Friday, April 20, 2012

A Beautiful Easter

I love Easter for so many reasons. Of course, the Saviors atonement is the primary one. It is a time to focus on and be so thankful for the miracle of the resurrection and the promise of eternal life. Since it appropriately is celebrated in Spring, it has innate reminders of that great gift which Christ gave to all of us. I love the new growth, the fresh, bright colors, and the signs of rebirth all around. Sometimes the weather can be a little unpredictable at Easter, but this year was simply gorgeous. Both Saturday and Sunday were perfect in temperature and had plenty of sunshine. We spent Saturday doing errands and working in the garden. In the afternoon we colored Easter eggs and then Steve and I went out to a nice dinner at the Smithville Inn. It was a beautiful drive down toward the shore and the dinner itself was delicious. Sunday morning featured the traditional Easter egg hunt in the morning. Once again, there was one egg that alluded us for a while, but Evan eventually found it. We then went to church. In the afternoon, Tracey, Chuck, Kaci and Nikki came over for dinner and the super egg hunt outside. Nathan and Megan hid 135 plastic eggs (Evan hid one, too)and then Nikki, Kaci, and Evan found them. They then proceeded to re-hide the eggs for each other multiple times. The rest of us sat out on the porch watching them and just enjoying the lovely day. It was so relaxing and nice. Thanks everyone for making our special day....well, special. Happy Easter!!!

We made some great colors this year

And we only dropped one.....the last one and it was so gorge....splat!

The traditional pouring of the colors

And here they are

Ready for the hunt

Almost awake....but still finding lots of eggs

We finally found them all

Meg with her basket

Mama with hers

Nate-" Yummy".....(Ginny- "Hey, could I get in on some of that")

Megan - ready to hide the eggs and looking good

Bowling for Eggs?  Or maybe curling?

Now that's pretty cool!!

Hmmm, what do we have here?

Wow!!  Impressive!!

Ready for the hunt...love the smiles (Kaci, Evan, Nikki)

I got one

How 'bout these ones hanging from the tree?

Can you get this one down, Uncle Steve?

Kaci with her collection

 Evan's take

Nikki....the reigning champion

Happy Easter, 2012



Garden Prep

Evan helping Dad while Megan (in some pretty sweet attire) looks on

Well, it's that time again.  We spent a few hours out in the garden on the Saturday before Easter.  Daddy and Evan went to the co-op and picked out a few of the cold weather plants that we could start.  In talking about the garden last year we determined that maybe we did not go down deep enough in the new section when we tilled it.  So Steve had Evan provide the extra weight as he plowed this year.  They picked out all kinds of different things to plant.   Some we have tried before, and others.....well, we'll see. That's the thing about gardening...you never really know how things will turn out.  But it is always fun to try.  Here's to some happy picking this summer.

Can you tell how much fun he had?

Thursday, April 5, 2012

An Amazing Weekend (Part 5)......The Birthdays


Even though Evan celebrated his birthday at the beginning of March, we had another birthday celebration for him and Grandma on the Sunday of his baptism. Grandma's birthday wasn't until April 4th but we wanted to celebrate them both while Janelle and Scott were here. They got to open some presents and share a little cake that they both helped to blow out the candles on. Happy Birthday, Grandma Foulk and Evan!!!

An Amazing Weekend (Part 4)...The Baptism

With Evan turning eight at the beginning of the month, he was old enough and very much looking forward to getting baptized. We talked to him and decided that it would be good to wait until the end of the month for the baptism so that Janelle and Scott could come to both his baptism and Megan's musical. He thought that was a great idea.
The baptism was held on Sunday, April 1 at 10 am. This allowed people to come to the baptism and still attend General Conference at noon. We had a nice turn out in spite of the fact that most people watch conference at home and weren't at the church already. Daddy baptized and confirmed Evan a member of the church, Janelle and Scott both gave talks, and Megan and Nathan gave the prayers. It was a very nice day to be together for such an important reason and such a great young man. Good job, Evan.


Evan with Daddy before the baptism


Mom, Evan and Dad


The baptism boy


Alan enjoying some of the yummy refreshments with Aunt Meg


Evan set up the camera to take the picture by itself.....but.....


....he just...


.....couldn't wait!!


And here we are after the baptism with the camera on auto pilot.....not too bad.
Congratulations, Evan!!

An Amazing Weekend (Part 3).....The Conference

On this busy weekend, we also had the opportunity to watch and listen to our prophet and apostles speak to us for General Conference. We watched the Saturday sessions at Grandma's house and then watched Sunday's sessions here at our house. Evan was supposed to play a baseball game on Saturday, but the rain cancelled the game so that we didn't have to miss any of the conference that day. What a boost it always is to be able to feel the spirit of these great leaders and set new goals to do a little better as a result.

Steve setting up our computer to hook to the TV. It was the first time we watched conference this way. It worked really well.

Evan getting out a few wiggles before the conference began....nice moves, Evan!!

No movement here......just had to snap this photo which caught them all asleep..ha ha

Hey guys....wake up!! :)

An Amazing Weekend (Part 2)...The Play

Megan decided to follow in her big brother's footsteps and try out for the spring musical at Seneca since it is her senior year. The musical was AIDA, a show we were not at all familiar with, but one that we are still humming the music from. Such good music!! It was really nice that Janelle and Scott were able to be here to see her in it along with our family here. The cast and crew did a great job and I know that Megan had so much fun doing it. Here are a few photos of the people involved. Great job Seneca!!

Amneris (Michaela) and our Nubian slave (Meg)...microphones on
and ready to go

The Friday night attendees: Nate, Steve, Meg, Janelle, and Scott

The Thursday night/Sat. matinee Aida (Nia) and Meg

The Saturday night attendees: Evan, Meg and Jill

Meg and Nehebka (Drew)

Amneris, Radames, and Aida (Friday and Saturday nights)

Aida (Sarah) and Meg

Radames (Eric) and Meg

Meg and Evan after the show

Evan wanted to get a few shots with the cast too....Evan, Megan, Michaela

Nia, Meg, and Michaela. These two girls played on different nights and both did a great job!

Evan and Eric

Sarah and Evan

Some congratulatory flowers for our star!!! You did such a great job, Meg. Thanks for a great show....it was so much fun.