Easter Egg Hunt

I love Easter time. I love the memories from long ago of little girls in white hats and gloves, and pastel Easter dresses and yellow fuzzy chicks and tulips and lilacs. When I was a child I loved the colored candy eggs they don't make any more that had a white nougat in them. We would play for hours with our Easter candy and Easter grass, making winding roads with jelly beans. Here is a picture of me and Julie taken in 1959 which recalls those days.

Now, as a grandma, I love having an Easter egg hunt, and putting little tiny stuff into little tiny containers! 

The hunt was ON for 2014:

Psssst, Eli,it's right behind you by the shed!

I love this photo below where Calvin is off to the races and Tony is trying out my early mother's day present - A HAMMOCK!! As you can see it was enjoyed by one and all.

(...yikes, I'm dragging bottom!)

I can't make this photo of Jane flip around, so I'll post it twice....

Gorgeous Lauren and popcorn popping on the apricot tree.

Vivi is holding an eraser that is a miniature can of soda with a straw. "Little stuff held by a cute little girl"

Ahhh, beautiful Jane, contemplating the meaning of life. Or possibly scoping out where the rest of her yellow eggs are hidden!

Super cute Emma Claire wore super cute purple to match her purple eggs!

Reagan Elizabeth in all her fabulousness as she gathers her orange eggs (with Cal's help).

And Calvin has to have one more picture because he's so dang darling. He was soooo sad when he found out he couldn't take the plastic eggs home. Maybe next year I'll change the rules. Although then he'll be old enough to understand.

Aunt Denny and Emma glowing with loveliness and enjoying themselves in the swing.

And we also did some gardening. We planted jelly beans into the planter box in the back yard;

 ....watered them carefully with special magic water........

 and when we came back outside to check on them - they'd grown into Tootsie pops! AMAZING!

 

We ate lovely Costco-prepared foods. I told Dennis I didn't want to cook, I just wanted to go to Costco and load up. So we did. I forgot all about the miniature eclairs I bought. I now have a box of 100 in my refrigerator. Anyone want to come over?

Emma brought her ukelele (it belonged to Grandpa Hiatt and he gave it to her for her 10th birthday!). She and Denny seranded us with "You put the lime in the coconut" because it only has one chord. It was hilarious.

 Reagan brought her uke too and she and Emma also figured out a few tunes

 HAPPY EASTER!!!

P.S.

We just got back from St. George a couple of hours ago and here are a couple photos from there. This was taken from the bluff above the city. It was rainy and overcast the whole time we were there - but it sure was beautiful this morning when we left!

 Gary and Linda's good sides. 

This is my prize photo. Isn't it a hoot? We saw "Heaven is For Real" and were extreeeeeeemely early. We really liked it. The cute little boy in the movie reminded me so much of Wyatt!

Love, Mom

P.P.S. Remember my little pea shoots? I should use them as an object lesson on the winds of adversity being necessary to help us grow. I put them outside to toughen them up and the winds of adversity shook their flimsy little roots that were hot-house weak and now I only have one left. You can see one of her collapsed comrads next to her. I hope she makes it!

Julie's Visit

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"Spring Has Sprung....!

"...the grass has ris......I wonder where the flowers is?"

I loved that rhyme when I was a little kid!!


Last week I started humming the Carole King song "I feel the earth...move...under my feet..." and realized it was the springtime planting rhythm that was rumbling around. The weather here is so unpredictable and my garden patch has not had a good track record so I decided to plant some peas indoors right here next to me in my computer room. They have sprung up like little soldiers. Company P! I'm so proud of them!
Happy Spring!
Mom

Karen no last name

Last week I had my first experience with finding a name on family search and doing temple work for them. Her name was "Karen" - no last name was listed. I don't remember how I ended up with her name either. I was clicking around on the Family Search website and ended up somewhere, and according to the website, there was this person in our family line who needed to have her temple work done. So I printed out a piece of paper with her name and a bar code, and my visiting teacher who is a pro at family history, told me, yup, that's all you need to do, now just take it to the temple and they'll make you one of those pink cards just like you've seen other people have through the years. So I drove over to the Jordan River temple (which is literally within walking distance. True, it would probably take an hour to walk there, but still, it's awfully close). It was a beautiful springy day too. It was a yellow day. As I walked toward the temple awww, there was my first sighting of forsythia blossoms this year.

