Fire! Fire! Fire!

Carl finally got his Fire Pit! Every man needs a fire pit. Right? Well, according to Carl our backyard had been lacking this essential element for a long time. Thanks to fate and one good sale, Carl got his wish!

Tonight we dined like kings-- hotdogs and s'mores!

CJ one handing the hot dog!

Emma Jane savoring each piece!

We are loving our backyard right now. We will miss you beautiful azaleas!

My battle wounds.

I was playing with Missy yesterday, and she scraped me with her paw. It took me a second to recover from that swing. She left me with a pretty nasty bruise, so don't mess with Missy.

My New Teaching Discovery

This past month was General Conference (read this talk http://www.lds.org/conference/talk/display/0,5232,23-1-1207-6,00.html for more info; there were several other talks you could look at too), where we get to listen to our prophet and apostles. Anyway, I was struck by often it was talked about teaching your children and how important it was to utilize your time with them. After all, these are the end of days that you hear about from the scriptures, where evil is far worse than Sodom & Gomorrah. Our kids need to be taught the teachings of the gospel like none other.

Anyway, my big new "teaching" time is now STORY TIME. My kids love books. Love books. What kid doesn't! It is the only time they will sit down and listen for an extensive period of time. Anyway, I just realized that I was missing out on a great teaching time. We love all the Dr. Suess books, but we are setting aside "Green Eggs & Ham" for a time. I have started collecting books about stories from the scriptures or stories about sharing or being a good helper. And, TO MY GREAT EXCITEMENT, the kids like them just as much. Now, Emma Jane love Jonah an the Whaaale and CJ loves the Veggie Tales' book about "God being bigger than the boogie man and how he's watching out for you and me". Anyway, this little experiment has been great. I am just sad that I hadn't realized it until now.

I love spring!!!

Emma Jane, CJ, and our friend Avery at the Zoo!

Emma Jane swimming at the Y!

CJ workin' the steps at the pool!

At the Japanese pond at the Botanical gardens by our house.

Mama and Daddy w/ their baby goslings that we love to feed our stale bread to!

The feeders.

Oh how we love spring in Birmingham! We have been living outside. After the coldest winter I have ever experienced in Alabama, we are so excited to have the warm weather again! We try to go outside as much as we can. We zombies could use a little color anyway! I have been loving our backyard especially since we will have to leave the 70 shrubs we have planted back there. Yes, that is the correct number. And, yes, my back starts to hurt just thinking about it, but we are enjoying all the azaleas and knockout roses and dogwoods and crape myrtles that are now in bloom!

Happy Easter! Happy Easter!

Happy Easter! We just had such a wonderful weekend visiting with friends and strengthening my testimony of Jesus Christ! We are trying to make an Easter tradition of doing egg hunts and easter baskets on Saturday, and then, on Easter, we focus on what Easter is all about. Today was just a wonderful day! We went on a walk, and then, after that, we had an Easter lesson with the kids. They enjoyed opening eggs that had Easter pictures in them of Jesus on the cross, in Gethesame, and the empty tomb (and each had two skittles, so that made them extra fun to open).

Anyway, I was surprised how much the kids got out of it. After naps, Emma Jane woke up before CJ, and she told me all about Easter. How "Jesus died for her"; how "he came back to life"; that "Jesus loves her"; that "Jesus died so we could all be together." It was precious to hear HER teach ME the lesson. What a sweet moment!

I love the gospel of Jesus Christ, and I am so grateful for all that Jesus did for us. I hope we all can keep the spirit of Easter with us. I hope we can all try to do a little better trying to become like Jesus!

The Kids in their Easter Best

The church Easter Egg Hunt: Not much hunting, just opening.

Seriously, I think each got 3 eggs!

Because as soon as they got an egg, this would happen: drop and open.

CJ of course had to show you that there was candy in the eggs and now it was in his mouth! And, yes, I just gave CJ a haircut b/c he so desperately needed one.

Then, yesterday, we had another egg hunt at our house with some friends. Emma Jane learned her lesson and racked up! As you can see, CJ didn't learn the lesson!