but with the strong winds we had to cancel. So our second option was to take a catamaran out into the ocean and look for whales. And indeed, we saw a pod of three whales, one of which was a baby. It was pretty magnificent to see them! Although towards the end of the trip I was feeling a little woozy because the ocean was really rough that day. But at the end of the day, I was glad we went out and got to see those HUGE animals. Because we spent the day in the sun, Jason was plum tuckered out so he needed a little nap before we went out on the town!
Last day

We drove around the island in our little Volkswagen bug that was yellow. Jason said that all he needed was a surf board to attach to the top and he'd fit right into the Hawaiian lifestyle. We first hiked up to Monoa Falls which was about the 45 minute hike through Hawaii's rain forest. I enjoyed the hike more that the falls because the scenery was BEAUTIFUL! After our quick hike, we headed up to the north shore of Hawaii to check out the surfers and the big waves. Well, we saw some magnificent waves (about 30 foot waves) but no surfers. I guess they didn't dare attempt them; they were HUGE! At the end of the day we ended up back at Dole Plantation to get another yummy pineapple ice cream. I think they are to die for but Jason would disagree. It was worth the drive around the island for another one. We also saw the Byo do-in Temple, which is a temple seen in Japan. It was pretty cool and it was nestled up against some mountains which made it more amazing.

I have to thank everyone for helping with Avery while we were gone. We really appreciate my mom and Shauna for their willingness to have Avery for the week. Thank you Lauren for taking Avery to church, especially to our own ward! That was above the call of duty. Thank you Steph also for watching our little angel. And Jackie for taking care of things around our house! I came away from Hawaii refreshed and renewed to be a better mom and wife! Thank you everyone! Also Jason, thank you so much for the WONDERFUL vacation. I love spending time with you and it was so great to get away with just you! I LOVE YOU. Thank you.

This is what we came home to- it made my eyes well up with tears. She is my angel and that made my day