It was Spring Break this week and also Holy Week! We had lots of religious opportunities this week to feel the beauty of the doctrine. It was pretty great! General Conference was on Saturday and Sunday last week so we started with a spritual feast and lots of reminders of Palm Sunday. For the rest of the week, we decided to try to have a devotional every night at 9:30 and everyone who could join us by Zoom. It was so fun to see so many of our kids throughout the week and to hear their insights and testimonies! 

We also had traditional egg-coloring before our devotional on Saturday. We had it at Sarah's this year so she could put Avery down for the night. They are really loving having their own place!

What made Easter even more special was that Mariah was able to come up and spend time with us! She had a meet in Salt Lake City this weekend and she got permission to drive up in her car so she could stay with us. Yay! We watched her run Friday evening and Saturday morning and she did great both times. They had to shovel a foot and a half of snow off the track in order to run but fortunately, the air temperature was above freezing and even a little warmish.

We didn't plan any trips this spring break. We thought we'd keep Beth and Ben busy with a home project. We wanted to install Luxury Vinyl Planking and replace our carpet downstairs. We got carpet taken out of part of the room and the floor scraped but the planking didn't arrive in time for us to do any installation. Good thing then that McKay needed to install insulation in the shed he's building for music lessons. He had Beth and Ben come over 3 or 4 days and help! He also had them spend the night and play games one night for fun. He said they were a great help!

We did a couple of fun things, too! On Thursday night we got to be the tour guides for the Tabernacle Experience. This is a reconstructed life-size replica of the Old Testament tabernacle of the people of Israel. It was two hours out in the snow for Beth and Ben but they had a great time and did a super job! Kevin and I got to be inside and had a great time, too.

On Friday, we saw an early showing of Dungeons and Dragons in the movie theatre! It was a good movie and we had a lot of fun. Beforehand, we went to the sports store and Kevin bought running shoes for both Beth and Ben and we went out for lunch at Chick-fil-A.

Our Easter Sunday was super special and nice, too! Bethany spoke in church and she did fabulous. The music was incredible, too, and we all really loved the meeting. For Easter dinner, Grandma and Grandpa Gazdik came and every member of our family, spouses, and child! My heart was full! We had another devotional after that. It was so great to be together.

Afterwards, we switched gears and celebrated birthdays! Benjamin turned 13! He's been asking us for months (since before Christmas) for a virtual reality headset. A few weeks ago he made a powerpoint presentation for why we should buy him an Occulus and would even contribute his own money for a majority of it. So . . . we thought about it and decided to get him one since he now qualified for the minimum age and it wouldn't increase his screen time--it would just be part of it. He was super excited! Hopefully it will be a fun thing.

Mariah had to leave not long after that. We miss her already! But we are entering the final stretch for all our kids in school. In spite of the snow, summer is speeding our way! Afterall, isn't that the promise of Easter and also of our Savior, Jesus Christ? Absolutely!

I love these kids!!!!