44 Degrees, We'll Take it!

It was a cold day, but the sun was shining, so how could we refuse an afternoon outdoors?

We had a chance to fly the new kite the kids got from Grammie for Easter. I forgot how much fun it is to fly a kite! Hannah was a champ while she was holding it, as long as the string wasn't out more than 10 feet. Then she got scared of the "giant fish" as she called it.

William kept a close eye on it and whined about it.

Evelyn loved it. She had so much fun flying the kite, even when she let go! I'm pretty sure she said "oh no!" before she let go, oh well. So I left a terrified and screaming Hannah (I think she was scared that the fish was loose) and a bawling William and ran for the kite. Luckily a chain link fence intercepted it and we caught the fish.

We also had a fun stop at the nature park, after we thawed out for a bit.

William loved the ducks and said "kak, kak, kak" and tried to catch one. The girls were brave until I told them to be careful of the geese. Big mistake. As soon as I did the geese came over to the girls (they were as tall as Hannah) and each girl ran SCREAMING in opposite directions. I ran yelling after them "DROP THE BREAD! They want the bread!" While I was chasing the geese that were chasing my daughters, I turned around and William was chasing ducks in another direction in the road! It was loud and probably very funny to watch! I know we gave a few onlookers a good chuckle.


Survivors of Rexburg Duck and Geese feeding

William was not very happy about leaving, but when the hands go from red to purple, it's time to go!

Merry Easter!

That's what it felt like here! We awoke to a snowstorm on April 3, the morning we were planning on going to the city's egg hunt.

We found out they were distributing the eggs in a nearby weight room.

All of the kids were a little confused about what was going on, but it was still very nice that we got baskets full of eggs!

This is on the way there, I just liked Hannah's face!

This was Easter morning. Their Grandmas sure know how to spoil them! Thank you Grammie and Grandma Sally!

My favorite part of Easter was watching General Conference. This is something that happens 2 times a year in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. It is a time that the members of the Church gather, even if it's in front of the t.v. or computer, all together and we listen to the prophet, who is now President Thomas S. Monson, and the apostles and the other leaders of the Church. Their words are heavenly, uplifting, and full of love and truth.

The epitome of Easter for me was President Monson's talk in the Sunday morning session. You can find it here. If you take the time to watch and listen, you will not regret it.

At the end of the talk, President Monson spoke the lines to the song "He is Risen." Next the choir sang it. In that moment I felt the reason for the celebrations. I know the words to the song are true and that because of Christ, we will live again.

"He is risen! He is risen! Tell it out with joyful voice. He has burst his three day's prison; Let the whole wide earth rejoice. Death is conquered; man is free. Christ has won the victory."

April 2

Happy Birthday
to the man of my dreams!!!

WE LOVE YOU!

April Fools'!

Hi friends and family! We've been out of the loop for a bit. We have so much to post: a trip to AZ, William's birthday back in Feb., and much more from our daily happenings. For now you get what we did on April Fools' Day. First the girls were served "fruit punch." It was really jello in cups with straws. Evelyn said I left the fruit punch in the fridge too long.

The next joke is what is on the video. I told the girls Ben was still sleeping, but he had long since gone to work...

Then Ben came home from work with a Little Ceasar's pizza in his hand. I felt a little confused because I was already halfway through dinner and he usually won't do that unless he knows I've had a rough day and dinner wouldn't happen unless he intervened. The kids were excited he brought home a pizza. He opened the box to reveal 5 fancy Easter cookies.

The girls later used the box to deliver our rent to our landlord. They drew a picture of a pizza inside. Evelyn said she felt embarrassed to deliver it.

My favorite joke of the day: I had Ben's dad call my sister and left a message that said "Becky, this is Mr. Lyon from the US Navy. Please call me back at this number: (the number of the local zoo)." My sister called the number and found out it was a zoo she was calling to ask for Mr. Lyon. Funny, huh?!

Well, it would have been funny if my sister hadn't answered the phone when Ben's dad called her! What I wrote above was what was supposed to happen. Instead my sister answered and he told her who he was and that her sister was trying to prank her. Oh well. It was still my favorite.

Next year, if we are not living somewhere where there are big snow storms on April 1st, I am going to spray-paint mushrooms in bright colors and plant them in neighbors' yards. An idea off of FamilyFun.

We're you fooled this April 1?

Behind the Scenes

I had a former student create a mini-documentary for one of her classes about the "behind-the-scenes" lives of teachers. She included me and one of my colleagues, Andra Hansen. Enjoy the video! Click here to watch it.

To my perfectly perfecting wife

I’m a happy guy. I really am. See that girl in the picture? The one with the wings and the halo? She’s the secret to my happiness.

Does she have less-than-glorious moments? Yes, of course. She battles feeling like a “mom blob” just like everyone else. She isn’t perfect, and I’m glad.

See, happiness in this life isn’t attained through being perfect, it’s obtained by the experience of becoming perfected. Jessica is the catalyst in my life that moves me to become better.

That’s why she’s the secret to my happiness. Jessica makes me happy because she makes me better.

She fell in love with me, despite my impressive list of faults. She shows her love by refusing to let me indulge them.

Thank you Jess. Thank you for holding my hand and walking with me down the often bumpy, occasionally painful, but always wonderful road to perfection.

Happy anniversary. I love you!

And He's OFF!!

This was taken about a week ago, William is still pretty wobbly, but much better than in this video. I asked him to jump because he usually "jumps" by putting both hands strait up in the air.

Bonus Video:

William was glad to have Ben home.

Bonus Bonus Video:

We found out why some of our cds are not working well.