We wrapped up summer vacation mostly at home. We started with some necessary things like going to the dentist and diabetes doctor.

Kids in the dentist waiting room. And girls enjoying the fun stuff they always seem to amass at Primary Children’s hospital.

We also wrapped up our summer reading. This year we very proudly completed the Harry Potter series by reading Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows. We celebrated in our customary way by having a big movie party with lots of themed treats. We only did the party with the Part 2 movie, though. We also had our turn to host Fay’s summer book club.

We came up with our own design for edible “deathly hallows” signs. We were very proud of them, and they were yummy to boot!

The snacks (deathly hallows, chocolate frogs, snitches, every flavor beans, edible Nagini snakes, and resurrection stones) And the friends!

Another very fun event from August was “Muhlestein/Monson Man Camp” in which my brother George, who has all boys, invited Josh and Carter over for a backyard campout with as many manly activities as they could reasonably fit into a single overnighter. Things I recall include: starting a fire with just a knife (?), Carter making his own bow and arrow out of a PVC pipe, grilling dinner, sleeping in tents, mountain man breakfast, and flying drones. Everyone had a blast, and Carter is already dreaming of the next one. Thanks, George!

The evening. And the next morning.

But man camp wasn’t all! We Monson girls invited George’s wife Chelsea (and honorary girls for the evening, two-year-old Kasper and baby Max) over for a girls night! We had a fancy tea party (with delicious homemade macarons courtesy of Chelsea!) followed by a fancy pasta dinner, a barbie movie, and a manicure and pedicure for Chelsea. It was all sorts of fun!

Our last big hurrah for the summer was all thanks to Grandmother! (Also my nephew Daniel for really needing to go inside a cave before he went back to school.) Grandmother took us all down past Fillmore to see the lava tubes. They are really cool to explore. We even had some great chances to use the nifty headlamps she got for us as we found side tunnels in the cave we were exploring. I believe all the kids felt like they were real spelunkers during this expedition! And I was even more impressed by Grandmother when I was reminded that she was nearly 70 years old when she took us exploring through these caves! I told her that I hope I’m still doing cool things like spelunking when I’m 70.

The lava tubes group (Grandmother was taking the picture).

We all had such a fun time! We’re so so grateful that Grandmother made this amazing adventure happen (and that Daniel was kind enough to let our family crash his cave trip)!

And then …

We now have ALL FIVE KIDS in full-time school! So far, they’re all doing great and even enjoying themselves at least some of the time.

Right after school started, we had a fun little family reunion with my Muhlestein aunts, uncles, and cousins. It was fun to see people and hear family stories. And I’m glad my kids got to get a little better idea of who these relatives are.

The singing of the famous “Chicken Farmin’ Man”

And just some final fun pictures from August:

Cute kids on a Sunday morning. And family party shave ice.

This hair is a frequent activity for Bianca to do during family scripture study. Also, Valencia came to visit for another couple of days! We learned that she is still cute and that she LOVES tomatoes!

We had an absolutely jam-packed July! But it was all good things!

We enjoyed the 4th of July parade in Riverton! The kids love getting lots of candy. We also had a 4th of July dinner with the Muhlestein family, enjoying the company of those who had arrived early for our Brent and Elaine Muhlestein family reunion!

This reunion was particularly noteworthy because I was the one in charge of planning everything. There were lots of things to think about and navigate with 50 people coming from all over; but I am super blessed to have a very easy-going family who want to get along and cooperate. So it turned out to be a very joyful experience!

Our first official event of the reunion was a family picture that (miraculously) included ALL of my parents’ posterity! Every child. Every in-law. Every grandchild. Now that my oldest nephew is off on his mission and more and more of the grandkids will be moving on and moving out, we may never all be in the same place for a picture ever again. I’m so grateful we got this one.

That was Sunday morning (very early). After joining my parents’ ward for church, we had a Low-Country boil! The highlight of the boil for me was that Mother and Daddy sprung for King Crab! Crab is truly just so yummy. And its very infrequent that I get to eat it. So I loved eating it this time. sigh… 🦀

But another cool thing to feature at the boil was craw fish from the canal in Riverton. Apparently craw fish are an invasive species and you can have all you want from the canal. My brother, George, took us to the canal and we caught TONS of craw fish using tiny bits of chicken liver tied to a string. We caught way more than people could eat; but it was fine because we were just helping out the local Riverton, Utah ecosystem by ridding them of the surplus population of craw fish. So we just threw out the extra. (Unlike extra crab. We would never throw that out.)

Sorry for no pictures of the actual boil. You’ll find there are many things I neglected to photograph.

During the family reunion, we stayed at a big house in Riverton, Utah of all places. I hunted all over the Wasatch Front for a house that would fit all 50 of us comfortably, but still be reasonably priced. I was open to just about anything from Ogden to Springville, or up to Heber and Park City. But the place that ultimately worked best was this house in Riverton about a 5 minute drive from our house.

It would take approximately forever to tell you all the wonderful details of the reunion. But we truly had a wonderful time as a family doing fun summertime things together. Here are some main points.

• Splash pad + ice-cream + frisbee + pickleball park night
• Museum trip
• Beach day at Black Ridge Reservoir
• Karaoke night (Josh style!)
• So much yummy food

Pickleball action shot. Yummy food action shot.

Toddler Time. Crochet Master Class.

Lunch break on beach day.

Karaoke Josh style

There truly is so much I could say: so many stories of memories made. But what I will say is this: I am SO grateful for the family I belong to. My parents and siblings are all wonderful and extraordinary people! My siblings’ spouses and children are just as much so. I am genuinely honored to be associated and affiliated with them all. And most of all, I’m grateful for Jesus Christ who makes it possible for us to have such a joyful family experience here on earth and for it to be infinitely perpetuated and glorified for all eternity!

But there’s more July to discuss.

