Spring is Coming

We’ve had some beautiful spring days after what feels like a long winter lately. And then it gets cold and warms back up—spring is coming though! This weekend is Easter, and we’re having the Winklers, the Zellers minus David, and Adge up at our place for it. I might be a little too excited about the whole thing. I was just brainstorming ideas for an Easter egg hunt and places we could go with the little cousins when I had to remind myself that all the kids except Mona can’t walk. Still. Holidays are so much better with kids—even when they can’t participate too much.

Yesterday Landon took a sick day and we went to American Fork Canyon with Debbie, and to this amazing park in Pleasant Grove--which is almost exactly like the Imagination Station in Portland, except this one is literally 10 mins from our house. Yeah. We'll be coming back. Probably 3x or more a week in the summer. So so fun. In two days we find out whether Landon gets into Chicago. At this point its really between Chicago and BYU and I’ve come to really embrace both ideas. Both schools are great options, and I feel blessed to have such a smarty pants husband and to live in a country where opportunities abound when you work hard.

Mona and Holden are becoming better buds. Last night I bathed them together at once, and Mona didn’t freak out at all about it. She actually started playing with him and giving loves, something she’s been doing more and more with him. Its really fun to see their love for each other develop. Holden thinks Mona is the coolest person ever. I love that they have each other; siblings are so important.

A couple days ago we were at church in sacrament meeting, and this Elder was giving his farewell talk. It was nicely timed, he spoke about the Atonement and his own personal experiences with it. It was really a beautiful talk and had me crying as I listened to him bear his testimony of forgiveness, repentance and the truth of the Atonement. I also know its real and am so thankful for it in my own life. I was sitting listening to this kid bear his testimony and had this big reaffirmation of my own testimony. There is simply no way I would be able to make it back to my Father in Heaven and have an eternal family without Christ’s intervention. It really is everything to me, and is the overarching reason for this life and the next.  My hope is that I can become the kind of person whose life demonstrates those beliefs.

“Brothers and sisters, one of the great consolations of this Easter season is that because Jesus walked such a long, lonely path utterly alone, we do not have to do so...Truly the Redeemer of us all said, ‘I will not leave you comfortless. [My Father and] I will come to you [and abide with you].’” --Jeffrey R. Holland