Celebrating Easter

Easter seemed earlier this year on March 27th. The early bulbs are beginning to flower to give some color to the yard and is all part of knowing it is Easter time.

We had an Easter activity for the grandkids on Friday evening. They searched the house for clues to find their baskets.

 Aubrey was here usual cute self.

We then had Connor and Payton go outside and search for eggs.

After that was our family dinner and games.

Easter morning was Maddie and us. We had her follow the string activity which lead all over the house and yard and ended up leading her downstairs to find her basket.

March and St George

Our family Christmas gift from all the kids was to take Mom and Dad to St. George and see a concert at Tuachan. Jan's sister has a cabin in Pine Valley so one Friday night we converged there. We were the last to arrive since we could not leave until Cindy was out of school. Saturday morning we went over to the old Pine Valley church. The building was not open for tours as it is still too early but we walked around and did some group photos.

We then drove around looking at some of the old houses and even a neat playground that one person had built. We also played some games and then had lunch out on the deck and enjoyed the views.

We then headed to Snow Canyon since mom and dad had never been there. We did one walk that was below some cliffs and there were rock climbers above us. It was interesting to see their skill in climbing those sheer faces of rock.

We walked up some of the sandstone dunes and looked out over the valley. It was a good afternoon and perfect weather to be at Snow Canyon.

Then after dinner it was on to the concert. The concert was two A Capella groups from BYU; Vocal Point and Noteworthy. It was a very enjoyable concert and Mom enjoyed the show and Dad had a good snooze. I think the little trip was really fun for Mom and Dad and glad that we did it.

We had planned to leave early Sunday morning and hopefully stop on the way home to see the Provo City temple dedication so we got dressed up and headed home. On our way though we got word that Shannon had gone to the emergency room. That changed our plans so we never stopped and we drove all the way in our church clothes. By the time we got home, Shannon was back home after given medication for her several illnesses. 

February Activites

We started the month by being together (except for Cameron who was on the road that day to St. George) on Gaven's birthday and going to see the Harlem Globetrotters. They were as entertaining as ever and Connor and Payton were thrilled to be there.

Some changes are taking place around us so it was time to document them. The old Wahlquist Jr. High where I and all our kids went to school is being torn down. The new school has been functioning for a couple of years now so this site next to BDO on 1200 West is being cleared.

Also homes are being built to the north of us in what had always been open fields. It will never look the same.

The following week was Valentines Day. We had our Sunday dinner at our house and played games. Cindy and I always look forward to the Sundays when we have the whole family together.

A few weeks latter we decided to spend a weekend in Provo to go see a BYU basketball game. It turned into a time to also see a few other things. Nic and Shannon and their kids stayed with us the first night. We always would take the kids when they were young to a hotel in the winter so they could go swimming and this is now extended to the grandkids.

The next morning Cindy and I went to see the Provo Tabernacle Temple open house. We did it first thing in the morning since we did not have reserved tickets and it worked out just fine. It really was wonderful to see the work in changing the building that had been destroyed by fire and turning it into a wonderful temple. The last time we had been in the building was maybe 30 years ago at a friend's graduation ceremony.

After the tour we then went back to the hotel and decided to take the kids to the BYU campus and the Bean Natural Sciences Museum. This has changed since Cindy and I went there years ago. It has great exhibits which we all enjoyed.

There was one wall about butterflys and the large butterfly was a mosaic made up of various butterflys.

There was one room that was set aside and had some of Elder Packard's bird sculptures. They were quite amazing.

I don't know if Connor knew what to make of the lion scene.

After the museum Nic and Shannon headed home. We decided to go see where Cindy lived her last year at school and where I would visit her on the weekends. Then we went to what was my language training mission in 1974 which was a building across the street from the brick oven. This is where the German and the Afrikaans missionaries stayed and studied. It did not have a handicapped ramp back then.

 We then went to eat and then on to the basketball game. It was a fun time. Two days earlier BYU had played San Diego in San Diego and won by a few points. Tonight they were playing the same team and the game was not even close.