Something (or rather, someone) that really characterized July for our family was my sweet niece, Valencia. My sister was working in Utah for the summer and we got the grand privilege of watching Little McValPal during the days. She is a super happy little girl and happens to have been at my very favorite age of baby/toddler-ness. The best things about hanging with Valencia were feeding her blueberries, putting her in the baby swing, and jumping on the tramp with her. (We’re sad it wasn’t until her second to last day that we found out how much she loved the trampoline, because she was SO CUTE!)

We genuinely loved having her (and are excited to have her again next month)! But, if I’m being 100% honest, I also loved that she went home with Christina every night. 😂

Also in July was my birthday! I told Josh that I wanted it to be fancy. (I sometimes–maybe even frequently–just long for fanciness in my life …). I wanted to have a date with Josh to a fancyish restaurant for dinner. But I wanted to do something great as a whole family too. So, I gave Josh some instructions for the fancy tea-party brunch we would have with the kids. And let me tell you, Josh didn’t just meet my expectations, he FAR surpassed all my imaginations!

Tragically, this is one of the things that was severely under-photographed. So I’ll try to describe it. Josh made multiple kinds of herbal tea, including blueberry which is my favorite. He made homemade scones, multiple kinds of finger sandwiches, deviled eggs, and mini cherry pies. Then he also got brioche bread, fruit tart, and eclairs from the store. It was all SO delicious! 😋

PLUS, he decorated!

Can you even?! It was so perfect! And he did all the decorating completely independently! I had no idea he was going to have such an elegant color scheme with a matching custom floral arrangement and super fancy and beautiful embroidered cloth napkins, all of which complemented my tea-set so elegantly. He’s just the best ever.

And all the kids were so sweet and dressed up in their nicest clothes for our fancy tea-party. My family loves me so well!

And previous to these festivities, our neighbors invited us to participate in their family’s candy cannon to celebrate Pioneer Day. The kids loved running after the candy as it launched through air!

It was a very good birthday.

Then, the very next day, we went to Bear Lake with the Monson family! We had a super fun time playing with cousins at the beach and at the rental house. There were kayaks and paddle boards, hot tubbing and dance parties, delicious food homemade and from restaurants, story time with Aunt Katie and an original stage production from the girl cousins. I’m also so grateful to be part of this family! 🤍

Hot tubbing with as many cousins as possible! Not cursed story time with Katie!

Some last additions I wanted to mention include realizing some dreams. One dream that was realized this July was that the kids had a lemonade stand. They love having lemonade stands in the summer; but the catalyst for this one was that Portia’s friend Evie invited her over to participate in her and her siblings’ lemonade stand. As soon as that was made known, Fay and Carter were devising plans to make their own. (Don’t worry; we’re in a different neighborhood from Evie.) But they were ultimately kind enough to wait for Portia to return from the first one before they started theirs. They added some summer melting bead projects to their sale, and they turned out to be relatively profitable.

They are summer perfection.

The other dream we realized was mine. I’ve been wanting to embrace the Mommy and Me trend with all four of my girls (Mommy and Me and Me and Me and Me), so finally I just did it.

Better late than never to record some of our summer memories from this year! Here’s a taste of our June.

In spite of the fact that I am still working towards truly loving summertime again, I felt like school ended WAY too late this year! The kids’ last day was June 6, and it felt like all the cousins had been in summer vacation mode for a month by the time our kids finally arrived at their deliverance.

But, once school was finally over, we were able to begin to profit therefrom right away with a quick camping trip to Yellowstone!

We saw lots of cool geysers and animals and made lots of memories.

Some of the memories we made reminded me a lot of my own childhood memories of camping: like the fact that tinfoil dinners take ~3 hours to cook (no matter how hungry you are when you start) and that camping is utterly miserable when its so cold at night that you can’t sleep. 😂 So, we ended up dispensing with our planned second night of camping.

But we still made the fun camping memories, too. We had a fire, made s’mores, and explored the woods around our campsite. And the kids even worked hard to become junior rangers in the park!

The kids were genuinely bummed to have cut our trip short, so we tried to make it up to them by going to Blackridge Reservoir the next day for beach time.

It appeared to cheer them up sufficiently. 🙂

The night before we left for Yellowstone, we got an exciting surprise which we waited until after our trip to address: our AC broke. We found out that we needed to replace it, which we did. And then we found out that due to old ducting and a bunch of other factors beyond my comprehension we needed around-the-clock service on it for the next several days. It was a very exciting and memorable process, but ultimately we have been able to remain cool throughout the rest of the summer.

There was a decent discount on the AC work if you paid in cash–actual paper money, not just “in full”–and so I withdrew an absurd amount of money from the bank. I had never seen so many 100 dollar bills in my life so, naturally, we had to document it!

Some other fun happenings from June include Josh’s birthday! He wanted mud with dirt and worms for his “cake” 😊. Also Carter and Fay went to O.W.L. camp through the library. It is a super cool free Harry Potter themed half-day camp for kids 11-17. I’m sorry for not getting a picture of Fay.😔

Also, Josh decided to install a horseshoe game in the backyard. It quickly became a sandbox that the kids have had a ball with! (We’ve played horseshoes a handful of times as well). Also Valencia came! (More on her in July’s post) For now, just know that she’s Christina’s daughter and she is perfect and adorable and we love her a million!

The library summer reading program is a big part of our summers each year. The kids read their little hearts out to earn their free books! (Josh and I did too!)

And one BIG highlight from June was Josh’s youngest brother’s wedding! We loved being able to celebrate with Jayden and Ali, and the kids love having a new aunt! This is all the kids outside the temple after the sealing.🤍

Stay tuned for July!

Happiest of birthdays to Fay on May 7! It is so exciting that she is finally 13 and a true teenager, because she’s been living the life of a teenager this whole school year. She is in Young Womens, goes to middle school, got braces in February, started wearing contacts, and “hangs out” with friends rather than “playing.” All of those are totally teenage things to be doing, so it’s nice that she finally actually has the “teen” in her age. 🙂

Fay these days is more fun than ever! She still rocks her role as oldest sister–leading the kids in fun adventures and helping me with the little ones when stuff gets crazy. She still loves animals, art, and reading. And she is still a beautiful, sweet, loving girl. PLUS, she is really figuring out who she wants to be. She’s developing her own fashion preferences along with elective class preferences–which are totally unique to her. She has lots of fun new hobbies like tumbling and crocheting. And she’s so excited about the future ahead! We adore her!

