Sunday, April 21st, 2019

Star Valley, Wyoming

154th operating temple

Dedicated: 30 Oct 2016

By: David A. Bednar

Jesus Christ, Divine Sonship

Mormon 7:5

Know ye that ye must come to the knowledge of your fathers, and repent of all your sins and iniquities, and believe in Jesus Christ, that he is the Son of God, and that he was slain by the Jews, and by the power of the Father he hath risen again, whereby he hath gained the victory over the grave; and also in him is the sting of death swallowed up.

Book of Mormon

Mosiah 12:17-13:4

New Testament "Come Follow Me"

Matthew 28:1-10; Luke 24:13-35; John 20:19-29

General Conference

Great Love for Our Father's Children

Quentin L. Cook

"Love is the primary attribute and motive for the spiritual purposes we were charged to undertake by our beloved prophet."

A beautiful Easter morning. My favorite day of the year.

In my gospel study this morning I read these two scriptures:

Alma 36:1-24. Alma's story and testimony...whosoever shall put their trust in God shall be supported in their trials...and shall be lifted up at the last day.

3 Nephi 9:13. Return unto me and repent of your sins and be converted that I may heal you.

We were going to go to church with Darrel and Trina but today was Ian Wanlass's farewell and the last Sunday the Wanlass's will be in Chandler so we attended the Galveston 3rd ward with Sheri's family, Dave & Laura, and Terry & Cathi. I am so glad we did.

Christy's talk was short but wonderful. Ian's talk was outstanding. You would have thought he was a return missionary the way he preached to everyone about the importance of repentance. He told his own personal story and how he repented and gave up all of his friends in high school and spent most of his senior year eating alone in his car. He told of making new friends, and Ben is one of those new best friends. Ian will be serving in Argentina and he will be a wonderful missionary. Christy actually recorded his talk to send to Ben. After their missions both Ben and Ian will be attending BYU-Idaho.

Even though Sheri is in the Primary presidency she taught Primary today for a sister who just had a baby. She asked me if I would help her, which I did. These are the same kids James and I taught in 2015 when they were four and five. Now they are eight and nine.

Here is a picture I took:

Liam, Isaiah, Malachi, Scarlett

Scarlett is the only one we didn't have in our class.

Ben texted Sheri and told her he would be skyping around 1 pm. I wanted to go and say hi but James had already planned on going to see his mom and Dawn. Laura said they were all going over and taking dinner at 4:30 and invited us. I thanked her but James nixed the idea because we have leftover food he was thinking about at Darrel and Trina's. He loves those Easter beans. 

While we were at Lois and Dawn's James visited with Dawn and I visited with Lois. Lois is tired of being a guinea pig. Her feet are swelling and this is a concern. She did not do any walking while we were there. Dawn was making a banana cream pie for their upcoming 4:30 dinner.

Darrel and Trina were still at church when we got back to there house. James wanted to get ready to leave. I told him I wanted to stay and see if they were going to do their "Come Follow Me" lesson. We ate our dinner and then waited for their return. Their meetings started at 1:30 so they were back a little before 4. We visited a little and I realized that they were going to dinner at Trina's parents house, so that's when I decided it was time for us to go. I had mentioned the lesson the night before and didn't want to "hound" them. We left for home at 5 and after stopping at the post office we still made it home before 8. I don't normally like to travel on Sunday but it was nice to be home.

Easter morning

 Lucretia and the Campbell kids

The Whalen family

Saturday, April 20th, 2019

Fort Collins, Colorado
153rd operating temple
Dedicated: 16 Oct 2016
By: Dieter F. Uchtdorf

Jesus Christ, Divine Sonship

Helaman 14:8

And it shall come to pass that whosoever shall believe on the Son of God, the same shall have everlasting life.

Book of Mormon

Mosiah 12:1-17

New Testament "Come Follow Me"

Matt 27:62-66; 1 Peter 1:3-11; Romans 5:1-11

General Conference

Christ: The Light that Shines in Darkness

Sharon Eubank

"If you feel that the beacon of your testimony is sputtering and darkness is closing in, take courage. Keep your promises to God."

