Week #35, SLC, UT, March 26-April 1, 2018

Happy Easter!  Today we celebrate our Savior's Resurrection and Atonement which gives us all the hope for Eternal Life with Him and with our Heavenly Parents and that we might be with our families forever!  I love this Easter season of hope, new life, change, forgiveness, and most of all love for all that our Father in Heaven has given us, especially His son, Jesus Christ.  I know that it is only through Him and His Atonement for us that we can make it through the trials of this life and move on to a bright eternity in a much better, perfect place.

I took this off of a friend's Instagram post this morning.  The painting is by Simon Dewey.

"Woman, why weepest thou?  Whom seekest thou?  She, supposing him to be the gardener, saith unto him, Sir, if thou have bourne him hence, tell me where thou hast laid him, and I will take him away.  Jesus saith unto her, Mary.  She turned herself, and saith unto him Rabboni; which is to say, Master." John 20:15, 16

Simon Dewey says about the image:  In composing this painting, I had a picture in my mind of a bright morning light illuminating the Savior's upper body as he reveals his identity to Mary.  I wanted to symbolize the beautiful and tender moment where, as the light is dawning upon Him, it dawns upon Mary Magdalene that it is not the gardener she is talking to, but her Master and Savior.  The lilies symbolize that there has been death but they also are beautiful--their springtime feeling representing hope and new life.  In large reproductions of this you can see a tear on Mary's face.  Tears of Sadness that at once turn to tears of joy.

This Easter weekend is also our General Conference for our church.  We were so blessed to be able to attend Saturday morning's opening session in person and be present for a Solemn Assembly where we got to raise our hand in support of our new Prophet and President of the church, Russell M. Nelson along with his counselors and the Twelve Apostles.  We sustained two new Apostles, Elder Gong, and Elder Soares.  Elder Soares is from Sao Paulo, Brazil.  What a thrill it was for us to be there and to be so richly fed by the Spirit from the messages of our dear church leaders.  I love the church and I'm so grateful for my membership in it.  I will never take it for granted and I will try to live it's teachings every day of my life.

After the conference session, we met my nephew, Bob, and his darling family at the reflecting pond in front of the Temple.  It was fun seeing them for a minute before they headed off for a hike to Ensign Peak and then on to many other adventures and lots of people to see.

Mike watched Priesthood Session with his son, Glen, and grandson, Carter, in our apartment.  I didn't want to disturb their boy's night out so I took a walk through Temple Square and over to City Creek Mall.  Deseret Book was having their annual girl's night out event so I popped in there.  It was crazy busy but fun being with all the other gals.  I found a couple of cute swing dresses for the Spring/Summer, but no books.  Weird, right?  Oh well, they had brought in a couple of racks of cute dresses and they were all on sale, so what the heck!

The water fountain show at City Creek was fun to watch:

This little Denver Bronco fan named Tucker was very good at posing for pictures.

 Spring has come to our little part of the world!

We had a lovely Easter dinner at Hannah and Chase's apartment in Provo.  Eric, Livi, and Livi's roommate, Jessica joined us.

Livi's first time holding baby Violet.  Sweet girls!

On Thursday afternoon, Glen's family and Ellie and Reese met up with Mike after our shift at the library.  I'm taking Thursday's off for a few weeks to go to Provo to help Hannah out so I missed their visit.  They had fun seeing where we serve, the Church History Museum next door and Temple Square.

My visits to Provo this week included a couple of doctor appointments for Violet.  It's quite a job taking her and all her gear out of the apartment!!

I also got to be there for her bath time!

I had fun taking a few pictures of Violet trying to get her to give me a little smile! I got a couple of cute pictures and a sweet smile.  I am so in love with this little gal.

Addie is pretty needy for attention these days.  Even more than usual.  This is a pretty common sight!

Hard working dad with his little girl.  She's already got him wrapped around her little finger!  So much love in this sweet apartment!  I count my blessings every day that I can be a little part of their lives right now.

This was truly an amazing week with the end of it being Easter Sunday and our General Conference.  I am amazed at the love and the outpouring of the Spirit I felt as leaders of our church bore testimony of their love of our Savior, Jesus Christ.  He truly is our hope, our light, and our life!