Sarah's Family at Disneyland; Easter Egg Hunt; Abe's Family at White House Easter Egg Roll

The Excell family spent their spring break at Disneyland with all of Jeff's family. 

Before they jumped in the car to head to California, they celebrated Jonah's 5th birthday.

They had Mickey Mouse ice cream bars rather than cake to make it easier on them before they left town. Looks like Jonah approved of that decision.

It was fun to see a few of the photos of them at Disneyland.

Love these matching shirts. 

This is how Sarah matched the boys that day.

She looks like Super Mom surrounded by all those boys and their cousins.

The lines were long, but the cousins kept themselves entertained while Jeff and his Dad look on.

Looks like Carson gave the trip a thumbs up. His 10th birthday was at the end of the trip, so two of the boys spent their birthday week at Disneyland.

Wynne facetimed with us to tell us about losing her first tooth. 

She showed us a big iguana on a nearby tree.

She facetimed three days later to tell us she lost her second tooth. Looks like she had two teeth already growing in their place.

Newland showed us the Easter egg he had decorated. Funny boy!

Two weeks ago we had Ben's and Rebecca's families over for Sunday dinner. I stayed home from the prison because I was coughing so incessantly. At that point I had been told it was my asthma, so I wasn't worried about infecting the family.

It is always so cute to see Rebecca's children anxiously watching and waiting for Ben's little boys to arrive. Once they are here, Caroline keeps them very happy and entertained.

Natalie texted and asked if she could bring her friend Kat up with her for dinner before they went over to the Utah State Capitol to take photos with the cherry blossoms blooming.

The four gamers got in some quality time [hours] playing Pandemic.

Natalie has always been one who loves to be in front of the camera and these trees have been a popular backdrop for many people taking photos.

A few days before Easter weekend, we went to Provo to pick up Natalie and bring her up here to spend the night so we could take her to the airport the next morning. We were so happy she was going to be able to spend a few days with her family. That is always rejuvenating. 

She likes to spend time with her family. I was hoping to hear more about her siblings, but upon her return back here, she mostly talked about her dog and her friends. 

I was glad Jacob sent a photo of Claire all dressed up as Paul Revere for a school project. I am sure she got a good score for her efforts.

Before we knew it, Natalie was back here again. We had on our calendar that she would be arriving Tuesday evening. Thankfully, she texted on Monday to say she would be getting on the plane soon. We didn't leave her hanging at the airport, thanks to that text. 

We fed her Chick-fil-A and then took her back to her apartment so she would be ready to go back to school the next day.

Let's now talk about me and my coughing. It went on for weeks and weeks. The first trip to urgent care and a round of prednisone did not help me at all. I called the doctor and he prescribed a bigger dose of prednisone.

That did not help. So off to urgent care I went for a second time. 

Thankfully, after I had a breathing treatment there, my coughing was improved. I was prescribed a Z-pack antibiotic even though my chest x-ray showed no pneumonia. It was just in case I had bronchitis like Glen had.

I took two pills that night and had a wonderful reprieve from the coughing. But the next evening my coughing and wheezing was back with a vengeance. I coughed my head off for another four days. My home breathing treatments felt like they were doing nothing.

As I was going into the weekend, I was worried because I didn't feel like I was improving and I was getting to the end of the antibiotic. I was giving myself one more night and planned to go back to urgent care a third time the next day. 

But, alas, after taking my last dose of antibiotic and another breathing treatment, my airways finally opened up. The coughing was less, the wheezing was greatly improved, and I was able to get a good night's sleep. I am giving thanks for every unlabored breath I have experienced after that.

Glen and I were able to give our talks at our Olympus Branch of the prison on Easter Sunday.

PRISON UPDATE: WE DIDN'T HAVE TO WEAR MASKS!!!!!!! It was so wonderful being able to see the officers' and the inmates' faces!!!! Hurrah!!!!

Ben's and Rebecca's families came over again for Easter Sunday dinner. Ben wore his chocolate bunnies t-shirt for the occasion.

Caroline was oh, so happy! when her babies finally arrived.

Brooke had been trying out her bread-artistry skills making bunnies, carrots and colored eggs.

