Indexing

There has been a huge push (basically shove) into, over, and about Indexing in our Ward and Stake.  If you don't know anything about it check it out here.  Since they've been trying to get the youth into it, and Cory is in YM, he's all "Indexing Gung Ho".  A friend said to me a while back, "If I have time to check blogs, surf the internet, and Pinterest . . . I have time for Indexing."  So I decided I had time too.  And guess what?  It's fun!

Our entire Sacrament Meeting on Sunday was based around Indexing and Family History and I'm glad I'd already gotten started, or else I'd have felt very guilty.  This cool quote did stick out to me though;

Archibald F. Bennett recalled, “Sister Susa Young

Gates related to me that she once asked her

father [Brigham Young] how it would ever be

possible to accomplish the great amount of

temple work that must be done, if all are given a

full opportunity for exaltation. He told her there

would be many inventions of labor-saving

devices, so that our daily duties could be

performed in a short time, leaving us more and

more time for temple work. The inventions have

come, and are still coming, but many simply

divert the time gained to other channels, and not

for the purpose intended by the Lord” (“Put on Thy

Strength, O Zion!” Improvement Era, Oct. 1952, p. 720).

Cory and I went to the Temple last week and I truly felt and gained an evener greater testimony about the importance of doing Family History, Indexing, and Temple Work.

Elder David A. Bednar put it perfectly when he said,

It is no coincidence that FamilySearch and other tools have come forth at a time when young people are so familiar with a wide range of information and communication technologies. Your fingers have been trained to text and to tweet to accelerate and advance the work of the Lord—not just to communicate quickly with your friends. The skills and aptitude evident among many young people today are a preparation to contribute to the work of salvation.

I invite the young people of the Church to learn about and experience the Spirit of Elijah. I encourage you to study, to search out your ancestors, and to prepare yourselves to perform proxy baptisms in the house of the Lord for your kindred dead (see D&C 124:28–36). And I urge you to help other people identify their family histories.

As you respond in faith to this invitation, your hearts shall turn to the fathers. The promises made to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob will be implanted in your hearts. Your patriarchal blessing, with its declaration of lineage, will link you to these fathers and be more meaningful to you. Your love and gratitude for your ancestors will increase. Your testimony of and conversion to the Savior will become deep and abiding. And I promise you will be protected against the intensifying influence of the adversary. As you participate in and love this holy work, you will be safeguarded in your youth and throughout your lives.

Easter

The day before Easter, our Ward had an Egg Hunt.

It was a beautiful day and the girls had a lot of fun with their friends and the Easter Bunny.

The only downside was that Cory had to work.

We had our own egg hunt with Dad later, and the excitement almost came across as pain in this picture.

On Easter, we enjoyed going to church and a baby blessing.

After church, we had Classic Easter Dinner with the Parkers. It was way good, and afterwards we attempted a substitute Old Main Egg Roll down our own Hawksview Avenue!

The kids had so much fun doing it, and were all tuckered out after running up and down the hill so many times.

I was amazed at how often the egg would obliterate and the whole yolk would continue to roll down the hill!

Spring Break

Fairly last minute, we got invited to Utah for Spring Break. 13 hours in the car later, we were there and no worse for the wear! It was a fun-filled week packed to the brim with activities and family. My mom gave my a Baby Shower for "He-Who-Will-Not-Be-Named," and it was Awesome.

A few members of Cory's family came down, lots of my family was there, close friends and a ton of Ward Family members literally "showered" us with gifts! I really don't know how we shoved it all in my car to come back home.

We went to the Living Planet Aquarium, had playdates with friends, visited the Clark Planetarium and Mars,

gorged ourselves at Leatherby's,

walked around the new City Creek Mall,

saw Popcorn Popping,

went to The Hunger Games (well, the girls didn't go to that) and fished a weird calcification-thinger out of Emory's mouth. (I can't even tell you how creeped out I am by this thing. Emory has her 6-year molars coming in and she'd had a little flap of gum that kept bleeding when we brushed. Then, one day she tells me there's something hard back there. Sure enough, there is. I tweezer-ed that thing out and am still speechless. It looks bigger than it was, maybe an 1/8th of an inch long.)

We also made Sushi!

There was lots of playing in the backyard, walks and just hanging out with family, too.

Thankfully, my mom drove back home with us and we got to play with her for a couple days. We walked/rode across the Union Street Railroad Bridge on the nicest day ever.

Tessa and I took Grandma out to lunch and this monster grilled cheese had Tessa's name on it.

What a great Trip, thanks!

St. Patty's

I love how excited kids get over green milk and four leaf clover pancakes! Luckily, Dad didn't have to work on St. Patrick's Day, so we had a yummy breakfast and went to our friends for Corned Beef and Cabbage.

We had an impromptu Treasure Hunt, that was very entertaining and a jump-off with this "Skip-It" type contraption.

A fun day, over all!