Holy Week and Easter

Dana Groscost was my inspiration for my egg tree. 
For as long as my parents have lived in their neighborhood,
she has done this in her massive tree. 

I got so many compliments on it. 

Grammy had her party earlier in the month, which was fun to spread out

the Easter cheer. 

The egg hunt is the most anticipated part!

Holy Week went pretty smooth this year. 

I felt we were able to squeeze it in almost everyday, with almost everyone in attendance. 
It gets tricky with kids going in every direction, all hours of the night. 

Going to the newly revamped Easter Pageant at the temple was an exciting addition 
to our Holy Week!

I knew it would be bonkers, so I went down early to save seats.
Like, 4.5 hours early.

I had a good setup with blankets and an umbrella for shade.
Taking a little snooze didn't sound so bad, either. 

The nap didn't happen.
There were so many people I knew, I ended up chatting the whole time
and before I knew it, the pageant was starting!

Some cousins were able to join us!

There were mixed reviews on the new version of the pageant.
I never really had an attachment to the old one, so it was great to me!

We invited some families from our ward to Passover this year.

The Christensens, Hales and Sabotkas.
Annnnnd, no pictures to prove their attendance.
Ugh, sad I never thought to take any.

Word is getting out about our Passover.
 We have people begging us to invite them the next year.
 I always felt bad having  people over to eat boiled eggs and lentil soup.
I'm glad its an experience their families enjoyed
and can hopefully do on their own in the future!

I must have been really tired because I didn't even take pictures of their Easter baskets!!!
Sheesh. Big time mom fail. 

Tradish Easter Sunday dinner at Grandma and Grandpa's house. 

David is OCD to the max.

Watching his car get pummeled by kids to get the eggs was hysterical. 

 

Update, letter "B" style

BABIES:

It had been FAR too long since there was a baby in the family.

Both sides of our families!

Abbey and Katie pulled through and decided to have babies

3 weeks from each other.

Aunt Shelley needed to visit and snuggle their scrumptiousness. 

Stetson is a peanut, so wittle.

And miss Nora is a chunker!
I am way behind on blogging, just wait for an updated picture.

Never have I seen a squishmallow in human form,lol!

BIRDS:

I was on my way to pick up Lane from practice when a bird 
dive bombed directly into the grill of my car while going 45 mph!

I felt a thud and a POOF of feathers flew in the air.

Instant screaming and dry heaving on my end. 
UGH, SO GROSS!!!!

I pulled into the parking lot and Lane said, uh mom, I think you hit a bird.

Ya think?

Bless him. 

BASEBALL:

So. Much. Baseball between the 2 boys. 
However, we wouldn't have it any other way.

These 2 pictures don't correlate with B, but had to include them.

I guess Della forgot shoes and needed a treat inside QT.

I gave her my slippers, problem solved!

Her never ending smirks and faces. 

Got milk?

 

A story of how our life got flipped-turned upside down.

A few weeks before I left for my girls trip to New Orleans, Casey got a text from

the stake executive secretary wondering if we could come meet with President Postert.

We knew instantly what is was about.

And honestly, we were kind of expecting it.

Casey was asked if he would serve as bishop for our ward congregation.

He accepted the call, but with logistical things they could not do it until the
 Sunday I would be out of town. 

With it being Conference, and Easter Sunday, it would be 2 more weeks on top of the

3 until they could put in him if they did not do it that Sunday.

I moved my flight up a day and came home to snuggle on my husband one last night

until I wouldn't see him again for 5 years!

Just kidding!

It really has not been that bad to be honest.
I feel like you create your own craziness. 

Casey has been wonderful to balance church life with home life.

For that I am most grateful!

He called the most amazing counselors who really make his "job" easier. 

Bless these wonderful men!

Mark Arroyo, Casey, and Dan Allen

More wonderful men-

President Blaylock (who was our current bishop), Aaron Yamamoto, our dear neighbor, friend,

and now Casey's executive secretary. President Postert, and President Beagley. 

It's funny how we knew all of these men on a personal level pretty well beforehand. 

Maybe except for President Postert.
This stake presidency is fresh and new by about a month when this picture was taken.

It's a neat experience to be able to sustain people in these types of callings as an adult verses

being a young newlywed.

You have a much bigger picture of the sacrifice and dedication they give to serve us 

on a daily basis.

And we are now the OLD PEOPLE!!

 

What a sweet experience it was to visit one on one with them. 

