So much to blog about!!!

I have about a week of blog posts to write up and I can't all do it now, so I'll give you the quick list and in the next few days will work on providing more details (and lots of photos).

• On Wednesday, I left town in the wee hours of the morning to take a little road trip with two of my best girl friends.  We went to BYU Women's Conference!  This was my second year and it was just as amazing as the first.  I loved it!  I had a blast!  I felt spiritually uplifted!  I got to meet an on-line friend that I've been wanting to meet for awhile!  I laughed a lot!  I cried a lot!  It was wonderful! :)
• While I was at Women's Conference, my little brother returned home to California after serving a two  year mission for our church.  He had been serving up in Canada and had a great time!  It was hard work, but hard work brings lots of joy. :)  I was able to hear about the family gatherings and celebrations, then later I got to talk to him for awhile.  We look forward to seeing him when we drive down for a little vacation later this month. :)
• My friends and I arrived home Saturday evening, to much loves and hugs from family and I found lots of blooming flowers in my yard. :) 
• Sunday morning was emotional, as I was released from my calling as the Relief Society President.  Words cannot express my feelings.  I feel happy and sad, gratitude and relief.  It has been a journey for me.  As I've known this release was coming, I struggled to accept, at first, that I had done a good enough job.  I know I've made mistakes.  I wish I had made more visits.  I feel like I struggled during my entire presidency to find the balance between being a mom with young children and being the RS president who had demanding responsibilities.  It was hard to know when to cut back on which.  I always felt that I was letting one (or both) down.  But in the recent months, as I've prepared for this release, I have felt the witness that the Lord has accepted my offering, as imperfect as it is.  He knew my situation when He called me.  He knew I wouldn't be wonder woman and get everything done the way another maybe would have.  But He called me anyway.  In humility, I believe I was the right person for this call these last three years.  I was who the Lord wanted.  I was willing to serve and strive to become a better person through that service.  I was not perfect, I am not perfect, but I know that I fulfilled my calling and the Lord is pleased with it.  That is a HUGE comfort to me.
• And with my release, a new presidency was called!  I have had sacred thoughts and experiences as I have known my release was coming, some of those were in regard to the new president.  I love her, so much!  She has been an example to me for a long time, but most especially in recent months.  I was dealing with my own struggles when it was made known to me that she would be the one to take my place and just knowing that, was enough for me to put into perspective what I was dealing with and caused me to feel more patient and humble with what I had been struggling with.  The Lord does not always reveal things to others that don't really need it revealed to them, but I feel that the Lord revealing to me this piece of information, at the time that he did, was a tender mercy towards me, in helping me to fully complete my call.
• Then last night, just before heading to bed I checked my Facebook and saw the million posts claiming that the man behind the terrorist attacks on 9-11 had finally been killed!  We turned on the news just in time to hear the president announce that it had been confirmed.  What a mix of emotions!  But most of it gladness and gratitude.  Some thoughts wondering if it was Christ-like to feel that way about a person's death, but still feeling grateful and relieved.  We had a good discussion with Acadia about this.  We should not judge, we should leave that to God, so perhaps we shouldn't say that HE was evil.  However, we know that the things he did were evil.  We know he was a coward and was the cause for many, many deaths, encouraging individuals to go on suicide missions, sending others to sacrifice themselves from the safety of his hideouts.  He will answer to God for what he has done, I'm just glad he's not here to do anymore of it.  Surely, his followers will continue and turn him into a martyr for their cause, but they'll just be the next ones to be at the top of our "wanted" list, and it won't be long before they follow his fate.  America isn't letting her guard down, so for the many who fear retalliation, I wouldn't worry much more than we already were.  They will continue in their efforts, just as they have.  And we will continue to hunt them down and stop them, just as we have.  These ARE the last days.  There will be wars and rumors of wars.  We do need to be prepared for hardships, even here in our country.  But we do not need to panic.

So, that is the list of what has gone down these last few days.  I will need to upload the hundreds of pics I took this past week and then write up some more detailed posts about Women's Conference.  In the meantime, I'm still busy.  Rori keeps me busy nearly every morning with her various classes/activities.  But it is a huge weight off my mind/shoulders to have the burden of my calling taken from me.  The Lord did bless me during that time, to be able to do what I needed to do, but it was still challenging and I feel the difference now that the burden has been lifted.  I am grateful.

