Sunday, April 24, 2011

Happy Spring Sphere Hunting

You would have thought it was Christmas morning. Kaitlyn came in before 7:00 a.m. this morning and shook me awake asking if they could do downstairs and look for Easter Eggs (or, as they're called in Seattle--"Spring Spheres"). I was able to convince her to hold off briefly by groggily explaining that we hadn't set out the eggs yet.

It wasn't long, however, until she had gotten everyone else up and ready (and I use that term "ready" loosely as you can see from Max's tired eyes in the photo below).

Ava, however, was up and at 'em wondering what all the excitement was about.

While I locked the kids in their rooms, Megan hid the Spring Spheres throughout the house, and, as was suggested, she put several in some quite difficult hiding places:

It was especially enjoyable watching them try to figure out how to reach the unreachable ones!

Of course, Easter morning wasn't all Spring Sphere hunting and waking up early. Megan had also procured some matching dresses for the girls from the website Etsy.

Avery did her best to look like she should be modeling for Target catalogs and Babies R' Us circulars.

Max successfully demoed his GQ poses and neighbor-friend haircut featuring a trademark missing patch over his right eye.

Max was, however, just as excited about his Easter suit and new (clip-on) tie.

Kaitlyn tried (unsuccessfully) not to be photogenic.

Alison agreed to wear a pink headband to prove that while she does love basketball, she is also capable of giving anyone a run for their money in the cuteness department--as evidenced by this head-to-head duel with her younger sister.

Put them all together in a single frame and one can easily see how fortunate Megan and I feel ti have such great kids with such astounding Easter Egg finding skills.

Saturday, April 2, 2011

Conference Weekend


As happens every six months, this Saturday and Sunday our family will spend approximately 8 - 10 hours listening to speakers from our church (or in the case of the kids, carefully watching to see what color neckties the speakers are wearing so they can color them in on some worksheets we printed off to keep their attention) in what we affectionately call "General Conference Weekend."

During this conference, the leaders of the church speak and give counsel and instructions to the members. If you've ever wondered what "Mormons" believe about Jesus Christ, what other core doctrines of the church are, what the leaders of the church are officially and publicly telling the members to do or what kinds of activities the church is involved in, but have never wanted to go to an actual church service--then this is your chance to peak in on us "risk free"!

Conference is broadcast on BYU-TV and video is streamed on lds.org, so you can watch it at home in your pajamas like our kids are doing...

If you've never seen a Mormon meeting, but have always been curious or heard some "interesting" things about the church, this is a good chance to check it out and determine for yourself what you think. And if you happen to have any any follow-up questions at all, we'll be happy to do our best answer them.

Now...time to get back to the kids to make sure Conference Bingo is ready to go.