After they were baked and buttered, she set aside three plates of bread bunnies to take around to her friends. She is so loving and giving to her friends.

Dinner for Spencer always consists of only fruit. 

The little ones discovered the magnetic tiles stick very nicely to the front door.

What a colorful entryway!

Dallas was so kind to go outside and "hide" about 40 plastic eggs all around the yard so Kade and Levi could go on an Easter egg hunt. Kade was so excited when he saw all the colored eggs on the lawn.

Levi needed a little prodding to search for his eggs.

This reminded me of Easter two years ago when the coronavirus pandemic was new and we were all paranoid. 

Glen and I were instructed to stay on the deck while we watched the Golden children hunting for eggs in the backyard. It is so much nicer to be able to be near our loved ones again.

I enjoyed seeing videos of Kade and Levi decorating Easter eggs.

Abe's family went on another adventure--this time to Washington D.C. 

The reason for their visit was to participate in the White House Easter Egg Roll. There is a lottery drawing to determine who gets to participate. 

Abe sent out a request to the family to have everyone enter the lottery to better the chances for winning the lottery. Wouldn't you know it--Glen won the lottery for Abe's family to be able to attend!

Magnus is the participant in the light blue coat.

Newland and Wynne are in pink standing at the starting line.

What a great backdrop for the event. 

What a memorable experience for their family. 

Quotes of the Week

 No unhallowed hand can stop the work from progression.

--Joseph Smith

If any of us are imperfect, it is our duty to pray for the gift that will make us perfect...If I am an angry man, it is my duty to pray for charity, which suffereth long and is kind. Am I an envious man? It is my duty to seek for charity which envieth not.

--George Q. Cannon

I know the Lord has great and marvelous plans for us--individually and collectively.

--Russell M. Nelson

The Lord's invitation to let our light so shine is not just about randomly waving a beam of light and making the world generally brighter. It is about focusing our light so others may see the way to Christ.

--Bonnie H. Cordon

Quotes of the Week

 We will face fear, experience ridicule, and meet opposition. Let us have the courage to defy the consensus, the courage to stand for principle.

--Thomas S. Monson

We ought to have the building up of Zion as our greatest object... The time is soon coming, when no man will have any peace but in Zion and her stakes.

--Joseph Smith

All that is unfair about life can be made right through the atonement of Christ.

--Linda K. Burton

Our family-centered perspective should make Latter-day Saints strive to be the best parents in the world... it should cause us to devote whatever time is necessary to strengthen families.

--M. Russell Ballard

Easter Bunny; General Conference; Dining Out; Spring Break

Wynne found a bunny in their yard which I thought was very timely as Easter is fast approaching and bunnies are somehow associated with Easter. I would like to think it's more an association with spring. 

Abe checked out their SmartCam to see if there was a mother bunny around caring for her bunny. If not, it would be Thomas family bunny adoption day. 

Lucky for him (and for the bunny) that a mother bunny was spotted and now all is well in the life of the bunny family.

We took McKell Childs and her husband Isaac Gillins out to dinner on a Saturday afternoon. They wanted to go to the Cheesecake Factory, but there was a 1 1/2 hour wait. That was ridiculous! So we went to Wingers instead and almost had the whole restaurant to ourselves. 

They are such a cute couple. We instantly liked him when we first met him and they are doing very well together in their marriage working towards completing their medical degrees--her in dental hygiene and him as an emergency room physician.

When we got out of the prison on Sunday, I noticed a text from Natalie asking if she could spend the night at our home. It made it a lot more convenient to pick her up when we were already in Draper which is halfway to Provo. 

I was feeling like it was a great Sunday to come up for a visit because we were going to Dad and Mom's for a family dinner that evening. That meant Natalie got all excited about seeing Rachel once again.

Brooke was making us laugh (hysterically) at the family dinner as she was taking care of her computerized baby for a school over-the-weekend project. She named her baby Karen and Karen had been driving her crazy with all her needs that had to be met. 

And then the whole day on Sunday, Karen hadn't cried, or needed a diaper change, or even needed to be fed. We were all afraid Brooke had killed her baby. 

