The not-so-religious part of Easter

Every so often, Dustin's Birthday is on Easter Sunday. It was a full, chaotic day of many celebrations! In lieu of a cake this year, Dustin requested his favorite childhood dessert- "Million Dollar Dessert." It's essentially chocolate pudding, cream cheese, and cool whip on top of a nutty crust. And since there are certain family members that are unable to eat it due to nut allergies and extreme dislikes of cream cheese, there were also mini cupcakes available. We had lots of family over for an awesome Easter Egg Hunt and ham dinner. Happy 29th Birthday, Mr. Dustin!! I love you.

The Living Christ

A couple weeks ago, our Relief Society had a meeting centered on The Living Christ. They divided it up into 23 parts and had each sister bring a picture that went along with their part.

My part was: "He was arrested and condemned on spurious charges, convicted to satisfy a mob, and sentenced to die on Calvarys Cross."

This was the picture I brought:

The entire meeting was centered on ways we can teach our children about Christ, even at very young ages. In the September 2010 Ensign you will find a very inspiring talk about a mother who wanted to teach her children about Christ, and did so by memorizing it in it's entirety herself, then teaching her family. In the end, all of her children, even her 4 year old, had memorized it. http://lds.org/ensign/2010/09/bringing-christ-into-our-home?lang=eng

As a result of that R.S. Meeting I attended, I went home right away and began to memorize those words. I've never been great at memorizing, but I have a determination to know this declaration. After 1 1/2 weeks, I have memorized all but the last 2 paragraphs. I find myself constantly whispering through it many times each day to make sure I can still remember what I've spent hours studying. And to be honest, I've only spent 3 hours total memorizing. That's only 1 1/2 episodes of The Biggest Loser!

I've already seen many great things come to pass since I've started this journey. I can already tell that I have the Spirit with me more. Every time I begin reciting paragraph after paragraph, I feel a small burning within me, testifying that all of these words are real and true. I've noticed that I begin to contemplate the meaning of each paragraph, and how things are worded. The past 11 days I've felt noticably closer to the spirit and more patient with my children.

I encourage you to read the article, and print out your own copy of The Living Christ. I wrote out each paragraph on a 3x5 card and put them next to my bed. Every night I spend about 15 minutes memorizing another line or another paragraph.

You've got nothing to lose, really.

Let's do that again!!

Recognize the quote?! It's from Shrek and it sums up entirely how I feel. Our honeymoon/5 year anniversary celebration was nothing less of incredible. I remembered what our life was like before we were caught up in the busy lifestyle of child-rearing. I don't know if I need to explain every picture from our trip. Just know that we had a remarkable, relaxing time- especially knowing that it would probably be at least another 5 years before we do something this liberating again.

"Step aside, Randy Quaid!" and Bubba Gumps

These next pictures were taken at my sister's house when she was watching the kiddos.

... oh yeah. Did I mention that while we were away our baby Jack came down with a double ear infection, strep throat, and pnemonia?? We didn't even go to dinner that night that we found out because we were so heartbroken. It was very comforting to know that our children were in good hands.

I'll try posting more often! I'm in a bad habit of being extremely lazy, computer-wise.

My only tip is that if you've been thinking about it, you should make a way to do it. It's worth it.