31 March 2024
VOLUME 12 – NUMBER 549
Endia, London, Owen at Escalante Cross
On Good Friday, London and I decided to hike to Escalante’s cross in the morning. It was very peaceful and beautiful! It helped me to think and focus on our Savior, and what He did for us in sacrificing himself, so that we can have peace and eternal life.
Family dinner on Easter Sunday
This Sunday we invited all our children to attend our Spanish Easter sacrament meeting, where several of us sang in the ward choir. It was nice having some of our adult children there, and after the meeting, we had a family Easter dinner.
Aura has been in a lot of pain lately with her cancer, and she was able to come to the family dinner, so afterwards, I asked her if we could give her a blessing. Ashton, Caleb and I gave her the blessing.
Several days after the blessing, Mom let me know that Aura explained to her that because of all the pain she is experiencing, she has felt like a cloud of darkness is surrounding her, and she can’t be her normal happy self. She said that after the blessing, she felt like the cloud had been lifted some, and she was able to feel that old happy self coming through more again.
I know that our blessing cannot take away all the pain Aura is feeling, but I hope that it will help ease the burden that she is carrying right now. Aura, we love you! You are amazing, you are brave, and you are a great example to me of someone who endures great trials with dignity and grace!
Family dinner on Easter Sunday
This year our family decided we wanted to put more emphasis on Easter, kind of like what most of us do for Christmas, so we want to create more Easter traditions. I’ve also noticed that President Nelson has placed a greater emphasis on Holy Week—remembering the events of the last week of the Savior’s life.
For one of our new Easter traditions, we put together an Easter display for the month of March and Holy Week. Each candle represents a different element of who Jesus is in connection with the events of his final mortal week on Earth.
Purple: A reminder that Jesus is our King; lit on Palm Sunday.
Red: A reminder of His suffering and sacrifice; add lighting this candle on Thursday to remember Gethsemane, Calvary, and Jesus’ death.
White: A reminder that Jesus is risen and has conquered sin and death; add lighting this candle on Easter Sunday.
Braden and Brooke’s Easter display
Happy Easter everyone! I love this time of year, especially because we are able to remember the time that our Savior, Jesus Christ atoned for our sins, and then died for us, so we could live again with everlasting happiness.
Going through each day of the week leading up to Christ's atonement, crucifixion, and his resurrection was just really spiritual for me. Jesus Christ is our Savior, and he is the Redeemer of the World. He took upon him my sins, and he did it personally, and with the intent to help me make it to live with God again.
I am so grateful for him, and for the love that he has for me. I hope you all have an amazing Easter, and I hope you all can feel God’s love, as I have.
Monte at Swig with co-workers
Having a lot of family over for Easter was a lot of fun! London made some yummy deserts, and we played a lot of fun board games together.
Easter did feel a little bit more special this year. I feel like I had some more personal preparation that I did. However, I still have the desire to make it more special.
I'm gonna give a lot of the credit to Braden to my making easter more special, because his drive has been contagious and inspiring. Love you Braden, Brooke, Ellie, and Charlie!
Playing games on Easter Sunday
Monday I went Bowling with Riley, his uncle, his uncle’s wife Josh, and Cheyanne. I did not do good on the first round, but on the second round I did a lot better. I got two strikes after another when It came to me. Riley and I ended up with the same amount of points.
After bowling we did mini golf, and I can tell you that I am not good at all. After that, Riley and I went shopping in Jordan landing.
On Tuesday we had an early morning temple trip with the ward. I like going with the ward and having the experience of doing baptisms. On Wednesday I got to hangout out with Riley, we looked at their family baby photos, and then we had dinner with the family. We talked about the Baltimore bridge collapse.
Friday Monte and I went to Swig and visit Aiden. Lately Veidi and I have been playing Stardew Valley. That game is so addicting. We been playing on Veidi's farm most of the time.
Gloria with Owen on Easter Sunday
This week I have been working a lot at the school, which is really nice, because I have been really short on some moola, and since I've been working so long, I've got more hours, which means a lot more money.
One of the things I do while I work is listen to an audiobook, called Mistborn. They are really good, and I am on the final book that the author currently has out right now.
I can't wait for this next paycheck, so I'm not completely broke, and I can't wait to keep working more to improve the paycheck, after the one I'm about to get.
Family playing games on Easter Sunday
We had our second intramural game this week, and unfortunately we were not victorious. It was kind of funny because some of the guys on our team were making comments about the guys on the other team like, “We’re playing against a bunch of dads right now,” since they did look a little older than we were.
I responded, “Well these dads are kicking our trash, so…” It was a physical game and still fun, although I do hate losing more than almost anything else.
Charlie and Ellie
Me and Isaac went to Sophie's house because she was on spring break. We talked for a few hours. Then we had Little Caesars. I was planning on scaring Sophie when she was coming up the stairs, but I accidentally scared Addie instead, thinking it was Sophie! Addie screamed and I started to laugh.
Then when Sophie went to the bathroom, I told Isaac to scare her, so he hid. When she came out, he scared her. She screamed, and we all just started to laugh.
Next we played Cover Your Assets. I won the first time, but then kept losing because Isaac and Bridger kept taking my stuff. They were really good. I had a lot of silver and gold, and then Isaac won all of it.
After that we watched a show then went home. I had a really fun time there.
Jenny resting with children
This week we played lots of Minecraft, so Kai put me and Quinn on probation, which meant we had to help Dad with whatever he needs. Kai also made us pay to get our one food.
Eventually, Dad took us off probation, and me, Kai, and Dad went to explore a new land. We found a cliff jumping spot and it was fun. We found a huge open space, and I found a shipwreck and a new village, which is pretty rare. I started trading with them as much as possible and then went home.
When I got home I was planning on making a better food supply to trade with Kai. Then Isaac tried killing me, but he failed, and then Kai came and killed me. Next, Isaac stole my enchantment table. While he was running away, Kai ran after him and killed him. Then I spawned far, far away, which was a problem, because after five minutes all my stuff was going to disappear.
Fortunately, Kai figured out that I was acting in self defense, so he tried saving my stuff, but by then it was already all gone. I was really upset.
Family picture