Fay has made lots of wonderful new friends since being in middle school! I really wanted to meet them all, so earlier this year we had a fun Valentine’s party with them.

They are seriously all such delightful girls! It is a GIANT blessing to me as a mom to know that Fay is surrounded by friends who help her be her best self and who make her life so fun and joyful!

To prepare for the party, Fay made homemade cupcakes which the girls all decorated.

Fay has always loved cooking; but this year she’s gotten even more excited about it since she got to do some cooking in school. She has made dinner for the family a few times and it is always delicious!

Fay’s friend, Emma, has gotten her really excited about crocheting. She has known how to crochet for a couple of years, but Emma has shown her the joy of amigurumi! Fay has been making so many cute little creations and even shares them with friends and family! For her birthday she requested her OWN crocheting supplies so she didn’t have to keep borrowing hooks and yarn.

Also for her birthday, Fay requested a bow and arrow! Honestly, that gift request was a surprise to me, but I feel like it really fits with our adventure-loving Fay. She is a total beginner to archery; but she is making progress and having fun!

Fay has taken art both semesters of 7th grade and keeps loving it! This past week the school had an art show and we got to go see her beautiful work on display with the other art students’ work. This blue-green succulent she did in oil pastels got second place prize in the art show! We’re so proud of her!

One very teenager type thing Fay did before she actually graced the realm of 13 was back in January. She decided that she REALLY wanted to be trendy and have a Stanley cup and a cross-body bag. Aunt Mary–who is any niece’s dream come true–had both of those and told Fay that she would be willing to let Fay earn them by detailing her car. Fay worked hard for over an hour cleaning, vacuuming, and even washing the outside of Mary’s car (in JANUARY!!!!) Here she is, overjoyed with the spoils of her hard work and fortuitously advantageous family connections!

And I just wanted to remember one more time how terrific a helper Fay was for Bianca’s birthday party! She was as helpful as an adult, but as fun as another kid. The perfect combination!

And honestly, that’s kind of just what she is: the perfect combination of a kid and a grown up. We’re so glad she’s ours!

Happy 11th birthday to our best boy on April 21! Carter was so excited for his birthday he wondered if he would ever be able to make it to the actual day. But his special day really did arrive and, if I’m not mistaken, it was even worth the wait!

Carter knew exactly what he wanted for his birthday this year.

• Darth Maul sweatshirt (to go with his Darth Maul t-shirt and Darth Maul hat)
• A Twix Yard Stick
• A trick yo-yo

In spite of the fact that Twix Yard Sticks are mostly a Christmas phenomenon, Carter’s three wishes all came true (big thanks to Josh for making a custom Twix yard stick)! He was a very happy birthday boy. At the end of the day, he sighed and told me that his birthday was just so perfect that he wished it could go on for another 36 hours. Fortunately, even though the birthday could not last, Carter is ours forever!

Anyway, Carter is just as terrific a dude as ever he has been! Here’s a little more about him as he turns 11!

Carter is still a creator! He loves to build things and make things. When we were on spring break at the creative children’s museum thingy in Mesa, he built this whole car on his own. He was excited that there was a lady who was so impressed by his creation that she requested to photograph it. She said her kids would never believe he had made it himself without photographic evidence. So famous! Carter also has a new favorite medium with which to create: 3D printing. He loves finding free plans on Thingiverse and saving up his money to buy his own filament. On the right, you can see how nicely his prints added to my St. Patrick’s Day Decor. He has also enjoyed exchanging prints with friends at school. I think it is cute to see how all the boys have jumped on the 3D printing band-wagon.

Carter is still loving music (and adding 3D printing to his music–see left). He loves his trumpet–much more than he ever like piano, he reports. And he likes to tinker with other instruments too. He can do some fun stuff on the ukulele, had a blast tinkering with Uncle George’s soprano guitar, and even does return sometimes to play the piano for a while.

Carter also still loves his sports; though he’s adjusting his preferences. He has been doing soccer this year, but is less excited about it than he used to be. He gave basketball a shot this past winter but didn’t really love it. His current favorite sport is pickleball (thanks Grandma!!) and he is excited to take lessons in the fall. He also recently picked up pogo-sticking and is really good at it. And, alas, I have no pictures of any of these activities. And, of course, he loves swimming! What kid doesn’t?!

Carter is still a rockstar at school. He continues to enjoy reading and LOVES math, but is also finding that he can enjoy some opinion writing. His current ambitions for his career are that he wants to be a trumpet player in an orchestra as well as a math professor at BYU. You know how some people say stuff like “If there’s no chocolate in heaven, I’m not going.” ? Well Carter has basically stated “If there’s no math in college, I’m not going.” I love it!

Carter also did Battle of the Books at school again this year. It was interesting to see how much less excited all the boys were about reading the books–because the 5th/6th grade books are much longer than the 3rd/4th grade books, Carter reports. But they were still a fun group of boys, and being on the team absolutely resulted in more reading for them than if they had not done it.

Here’s Carter enjoying his favorite kind of book: a graphic novel! I totally see the appeal of graphic novels to kids. There are loads of pictures! But for me, sometimes the pictures feel like more of a distraction from what’s going on in the book than a fun addition.

(I know that has basically nothing to do with Carter; but I had to get it off my chest.)

We are so grateful to have Carter in our family! He really is our best boy!

I remember two years ago in General Conference when Elder Stevenson invited us to make Easter more of a celebration in our families and in the world. I was/am convinced that his invitation is the coolest Prophetic counsel ever! A Prophet, Seer, and Revelator–who knows stuff–is essentially saying “Elisabeth, it’s probably about time you got serious about rejoicing and celebrating and having lots of fun as you remember how Jesus Christ saved you from endless damnation, and therefore you have ALL the hope you could ever need for progress and joy and love for all eternity.”

