Future Country Music Star!

handsome little dude

Pre-school egg hunt

Emma Grace has been excited about having all of her friends come to our house for the annual pre-school Easter egg hunt. She has made three or four sets of invitations to hand out to all her friends. Unfortunately for her, Logan got a hold of them every time. The party went off without a hitch. Everyone had a great time. Emma Grace was a happy Easter bunny.
These pre-school teachers are so smart. They had everyone bring eggs labeled with the kids names. They each received one egg from each of the friends. The hunt took longer than five seconds because they had to find the eggs with their name on it. It was cute to watch them. They would help each other out by notifying each other of where they found their eggs. Cute.

"None of them say Emma Gracie"

"Here's one Emma Grace"
"Dis one is Lo-Lo's?"
Fun Games Cool Prizes

Easter!

It was pointed out to me by one of my dear daughters that I’ve been letting a lot of holidays slip through the cracks this year!!! Now she did have a point about one holiday, Easter, but when she mentioned that we always have a chili cook-off wii night for Valentines Day I was confused. I have hosted a huge Easter Egg hunt every year for 9 years. Lots of our friends call weeks ahead of time to find out what time we’ll be starting. It’s a great party to host because it’s SUPER easy. Unless, you’re in charge of the Temple Celebration for your stake and have a stake rehearsal that day as well as a soccer game to be followed by another rehearsal for the Celebration. Anyway, the egg hunt didn’t happen this year and Alyssa felt slided.
But, we did hunt for Easter baskets, and we did have the Simpsons over for a tiny egg hunt after church.
We also celebrated the real meaning of Easter, the Resurrection of our Savior Jesus Christ. Easter is such a sacred holiday that I hate to ruin it too much with fluff. This year I had some really tender feelings about what it means that we will be resurrected. I have three grandparents that have passed away recently and I’m very excited about the idea of being with them again, forever. Happy Easter.

Mother's Day

This Mother’s Day was a little different from the “textbook” Mother’s Day. Because of the recent tornados in Alabama, Mike and a big group of priesthood holders from our area were given a relief assignment. They traveled to a neighborhood that was hard hit by the storms and spent all day removing trees from people’s houses.
I guess you could say “the oxen was in the mire”. Yes, these men were working HARD on the Sabbath. No, they did not go to church. Yes, they did a great service for their brothers and sisters in Alabama who were in GREAT need of their help.
Mike came home sore from the work, but happy that he had gone.
Here is a letter written to us from a lady that they helped that day:

How do you thank people enough for sharing their faith. There's no way possible. To all the wives, mothers, and grandmothers who shared their sons to help us in Moody, AL you can be very proud of them all. They have given me the best Mother's Day gift possible. They worked on my 84 year old father's property all day. He told me this morning he thought he would never see his shop again because of all the trees, but now he can. He is in stage four lung cancer but it thrilled his soul to see your fine young men working for him, a total stranger. We can never repay you, but know that we will always remember you and thank God for revealing Himself to us through your church.

Thank you,

Judy Martin

But, never fear, Mike did not leave me all alone. My girls had their marching orders. I got breakfast in bed, complete with a flower on the tray. I received lots of cards and gifts. My husband even left me a small gift from him. We went to church and then had dinner. That’s right, a super nice dinner. Mike brought home Olive Garden the night before and it was delicious after the girls warmed it up for me. (Savannah put the beadstick bag in the microwave and it started on FIRE!!! She was so upset. I thought it was funny. We’ve all done that at least once.)

Mike's Mom gave me a Precious Moment. A little boy with a John Deere Tractor.

Gracie made me a flower pot a school. The ladybugs and butterflies are painted with her finger prints.
Alyssa made me a picture frame with a sweet poem, a bookmark, and a flower picture.

Savannah made me a sweet card and made sure I didn't lift a finger all day.
This is the gift Mike gave me:

It’s a mother’s necklace that I designed while we were in Utah. The middle stone represents Mike and I, each one of our kids is represented by their birthstone (Emma Grace wants to trade Logan. She is green and he is pink. She’s GREEN with envy. I think she has asked me every single day if her and Logan could switch.), and my 6 sweet babies that are not here with us are represented by the six diamonds around the outside. I really love it. I love my kids, ALL of them. I love my husband that loves me and the gospel. I love that even though he couldn’t be with me on Mother’s Day he bent over backward to make it a special day.

Atlanta Temple Open House

Eternal Family My Eternal Companion

Eternal Friends
I got so wrapped up with my calling and the Celebration of the Temple that I forgot to write about taking our family to the open house. What an amazing experience. The temple is just beautiful. Everything, every detail is so intricate and purposeful. We arrived at our assigned time and watched a beautifully put together movie about temples and the Atlanta temple itself. We then walked with our children right into the front door of the temple. Savannah and Alyssa understood that this was an amazing experience that not every child has. Savannah made the comment that she was sad that she wouldn’t be able to go back in until she got married. The girls and I had fun imagining how beautiful they would look dressed in their wedding dress in front of the huge mirrors in the bride’s dressing room. We are certain that no princess could top how lovely they will be on that most special day.

It was going great until Logan smacked his head on a chair in one of the instruction rooms. His DNA may still be there. His lip was bleeding pretty steadily. He and I dropped out of our tour and were shown the child’s waiting area. This is not a regular stop on the tour, but I can say that it is fully stocked with first-aid essentials and toys. Once the bleeding and the crying were under control Logan and I jumped in on a Spanish tour. We didn’t understand a thing the guide was saying, but it didn’t matter. We felt the spirit and the beauty of just being in the temple. When we walked into the sealing room Logan was taken aback. He said, “Whoa, Mom, Look at dat! Dat’s a really huge Christmas Tree! (Chandelier) Look at the tiny ones ober dere! (Sconces) I like dat one Mom. Less do it again.” What a fun boy.

After the tour we hung around for a minute on the temple grounds, took pictures, and caught up with the Andrade’s.

Logan and Patrick enjoyed a little male bonding time on the lawn. Patrick is a great player. Logan loves him so much.

I love the way Logan holds Patrick's face when he's giggling Whoa!!
I'm gonna getcha!

I can’t wait until the day that we can go through with them and experience the joy of the temple with them.

I'm going there someday

John Deere Green

On a warm spring day
They rode, Logan Baugh and Gracie
On tractors 2 feet high
And the whole town said the fools should have bought red
But it looked good to Logan
In John Deere green Farmer Logan

Farmer GracieLooks good, Red is for Sissies!