Thursday, March 27, 2008

More Easter

So, after Jasmine filled up her belly on Easter candy and we had her all dressed up, we went to church. It was nice, I sang in our ward choir but we only did 1 number. We are few in number but the song turned out as good as could have been expected. I ended up pinch hitting in Primary during the Senior Sharing Time. The counselor that had sharing time was going to show a video but we couldn't get the blasted thing to work so she asked me to entertain the kids while she went back to the library to get another player. Well, we started reading some scriptures out of John in the Bible about the events leading up to Easter. The kids were really receptive and there was a very sweet spirit in the room. Turns out the library didn't have any other DVD players available so I finished what I had started. It was great to share with these children my personal feelings about our Savior. After Jasmine's nap, we headed over to my parents house to see the family and everyone had presents for Jasmine - it was like Christmas! We had an Easter Egg hunt (see previous post) and then had some appetizers before dinner. The food was quite excellent. You know me, always talking about the food! There were deviled eggs, pizza quiena, and some little rye puffs filled with a cream cheese mixture that was quite good. Marcia joined us for dinner and it always nice to have her. We feel she has definitely become one of the family and hope she is always around to celebrate with us! Dinner was phenomenal - my mom really outdid herself. She made leg of lamb, green beans with egg, roasted potatoes, a cold Italian pasta salad (with a Parmesan chip and porccini mushrooms - watch out Top Chef!) , and honey glazed carrots. For dessert, she made an Italian cake with chocolate on the bottom. It was good. I even took leftovers!All in all, we had a great Easter and even though we were so busy, we focused on Christ and family and that was what I liked best!

Wednesday, March 26, 2008

Easter Morning

When Jasmine got up on Easter morning, she found that the Easter Bunny had been there and left her a basket of goodies. She delved right in (Daddy said it was OK - Mommy wasn't so sure). She went straight for the lollipop and then chocolate. She was pretty wired before we went to church, although she did manage to sit still long enough after she was dressed to have Daddy show her pictures and tell her the story of why we celebrate Easter.

Tuesday, March 25, 2008

Family Easter Pics

So, we got to spend Easter with my mom and dad, and my brother Ryan and his family. We took some fun family pictures and I think I will use this post to show them off! My next post will talk about Easter morning and then dinner - boy, I have like 3 more posts at least until I am caught up for the month!

Here Eggy Eggy! Get in Jasmine's Basket!

We wanted to make sure Jasmine had an Easter Egg hunt here at home as well as at her grandparents house. As I had so many performances and a wedding cake this weekend, we factored in that 10:30 AM on Saturday would be the time for the family hunt. We wanted to invite over some friends (Traugers, Astles and Childs) but we decided too late when we were going to do it so it didn't work out! Sorry guys - we will do better next year! Lorne hid the eggs and then in a grand performance, he excitedly told Jasmine that he had just seen something in the backyard. He said he saw the Easter Bunny! He then said, "Oh my goodness, I think he dropped something!". Jasmine said, "It's Candy! We have to go find it!". I looked out of the bathroom window in our room and could clearly see where most of the eggs were hidden. I told Lorne he hid them too easliy and he reminded me that as amazing as our child is, she is still only 2 1/2. She had a great time running around the backyard and searching for the eggs. She did tire quickly and started saying, "Here eggy eggy, Get into Jasmine's basket!" It totally made us laugh! It was fun to be out there with her and experience her joy as she looked for eggs.

Saturday afternoon, Jasmine went over to grandpa and abuela's house to color eggs. She had a fun time coloring eggs with grandpa and she took her afternoon nap there as well. They had a yummy KFC dinner with Lorne as well (I was at my concert so I wasn't able to join), and all in all, they had a great day!

Sunday, on Easter, we went back to my parents house and grandpa had hidden the Easter eggs for Jasmine and Roman to find. They were very cute. Ryan was helping Roman find eggs so for a while, Jasmine was running after them to try and steal their eggs. Ryan wasn't too happy about it but calmed down when I reminded him Jasmine was only 2 years old! Succesfully this year all the eggs were found (this has not always been the case in previous years). Abuela Meme even got in on the fun finding her 2 eggs.


Happy 30th Jeffy!



Dear Jeff - We know this is a day late but Happy Birthday! We have enjoyed almost 6 years of friendship and it just keeps getting better! We know you will be just as great in your 30's as you were in your 20's - surely even better! We look forward to celebrating with you this weekend and to may more fun times as friends!

We Love You Old Man!

Monday, March 24, 2008

Hosanna! Blessed is the King of Israel!

The Mormon Choir of Washington (of which I am a member in the Soprano II section), collaborated with a choir from Utah to perform Lex de Azevedo's Hosanna. We had an open rehearsal Thursday night, a performance Friday night and two performances Saturday (a matinee and an evening performance). Lex himself came to oversee and play the orchestra parts himself on the piano. We had a percussion section and a solo violin - Jenny Oaks Baker (incredible). We also had 3 vocal soloists which included George Dyer (singing the words of Christ). It was an incredible piece of music. We were the antiphonal choir (meaning we were the choir in the back) and the other choir was onstage. It is done to really bring a "surround sound" to the performance. I got to meet and talk to George Dyer (a native Virginian from Roanoke) and he was the nicest and most humble guy. His voice was so clear and powerful that I could really feel Christ was near when we were performing. It was an experience that greatly strengthened my testimony of Christ and also helped me focus on the real reason we celebrate Easter. I have included some videos of parts of the performance and a few pics! Enjoy!