How could I say “no”?!

So, we have been trying to up our Easter game ever since then. And then–this year–when I saw the video invitation from President Oaks I got even more excited about it!

Last year, I got some decorations, like an Easter Creche; some books, like Holy Week family activity books; and probably some other things (I felt like it was a lot last year; but right now I can’t remember that much…) and we tried to make Easter a season, rather than just a day. The books I have found (then and now) are mostly about how to observe Holy Week. Last year we followed along with some of the activities in the Holy Week books, and we hung up our printable eggs that each symbolize something about Easter, and then we did the same things we have always done–like epic Easter hunts and springy clothes for church on Easter Sunday.

In Elder Stevenson’s talk, he mentioned hearkening to our celebrations of Christmastime as we try to reinvigorate the celebration of the earth’s most significant, valuable, far-reaching event. When I compare our last year’s Easter festivities with those of Christmas, I can see that we’ve got a long way to go.

And I WANT to go!

As I started thinking about this year’s Easter celebrations, I really wanted to embrace the magic that permeates the Christmas season and infuse it into Easter. After all, “The Christmas Spirit is the Christ Spirit”(Thomas S. Monson) and Easter is even more about Christ than Christmas is. As I considered what makes Christmas magical to me, I thought of a few different things.

• MUSIC!!! I love how it means a lot when we start playing Christmas music in the house. I want to have Easter music that gets us in the mood and fills us with joy! And I love the idea of having special concerts to attend at Easter. I was more than slightly disappointed by the lack of a Tabernacle Choir Easter Concert this year.
• Beautiful decorations all over! I love them in stores and schools and everywhere you look; but I can only make choices for my house and I recognize that. But I like how at Christmas we go ALL OUT with the decorating and the whole house is transformed into a winter wonderland with beautiful representations of the baby Jesus. How magical could a spring wonderland be for Easter?! With similarly beautiful representations of our risen Lord.
• Fun activities as a family–like making gingerbread houses or going to the Festival of Trees at Christmas. I want to have traditions that we do each Easter that we look forward to like those.
• Get-togethers with friends and family. I love the ward, work, and family Christmas parties we have each year, and I would be thrilled to have those same fun gatherings at Easter. I feel like our extended families do get together at Easter, and I truly do love it! But what about some ward parties? Or friend parties? I don’t want it to become overwhelming for anybody; but I feel like celebrations just feel so much more celebratory when everyone comes together to celebrate (celebrationally 😉).
• Festive foods! I love that there are foods that are associated with seasons–like pumpkin everything in the fall, and peppermint and gingerbread and eggnog at Christmas, and BBQs in the summer. I would love it if we had Easter foods that we get excited to eat during the Easter season.
• Reading Scriptures. I love that for my whole life, not a year has gone by that I haven’t read the Christmas story in Luke 2. I also love that there are so many references to different parts of that sacred story all over during December. I would love to get into the habit of reading the accounts of the Savior’s Resurrection in the Gospels and also the account of Christ appearing to the Nephites in 3 Nephi. (#greatestEasterstoryevertold)
• Time off work and school. I LOVE that there is a two week break from school for Christmas. It is that two weeks away from responsibility that makes it more reasonable for us to do all these other fun things. Plus, the fact that school (and, to a lesser extent, work) ceases for the holiday emphasizes just how important it is. I have noticed that if Easter isn’t too late, our school district’s spring-break will frequently coincide with it–either the week before or the week after. But (and again, I know that I have no control over what other people do), wouldn’t it be magical to be able to always count on a break to be with family and friends to celebrate Easter?

This is most of what I have come up with, and I think it sounds downright dreamy! But in creating this dreamy wish-list, I have also seen that there are several hurtles in the way. Here are some that I’ve thought of.

• The biggest thing I’ve thought of that feels like a hindrance to making Easter the new Christmas is that with Christmas we are all benefiting from hundreds and even thousands of years of traditions. Or even if it’s just a couple of generations worth of traditions that make your Christmas celebration what it is, it still has a solid base from which to build upon. Easter has always been just a day to me. I remember when Josh and I had our first Easter away from home, we could only name one or two traditions we remember being associated with it. And, frankly, we have mostly just relied on those one-day type traditions ever since. I think it’s hard to take Easter from bare-bones to full-fledged Christmas-level glory in one year. Or even in a handful of years. I think this is going to be a very gradual process, perhaps even over generations. But hopefully having a goal in mind (see above) and making little efforts each year will make each step of the journey something joyful.
• Another big hurtle I have encountered in our efforts to make Easter its own season is timing. You may or may not have noticed that we have celebrated several birthdays this spring. (All five of our children have their birthdays between March 10 and May 7.) Also, there’s fun little holidays like Mar10 Day and Pi Day and St. Patrick’s Day and April Fool’s Day. Also, there’s sports and school and lessons and work conferences. Life just doesn’t revolve around Easter like it seems to revolve around Christmas. And even if we change a lot of what we do as a family around Easter, it is unlikely to change other organizations’ schedules. Plus, it is tricky to make really solid traditions around Easter because of the fact that Easter changes when it is every year. Last year Easter came nearly a full month sooner than it did this year. That changes a lot of what you can reliably plan to do each year.
• Also, availability of resources in your celebrations. I would truly love to decorate to the nines to celebrate the Savior and His resurrection; but there’s really not a ton of good options for doing so. When I have looked for Christ-centered Easter decorations, I mostly find a lot of crosses (which I find rather interesting seeing as Easter is a celebration that Jesus Christ is no longer dead 🤷🏼‍♀️). Other than that you’ve got bunnies and eggs, which are great, but still not in as much abundant variety as Christmas decorations. It’s just a little harder to feel enveloped in the Easter spirit when the options are so limited. And I would say it isn’t just decorations that are limited in amount and variety, there are also fewer Easter songs and fewer Easter events and fewer Easter fill-in-the-blank. The pickings can feel very slim when you’re trying to enhance your personal Easter celebrations.

