Spring Break

During my scripture study a few weeks ago, I was thinking about my journal. I've said this before, but sometimes I worry that my kids will look back and see pictures of the best times of our lives. What I really hope they remember is that yes, we created families together and that we made our testimonies and the gospel of Jesus Christ a priority in our family. I want to do a better job about writing how we're striving to strengthen our testimonies in Jesus Christ and his gospel that has been restored on the earth today. 

Spring Break 2024 

At the beginning of the year, I felt like I wanted to make Spring Break this year a time for our immediate family. We absolutely love being with extended family and we love that our kids have remarkable relationships with their cousins, aunts and uncles and grandparents. My kids are turning into great little humans and I know it's because of the influence of our extended families. Time is also passing so quickly. Eli turns 11 this month. It hits me sometimes that he'll be leaving for his mission and college in the next 8 years. That seems like it will be here in a flash. The Bullocks had Spring Break on the same week that we did and they thought about driving to KC. The Raverts also had Spring Break on the same week as us and they also asked us what our plans were. We decided to have a family trip with our kids. Aaron's been wanting to drive to southern Arkansas to dig for diamonds and do some camping and hiking down there. As we were in the planning process, the details were struggling to come together. When we finally sat down to figure out a plan, nothing seemed right. The weather was unpredictable and we hated to drive 7 hours and not get to enjoy southern Arkansas. I was feeling homesick and suggested we drive to Denver for a few days. Angela planned to meet us in Denver with her kids and my parents were going to be there too. A week before our trip, Aaron got a text from a member of our stake presidency asking if we could meet with him on Wednesday night, the day before we planned to leave for Colorado. I jokingly told my family that depending on what happened during the meeting, our plans may change. As we met with President Garcia, we were surprised and excited to learn that a new ward was going to be formed in our stake and Aaron was asked to serve in the new bishopric. President Garcia said the approval for our new ward came quickly and they would be announcing the changes that Sunday and setting apart the new bishopric. As we left, Aaron and I both felt that we should be at church on Sunday so our kids could be there to see Aaron called, sustained and set apart. 

As we arrived home, the kids had been packing for our trip. They were excited to see their Colorado cousins. As we told them we felt we should be at church on Sunday so we would be changing our plans, they burst into tears. They were confused and frustrated. They were set on driving to Colorado. As they went to bed that evening, they still cried and asked why we would just change plans. We reminded them that this was an opportunity to make God a priority and we knew we'd be blessed for being at church on Sunday. On Thursday morning, they went to school for half the day. Aaron and I made a quick decision to drive to Branson for a few days. We've wanted to go for years now and this felt like a good time. It's a quick 4 hour drive. We all enjoyed the relaxing vacation together and drove back on Saturday evening so we could enjoy church with our ward for one last time before the boundaries changed. Yes, our spring break turned out differently than we planned, but it was exactly what our family needed. 

We're grateful for Aaron's work trips that allow us to get points for hotels. 

Lambarts - where they throw rolls! The food was delicious and we laughed as we all attempted to catch rolls. 

Family hike!

Titanic Museum

River Boat Dinner Cruise!

Braums!

March Madness

Bass Pro

Buckey's

We returned home and still had the entire week to be home together. The trip turned out better than we imagined! Here's to a new Spring Break tradition of a family weekend trip and then spending time at home catching up on rest and feeling rejuvenated to finish out the rest of the school year. 

Eleanor's primary teachers gave her the cutest Easter Basket filled with treats, a CTR ring and a picture of Jesus. She put the frame on her vanity! 

Eleanor turned Adelaide into a cat - whiskers and paws included.