April 22- Need to Speed 14 years Old

 

April 20- Happy Easter

Teamwork! Jody made the backyard gorgeous, I cooked, the kids helped wherever we needed! We stayed up late trying to get groceries, I don't know why I was woefully unprepared. However with good ingredients comes good food. Homemade carrot cake was delicious. Our home was clean, we went to church and had a very explicit talk on addiction and how The Savior loves us so much that healing and forgiveness are always possible. Papa put on a great Easter egg hunt... very expensive. The kids stuffed their own eggs. The easter bunny brought some treats from Trader Joe's. The weather was lovely (a little windy) but we ate outside and it was pleasant. I made Greek chicken meatballs for the first time and they turned out tasty.

Easter is a favorite holiday of mine. The past couple years have scrambled my reality quite a bit and sometimes I don't get to everything that I want to. With kids older, it's hard to gather and teach. I know Christ has risen. I was impressed with a talk about how even though He knew He would die... He still went about doing good. So much positive was accomplished in the last week of His life. I'm grateful for The Savior's example. For His willingness. The Greek translation of "It is finished" is "It is paid for". In no way shape or form can I deny that Christ paid for my sins, my life, and my happiness. All will be made right through Him. I'm grateful to hopefully one day live with my family again in the eternities. I'm grateful for free will and choice and to choose Him. I hope to always choose Him and Heavenly Father who have given me everything.

April 19- Prom

Maria went to Whitney Peak Hotel for Prom with Bailey. They enjoyed a nice Italian Dinner together and Maria survived doing a swim meet beforehand. 200's no less. The music was lame and so were most of the people, but they had fun. Glad they will have that Highschool memory.

 

April 13- Splash into Spring Elk Grove Meet

 This was an amazing meet! Papa went all out and got us an AIR BNB. It was really nice, spacious and comfortable- not perfect, but just the right size for all of us. The kiddos swam really hard, the weather was perfect, the pool was a great size so we weren't squished, they had super fresh dumplings for purchase... we loved it. We also got to meet Manny's family that they went to Hawaii with. They were lovely and even had the tools in their truck to help scrape off the melted plastic Papa and Manny used to cook garlic bread in the oven. Papa timed for 2 hours straight while we took Eli home early. We ate at a vegetarian restaurant (so good) and Eli and Joe got a haircut with a good barber while enjoyed a 2 mile spring walk through downtown. It was so pleasant. We also got some ice cream and that was ridiculously good. So glad to be together.