But what are those when we’ve got 1. A Prophetic admonition to make this happen. (#1Nephi3:7) 2. As long as we could ever need to make a full transformation. and especially 3. Our knowledge that Jesus truly is the Christ and that He really did conquer death and sin and pain for you and me personally! Just letting that astonishing reality sink in makes it seem like the only natural thing to do to celebrate that miraculous day from 2,000 years ago!

So now, I’m going to share what we did this Easter. We have not reached full-Easter-season status yet; but we did make an effort and were richly rewarded with greater hope and joy in our Savior, Jesus Christ!

Decorations

I have wanted to start a tradition of when we decorate for Easter. We always start decorating for Christmas the day after Thanksgiving, and so I’m trying to make the day after St. Patrick’s Day when we start decorating for Easter. Here’s what I did for this year.

I opted for our Easter creche on the mantel, with Jesus as the very center! I also added a copy of The Living Christ and some springy stuff. As the decoration for our coffee table I tried to go for an Easter basket vibe. This was the site of most of our eggs and bunnies.

My favorite acquisition this year was these triptych pictures of Jesus emerging from the dark tomb walking into the light of the shining sun. We hung it over the hutch in the main entryway, and I love how anyone who comes to our house can see it! I always want everybody who knows me to have no doubt that I worship Jesus Christ as my Savior. And what’s great is that it’s pretty well stuck where it is and so the reminder of our resurrected Savior gets to be a permanent part of our entryway.

For the hutch itself, I decided to use the Easter books we have, especially since we weren’t really getting into them much until Holy Week. Plus we have some fun springy elements.

Activities

I don’t want it to always be this way; but our activities mostly occurred during Holy Week. And I guess my kids had caught the vision of the joy of really celebrating Jesus’ resurrection because they were all totally stoked for Holy Week!

For Palm Sunday, our family got together with my sisters’ families at Kathryn’s house. Kathryn made us a super delicious dinner and then had prepared some really cool activities. We all made paper palm fronds and then reenacted the Lord’s Triumphal Entry into Jerusalem. Kathryn told/read us the story from the scriptures and then we waved our palm fronds and shouted hosanna as Fay–who had the honor of acting as the donkey who carried Jesus–walked through our mini throng of people carrying a picture of Jesus. The whole reenactment took sub 30 seconds. But it was fun for everybody and certainly helped us get in the Easter spirit!

Kathryn also made this cool snack mix where each different ingredient symbolized something from the Savior’s life and ministry. My favorite part of the snack mix was getting to hear Kathryn teach her children and mine about the Savior as she added each ingredient, and to feel the depth and sincerity of her love for Jesus Christ. I wish you all could have been there.

Kathryn actually had a ton of cool things she had been doing with her own family during the Easter season that we got to share in, and they were all inspiring! You should all probably follow Kathryn on social and demand that she share all her wonderful Easter ideas.

Monday of Holy Week we talked about the Savior cleansing the temple. In honor of His cleansing of the temple, we each tried to think of something in our house or life that we could cleanse that would make it easier for us to feel the Spirit. As you might imagine, this idea had mixed reception. But I think it ultimately did make a positive difference. Then, for family party, we went to the grounds around the Oquirrh Mountain Temple and talked about why Jesus spent His time in the temple and why He wants us to spend time there. It was fun to see that lots of people were doing something similar that evening.

Then Tuesday through Thursday our crazy-packed life of after school activities recommenced. And, we really didn’t do much. We didn’t read the books. We didn’t do the suggested activities. We just lived normal life for those days. But, what do you do?

When I first started getting excited about Easter plans in March, I had this idea that we could make Good Friday a really special day by keeping the kids home from school and trying to do Christ-centered activities. And I feel like my efforts and plans were really blessed and magnified because it did turn out as a nice day. We played catch up in our Holy Week books and talked about the different things Jesus did leading up to His crucifixion and resurrection, and we had a great discussion (well, at least the three older kids and I did) about what it all really means for us today. Later, while I was working in the kitchen and Bianca was at preschool (because she had an Easter party she didn’t want to miss) the other four kids watched the Prince of Egypt and we talked a little bit about the symbolism of the Passover and how it all points to Jesus Christ.

Food

Good Friday was really the only day I made anything Eastery to eat. But I was really excited that I got to make something I have always known about, but never knew was totally symbolic of Easter: Hot Cross Buns.

The Wikipedia article on Hot Cross Buns talks about how they are an Easter tradition with the cross symbolizing (you guessed it) the cross where Jesus was crucified, the spices inside symbolizing the herbs used to anoint His body, and sometimes orange peels are used to symbolize the bitterness of the cup Jesus drank on our behalf. They were fun to make and also yummy!

We also had our Jerusalem Dinner where we ate things that Jesus may have eaten, or that are middle-eastern, or that could remind us of the Savior.

We had lamb-burgers and talked again about the Passover and Jesus as the Lamb of God. We had dried figs and talked about the Savior cursing the fig tree that was symbolic of the hypocrisy of the Pharisees. The kids’ favorite part was that we had grape juice.

Bianca also had an idea that she wanted to do all week that we finally did for a snack on Friday morning. She wanted to have bread and water and remember the Sacrament. I kind of pushed off the idea for the first several days because I want to make sure that everything we do is in keeping with the sacredness of these things. But on Friday, I realized that Bianca’s heart was 100% pure and that we could have a snack of bread and water to remember the Sacrament and do it respectfully. And it turned out great. As we ate our bread and drank our water the kids wanted to read the verses in the Book of Mormon that have the Sacrament prayers. So we did, and we talked about the Sacrament and the Savior. And it really was lovely. Plus, the bread was really yummy.

See, I told you my efforts were magnified! (#1Nephi3:7again)

Parties

On Saturday, we got together with the Monsons for a delicious dinner and their traditional Easter hunt. The kids had a blast finding the stuff with their names on them as well as the loads of candy and the eggs filled with money! And of course everything is more fun with cousins and Grandma!