Then I saw a bright yellow Volksagen bug parked up ahead. I recognized it as belonging to my friend Karen Helton who was chairman of the decorating committee for Stake Women's Conference last year.

While composing this post, I remembered a photo I'd taken of Karen in her yellow bug  last year in the parking lot of the Stake center, and it is copied below. Hey, she even has on yellow sun glasses. If I were the chairman of the decorating committee I would not look as happy as Karen does in this picture. This was taken right before many, many mini-vans began backing into the stalls, loaded to the hilt with planters, quilts, end tables, chairs, couches....... She's a powerhouse of happiness, that one! My counselor Jennie is sitting next to her. You heard me talk about "my counselor Jennie" for the last five years. Isn't she cute?:
 

Now, to return to my original post, and complete my yellow experience, here are photos I snapped of some yellow temple daffodils, a yellow-skirted fellow temple lady, and the deeply yellow angel Moroni.

sideways!

Once I entered into the temple I ended up behind a sister who I overheard telling the man at the recommend desk that she had brought a family name and it was her first time doing this too! So I followed happily behind her to the family name desk and watched as they printed out her card and said "I'm with her! Here's one more!" With all of the cards they print out each week at the temple, I was amazed that the temple worker used a little craft store-size paper cutter, and "slice" "slice" "slice" "slice" neatly cut the page she printed out into a pink index card.  Harry Hale Russell would probably have had something to say about that! There was additional information on the pink card they gave me which indicated Karen "no last name" was christened about 1838 in Denmark. Her parents were Maren Rasmussen Pedersen and Peder Pedersen (so, obviously she is Karen Pedersen, but Karen no last name is much more fun) and she was sealed to her parents in the Manti temple in 1912. This caused much head scratching for the people at the desk, because she should have had the rest of her work done in Manti at that time. Which made me think that either a) it had already been done in 1912 and just not recorded which once again, would not make great-grandfather Harry Hale Russell happy; or b) she really has been waiting around for 100 years, sealed to her parents, but  unbaptized and unendowed, so near but yet so far.  

Brenda Cowdell, the sister who I'd attached myself to, was a relatively small woman. I decided to ask her if she could do the baptism for my Karen and she was so nice to do that. So I waited and watched from the baptistry chapel (where I used to play the organ many years ago). While I waited for sister Cowdell to get changed into baptismal clothes, I listened to the organist and interestingly she played "O Little town of Bethlehem" at one point. She was playing "Abide with Me" when the baptism was performed.Occasionally I've walked into a room where the spirit stops me in my tracks and I felt it walking down the stairs to the baptismal area.  Just as strongly as in Nauvoo last summer watching while Angie's family performed baptisms in the gorgeous Nauvoo temple. It was a sacred experience then seeing Dennis and Forrest and Ethan and Elise and Jonas do baptisms as I watched through the glass, and it was a sacred experience witnessing the baptism of Karen this day. In both instances, there was the pane of glass separating me from the baptisms being performed, and the veil felt as close as a second pane of glass, just one I couldn't see as well. 

It was sweet to watch the temple worker wrap up those who have just been baptized with a big, white towel and a smile. After the baptism and confirmation had been performed, I asked the woman at the baptistry desk what was next (it is always so daunting to do something for the very first time!) and she told me to just wait a couple of minutes while they record it up in the office, then she will bring me back the card. While I was waiting, Sister Brenda Cowdell who performed the baptism changed her clothes, and came up to me in the baptistry chapel and said "It was neat. I could feel them just jumping up and down. I could feel their joy!" I wanted to write this down so I wouldn't forget it, because it really was a special experience and I was between heaven and earth.