James did some errands this morning while I did the cooking at Darrel's. Darrel and Rowan made it back quite early from the father's and sons'. Of course it was at Usery Mountain Park which is only about 15 minutes away. 

The first thing I did was cook a pound of bacon. It took awhile. I then chopped an onion and fried two lbs. of hamburger. Lola came over and ate a couple of piece of bacon. She wanted to take some to Ollie because "dogs like bacon." I got her a baggie and she put the bacon in the baggie and the baggie in her purse. 

Once I got the beans on to cook I made a green bean casserole and put it in the oven. I then ordered a tray of nuggets from Chik-fil-a.

When we went to pick up the Chik-fil-a, it wasn't ready which made us late to Sheri's. The first thing I saw when driving up to Sheri's was Dallin's motorcycle. When I went in and mentioned  it to Sheri she said Dallin and Michael were speeding through the neighborhood. Some of the dads in the neighborhood showed up at Sheri and Ian's complaining about the speeding. Ian diffused the anger and everyone went home. This all happened before we arrived and before Stacy and Paul arrived. 

Sheri was anxious to eat so James said the blessing on the food and Stacy and Paul arrived shortly after. I mentioned to Sheri that Lola had bacon for Ollie and she said, "I know she has already given it to him." 

Sheri made ham, scalloped potatoes, and homemade rolls. We brought beans and green bean casserole and Chik-fil-a. Kim brought a veggie tray and her homemade pumpkin delight dessert which she makes at Thanksgiving, per James's request. Stacy brought green bean casserole, a cake, and her fried chicken strips. Darrel brought Trina's homeade LeVain Bakery recipe chocolate chip cookies. 

James also made some deviled eggs which were kind of last minute. We had plenty to eat. 

Those attending: Stacy, Paul, Adam, Dallin, Michael, Joshua, Kim, and Brian. James and I, Sheri, Ian, Max, and Evan. Darrel, Addy, Rowan, and Lola. Trina had to work. Oh yes, we had four dogs: Ollie, Shipley, Vader, and Sophie. Ollie was barking like crazy when the other dogs arrived. He finally calmed down after Ian took him in the bedroom for awhile. 

Michael had hidden the eggs in the backyard earlier and after eating the egg hunt began. We had about 120 eggs for seven kids to find. Everybody wound up getting some money. Kim to lots of pictures but I only took a few.

 Addy helped Lola and still wound up with

$8 for herself.

 Rowan on the run

Ruby, Evan, Rowan. Ruby found my $5 egg.

 Everyone looking for the $5 eggs. There were four of them.

These boys put all of their egg money together and

then divided it up. They each got $11.

Sheri cancelled the trip to the temple. Just too much going on today.

After the festivities James took me back to Darrel and Trina's and then he went to the Willis's and then to Bass Pro Shop to get himself a new pair of shoes. He came back to get me around 7. He had lost the lid to our gas tank and went back to Fry's to look for it. When he went to get on the freeway he missed the entrance and we had to back track. He worked in the laundry room at Kim's while Kim and I watched the new Hallmark Easter movie, "Easter Under Wraps." I will have to finish at home because James was finished working before the movie was over.

Instead of the Cadberry egg it's the 

Cavendish egg, made possible by these two.

Back at Darrel and Trina's we visited a few minutes with them before going outside to walk.

Walking around the green belt in Darrel and

Trina's neighborhood.

The cutest flower in the garden

Scarlett reminds me of Strawberry Shortcake.

 The Morrison's were sealed in the temple today.
Congratulations!

 

Friday, April 19th, 2019

Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

152nd operating temple

Dedicated: 18 Sept 2016

By: Henry B. Eyring

Jesus Christ, Divine Sonship

Alma 33:14, 22
14 Now behold, my brethren, I would ask if ye have read the scriptures? If ye have, how can ye disbelieve on the Son of God?
22 If so, wo shall come upon you; but if not so, then cast about your eyes and begin to believe in the Son of God, that he will come to redeem his people, and that he shall suffer and die to atone for their sins; and that he shall rise again from the dead, which shall bring to pass the resurrection, that all men shall stand before him, to be judged at the last and judgment day, according to their works.
Book of Mormon
Mosiah 11:16-29
New Testament "Come Follow Me"
Matthew 26; 27:1-61

General Conference

Abound with Blessing

Dale G. Renlund

"Most blessings that God desires to give us require action on our part - action based on our faith in Jesus Christ."