On Sunday after church we had our nuclear family Easter hunt in our back yard which Josh ensured was just as epic as the one at Grandma’s house. The kids were delighted to do the whole thing over again!

We also had delicious food made by Josh all day! I had run out of ideas after Good Friday, so Josh made sure we had an awesome Easter day by making us a super yummy breakfast casserole with chocolate milk, bagel sandwiches for lunch, and homemade country fried steak with potatoes and gravy and salad and peas for dinner. It was seriously all SO GOOD!

And Grandpa Lynn came to visit that evening as well! And the Easter Bunny himself couldn’t have brought more excitement to the kids.

Church

We had a great time at church! My one regret is that I didn’t greet people with “He is Risen” as much as I wanted to. I am REALLY hoping that becomes a widespread tradition, because it is way cool!

Our family was lucky to be very involved in the meeting. Josh led the primary children (including all of our kids but Fay) in their special Easter Song, Because. Josh and I were both part of the choir numbers. And Carter and Portia got to give talks! They both did such a great job sharing what Jesus means to them.

The other talks and music were equally wonderful! And I’m so grateful we got to be there!

One last little tradition that we have is that I am just obsessed with getting new Easter outfits. The kids were such sweeties and let me document them in their spring finery.

Anyway, all of this is LOTS and LOTS of words trying to convey one important idea: I know that Jesus Christ is the Son of God who atoned for the pains and sins of all mankind by giving His life and gloriously taking it up again. And that is ABSOLUTELY cause for celebration!

Bianca turned FIVE years old on April 12! She was very excited for this birthday because she got to have her very first friend-party! She was delighted to invite all her preschool and church friends to celebrate with her, and even more delighted that everybody came!

Bianca wanted her birthday party to be themed “colors.” So we decorated with lots of different colors of streamers, balloons, and plates and napkins. She also requested that we do crafts that involved colors. The girls got to decorate their own princess mirror with colored markers and gem stickers, paint rocks with fancy paint markers (thanks for sharing, Fay), and even paint their nails. We also played color games like Red Rover and Red Light, Green Light. Red Rover was my personal favorite. The girls were SOOOOOO cute as they figured out how the game worked.

The whole thing was a lot of fun for me and Bianca. We were so grateful for all the friends and their parents who made the party such a joyful success.

Also, it must be noted that Fay was the absolute hero of the party. She was my second “adult” helper for every single part. And I really needed extra help with all those cute girls playing with all those colors. I’m so grateful for her joyfully willing assistance the entire time!

And now back to Bianca!

Bianca is such a little gem to have at home with me during the day. She is energetic, fun, and always up for some kind of activity; but she’s also patient with the fact that I used up all my energy and funness on Fay and Carter as toddlers. I love when she comes with me to the store or helps me with housework, or when we play games together, read stories, or watch Shimmer and Shine or Strawberry Shortcake.

Bianca is currently enjoying her final year of preschool with Miss Karie as well as ballet classes on Thursday mornings. She likes ballet and is super excited for her recital next month; but she thinks she might like to try a different sport next year. We’ll see what she ultimately decides. 🙂 She also reports that, ever since holding and tinkering with a violin at the violin store, she would like to begin violin lessons immediately. We’ll probably wait a few years before committing to that; but she sure was cute with that tiny violin!

Something that I love doing with Bianca (and she tolerates) is her hair. If you know me at all, you know that none of my girls gets her hair really done for school very often. But with just Bianca at home with me and her having afternoon preschool, there’s time to try out new styles! Bianca likes it better when we look up a YouTube tutorial for the hairstyle first. And she loves having a book to read or something else fun to do while I do her hair.

Other things Bianca loves include:

• Getting her nails painted
• Eating candy (she added this one)
• When the kids come home and play with her
• Making homemade personal pizza (she added this one too)
• Dressing up fancy (especially in her long, green dress)
• Leaving her bed after bedtime and falling asleep in random places on the floor
• Buying things at the store with her OWN money

Things Bianca does NOT love include:

• Me playing the piano when she’s the only kid home

Okay, there’s probably other things that could go on that list. But that’s a consistent one that she gets impressively grumpy about.

Anyway, Bianca is the funnest little cutie ever! We adore her forever! Enjoy some more pictures of her!

If you ask our kids, they can all tell you that we are really good at doing nothing for spring break. The neighbors may go to Europe and DisneyWorld, but we stay home and do nothing while Mom stresses out. 🙂

But THIS year, Josh saved us all from the traditional boredom and we went on a super fun trip to Arizona!

This grand adventure began with a simple, honest love … of cactus! In February, we went to St. George to visit my brother Tanner and his wife Becca and we saw some cool cactus specimens that Josh really enjoyed. And then he came home and found a book about cactus and other desert plants at the library. (Have I ever mentioned to you how much I LOVE being part of the Salt Lake County Library system?! It is seriously the best!) Anyway, the real cacti, plus the pictures in the book sparked in Josh the need to get out and see a BUNCH of cacti. So he started dreaming up this spring break trip to Arizona. I must confess that I find it really cool that Josh was/is so excited about cacti, and that now all our kids are equally excited and much more educated about cacti!

We headed out on our adventure on Sunday, right after church. We drove as far as Las Vegas that night and stopped to eat and sleep (also to drive through the exciting lights on The Strip). The next morning, we headed out again and drove all the way to Scottsdale. The kids made sure we had some fun along the way, like taking advantage of this western sculpture situation at a gas station. ⬆️

Before we could check in to our AirBnB, we hit up hole-in-the-rock. Josh assured me that he and I had gone there before when we were in Arizona in 2021 for a couple’s trip, but I had absolutely no recollection of doing it. Then when we arrived and especially as we started up the trail I remembered everything and admitted that I was way wrong. This time, I made sure to get photographic evidence so I could remember. 🙂

I love Helen’s face in this one! 😂

When we did check in, the kids all knew EXACTLY what they wanted to do. Our place had a pool in the back yard and, despite the fact that the water was FREEZING and it wasn’t all that warm of a day, the kids spent 3 solid hours swimming their hearts out!

