easter boys

Easter Surprise!

I was all ready for church today and I walked out into my bedroom where I discovered a huge Easter basket and beautifully wrapped package just for me! My first Easter basket in maybe 40 years or more! What a big surprise! It was filled with several fitness aids like a jump rope, a fitness ball, an elastic strip and of course, chocolate! The package was a stair step so we can do the "Deni" workouts from BYU TV. Evan really surprised with this one...I felt bad I hadn't thought to do anything for him except make Easter cookies. Oh well...there's always next year....



Here is a picture of Evan and me at the Bullard Chapel ground-breaking on Saturday, April 11. So exciting! It will be a big, beautiful Legacy building.



This is Evan's beautiful Romaine lettuce! Lettuce wraps , anyone? We'll be shelling snap sugar peas soon!




And finally, here are my seminary kids putting on "the whole army of God" from Ephesians 6:11-17. It was a fun day and kind of funny because it was April Fools and my stake supervisor shows up out of the blue. I played a trick on the kids and had a sign on the front door to use the back door because of "Wet Paint" and then on the back door was a sign to use the front door because of "Wet Paint." Anyway, we all had a fun day, constructing our armor and learning what we put on---the Helmet of Salvation, the Breastplate of Righteousness, a Girdle of Truth, feet shod with the "Preparation of the Gospel," the shield of Faith and the Sword of the Spirit or the Word of God. Great kids, armed for the battle!

Hoppy Easter!

If I could, I would have sent y'all this woodlands chocolate bunny basket for Easter. but we are on the "Use it up, wear it out, make it do or do without" program and according to Evan this kind of thing is totally excess indulgence.

So we'll just say "Have a Happy Easter" and hope that you will enjoy a wonderful day and remember our Saviour's resurrection and atonement.

Get crafty!

Katie and Sarah,

I was browsing through some suggested blogs on my blog list page and came across this website, elisalou.com which sells all kinds of homemade purses and other items. Sooo cute! You guys could do that too! I was surprised at the price tags--the one I looked at was $45.00! You may have already seen this site and there are probably many others out there too, but you could make a business out of it, maybe. Of course, Sarah already is selling books and invites, etc. but this is just another idea for you crafty ladies!

We hope you guys all have a great Easter. We'll have an Easter egg hunt tomorrow in Seminary and then Evan will teach about the second coming of the Savior. Then we're excited for the ground breaking of the new Bullard building this Saturday. The city of Bullard is actually thrilled for us to be building such a big and beautiful structure in their city. Things have certainly changed!

Have a Hoppy Easter!

Friday Forum and Max--A Good Example!

I had to speak at the Friday Forum at UT Tyler yesterday. It's a program where students in Tyler (from the LDSSA group) get together for lunch every Friday and have a speaker too. Evan spoke last week on "Good, Better and Best Choices" in our lives and it was very good. He used grocery products to get his point across so it was very visual too.

I spoke on my "Life Lessons Learned" (the general topic is "What I've Learned")and I used several object lessons and President Hinckley's list of B's from his book,Way to Be, like Be Positive or Be Still or Be Involved to relate my ideas.

Anyway, I used "Max" stories twice! I love the story of Max putting together his puzzle and losing a piece, then saying a little prayer to find that piece. Then lo and behold, he finds the piece under the couch! What a faith-building experience for a child! That was a great example for asking for and receiving answers, to "Be Prayerful."

Then I used the story where Chris and Sarah and family come to Tyler to escape Hurricane Ike and Max walks in the house, we sit down on the couch and immediately Max says "Thank you for the bunk beds!" right out of the blue! We were so shocked but later realized that he had walked past Chris's room where the beds used to be and noticed that they were not there and then remembered that the beds were now in his room. And then I noted that when Max stayed with us, I might ask him if he wanted something and he would say "No, but thank you for asking!" What 2-year old does that? It's truly a mark of good modeling and parenting to raise such a polite little boy. Again, a great example to all of us for President Hinckley's advice to "Be Grateful."

I wanted to show you a cute family picture from our walk to see the turtles (who were on vacation, I think) and some beautiful Tyler Dogwoods and azaleas. Don't you just love this time of year when everything is in bloom? (Even in Vegas there are blooming trees somewhere--right, Katie?)

That Rootin' Tootin' Cowboy Birthday

Here are some fun pictures from Max's "Cowboy Birthday!" We had so much fun at the party and so did Max, as you can see! I especially loved the cowboy barbecue dinner we had with such a great table-setting. Good job, y'all. I'll post more pictures later.

dad, you might like this.

Hey dad, I saw this on one of the blogs I like to read. It looks like there are a lot of messages like this. I think you might like this for your non-member friends.