I am a bit behind in my blogging, since the pictures are in limbo between computers right now. But last Saturday was the annual neighborhood Easter Egg hunt!
Last year, Tyler was not a fan. It was freezing cold, and he really had no idea what we were trying to get him to do. I was excited because Easter is later this year, and Tyler and Kaitlyn both understand the "pick up the egg and put it into the basket" concept.
And then it SNOWED. Not past tense even, it was actually continuing to snow as we hunted for eggs. Of all the nerve! Tyler has inherited my dislike for the cold, so even with two coats and a pair of gloves on, he was till shivering around the fire at the end.
McKenna (one of my cute beehives) was my helper again this year, and Kaitlyn needed it because every time she tried to lean over in her puffy snowsuit and pick up an egg in her gloves, she toppled right over. Poor girl! She was still smiling the whole time though, which is more than I can say for Tyler. It is so nice to have helpers so I can take pictures!
And then we rushed home for General Conference. Every 6 months, my church broadcasts a weekend of meetings from the leaders of our church. I think a lot of people get rather tired of 4 2 hour meetings in two days- many use it as nap time. But unfortunatly for my family I am a fanatic. Kaitlyn has getting more and more restless lately, and I have felt like the only part of weekly church I get to pay attention to is the part I teach my young women while Christopher takes care of her. My tank was running on empty, spirtually, and so for 8 hours this weekend the kids were on their own.
Don't worry, I am not a cruel mommy. I literally count TiVo as one of my blessings every 6 months because I can pause and rewind every time I need to help the kids. I am happiest when I can sit on my extra comfy couch taking notes while the kids nap. But it was mommy's turn, by golly!
I remember when I was in college, and my religion professor talked about coming into conference with questions and concerns on your mind. Since then, I try to make that a goal, and I am always amazed at how little things that they say just speak to my mind and bring me answers to my prayers. This time I really came away with some concrete goals I am working on, and I hope to be a better person as a result. In fact, when I take notes during conference, it isn't like taking notes in a class. Sure, I write down each person's name and a couple things about what they said, but often my mind takes tangets from there and I end up writing down notes to myself about what I get out of it. Often when I compare it to the written talk later I don't know how I got that out of what they said, but I truly feel inspired while I listen with an open heart like that.
I will link to the written talks as soon as they are posted, but for now, if you didn't see it you can listen to any of these talks here.
I loved Sis. Lifferth's talk on respect and reverence. She mentioned a lot of checklists to make sure that we are teaching our children proper respect for one another. Are we pointing out the best in others, especially at home with those we love the most? Are we respectful with those we disagree with? Are we teaching them to respect their teachers, or automatically taking sides without listening? This all leads directly into reverence, which is something I am currently struggling to teach to toddlers. She points out that it doesn't come right away or naturally, but it can be taught bit by bit. I look forward to when all of my work pays off and my children understand how to reverently sit and listen during church.
Elder Packer had an analogy I liked. He said that he used to be on the football team in High School, and learned through grueling practices to listen to his coaches. During one loud and tumultuous game, he got distracted and confused during a play. But over all the voices (and having been on the field during a high school football game, I can tell you that every person seems to be shouting the entire time) he heard his coach's voice clearly and followed immediatly. Amongst all the voices I hear around me every day, am I listening to the quiet voice of inspiration? And do I instinctually follow it from habit?
Elder Eyring talked about adversity, and how important it is for us. Why do we feel like we deserve a perfect life, and feel like anything less than that is "not fair"? In order to be like our Heavenly Father, we have to learn to make the right choices when they are hard to make, not just easy.
I like how Elder Uchdorf mentioned that whatever we want to work on, "the journey starts right where we are." No matter how far off course we are, start right there and head back, rather than merely wishing you were somewhere else.
No matter what Christian religion you belong to, I think everyone should listen to Elder Jeffrey R. Holland's talk for this Easter weekend. It was such a powerful message about how alone Christ truly was during his last few days on earth. He suffered all of this for us so that He would understand, no matter how alone we feel in our journey. But it is up to us to make sure that we do not abandon him, as so many did that week.
And a quote: "Testimony is to know and to feel, conversion is to do and become."-Elder Dallin H. Oaks, Quorum of the Twelve Apostles
So this weekend I think I truly felt inspired, and learned a lot of things that I personally need to work on. I only hope that I can "do and become" in the months to come!
This is Kaitlyn singing a loud song for me.
Both kids love to climb up the retaining wall. Kaitlyn is getting rather good at it, actually.
Kaitlyn loves shoes right now. "Shuuusss . . . shuusss!" She loves putting on any shoes she finds, no matter who they belong to. 
And then for our coloring time, I altered some normal pages to have something wrong with them, so we could talk about what was "silly" about the picture. It took only 5 minutes in photoshop to download a coloring page and then put flowers growing out of a tree and replace the face of a bunny with something else.
Peek a boo!
