Easter

I'm used to having Easter with family, but that option wasn't available to us this year, so we were on our own. The law department closed down at 2:00 on Friday afternoon, so I was able to start the weekend a bit early. Since it was LDS General Conference last weekend and since H and I are speaking in church this weekend, I thought it would be good to use that extra time to go to the temple. Despite living so close, I'm sad to say I hadn't yet been inside the temple since we moved here just before the start of the new year. It is a nice place, despite being much smaller to the temples I'm used to attending, and it is very convenient to my home, being less than ten minutes away.

On Saturday, we packed a lot into one day. It was our turn to clean the chapel, so we were there first thing in the morning. Fortunately, several other assigned families showed up, so it went quickly. From there, it was to the community association easter egg hunt a few blocks from our house. The kids had fun, though R was at first happy to pick up one egg and bring it back to us before we encouraged him to pick up a few more, and quickly, before the other 100 kids under 6 picked the designated area clean. L, too, enjoyed being with her neighbor friend as much as actually picking up eggs, but the older two were just after the candy.

We raced home from the event early just as the first speaker stood up for general conference, so that occupied much of the rest of the day. Between sessions, I was working on sprinklers while H worked in the yard, S went to a birthday party, and the other kids played in the pool. In the evening, it was off to priesthood for me while H made homemade mac and cheese for the following day's meal.

On Sunday, we slept in a little, then did our own egg hunt around the house with the kids before the second day of conference. Between sessions, we went to eat at the home of some friends from church. We had a nice bbq meal, with cheeseburgers and dogs, (mashed) potato salad, mac and cheese, which H had made with seven varieties of cheese, a relish tray, and double chocolate cake from our favorite Mexican bakery down the street. (Not as good as their tres leches, but still excellent). The weather was outstanding, so the kids jumped on the trampoline and otherwise enjoyed the sun. We then watched the final session of conference, visited for a while, then returned home to take a walk around the neighborhood before bedtime. All in all, a good weekend, an excellent conference with many interesting and useful sermons preached, and time to reflect on the gift of the Savior to a world that needs the divine now more than ever. The kids had no school Friday and are off again today, so it's a long weekend for them. I'm back at work, but luckily my workload is lighter than usual this morning, so I'm trying to post something.