Todd turns one! April Fools Day, General Conference, Spring Break, plus more birthdas: Finn, Hyeji and Ila

It's been very hard to get my letter done by Sunday evening these days. My Sundays are full with meetings and now orchestra practice. I'm excited to be a part of the production, "Joseph Smith, the Prophet" put on by our stake. If any of you are interested in tickets, you can get them at JS the Prophet I hope all of our children that are close will take advantage of this opportunity and bring your children. It will be awesome!

Todd's birthday

Todd's 1st birthday. We got to enjoy this on FaceTime with his other grandma and Aunt.

It's amazing what we can do with technology these days.

I didn't know we had any pranksters in our family. Phil said in his letter that
he hates April Fools Day. I think Avie hates it now, too, since Ori created
these "brussel sprout suckers" for her.

7 teachings that I learned at this General Conference

Of course, I learned a lot more than seven things, but these seven made a great first impression:

1) With the 17 new temples announced, President Nelson has now announced the building of 100 new temples.

2) President Nelson said,

“I love the Lord Jesus Christ and testify that His gospel is the only enduring solution for peace. His gospel is a gospel of peace.” —

Elise had an experience on her mission where someone berated her for wasting her time preaching the gospel (correct me if I'm getting this wrong, Elise). He told her she'd be better off serving in the Peace Corp or something, trying to spread peace. She responded that that's what she was doing. I don't know what she said to him, but she realized that spreading the gospel was all about trying to bring peace to the world.

With all the negatives in our world, the gospel is the one bright light and Christ is the sure foundation to bring peace in our lives and eventually, to the whole world.

3) The prophet gave us "5 ways to maintain positive, spiritual momentum."

Get on the covenant path and stay there.
Discover the joy of daily repentance.
Learn about God and how He works.
Seek and expect miracles.
End conflict in your personal life.

The prophet knows what we as a people are going through. He understands what's going on in the world. and he's giving us ways that we can get through difficult and oppressive times.

4) Going along with this theme of finding peace in the world is this quote from Elder Holland:

My plea today to our youth, and to you parents and adults who advise them, is to begin your search for happiness by embracing the bounty we have already received from the giver of every good gift. At precisely the moment many in the world are asking deep questions of the soul, we ought to be answering with the “good news” of the gospel of Jesus Christ. The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, which holds aloft the mission and message of the Savior of the world, offers the most eternally significant way to both find good and do good at such a needful time.

I am grateful for my children who are teaching their children the good news of the gospel. This will be the most important missionary work you can do--converting your family to the truth of the gospel of Jesus Christ.

5) Elder Bednar admonished us to "Heed not what the wicked may say." We have seen many fall away because of the enticements of the world and what seem to be very good arguments about how people should live. Many are "heeding" to what those outside of our church would have us believe. Jennie and Jordan went to General Conference on Sunday morning. She said there were a lot of protestors, but rather than diminish her faith, it made it stronger.

6) Elder Bednar also said we must all "press on in the work of the Lord." This is also great counsel in the world that we live in.

7) Elder Uchtdorf quoted Omni in the Book of Mormon, “Come unto Christ, who is the Holy One of Israel, and partake of his salvation, and the power of his redemption. Yea, come unto him, and offer your whole souls as an offering unto him.” Then he went on to talk to us about balance. I loved Elder Uchtdorf 's analogies on balance in our lives. Especially when he sweetly changed his bicycling analogy, to one we can all relate to--an airplane analogy.

After Conference

After conference on Sunday, we had some of the family over for dinner. Sickness kept Dan's family home, and Crista didn't make it from Logan, but we were able to enjoy Nick's family, Jennie and Jordan and Caitlyn and Dallin.

I have thought about the marble toy that my mom had that the grandkids just love. I finally thought that I could probably find it on-line, and sure enough, it was on Etsy. Dan's kids enjoyed it Saturday (We were tending because Dan and Jieun were once again at the ER--this time for Jieun. Thankfully, though she felt terrible, nothing was wrong), and Nick's kids enjoyed it Sunday evening. It brought back lots of memories.

Saturday: Hyeji helping us with Yuli. She was tired,
but napping at grandma's is hard.

I don't know if this was during Elise's spring break, but it certainly
looks like spring. And Harvey is loving it. At right: Bev, Harvey, Max and Mav.

Max. This was his outfit for night games with his
Activity Days group.

Adrienne's family was able to get away to Hawaii for the week. But some of us met in Ogden for a trip to the train depot; lunch; and the dinosaur park.

Avie, Greta, Camden, Ori, Ruby, Roy, Effie, Nick and Camden and Bridget in the stroller
on the right: Crista, Todd, Bridget, Effie, Avie, Camden, Ori, Ruby and Greta.

It's fun for grandpa when the grandkids are interested in something
he's interested in. Above: Greta, Effie, Camden, Ori, Avie, Bridget and Ruby

Effie, Greta and Camden (I'm not sure anyone enjoyed lunch as much as Camden did).

Ruby, Ori, Bridget

Bridget and Todd

The group

Dinosaur Park

Effie, Greta; Nick, Avie and Bridget

Effie

Bridget and Todd

Bridget, Todd, Greta, Avie, Ori, Ruby and Effie

Ori and Ruby; Bridget. I love seeing cousins being such good friends!

The next day, Roy and I drove to Logan and were able to have dinner with Crista's family. Logan always feels so relaxed. It was a fun evening.

Catharine and Todd, Ruby with some pop bead earrings she made.

Dad and Ruby took a bike ride. It looks like they
stopped at the park for a bit.

I did make it to my rehearsal, but I was about an hour late. Adrienne had graciously combined our family Easter dinner with a birthday celebration for Ila and Finn (and Hyeji). This event took precedence over my practice. It was fun to watch the children gather eggs (and candy bars) and interact with each other. We got a few pictures.

The Greens like this candle. It's supposed to twirl around while it

plays happy birthday. This one was a dud, it didn't work--but when I left

later, the candle (which had been put back in it's box and set by the garbage can

outside) was still playing happy birthday. Roy left about 15 minutes after

I did and he said he heard it, too. He just didn't know what it was.

Above: AJ, Gunnar, Ila, Ollie and Doyeon

Group pictures of little kids are really hard to get: Gunnar, Yuli, Hyeji, Dojin, Doyeon, Bridget, Yuna, Ruby, Todd (on the ground), Finn, Ollie, Greta and Ila.