Good Times...

The past few weeks have been a bit crazy, but we sure have had lots of fun. We had Joe's sister's Meg & Liz, Ben, Karin, Maggi, Phil and Phil's sister (along with her husband and little boy) over for an Easter feast a few weeks ago. The food was delicious and we had a great time with all the games and egg hunting afterwards.

Here is Ali sorting her spoils. I don't remember what she was expressing, but whatever it was must have been wonderful!

Clay had a small mishap climbing the rocks looking for eggs (note to future egg hiders: do not place eggs in rock walls that require excessive climbing - accidents WILL happen, and the body WILL be sacrificed for the sake of the egg and basket). Joe and I were pretty sure, based on the wailing, Clay had broken a limb (you should have seen how nimbly I climbed down those rocks...it was impressive). When we arrived on the scene, however, he was just severely scratched and the wailing was because he'd dropped his basket and lost the egg, not due to the enormous scratches on his face, arms and leg. Egg gathering is VERY serious business.

Fortunately, for all our sakes, each of the kids very willingly gave Clay five of their own eggs to make up for the ones they were able to collect while he was being treated for injuries. It made me very happy to see how willingly they each parted with their plunder. In fact, I'm pretty sure that was one of the best moments I had that day! Yup, I'm that good a mom (in all truth I think I just got blessed with good kids, but I am willing to take credit for whatever I can).

Joe and I after the egg hunters had left to go back and empty their baskets. It was a beautiful Easter Sunday and we had a great time.

Here's our lovely family after Clay's baptism last weekend. I swear we will someday get a good picture of all of us (no one scowling, eating potato chips or making fake cheesy grimaces at the lens...it may take a lifetime, but I will get one eventually). This was the best we got, and I suppose it'll do!

I love this picture of Clay with his dad in their white clothes. Clay looks so happy, and he really was so excited to be baptized and to have all of his family there to support him. Joe and I started to wonder how many people showed up to Clay's baptism and I think our official count (to the best of our remembrance) was 87 people in attendance. Since Clay was the only baptism that day, they were all family and friends who came just for him. It was very touching and we feel extremely blessed to have so many people who love and support us, especially on these memorable days! I told Clay all those people were there for him and he said, "no, they are here for dad because he is the one who will be baptizing me." I know he didn't really want to be the spotlight, but I'm pretty sure he enjoyed every second of it.

We had tons of family and friends over to the house and they did a fabulous job helping with some yard work while they were here. It was great to have the day to feel the spirit together, eat together, work together and just be together. Joe got some good pictures on the camera, but downloaded them to his computer so I'll have to steal them back from him later.

Sunday, after Clay's baptism, we went to Spanish Fork for our nephew Jaxon's baby blessing. Joe's brother, Dan, blessed his son that day and it was another great day to be with family.

Tuesday we all went to the court house to support the Ferrin's, Llewellyn's and Will in the finalizing of Will's adoption. It was a pretty unnerving experience to not know if everything was going to be able to go through in time, but the Lord was watching over Will and we were all able to witness the miracle of Will's sealing to the Ferrin family that night. The lawyer delivered the adoption certificate to our home just after 5pm and the temple ceremony was at 7:20pm. It was a close shave, but one we were very happy to have been a part of. It never ceases to amaze me what a small portion of the bigger picture we see. It really does seem, in hindsight, that everything happens for a reason - no matter how frustrating or wrong things may seem at the moment. The Lord knows us and knows what we need and He is watching over us, supporting us as we journey through this life. We are indeed blessed when we allow our will to be turned over to Him and accept His guidance and counsel.

So, as Jacko and I prepare to go to PCMC to get Jack's tonsils out tomorrow, we go knowing that it might be hard, it may not go as smoothly as we'd like, but whatever happens - we'll get through it just fine! Hopefully we'll be back home on Wednesday and Jack's recovery will be speedy and he'll finally be able to sleep through the night without waking up because he can't breathe or snoring like a bear. I'm sure the endless supply of Popsicles will assist him tremendously in his recovery.