To receive counsel and guidance in our new journey and to know they have

all the faith in us to do the Lords work and to serve our ward family

in this new calling!

It will be fun to see how much our family has grown (in many ways), when

Casey gets released in 5 years!

Wow, that seems like a LONG time, lol!

So let the fun begin!

Starting with a fresh revamp of the bishops office.

Her note, adorable!!

A before view of the desk area...

After!
Just cleaning off the desk console and new curtains and rolling chair
made all the difference!

Candy jars were also a must!

Before:

After!
I need to take a picture of the cute WINDSOR WARD plaque 

that goes on the top shelf that is missing in this picture. 

Before:

After!

 A final after!

I still need to find a tall plant to go in a basket next to the window. 

It's funny how many comments he gets on the facelift. 

It really cheers the place up.

Which was my main goal.

A place where you can feel happiness in sometimes a time of sorrow. 

 

NOLA day 3

If you go to New Orleans, you must, and I repeat MUST go to District Donuts.

I will tell you why in a second. 

Yes, they have some pretty darn amazing donuts.
I got a cookie to go with my fresh squeezed satsuma juice (much like a tangerine). 
#balance. 

But the real reason, is for this hot honey butter chicken sandwich.

Moment of silence, please. 

Hands down THE best chicken sandwich I have EVER had.
Blows them all out of the water!

And yes, I have been to Nashville.
From the flaky biscuit, to the perfect heat on the house made hot sauce,

to the honey butter glob.

I will even go as far as to say this is probably the best thing I have ever eaten in my life.

I was pumped to check out the Garden District.

I think my favorite part of New Orleans.

It was happy and quaint in every way.
Most celebrities have their homes here.

Including Sandra Bullock, my personal favorite!

Magazine Street is in the Garden District. 
Cutest shops, and murals.
I could have explored all day!

I'm thinking of painting my porch ceiling blue!

I so badly wished we could have stayed longer to explore.
We had to leave to make it to our bus tour!

Our guide, Charlotte, was a wealth of knowledge. 
I'm glad we decided to do this because we saw and learned so much on this tour!

I think the most interesting part was going down to the lower ninth ward neighborhoods, 

and seeing the destruction from Hurricane Katrina.

You can see that a lot of homes still had numbers written on the outside
from rescuers after searching.

This house below was searched on Sept. 12 (9-12), 

TWF means anything from Gas off, to food and water left.

Bottom block A or D means Alive or Dead, and some of numbers

indicating how many people were found at the house.

It was very surreal seeing this in person.

Very somber looking at houses on stilts all in a row in a neighborhood.

 

There were gaps in between houses where only grass stood, which

meant the home that was there got washed away. 

The impacts of the storm very much still there 17 years later.  

We stopped at a cemetery.
We learned that early settlers in the area struggled with different methods to bury the dead.

Because the water water table is very high, when they dug down, the grave becomes

soggy, filling with water and literally make the caskets float!

This was their best option.

Our next stop was City Park.

Such a bummer it was a quick stop, it was beautiful!!

And huge. So much to explore.
There are numerous lakes, botanical gardens, museums, playgrounds, a mini amusement

park, a stadium for shows, even Cafe De Mundo for beignets, a train that circled around, all in the park!

You could spend all day there. 

You can see the swan boats in the pond.

These authentic mossy trees were gorgeous. 

I guess I will have to go back to see it all:)

We got back on the bus and cruised to St. Charles Avenue!

It is probably the most famous street in New Orleans.

A street car line runs right through and is known for it's breath taking

mega mansions. 

It is lined with Southern live oak trees with mardi gras beads hanging from

the limbs from people throwing them on there during their famous parade.

We drove past 2 very prominent private Universities on
 St. Charles, Tulane and Loyola.
Both average a cost of $60,000 a semester, yikes!

This is Tulane.

It was fun seeing graduates getting their pictures taken in cap and gown

in anticipation for their upcoming graduations. 

Some mansions along the way. 

 

That concluded the tour.
Everybody else was in a hurry to get off the bus and head to their Plantation tour.

I had to switch my plans last minute and leave a day early.

Casey was getting put in as Bishop, so I was headed home for that new change of our lives!

I had about an hour before I needed to catch an uber to the airport.

I took my time walking back to the hotel and got one last ice cream cone at Kilwins!

I LOVE seeing new places.

The world is such an amazing wonder!
I try to picture myself living in each destination I visit, and
what it might be like if I did. 
As much as I like to travel, I do love my home in Arizona.

Also grateful for the time I had with my sisters and cousins!