We left the house at 11 this morning, right on schedule. Just as we turned on to the Green's Peak road Sheri texted and asked if we wanted to go to the temple with her tomorrow afternoon. Of course the answer was yes so we turned around and went back to get our temple clothes. We are missing the Morrison's sealing by going to the valley this weekend. I wrote a text to Laurann and told her we had a family tradition of getting together on Easter weekend. I hope she understood.

When we got to Show Low James had to go back Empire Cat to give them an invoice. It just took a couple of minutes. Our next stop was to get gas and to wash the car. A huge bird pooped on the corner of the front window on my side and I didn't relish the thought of looking at that all the way to the valley. While James was attending to the car I walked to McDonald's and ordered us a couple of Quarter Pounders to eat on the way. So messy and greasy. Not a good idea. We should have waited until Burger House.

The poppies in Miami are beautiful. Quite a contrast to the old deserted buildings. We zipped right through. I waved as we passed Burger House.

We did not stop at Darrel and Trina's but went straight to Sheri's for egg coloring. Those who were there: Max, Evan, Sheri, Kim, Brian, Michael, Joshua, Stacy, and Alex. Those who actually stepped away from video games and colored eggs: Everyone except Max and Michael. James went to collect more money from Mario Chacon. He did come back and color three eggs. Alex and Evan like to color eggs because they are artistic like Ian. I guess Max is not interested. It was nice that Brian was there. He and Ollie love each other. He holds Ollie on his shoulder like a baby and Ollie loves it. 

 Alex, Joshua, Max and Michael

The ladder is in the entry because Sheri and Ian have been painting.

 Stacy telling Kim about her new job. 

Proof of egg coloring. Why didn't I actually take a

picture of someone coloring eggs. I'm not sure what 

Sheri is doing. 

This evening James worked at Kim and Brian's putting drywall back in the laundry room while I visited with Kim and Brian. I also worked on my blog while we watched Hallmark movies. Brian went to Crumbl Bakery and got us some cookies. He got Nutella cookies for Kim, Joe, James and himself. I wanted a sugar cookie but I guess they were out so I ate the snickerdoodle which was warm and divine. These are the biggest, thickest cookies I have ever seen. 

 So thick and creamy

James only got to eat half of his.

BTW how many cookie stores are there in the tri-city area?

 My eggs for tomorrow's egg hunt. I casually mentioned that

I was hungry for Harkin's movie popcorn. When Brian went to get

the cookies he brought me back my own bag!

So thoughtful.

Kim giving Bob a belly rub while we were watching

our Hallmark movies. I guess she does this several

times a day.

James and I got back to Darrel and Trina's around 10 but went straight to the grocery store to get what we needed to fix Easter beans and green bean casserole. Thank goodness Fry's stays open until 11. Back home we were locked out of the house. Darrel and Rowan were gone to the Father's and Son's outing. Trina was in bed because she goes to work early in the morning. Thank goodness Addy was awake and let us in.

Addy had a track meet today and then went wakeboarding with a friend. She was a little sun burnt but had a great time. Rowan was asked at the Father's and Son's to get up and talk about service just spur of the moment and Darrel said he did a great job.

I asked Trina if we could take the girls with us to color eggs but she was taking them to get pedicures. That sounds like more fun. 

It was a fun day. It was 77 in Vernon and about 102 when we arrived in the valley. Oh well, we just stayed indoors most of the time. We did walk after we put groceries away at 11 p.m. around the green belt in from of Darrel and Trina's it makes a nice walking track.

Posting this because Jared asks for it almost every Easter. 

I can understand why, because it is delicious.

Lois's recipe.

 Little Miss Sunshine