And they spent just about every free minute we would allow them in that pool!

The next day we spent all in Scottsdale. We started the day at the Railroad Park. Everyone enjoyed the themed playgrounds, the carousel, the mini train ride, the big retired 1930s train, and the model train museum! After that we went home for lunch and (you guessed it) swimming. This time only 2 hours. Once everybody had been persuaded to vacate the water, we got dressed and went to “The Boardwalk.” There were some cool things we might have done there–like the aquarium or alien experience thingy–but we didn’t have a ton of time, so mostly we just looked at stuff and got some unique candies from the fun candy store. There was also this rad Cinderella carriage we had to document!

The reason that we didn’t have a ton of time to spend at the Boardwalk was because we had very exciting dinner plans!

We went to Medieval Times! I had heard about this place in the past, but didn’t know much. But when Josh was perusing available attractions in Scottsdale and this one came up, I was super excited to try it out! It was spontaneous and unlike anything we usually do on vacation (or at home, for that matter)! And, it didn’t disappoint!

I don’t know how much anybody reading this knows about Medieval Times, but here’s the gist: You buy a ticket for a banquet and competition. When you enter, you are seated in stadium style banquet tables according to the color of crown you are wearing (we were red). Then you get introduced to a King and Queen who have invited you to this banquet as a celebration of their newly made alliance between six distinct groups (not quite kingdoms, I think, but a lot of the “plot” went over my head). Our server informed us that as red-crown-wearers in the red section, we would be rooting for the Red Knight. We were also somewhat instructed on how to cheer on our knight and his comrades (Yellow Knight and Black and White Knight) and to “Boo!!” our knight’s major opponents (Blue Knight, Red and Yellow Knight, and Green Knight). Then we got to see all the knights march around with their squires, practice throwing their lances, etc. We also saw a remarkably trained horse doing some really cool things, as well as a beautiful falcon. All this was in conjunction with our feast! We had soup and bread, followed by half a chicken, corn on the cob, and a seasoned baked potato, and then an eclair for dessert!

Then the tournament began where different combinations of two knights would joust against each other (my personal favorite part) followed by some exciting sword combat. It worked elimination style until only two knights remained. We cheered on our Red Knight with all our hearts through the whole tournament and were elated when he turned out to be the ultimate victor of it all! I know that us being put in the red section was completely arbitrary, but I still felt immense pride when “we” won the whole tournament!

And then, as if our delight at the experience needed any help, we got another very exciting honor! After the Red Knight triumphed over all his foes, he had the choice of all the fair maidens in the red section to select as his “Queen of Love and Beauty.” Josh worked hard to make sure that the knight could see Helen standing on his lap when the search began. The knight came right up to our row and saw Helen along with Portia right next to her and said “Let’s do both of them!” It was such a memorable moment for our two little queens!

I told the kids, as we left, that our experience that night was too perfect to be just chance. I feel like we were blessed (for who knows why) to have had such a fantastic time!

Sorry that was long. But I want to remember the whole thing!

The next day, Wednesday, was our long awaited trip to Saguaro National Park! We had a bit of a drive over to the east side of Tuscon, but the kids were so excited to see cactus that they were honestly quite well behaved for the extra driving.

We went on a mile-ish long hike where we met the several types of cactus that frequent the Sonoran Desert. We saw saguaros, prickly-pears, teddy-bears (Do. Not. Touch.), barrel cactus, jumping cholla, Ocatillo (I know them as “the ones with the orange blossoms”, and Staghorn Cholla (what Fay called “strawberry cactus).” Those are at least the ones I really took note of. And it was really fun to have learned about them on the hike, because for the rest of our time driving and hiking through the park we kept seeing the same ones and recognizing them, almost as old cactus friends!

As we looked out over the desert from the car, I was struck by just how ALIVE the whole place is! It was almost like woods, but instead of trees, it was cacti of all varieties and sizes.

We loved seeing how tall the saguaros got! When we were climbing over the Javelina Rocks and Fay was way on top of a big mountain of rocks, she noted that she was still not as tall as the saguaro right next to her rock stack! Those things are seriously SO big!!!

Another fun thing about going to Saguaro National Park was that Portia got us in for free! When we pulled up to the gate, ready to pay, the guy asked if we had anybody with life long disabilities. I had heard that diabetes qualified you for a lifelong National Parks pass, but we hadn’t brought anything from the girls’ doctor to “prove” their condition, so we thought we would be out of luck. But when we (probably too excitedly) informed him that we had two Type 1 Diabetics, he just handed us a sheet for Portia to sign saying that she COULD have a doctor provide documents citing that she does indeed have a lifelong disability. Portia signed her paper, and then signed her very own card that will let her into any National Park for free for the rest of her life! Thanks for saving us $25, Portia!

I think it will be fun for Portia to take her own family to national parks for free some day and show them her sweet little 9-year-old signature on her official card.

After enjoying the cactus wonderland, we headed back into Tuscon to visit their zoo! We only made it for the last hour, but we still got to see a lot because it was not busy. I guess it wasn’t spring break for people in Arizona.

Something I really loved about this zoo was that most of the animals were awake and active. I don’t know if it was because this zoo is way different from others, or because we didn’t go in the morning like we usually do for zoos, or maybe because the zoo was closing and that means they were all about to be fed; but whatever the reason, it was super fun to see the animals moving around and doing stuff.

I don’t know what was in this exhibit, but this picture had all my favorite people in it. 🙂

How do rhinos lift their heads?! They are SO BIG!

Despite that peacock’s best efforts, those peahens were NOT impressed.

After the zoo, we went over to a place in Tuscon called “The Garden of Gethsemane.” We read that it was a statue garden depicting scenes of the Savior. I was expecting it to be something like the life of Christ statue garden at Ashton Gardens (which is majestic and beautiful, by the way) and I thought it would be a special thing to go see, especially since it’s Eastertime. We were disappointed that it was so small (and I personally was disappointed that one statue showed Jesus still lying in the tomb, rather than being resurrected), but it wasn’t a bad experience. I think it’s always good to think about Jesus.

