Easter Sunday

I'm not sure if the kids are going to forgive us for this Easter.  When we originally told the kids our plans for our trip, there were some grim faces.  No Easter egg hunt?  No nice ham dinner?  And driving all day?  How can we even call Easter a holiday this year?

Well, the Easter bunny did leave baskets in the car, so there would be no comparisons between cousins.  There were only two baskets this year- one for the twins, and one for the older girls.  Our candies and cookies were still in the bags (all the better for traveling), but we did get a couple of fun car activities like an electronic Yahtzee and MadLibs.  Emma got the 5th Beyonders book, so the rest of the day could be whatever it was going to be and she would be happy.

And we are off for Flagstaff, Arizona!  And I'm wearing no make up.

I looked up radio stations on lds.org that would broadcast General Conference.  Utah is cool, with a number of AM and FM stations that would play conference for travelers like us.  Since it was General Conference and not a regular church day, we felt less bad about spending the day in the car instead of doing our usual Sunday activities.  We listened to both sessions.

Between sessions, we stopped for a picnic lunch in Kanab, Utah.  The red hills were fascinating.  One thing I will say for Utah- they have great parks.  Even in the middle of nowhere, there was this cute little park with a playground and good picnic benches.

 We stopped at Lake Powell.

 Rather than another "Let's pose for a picture" pose, I got the kids jumping.  I love these pictures.

Down the road just a little ways, we stopped again at the Glen Canyon Dam. We had to do a little convincing to get some of the girls to go across the bridge, but the views were cool and worth it.  At least I think so.

After which, we visited the dam bathroom and the dam gift shop, and looked at the dam view.  And realized we are all just dumb kids at heart, with our terrible puns.  

There was an audible gasp in the car when President Nelson announced the retirement of Home Teaching and Visiting Teaching.  It would have been a hilarious April Fool's Day trick.  Ryan received this meme from one of the families he (used to) home teach.  

We listened intently as the changes were more fully explained.  Ministering is not meant to let us off the hook.  Hopefully it will be a chance to use the talents we innately have, rather than following a prescribed pattern.  But it does leave the "how" and "when" up to us, which means learning to listen even more closely to the promptings of the Holy Ghost.  And praying to heed those promptings, and actively looking for ways to serve.  I'm curious to see how it all develops.