So, to place me squarely back on earth after this heavenly experience, I could smell the faint aroma of mashed potatoes and gravy wafting into the baptistry from the temple cafeteria down the hall. It was noon and I was famished. I thought, "Is it weird to eat alone in the temple cafeteria?" Turns out, kinda. I was disappointed when they told me they didn't have mashed potatoes and gravy. Bummer. I settled for corned beef and cabbage soup. The salt and pepper shakers in the temple cafeteria are always so CLEAN! As I was eating, I overheard someone at the table next to me say "My brother is going to BYU...." and I realized the BYU NCAA game was on t.v. at 1:00. Now, I had not planned to stay and do the initiatory and endowment for Karen, but after witnessing the baptism, I changed my mind. So, I decided to drive home and get my temple clothes, and DVR the BYU game. I looked at my half-finished salad and the thought crossed my mind, "Do they have to-go boxes at the temple cafeteria?" nawww.

I made the quick drive home (all the while telling "Karen" that this would just take a second!), DVR'd the game, got my temple clothes, grabbed two tootsie roll midgets (the colored ones, oh I like those), put one in my pocket and one in my mouth...and pulled off a crown. My dentist, who is my home teacher, has his office right up the road. "Hello, Dr. Dunn's office? I'm in the middle of doing Karen no last name's temple work and just pulled off a crown. Could you work me in?" After all was cemented back in place, I drove down the street to the temple and told Karen, "See? I told you I'd be right back!"
In closing, it was a wonderful experience and it left me with a peaceful, joyful feeling that lingers still.

Before I sign off, here is a photo of the corner of my bedroom where in startling contrast to each other, a rocking chair and an exercise bike sit unhappily side by side. Neither of them makes me happy, and I don't think they like each other very much. A rocking chair? An exercise bike? How on earth did these two end up taking over an entire corner of the master bedroom? If I was left to my own devices, these two would be waiting for another 100 years before I touched either of them - kinda like Karen-no-last-name.

Love you!
Mom/Babette

 

King and Queen of the World!

Today I got to visit with my mom and dad in their cozy condo. We had a great afternoon together eating soup and salad and talking non-stop. After dinner, mom and I retired to the music room and played duets, including "Bad, Bad Leroy Brown" which will now be going through both of our heads for the next two days, while dad whipped up a decadent dessert of chocolate cake and ice cream. 

At the end of the visit, they walked me outside to their "back porch." Dad grabbed the red railing and raised his head to the wind and said he always feels like he's on the bow of a ship when he stands there. He faced west, struck a regal pose and said "I'm the King of the World!"

Yes you are dad, yes you are!...and mom is the queen of the world! Here's proof:

Also, last Tuesday we had our monthly ward sealing group at the Jordan River Temple. It's a wonderful experience that we've been able to participate in for the last couple of years. One of the members of our group, actually the one who got us nudged into joining, is Rich Gibbons, the golfer, you know the one. He loves to go to Astro Burger afterward and he and I both get patty melts. It never fails that after the session is finished, before we're even out of the sealing room, Rich comes up to me with a big smile and whispers "Patty Melt!'  He and his wife weren't there last week so Dennis and I just went through the drive-through at Astro Burger alone. The sunset was just cascading over the Wasatch mountains so I jumped out of the car, mid drive-through, and took this picture. Dennis was still driving along in the drive-through line, and when I was finished with my impromtu photo session, I ran up a few yards,opened the passenger door of the slowly moving vehicle and jumped back in. I looked up at the mountains, and the moment I'd captured had vanished as quickly as it appeared. Isn't it pretty?
Have a good week! Love,
Mom/Grandma/Barb/Glerg

John Adams once wrote to his son: "To one who has a Taste, the Poets serve to fill up Time which would otherwise pass in Idleness, Languor, or Vice. You will never be alone, with a Poet in your Pocket. You will never have an idle Hour. How many weary hours have been made alert, how many melancholly ones gay, how many vacant ones useful, to me, in the course of my Life, by this means?

I will update that to read "a mother, grandmother and blogger will never be alone with a camera in her purse. You will never have an idle Hour!"