Paige and I had an adventure this week across town and noticed that we were close to the Oquirrh Mountain temple. We had never visited this temple so we stopped by and took a picture. On the way home we drove past the Jordan River temple and looked around. The next day we stopped at the Provo temple for tradition’s sake. When I was a little girl I would ask my parents to take me home by way of the Provo temple, which wasn’t in our path home, but I never remember them saying no to my request.
The kids were out of school so we were able to go on an early birthday picnic for my mom. We gave her a tiara. If you see her today, remind her to put it on. She’s a queen and it’s her birthday.
Happy, happy day!
We gathered at Spring Lake for the annual Easter egg hunt, hosted by my parents.
The Round House is gone, and there are only the footings of the new house in place.
The boys and Richard helped my dad haul literally a ton of rocks and remove dead wood. Paige and I helped my mom hide all of the eggs while they were thus distracted.
Timothy and Mark enjoyed working with the saw and pruners.
Mark was especially proud of his bundle of sticks and asked to make one more before we left.
Some cousins arrived and baby Ruth and Sparky hit it off almost immediately.
Sparky noticed that she needed a little face wash and he cleaned her right up.
It was such a pleasant day. We had some lunch and began the Easter egg hunt.
We spectators had a great time watching the kids find the eggs. Richard *might* also be smiling because we bought that truck in the background on Friday. It’s a nice ride.
This is a picture of Richard and me eating chocolates and watching the kids play.
This is the view of the new temple from my parents’ property. Beautiful.
We missed Sarah’s, Matt’s, and Paul’s families who couldn’t make it. We know what it’s like to miss the Annual Easter Egg hunt, but the beauty of family traditions is that there will always be next year.
(Most of these photos were taken by Paige. Thank you!)
We had a few cousins over on Sunday afternoon during General Conference. I took a picture of what they looked like as it began. Five minutes later, the cousins were looking for something to do.
I promise that this wasn’t my idea, but they decided they wanted to sew. They had never sewn anything before (they are in preschool and kindergarten) but they saw that Mark knew how to embroider, so they wanted to do that, too.
They embroidered little sketches I made of swords as we watched Conference.
The older brother was so excited about his sword that I framed that he decided he wanted to do another project: the Easter Bunny. And he wanted it to be pink.
Does anyone believe me that they wanted to do this? These little boys sat for an hour together, then the older brother sat for another hour, completely focused on their work. I sat with them, threading needles and saying good job. It was focused attention and I loved it.
They had a good time here, and that was a relief. I know that I am not the fun aunt or the young aunt. But yesterday, I felt like my version of an aunt was okay. I am the aunt who will untangle knots in your thread, make drawings for you, and feed you carrot sticks and lemon bars.
I’m also the aunt with the fun kids to play with. There was a mighty game of dress up clothes and battles in the basement. It was a good time, and I am glad that my brother could take his older kids to a session of Conference in the Conference Center.
We visited Paige’s art project last night. It has been traveling for a month or two, but
now it’s back in town. It’s on display at a mall featuring high school level artists from several school districts.
I think it must be kind of hard to send off your art for the crowds to see. I think Paige is courageous and so talented.
We took some time to study the exhibit. As we finished viewing, Paige, Timothy, and I saw Richard slipping into a candy store with the other boys. We joined them and watched Mark and Timothy explore the store like a couple of pinballs ricocheting from bin to bin. They’ve never been on the other side of the candy store window at the mall.
It was a fun family night.
The tradition continues…
Here we are in our annual photo before the Young Women General Meeting.
We took about 60 photos. I chose the above photo, but the following photo was in the running:
I won’t share all of the photos from over the years, but this was our first photo when Paige was 12.
Paige had the day off from school on Monday and we decided to get tickets to the Sacred Gifts exhibit at the BYU Museum of Art. We went with my mom and made a day of it. If you have an opportunity to go, you should. These paintings are on loan from several locations, mostly churches, and they are all depictions of the Savior. The altar pieces take some time to study. There are paintings by Carl Bloch, Heinrich Hoffmann, and Frans Schwartz.
I realized that I had never seen real art before. I have visited community and university museums all of my life, but never felt what I did at this exhibit. Part of it was the subject matter and seeing original paintings rather than the washed out prints I have looked at all my life. The paintings were luminous and vibrant in color. I could see the foreground of the paintings were painted differently than the backgrounds. I could see the “spectators” in Bloch’s paintings more clearly. My favorite was the first painting, Frans Schwartz’s Agony in the Garden. It touched me deeply.
One caption near a painting by Heinrich Hofmann told of the inadequacy that Hofmann felt when he began painting the Savior. The painting took him two years to complete, and the writer of the caption emphasized the courage it took for Hofmann to paint, despite his youth, inexperience, and the immense subject matter he was trying to depict.
I think that’s the message that I needed to hear this week. Even though we may feel inadequate, our time and talents given to others can become sacred gifts, and they can be magnified in quality when we give with a pure heart.
Our party was fun on Friday night. Our guests were chosen for us by someone from church, and as hosts, only we knew who was coming. Paige was our pianist while we ate. She made it feel so elegant to be eating at the Ross house. I have learned that a little help in the kitchen makes an evening so much more enjoyable. Daniel cleared our plates and loaded the dishwasher quietly so we could visit. He heard some great stories from some fun people as he worked.
This was my favorite picture of the night. Daniel took all of these photos.
Everyone brought something special. Just look at the colors of that food… and those rolls! I don’t take credit for any of the food. I just warmed things in the oven and microwave. Richard’s smoked chicken was a hit. These were gorgeous, gorgeous plates of food.
We heard so many fun stories and that was the best part. I think we were so lucky to get this mix of people.
The little boys came out in their suits to serve trifle for dessert. I made individual trifle servings in mason jars. These were so pretty. One of the couples in our group is serving a mission and the elder gave Timothy his name tag to wear for a few minutes to see how it felt.
I am thankful for my neighbors and ward members. It was so good to get to know them.
These women are two of my children’s teachers in church. How great is that?
When the evening was over, I fell into bed in my clothes and slept in the next morning. Sleep is sweet when you’ve worked hard for something.
I’m preparing for a dinner party for 12 adults today. I haven’t finished the table yet, but things will get crazy later and I may forget to take another picture. My sister Susan provided the lanterns and Long tablecloth. I have leftover bird nests from a Young Women activity filled with chocolate eggs and get-to-know-you questions for the guests to discuss over dinner.
The kids are helping tonight and will play background piano music, photograph the event, and the little boys will serve dessert in their suits. Mark has permission to change IMMEDIATELY after dessert. Richard is preparing some of our meal in his smoker. (I always want to type that he is smoking chicken, but that sounds like something else.) His smoked chicken is so good.
The theme for the evening is “Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner” and the guests don’t know who is invited. Our church is holding these parties in 7 or 8 members’ homes tonight. Only the hosts know who is coming. It’s a great chance to get to know people.
I finished hanging frames for a gallery wall, but I may not get all the frames filled today. All well.
Our basement flooded last night and our fence is still down in the backyard. Other than that, we’re looking good for company!
We had a nice visit from some friends from Sahuarita, Arizona. They’ve all grown so much, but the friendships still feel comfortable. It was a fun night. It’s a sacrifice to take time to visit friends when people are on a trip to visit family. It meant a lot to us.