Apparently Bianca felt like this picture needed some attitude. 😬

Then we called it a day, and went home to eat and go to bed. The kids didn’t swim this day. But they survived.

Our last full day was Thursday. We started the morning with a trip to The Idea Museum in Mesa. It is a children’s museum that has a strong focus on arts and crafts, and all around creativity. Our kids LOVED it! We spent 3 hours there and they could have very happily stayed another hour. Our family does quite a lot of arts and crafts type stuff, but this place had so many fun things that I have never thought or heard of before. It was a highlight of the trip for me! If any of you are ever taking a young family to the Phoenix area, I would HIGHLY recommend this be one of your stops!

Carter worked so hard on that car! And he was apparently rewarded for his efforts; because he reported that a lady stopped to get photographic evidence of his impressive masterpiece to show her family, because otherwise they would never believe he actually made something that sophisticated on his own.

After that, we went back to the house for lunch and, of course, some more swimming! I finally ventured into the water on this last day. But only the hot-tub! The frigid pool did not appeal to me.

After swimming, we hung out in Old Town Scottsdale for a while. I think it would have been more fun if we had been there earlier in the day. By that time–around 6:00–most of the kid friendly gift shop places had closed and there was mostly “adult” entertainment available. So, we didn’t spend long.

Josh’s sister, Lacey sent us an Instagram reel about yummy food in Scottsdale. (Thanks Lacey!!) We had mostly made our own food at the house during the trip, but we wanted to try one more thing we couldn’t get in Riverton before we left. So we went to a place called Lamp Pizza for dinner. It was fancy wood fired personal size pizza, and everybody got happily full there!

But there was another place from the reel that we wanted to try, so we went there too! It was called Jo Jo’s Shake Bar. Scottsdale isn’t the only place you can get this, but Riverton is NOT a place you can get it, so we’re happy we went! It was delicious, but the presentation was my personal favorite thing about it. Also, it is in this super swanky part of town that made me feel fancy (and maybe a little like an imposter) just walking there. Maybe someday when I’m rich and famous I’ll frequent places like that and feel exclusively fancy and NOT like an imposter.

Look at that thing! Isn’t it just so beautiful?!

And then, with our stomachs aching merrily, we went home for our last sleep in Scottsdale.

Friday, we had thought to stop in St. George at Tanner and Becca’s for the night (they were very kind and had agreed to let us stay again), but we changed our minds and decided to just go straight home. It turns out that 10+ hours in the car is hard on everybody, not just the kids, and by the time we got home I was So. Done. and didn’t say a word to Josh all night. (Sorry, Babe! I really do love you!) But waking up at home on Saturday morning with nowhere to drive was really really nice. So, it was worth it!

We had such a dream of a time on this trip! Thank goodness for Josh and cactus-dreams come true!

Did you know that Helen’s birthday is only two days after Portia’s? That means that if/when I’m not on my A-game, they both get their birthday blog-posts written at the same time.😅

Happy 7th birthday to our sweet Helenator!

Helen is seriously the funnest little girl to be around! She kind of just quietly goes about her life absolutely relishing most everything about it. She loved celebrating her birthday. She loved getting a birthday crown at school. She loved going shopping for the ingredients to her birthday foods. She loves playing with her birthday gifts. She just loves it all!

We love her!

Helen had these cupcakes fully planned in her head long before her birthday. It was super fun to help make her mental masterpiece a reality.

For her birthday, Helen requested a fairy costume and also makeup. She is having a blast getting super fancy (and coercing Bianca into doing it with her) whenever she pleases.

And speaking of fancy, Helen has been loving the unique opportunity she has had recently to be a model for Hope and Henry children’s clothes. She has done 4 photo-shoots for them over the last year and always has a super fun time. Plus, she gets free clothes out of it!

When we went to St. George to visit my brother Tanner and his wife Becca, Helen loved finding anything and everything that could count as a cave. She made sure she spent at least some time in each one she encountered.

Just like Portia, Helen loves being creative and crafty. She’ll make something out of just about anything available.

I found these three raccoons snuggling together in a hat on the floor of Helen’s room. It’s nice to know she’s still her raccoon self at heart.

Some other things that Helen really likes include:

• Melting beads
• Playing outside
• Her umbrella
• Ballet–she’s in lessons and has tons of fun!
• Her best friend, Reagan

We’re so grateful that Helen has been ours for 7 whole years!

Sometimes I kind of let it slip my mind that celebrating the kids’ birthdays means that they’re a whole year older. I feel like this year I’m still half in denial that my kids are really growing up.

We celebrated 9 wonderful years of loving Portia on March 10th! She got lots of loving from her siblings, parents, grandparents, teachers, friends, and classmates! I feel like she was bringing home birthday spoils for the whole week. She loved the attention!

Portia is super fun at this season of her life (just like she was in the others)! She is creative, enthusiastic, opinionated, smart, and willing to work hard. She also really excels in academics, music, comedic timing, and making sure she is heard. We love having her in our family!

For her birthday, Portia got a dinosaur lego set. Here she is rocking her dinosaur to sleep. <3

She made this impressive tower of random things from her and Carter’s bedroom. It was taller than me!

Just having fun being herself!

Right now, Portia’s sport of choice is swimming. She loves going each week and is making great progress!

She is also taking piano lessons. She works very hard at practicing, and is richly rewarded for her efforts by her teacher. The other kids in music lessons are rather envious. But she is making wonderful progress and seems to enjoy it all.

No matter where we are, Portia finds a way to make it extra fun!

Some other things Portia enjoys right now are

• Reading–especially graphic novels
• Every conceivable type of craft
• Picking out clothes for the day
• Playing outside (finally!)

I feel like this post really isn’t enough to give you a good idea of just how terrific Portia is. You’ll just have to come hang out with her sometime!