We celebrated Easter yesterday by coloring eggs as a family! We thought we had worked around everyone's schedule as well as General Conference and then discovered that Ben had to work just an hour before. What? So everyone was there except for him. That was sad! But the rest was fun. Most of us gathered in the morning for French toast made by Kevin. Yum! Then we watched the first session of conference together. Afterwards, we had finger foods for lunch in honor of Passover dinner and then we colored eggs. Fun times! Avery and Lyla probably had the most fun and colored the most eggs. Evelyn went down for a nap. Oliver watched from the high chair and Micah inspected his and then smashed it which sent his mom into a fit of giggles! When we were done, Cali, Richmond, and Beth hid plastic eggs for Avery and Lyla to find. It was a beautiful day even if a bit cold!

Also, on Good Friday I have often made hot cross buns. I bowed out this year and Sarah surprised us by bringing over a fresh batch of her own making! They were super good! I love passing the baton!

Today was Evelyn's first birthday! What a sweet, happy little girl she is! We love her so much! Mariah had a party for her at her Grandma and Grandpa Carter's. We had homemade pizza! Megan made Evelyn a basketball cake and she opened presents. It was a ton of fun!

Bethany got to sing in the Salt Lake City Tabernacle on Saturday night! Kevin and I drove Naoma and Jim up with us and we had a nice dinner at Little America beforehand. The concert in the tabernacle was AMAZING! 3 choirs sang together with the organ and a live orchestra. We felt like we were surrounded by angels! Bethany looked beautiful and sang with emotion and grace. I love that she has held on to this thing in her life. It has brought her so many good things and brings blessings into our lives as well like the concert Saturday. It was incredible.

Benjamin ran the 400 in a meet on Friday and did great even though he wasn't feeling well. We took him out to eat afterward and that brought his spirits up! His newest plan for his future is to rededicate himself to Chinese and become a diplomat! I love him to have dreams! I wish all his dreams included living forever in Springville next to me, though! Ha ha!

Cheyenne is enjoying spending time with Tyler. She is sad that he is leaving the end of April for a job in Colorado for three months, but is enjoying the time now. She is busy still with school and work and sisters and friends, too!

Savannah is still being a terrific aunt! She is a great babysitter. She has also spent time with Peter and putting in time at work. She went with all the siblings to see McKay in concert on Saturday and he did a great job, as always!

Bethany came back from her choir tour this week! She had so. much. fun! And Bethany had energy for all of it! What a miracle! They sang in the St. George Tabernacle on Thursday night on their way to Las Vegas. On Friday they sang for a choir coach on their way to their hotel in California and that night went on a dinner cruise. On Saturday they spent all day at Disneyland! My favorite story is that their choir director had them all go on Pirates of the Caribbean together and they sang the pirate song throughout! On Sunday, they got to sleep in before doing another concert that afternoon. On Monday they went back to Disneyland for the whole day! Then Tuesday they drove all the way back to Utah. Much of the choir came home sick. Beth's roommates went to the doctor upon arriving home and one had flu, one had strep, and one had walking pneumonia! Yikes! Beth has not had a fever but has had a sore throat and lost her voice since arriving home so she has not done anything since getting home. We hope she feels better soon, but are so glad she lived it up while she was gone!

Benjamin had a couple of days of road driving with an instructor this week which he says went pretty well! He's on track to get his license on his birthday! He had a JV track meet on Tuesday and ran the 800 and the 3200. He did great! 

Our favorite coach and her adorable baby!

Savannah went out with Peter more this week and has really been enjoying her time with him. She had much better health this week and it was great to see her looking healthy again!

Cheyenne has been busy busy busy! She had tests, clincals, and pass-offs happening at nursing school. She worked all night at the hospital last night and started a new job coaching little kids in tennis on Saturday. She "accidentally" signed up for a basketball tournament in Salt Lake City and played for the UVU intramural women's team for most of the day Friday. She also is crazy about the boy she is dating, Tyler, and has managed to spend time cooking, playing games, and going to the movies with him! I love being there when she pops in and out of the house to get updates on her and all her goings-ons!

On Saturday, Ben, Cali, Richmond, Chey, Mariah, Evelyn, Kevin, and I went to the open house for the Lindon temple. It was super fun and very, very beautiful!

Also, I love my grandkids...

Guess who got asked to prom this week? Bethany got asked by her sweet friend, Taylor! She has taken him to dances in the past, and here he is now to take her to prom. So cool!  She is excited that she gets to go. On Thursday of this week she left for choir tour, so she is out having more fun! They spent all day yesterday at Disneyland and what a blessing that she had the energy to do it! I'm so happy for her!

This was the last week of the quarter for Benjamin. He had a lot of homework to catch up on, but he did it! He had to miss a couple of days of track practice, but he was back at it toward the end of the week and got to run in the track meet on Saturday. He ran the 800 in 2:18. We think that is fantastic! Mariah was there in her role as assistant coach and gave him pointers to be even faster next time. It's so fun to have them working together!

For the second year in a row, Kevin put together an online conference for couples wanting to heal their relationship after betrayal. He had over twenty different presenters (of which I was one!) that taught over a two-day period, Friday and Saturday. Kevin taught twice. Megan did planning and tech and was liason for presenters for the second year in a row. Megan and Mariah did introductions at the beginning of every presentation. It was pretty awesome. I love how Kevin gets ideas and then thinks, "I could do that," and then he makes it happen. It's inspiring. Way to go, Kevin!

 Last week, my niece, Emma, had her farewell in her home ward in Las Vegas! So, Beth, Cheyenne, Cali and Richmond, and I went! We left Saturday morning after Chey was done with her 12-hour night shift at the hospital and we showed up at the park where my family was gathering in the afternoon. My sister, Amy, fed us yummy food and we got to chat with my mom and dad and my siblings Pete, Amy and Paul, Maggie and Rick, and Diane! There were lots of cousins there, too, and it was a really fun time!

On Sunday we went to church to hear Emma speak in her ward. She did so fantastic! Then the whole Rich family sang which was also fantastic and then her dad, Paul spoke and he did good, too. It was really beautiful. We took some pictures and then drove home. It was a quick trip but we all were so glad that we went!

In other news, Megan threw a Mr. Beast Games birthday party for McKay while we were gone, and it was apparently a ton of fun!

Ben went back to school but now is working overtime to get caught up before the end of the quarter this week. Hang in there, Ben!

I love it when my kids come over and bring their kids. Here are all the current "babies" -- each from a different daughter. They're so cute!!