Spring Has Sprung!

 A fun part of our Sister trip in Arizona was to watch Wyatt and Jake play some ball.  They are two tall, polite and good-looking young men.

Sharon has discovered a hidden talent...poetry!  She wrote this creative poem to honor the wonderful sisters and brothers and other in-laws who have joined our family.

A new car has joined our fleet.  So exciting and so much more fun to drive than our Suburban.  Better gas mileage too.  Once again we learned some lessons about buying from a car dealership.  Thanks to Mark and Scott for their free consultation and advice.

 Becca and I volunteered at Ballet West in order to get four free tickets to their beautiful ballet, Swan Lake.  Taylor Swift rented the costumes from Swan Lake for a music video that is featured in the background.

 Paul kept waiting for snow in order have his 11 year old Scouts build and sleep in the traditional snow cave in the backyard.  With our extra dry and warm winter, they gave up and settled for a tent and a fire to roast hot dogs and marshmallows.  They are the "Cobra Patrol".

 An early Spring has turned our efforts to outside.  Here Paul is cutting down a neighbors cherry tree that is dead.  He and our newest house guest, Scott Christensen, are the ones working while Ben and I take pictures.

 Thanks to Becca's friend, Andrew, we have enjoyed some beautiful Spring flowers indoors.

 Two years ago, Paul, Stephanie, Becca, Daniel and I were enjoying a trip together in Europe.  We were hoping to see the tulip gardens in the Netherlands, but due to an extra cold Spring, the tulips weren't even out of the ground.  So, we visited Rothenburg, a quaint village in Germany instead where we bought this hand-painted hollow egg.

My intent was to try out this ceramic cookie mold for Valentine's Day, but it didn't happen.  So, this is to commemorate how I "LOVE" Spring!

April 6, 2015 Email from Elder Daniel:

This week has been good. We had an awesome time listening to Conference. For the Saturdaysessions we watched them at a less active's house and then did service. Priesthood and Sunday we watched at the church building here in Brandon. There were some awesome talks given, and I'm excited to read them again and to get more out of them. My new comp Elder Brownie has been out 4 months, and he's from Vancouver Washington. We get along pretty well. My district leader's name is Elder Zaw, he grew up in Thailand and went to West High in SLC. He is a Korean speaking missionary, which is similar to Thai.  For Easter dinner we went to a member's home, and her husband is less active. We were able to read about the last week of the Savior's life in the scriptures, and it is so amazing to think about Christ's love for all of us. I need that love and hope and strength. I was thinking a lot about Samuel on Easter, and I'm glad I have a picture of him with me. I'm so thankful for the knowledge that I will be able to see him, and he is not gone forever. I'm looking forward to the day we will all be reunited as a family. I am so grateful for this gospel, and for all that the Savior has done for me.

The mission split is exciting. It happens at the end of this month, and I will get another call letter in the mail. Not sure if it will come to you or me. I'm excited to go to Omaha and hopefully go to the temple more often than I would in this mission. A friend from high school is serving in that mission, so it will be sweet to see him and see how he is doing. This Conference I realized that since last General Conference I have had 5 companions. The last 3 have only been for one transfer. That was pretty interesting for me. That's it, hope you have a great week!

Elder Ehlert