Easter

Easter was fun and quiet around our house. We started the morning by sitting on our bed and looking through some Easter eggs that had different names for Christ. (The Lamb or God, Messiah, Savior, etc) My Visiting Teachers had put together the eggs in a basket and it was a really great way to start Easter thinking about Christ. I really liked it, so I saved all the stuff for next year.

Then we headed to do our gifts from Mom and Dad. Gordon thinks that the Easter bunny is ridiculous, so we do a little gifts from Mom and Dad. The kids loved their gifts; swimsuits for the girls and a lamp for Talmage. Gordon gave me some beautiful spring flowers for Easter. I really enjoyed the splash of color they added to our home and they lasted about three weeks.

We enjoyed church and came home and had a wonderful dinner together and we opted not to do an Easter Egg hunt because it was raining and our kids never asked about it. So, that was our quiet and wonderful Easter Day.

Gordon with the kids on our bed. The kids made the bunny ears the day before and wanted to wear them all morning; it was cute.

Mommy and Talmage

We didn't know where our Easter baskets had gone after the move and we needed some extra storage solutions, so these storage containers worked out great.

Talmage excited with his lamp and book.

Adalyn excited to open an Easter egg with candy.

Audrey in her new swimsuit. She loves how it has a skirt that goes with it. She desperately needed a new swimsuit and not a hand me down one. However, she has kind of slowed down on wearing swimsuits all the time; surprising but true.

Adalyn in her cute new swimsuit; I love her chubby little body. Adalyn loves butterflies and she says it so cute "bufly" so this swimsuit was perfect for her.

The Riverfront and Dying Easter Eggs

The day before Easter was gorgeous so we decided to pack up our bikes and head down to the Riverfront for a family bike ride. We had a wonderful time and rode the whole length of the riverfront; we were really proud of our kids. We had a wonderful time throwing rocks in the water, watching the sailboats and other boats go by, and enjoying the amazing weather.

After our bike ride we headed to a near by park and had a picnic dinner. The kids loved playing at the park and blowing dandelions with their Daddy.

Then after all the fun at the river we headed home to dye our Easter Eggs. We had fun being creative as we dyed our eggs and luckily we didn't have too many broken eggs from Adalyn. Adalyn like to throw the hard boiled eggs into the dye; by the end she had figured out how to be gentle.

Well we had a wonderful day and everyone was worn out from all of the fun.

Gordon took this fabulous shot of the houses along the Columbia River with Mt. Hood in the distance. Beautiful!

Adalyn throwing rocks with Daddy.

Blowing Dandelions together.

Daddy tossing Adalyn high in the air.

Up close of Adalyn; she was all smiles.

Dying Easter Eggs

Some of the finished product.

The Mother of My Children

For those of you who read this blog you are well aware that Angela is a fantastic mother. For that matter, you know that Angela is one of the kindest, most loving, and best people you have ever met. I adore my wife for many, many reasons, but I want to recognize her this day as the Mother of my children.

We try hard to capture a lot of great family moments with our digital devices; we often succeed and it has become a very enjoyable journal for our family. And though we have chronicled many fun moments, we will never be able to digitally capture the precious, unheralded moments when Angela sacrifices her sleep, her time, her patience, her energy, her comfort, her whole self for our children. She spends countless hours providing our children with nurturing that bolsters their self worth. She spends time with them reading, laughing, dancing, walking, playing games, coloring, creating, imagining, building, and about any other positive gerund a person can think of. The only one she leaves to me is wrestling. My children have learned to literally stop and smell the roses. I hope some day they will fully appreciate how much their mother loves them. I am a grateful witness.

That love she so freely provides them is in its very essence God like love. Her spiritual genetic make-up allows for that love to flow through her to them. Our children are the beneficiaries of our Heavenly Father's love, in part, because Angela is a righteous, covenant keeping woman.

I honor you, Sweetheart, as the matriarch of our home. I express my deep appreciation to you for being a righteous mother in Zion. I love you first and foremost as my eternal companion, and that love is magnified by your self-sacrificing role as the mother of our children. Thank you. Happy Mother's Day. I love you.