APRIL

Lils April is WAY purtier than mine!!! ❤

Eek. Pastels.

So about a week before Dad’s birthday he came to our house (on the night of GCYA practice for the girls) & we saw him through the camera saying “no ones hoooome” as he stuck his eyeball closer…and we put the result of it on his cake. Michael spit out food he was laughing so hard (in Thai restaurant at that moment). So hilarious. 

 

Always fun crafties and cookies with Tia Sophia and Grandma;) 

If it comes into our house it will be rainbowed…examples below. 

 

Saturday Easter celebration at Tia Stephanies. Brian got a Tesla so we all had to take a drive:) Girls get their own colored eggs to search for here and HUGE bins of candy every time. Spoiled monkeys. 

 

Easter Sunday sweeties

Mom & Mason making the same face 👆

 

Sia asked if she could try to make her own lego bunnies one day!

YES PLEASE. So cute. They’re pretty much my favorite Easter decor now:) 

 

Really I took these pictures so I can remember where I stuck all of my carrots for decor! 

So this was a bittersweet time. We had found 3 pretty quickly after arriving but there was a little girl and her dad that had been looking and looking! SO! Of course we wanted to give her one but they told us it wasn’t allowed 😠 DUMB.

 Anyway…we did a nasty Costco lunch and the mall to make up for it:) 

 

 

The Most Epic Birthday Party showtime!!! 

Me and Michael found a new place to eat on Saturday for lunch before the girls last show (Thailand Restaurant not open on weekends) The Farmacy. All vegan & I got some really amazing quinoa tacos & Michael got a beet salad that he would go back and get again! So pretty inside too!

The girls dressing up as us and acting like us. Noelle is Halloween, on Gwinna’s (my)  lap:)

  

YAY for getting to the temple to do initiatories for Michaels side! 

And yay for seeing TC (temple cat) and YAY for Chick Fil A & Lush & the big bear!!!

 

When we picked up Dad’s cake we did a little WalMart trip and ate the best Indian food in Patterson at Tandoori Flame.  My haul made me happy. 

Random pictures the girls like to take of us and each other.☝

Flea Market shopping dia!

Mack’s blessing 
-Courage to stand for what is right even when times may be tough
-To know so many people in this world love you 

 

A lesson I began to plan & never taught….

Things I love about the temple
1. Service TO the other side. 
Something really sacred about being given this capability…it’s a privilege to serve others on this side of the veil but such a powerful experience to get to literally help those who are no longer on this side move forward over there. Because of ordinances we perform through proxy HERE they can progress over there. It is such the testimony builder that there is absolutely “another show” after this one too. You feel the truth of that so strongly in the temple. Our lives do not end. Our loved ones live on. Line in my patriarchal blessing that is just my favorite… “many of your family members, including many residing in the spirit world, are a great part of your life.” Currently a great part of my life!
No one has addressed the gathering more directly than President Russell M. Nelson: “Anytime you do anything that helps anyone—on either side of the veil—take a step toward making covenants with God and receiving their essential baptismal and temple ordinances, you are helping to gather Israel. It is as simple as that.” Tis missionary work!!!!

2. service to THIS side. In March me & MJ did temple work in San Diego for his grandpa who passed last year.
Such immediate opportunity for service right when you enter the temple. 

3. The feelings, stillness and waiting. When we went in San Diego a worker apologized for the wait and the man next to me (Doing work for his dad) commented “what better place to wait!?” Truly though. The temple should be a moment of slowing to rejuvenate and rest our souls in what truly matters in this life and the next. 

4. PERSPECTIVE - I love a good at least 1,000 piece puzzle. We do them as a family fairly often..esp for holidays and a couple of my kids really don’t love them. They’ll come and put a couple pieces and then leave until the end so they feel more accomplished getting those last ones in. I have tried to teach them to back up a little bit, truly look at the whole picture. My gwinna will search for one single piece & get so frustrated when she can’t find it. I would too….that is not my strategy. I look at all of it, the shapes, the color, the big picture. My dad always said to me that looking at the box was cheating but not in life right!? We have to step back from our “to do” lists, our busy day to day schedules, and what FEELS like the most important stuff to get done, get done, get done moment by moment. The temple provides this ability for me. I am able to see what Heavenly Father wants me to be focusing on …mostly it’s just being reminded because don’t we all know already what’s most important!? Our relationships, staying close to the Spirit, truly living our lives around what our Savior would do.