Happy Easter!

Easter is awesome, especially when it falls on Conference weekend! We enjoyed a relaxing, spiritual Sunday with Zack & Kylee, and then headed to Bri's parent's house for a wonderful Easter dinner. Jeff and Colby hid some eggs for the kids to find which Chase and Clara loved! It made up for missing the neighborhood Easter egg hunt which took place the previous weekend when we were in St. George.

The Easter Bunny did make it to our house, but shouldn't have bothered... :) I'll explain: Both of the kids got springtime Jammie's which they cast aside immediately. Chase got the Alvin & the Chipmunk's soundtrack, but apparently wanted the sing along DVD instead (duh Easter Bunny), and Clara got a pink dress which she immediately described as "itchy- I don't like it." :) Ha! Clara was also concerned that the Easter Bunny didn't bring a basket for me, but seeing how the other baskets were a flop I'm glad he didn't! Wink wink. Luckily the Easter Bunny got one thing right- the candy filled eggs! Whew...

Somewhere in the fun filled weekend I was able to have a nice discussion with the kids about Easter and why we celebrate it. We read an Easter children's book with beautiful pictures that was really nice. Clara kept getting hung up on Jesus' 'scratches' but Chase grasped the real meaning behind the story. One of my favorite things about being a mom is having the opportunity to share my testimony of sacred gospel principles with my kids. I told Clara, it even makes up for not getting an Easter basket!

Piano!

This video is of Chase and my sister Amber playing a little piano duet when she came to visit last month. Chase started taking piano lessons in January, and loves it! He is so good at practicing - thankfully - and seems to catch on quickly. His piano teachers name is Logan, a high school senior who we miraculously (seriously no exaggeration) found one day when we were at our whits end searching for a teacher for Chase. I know we live in Utah and there are two piano teachers on every street. But we had been looking strictly for a Suzuki teacher, and all the good ones seemed to be full or lived over 30 minutes away. We sat in on lesson after lesson with various Suzuki teachers who were closer and had openings but couldn't seem to find any that we felt good about. I really wanted Chase to enjoy his piano experience and I knew that a good teacher made all the difference in the world. So after listening to one piano teacher make her six year old pupil play a single note for 20 minutes straight Chase and I decided we needed to expand our criteria. And that's when we stumbled onto Logan's ad. I've always thought boys learn better when they're taught by boys, and when I saw Chase's enthusiasm when we first met Logan I was sold. Sure enough the experience has been nothing but positive so far and I'm so grateful! Unfortunately we will be starting the search again in July because Logan is going on a mission... It might actually be a good opportunity for me to start taking lessons too - so someday I could play the duet parts with Chase instead of my sister!

St. Patrick's Day

Chase decided he wanted to catch a Leprechaun so he built a little trap and placed it by the vent (of course that's how the Leprechaun would enter). And sure enough a Leprechaun came! He was too sneaky to stay in the trap, but he left a trail of shamrocks that led to some hidden treasure: gold coins and green jellybeans! Later that day I was volunteering in Chase's classroom and it was so fun to see EVERY child wearing head to toe green! Oh the joys of silly holidays...

Clara Quote

Walking through a recently aerated lawn, Clara yelled "Look! The grass pooped! Don't step on it!"

Chats with Clara

Mom: Let's hop in the car Clara!
Clara: Why?
Mom: You get to go play with Johnny.
Clara: Why?
Mom: Because I'm going to Yoga.
Clara: Why?
Mom: So I can be fit.
Clara: Why?
Mom: Because it makes me happy.
Clara: Why?
Mom: JUST GET IN THE CAR NOW!

Three years old!

Clara turned three on March 9th! We had a fun family party for her and let her dress up like a princess (her favorite thing) for the occasion. All day she told me how much she loved the cake, and the decorations - it was so sweet! She was surprisingly more thrilled with the party and the people than the presents. Amazing. I wonder how long that will last? In fact, we gave her one present at the party but had some more to give her on her real birthday. But seeing how she cast them all aside at the party we haven't had the motivation to give the rest of them! Maybe I'll save them for Easter at this point... Anyway, it's almost unbelievable that three years have gone by so quickly. We sure love Clara and the fun she brings to our house. She's such a joy to be with and we are so grateful she's a part of our family!

Random PIx

Here are some pix from a weekend trip we took to St. George at the end of February. We really love our visits there! This time when we went to the Temple Visitors Center they had a new exhibit about the Mormon Tabernacle Choir. Brian's Great Grandfather J. Spencer Cornwall was the choir's Conductor from 1935 to 1957 and they had his baton on display there. They also had a photo of the choir's trip to Paris in 1955, and Brian's Grandma is in that photo. She of course has wonderful memories from that Europe trip and from her time singing with the choir. What a fun surprise to see it all on display in St. George!