We Heart Jesus~ How We Celebrated Easter

Easter weekend started out with a ward temple day trip with babysitting provided by our activities committee in the Chapel next to the temple. You don't realize how easy it is to get to the temple and what a blessing it truly is to have a temple in your town until you have to travel two and a half hours or more to get to the nearest temple and add in all of the planning and preparation to get someone to watch your children. It definitely makes me more appreciative of the temple experience and I really do think I get more out of it because I have to work harder to get there. Thank goodness for the amazing woman that volunteered to watch about thirty children so that the parents could get to the temple. They planned an Easter egg hunt on the church lawn but the weather was so dreary that they canceled it so we saved our Easter egg hunt until after church on Sunday with our good friends the Boyd family. After our temple trip, we visited my mom and she threw together an impromptu egg dying party for the kids! She has always made holidays fun growing up and now she gets to pass that on to my kids!

Tracy and I in all of our awesomeness!


rick ate a Smurf!

There were Smurfs EVEYWHERE!

Welcome To The Jungle!

One afternoon I got a phone call from Mikie's music teacher telling me that Mikie had auditioned for the first grade musical and gotten the lead part. I was floored! I had no idea that she had even auditioned! She worked extremely hard on learning her lines and her songs. She even had a little solo!

She played Panya the mouse in a mini musical based on Aesop's fable about the lion and the mouse! Let me tell you, my little Mikie rocked the house!!! She was just absolutely adorable! I was just beaming with pride...jungle pride oh ya!!!

Look out Broadway.... Mikie will be making her debut and she will be bringing down the house before you know it!

Together Forever!

The Heavens were smiling as we knelt to seal our Hallie to us for time and all eternity!

It seems like when you are trying to accomplish something of an eternal nature, the adversary does everything in his power to stop you. Mike and I butted heads about the particulars and scheduling, petty and inconsequential things that really didn't matter in the eternal scheme of things, but the minute our children entered the sealing room, the overwhelming weight that has weighed on my shoulders for almost two years was lifted and an unspeakable peace entered my heart! We have been dreaming of this day for so long! It was so incredible to share this experience with our loved ones and have the support of our family in the temple and family that waited for us outside of the temple. It is like a view of what the eternities will be like surrounded by love and support of those that love you most!

Even Hallie was thrilled about her special day!

No pictures of us all in white. The Vernal Temple doesn't do that.

All of the adorable Jones grand babies!

Our ETERNAL family!

Whispering sweet nothings in Grandpa's ear!

I would like to know what my mom was doing to get them all to smile this way!!

Family....Thanks for the love you give us! (I didn't get photos of Denise and Mark, Shawny and kelly, Sara Postma and a few other people that came to be there on our special day but were so glad that they were there!)

Sunday, Hallie was Blessed and given her new name, Hallie DeeLoris Nash. My mom, grandma Deelo, and Michael's parents came out for the blessing! It makes me feel so special that they would drive the extra hours to support our family. I am blessed to have such a loving family!

Four generations!

Grandma DeeLo and Hallie DeeLo!