Brooke assured us she had been taking good care of her baby and was baffled by the change in behavior of her baby that day.

It was a nice evening being together with my parents and the other members of the family who could attend who were not sick. That meant Ben's family was not there as they have been sick for quite a while.

Natalie did her laundry which she was here. We went shopping on our way back to Provo on Monday and Natalie chose Raising Cane's Chicken Fingers for her to-go meal to eat at her apartment. 

I chose not to eat lunch with Natalie because I wanted to be very hungry for our meal that evening. Jan was once again the hostess with the mostest as she had invited our friend group over for a salmon dinner. 

It was all very yummy!!! As always, it was nice to visit with our friends. We were sad Bruno and Colleen were not there that night because Bruno wasn't feeling well. But we enjoyed the yummy dessert they had contributed to the meal. LaVona loaded up a plate of food to take over to them after the dinner.

It is always impressive to see Jan's table decorations. LaVona had brought colored eggs as favors and they had some silly fortunes inside which made us all laugh. 

Goodwood seems to be our go-to restaurant when we want to meet somebody for dinner in the Draper area. This time we dined with Brenden Stark, one of our self-proclaimed, extremely shy missionaries. 

We had the cutest server and Glen tried his hand at match-making, but she said she has a boyfriend. Oh well. Better luck next time, Brenden.

We have been having a bit of a run on sickness. Glen had a sinus infection a couple of months ago which required an antibiotic and some cough syrup for all his coughing. 

I got a scratchy throat and a cough, but it wasn't bad and wasn't settling in my lungs. I recovered on my own.

Then not long after that Glen started coughing his head off again. WHAT??!!?? WHY??!!?? After listening to him hacking for nearly two weeks, he finally decided to go to the doctor. This time he had bronchitis which required him to have another antibiotic.

By that time, I had started coughing. What did I expect with Glen's coughing germs all throughout the house!!  

Within days my cough had gone to my lungs and I knew I needed help with all the wheezing accompanying the coughing. Glen had felt sick with his coughing, but I had not been feeling sick at all, which was a little bit of a mystery as to why I was struggling so much to breathe.

I took myself to urgent care Saturday night to get some prednisone. The doctor confirmed I was not sick and said it was some bad asthma going on in my lungs and mentioned all the blossoms were probably causing an allergy reaction. 

How unfortunate that my allergy shots have not been working out and I am getting no relief from allergies from them this season. UGH!!!!

We had invited Rebecca's and Ben's families over to spend general conference Sunday with us. Unfortunately, Ben had gotten sick from all the sickness already in their household which had been going on for weeks.

He sent photos of Kade with his red eyes and declined the invitation to join us. Fortunately, none of them had Covid.

Caroline had requested the traditional ebelskiver breakfast before the morning session of conference began. 

Looks like the ebelskivers were a hit with the adults as well as the children.

Then we all settled in for our general conference viewing.

This is how the Excell boys were tuning in to conference.

General conference weekend is always a wonderful time to anticipate. Then it seems all too quickly the two-day conference sessions are ended and then we start studying the conference talks on our own.

Such good things we heard and felt very spiritually lifted through that experience. 

Glen keeps lining up dinner appointments with missionaries, so I just look at it as I don't have to cook! We met Ashley Blair at Olive Garden. She is a very animated person and it was fun to get caught up on her life.

We found ourselves back at Goodwood another night having dinner with Kailey Quist and her husband Will Crismon. They are a cute couple who have been married a couple of years now. It is nice to see these missionaries figuring out their futures together.

And here we are at yet another restaurant--El Matador--eating with Glen's sister Bonnie and Dave at their favorite restaurant. Feeling very full after all that Mexican food.

Spring break is in full swing for the Golden family this week. They enjoyed another fun family excursion to Goblin Valley where the children are very happy exploring the area and scampering over the rock formations.

It was so fun to see the video Haley posted of Kade and Levi enjoying some play time outside on the slide. We have been missing those little grandsons!!

Abe and Klarissa are on another adventure--this time in the Caribbean. 

Looks like some great fun in the sun!!