Easter- 2011

This week found Dax and Kaili spending a couple of days in Victoria at a multi-stake youth conference. They came home completely exhausted. While they were away, Ellie had a personal movie marathon while Ron and I worked and Adam plodded along with his school work.

The sun has been out for the last 3 days in a row (seems a record for here). Yesterday, Ron and I volunteered at Earth Day and Ellie accompanied us. We picked Dax and Kaili up in the evening and all colored eggs when we got home. This morning I found that my face had been colored too. . .RED. I guess I should have put on some sunscreen yesterday!

Here's Ron hard at work on one of his eggs. . .

Our church service was really beautiful today with a couple of extra musical numbers centered on Easter and the Atonement. They were REALLY moving. I had waves of goosebumps during the first number. When the second number followed, my eyes became misty. I noticed a LOT of sniffling in the congregation, then I noticed one of the members of our bishopric; he is pretty large and can have an intimidating presence, but he also has a very soft heart. . .his eyes were red and his cheeks were wet. I guess I wasn't the only one feeling the Spirit.

April 18, 2011

Saturday, after getting up at 4am, we (the whole family including the dogs + our friend, Milena) caught the early ferry to the mainland. At our first stop, we picked up a kilt for Kaili; I feel very fortunate to have been able to find one that fits her; that she actually likes the tartan is a bonus. I will need to do a few very minor alterations to the buckles/straps and make her vest, then she is "good to go" for her first competition. After the kilt store and a stop at the mall, we headed to the Home Storage Center, where we were able to pick up a bunch of beans and such for our food storage. Next we went to the Temple. While the kids did Baptisms, the dogs and I caught 40 winks in the car. Between me and Isis, there was some serious snoring going on, so it was a pretty interesting proposition. After my snooze, Ron and I were able to attend a session together.

Next we made a quick stop in Pitt Meadows to visit the grand-daughters. Desiree made some REALLY good, gluten-free cookies for us all while we were there. The girls are getting big and seem to be keeping Sean and Des pretty busy. We were able to catch the 7 ferry back and were home at around 10:30.

Yesterday after church we celebrated "little Kaili's" 16th birthday. She was shocked (and overjoyed) to receive a cell phone of her own. We had a few folks over for bar-b-qued burgers, fries and cake. Since Kaili doesn't like icing or fondant, we had angel food cake with whipped cream and berries-YUM!

It is a brilliantly sunny day here today even if a bit cool and breezy. For now, I need to do some organizing in my little office/sewing room/laundry room if I am going to get a dancing vest completed in time.

I guess the KISS principle just isn't my style. . .

You know the "Keep It Simple, Stupid" principle. Case in point; I saw a really cool project on another blog a few weeks ago that made me think "wow, great idea!" It is a magnetic monthly menu board, to see it go here.

THEN. . . I thought, with us going every-which-way, we need to have our activities on the same calendar as the meals; if we are really going to do any meal planning. NEXT I realized two months would work better than one for us.

My work schedule is always changing, so the labels need to be laminated, so I can write my hours on them.

Next, I realized the store bought clear calendar components are too small for my purposes, so I find a poster frame at Wally World. After lining it with sheet metal, making calendars with scrap-booking paper and sandwiching everything behind the clear acrylic sheet, the magnets don't stick. . .HMMM. Then I tried velcro, but that just looked BAD and didn't really work the way I wanted. Next I tried Mylar, but it was too loose. One magnet went on fine, but the next one would pop the first magnet right off on to the floor. I tried affixing the Mylar with craft fusing, but that just pulled the paper completely away from the sheet metal and none of the magnets stuck.

Finally, I figured it out! I used clear contact paper cut slightly larger than each square and stuck them directly to the metal. Now the little magnets stick just fine. I hope to have the rest of the little bugs worked out and have the calendar in full use by next week . . .YAY!!!

Oh, and I guess things aren't crazy enough for me yet, I wrote the test for Stats Canada yesterday. I may be picking up a part-time job with the Census soon too. We'll see what happens with that by month's end. . .I may need MORE labels!!!

. . .one more thing. . .

As I was reading my notes from yesterday's conference I came across one little snippet that I forgot to put in yesterday's summary. Jeffrey R. Holland was speaking of Christ's promise of gentle blessings coupled with Chist's high expectations of His followers. Elder Holland went on to say " Clearly, anyone who thinks Jesus taught no-fault theology was not reading the fine print in the contract. No, in matters of discipleship, the Church is not a fast food outlet; we can't always have it our way."

If you would like to see his whole 17 minute talk go here.

Bling?

This was General Conference week-end. Usually we spend Saturday and Sunday watching all the sessions as they are broadcast. This year Kaili was the only one who could do that. Saturday Adam and I worked, Ron went to a hiring clinic and Dax & Ellie spent the day in Victoria where they participated in a First Aid competition.
We all were able to watch the sessions today and here are a few of the sound bites and ideas I grabbed this time. . .

• Our personal portrait of the Master comes to us like a puzzle; one piece at a time as we study and pray.
• The answer to our prayers may come to us while on our feet answering another's prayer instead of while on our knees.
• Preach the Gospel at all times; if necessary use words- Attributed to St. Francis of Assisi
• The cloth of righteous societies has been woven of the golden thread of charity.
• As we increase our own self-reliance, we increase our availability to help others.
• We need to adopt a willingness to accept and even seek out correction if we are to meet the high expectations of Judgement Day.
• If we resist correction often enough, eventually the guidance will be withdrawn.
• "To be" and "to do" are interdependent; one without the other is to be a hypocrite.
• "comfort the afflicted and afflict the comfortable."
• "Bedlamites"

After conference, we went to a baptism at the church. It was a very good Sunday for us.
Oh. . .the photo from above. . .these are a few of the medals Dax and Ellie brought home yesterday. She ended the day with 2 bronze, a sliver and a gold. Dax got one of each and today I overheard him describing them as his "bling".