Easter Sunday

We had a great time at church on Easter.  The spirit was especially strong!  I'm so grateful for my Savior and all he has done for me! 

After church, we headed to the Hills for dinner and fun.  They had the house decorated very cute and fun, and dinner was delicious!

(Click on collages to enlarge.)

Rori... That picture cracks me up!  Most of us were visiting at the dinner table after we had finished eating, then MJ and I saw Rori walking around with that butterfly net on her head, laying the toy trumpet!  We just started giggling, and I grabbed my camera.  Classic Rori! lol

Ryan made THREE fabulous cheesecakes for dessert: Layered Hazelnut, Chocolate Cherry, and Chocolate.  They were all SO. GOOD!!!

Rori again... lol.  For some reason, she started eating her cheesecake with her hands.  The flash was a little bright in that pic, but I couldn't pass up including it.  ;)

The weather was kind of wild!  It would go from sun, to rain, to rainbows, and back to sun again.  Later we saw this crazy cloud that almost looked like a twister touching down (but it was just sitting there, not swirling or moving at all)!  The rainbows were so awesome!  This has to be the brightest rainbow I've ever seen, and it was a full, double rainbow!  Check it out!

After eating, things started to get a little wild.  It all started when Mary Jane wanted to show us the HUGE teddy bears she bought for my cousin's litte girls:

But then another bean bag and some pillows were added to the cushy pile and this started happening:

Easter Dresses

Spring has sprung!

As I've mentioned, I've been enjoying working out in the yard as we've had really nice weather lately.  The flowers are all enjoying the nice weather, too!  They are waking up and starting to bloom.  I worked hard at removing the rocks (ground cover) that filled the rose garden bed, and then planted a lot of flowers to fill in the space.  After these spring flowers die back, I'll add some summer blooms, but for now, it's looking so nice, full of bright, cheerful colors. :)

Easter Fun

On Monday, we dyed Easter Eggs for FHE.  We always dye more than we can eat, so we shared with our neighbors who don't usually dye eggs.  We still had quite a few for ourselves so we've been enjoying egg salad sandwiches and salads topped with hard boiled eggs.  Yum!

Then this morning we woke up to find that the Easter Bunny had come during the night!  He likes to visit us a day early so we can enjoy the egg hunts and baskets on Saturday and then spend Easter Sunday focusing on the real reason for Easter.  We really appreciate Easter Bunny's thoughtfulness. ;)

The girls were very happy with their spoils...

We will be having dinner with the Hills tomorrow so there are sure to be more Easter photos to come, not to mention pics of Easter Dresses!  (It's fun to have girls, especially when they let you dress them up. lol) 

What a week!

But you know, whereas most of the time these busy-at-the-end-of-the-month weeks are beyond stressful, this week was busy, but good.  I think because I know I still have a couple more days next week before I am really out of time, but that's cool, whatever the reason, I'm so glad this week was great!  No stress!  And only one migraine. :)

I got a lot done, enjoyed A LOT of sunshine (so I got tons done in my yard, too), enjoyed the week of Easter preparations, enjoying Easter weekend now... And I have lots of photos to share.  But I need to upload them and my camera battery just died, so it will have to wait just a bit while I finish charging my spare.  It won't be long though, so check back soon. :)

Lovin' Spring

I love spring! 

It is so beautiful here and I love watching all of the plants begin to bloom.  It's fun to watch all of the stuff I planted last year come back again this year.  Last year, my friends and I did a major overhaul on my front yard and this year I'm finishing the job.  We left the section that was home to my roses, surrounded by tons of rock.  So far, in the last week or so, we've removed most of the rock and I've started planting more flowers.  The next area I need to polish up is under my cherry tree, it needs more.  It's so fun to go look at plants and flowers and figure out where to put them in my yard. 

After I'm done with the front, I'm going to work on the back.  I did get some areas worked on last year, but I've still got other areas that need to be cleared away and turned into flower beds.  And in a couple more weeks I'll be planting more in my vegetable garden; I already have peas, onions, and strawberries going, I plan on adding green beans, carrots, zucchini, cucumber, and corn.  Possibly raspberries, too.

What about you?  What do you love about spring?  What are you planting in your flower or vegetable gardens?