Celebrating Steve's Birthday: Lunch Italiana and The Dead Sea Scrolls

My dear husband, Steve, had a Birthday last Saturday.  I knew we were going to be busy watching General Conference all day Saturday and wouldn't have time to celebrate, so the kids and I planned a fun surprise for him on Friday.  Aubrey and Addy were out of school for Spring Break, but Zac and Emily were in school that day.  We checked them out early and headed downtown for our celebration.

First stop was for lunch at one of Steve's favorite Italian restaurants, Tucci's.  The food was fantastic and our waiter was the best waiter we have ever had, ever.  He really helped make our dining experience fun.

This is Steve's very most favorite dessert (that means a lot coming from a man who isn't big on desserts) so we had to have some to celebrate his Birthday.  The waiter even taught us how to sing Happy Birthday in Italian so we could sing along with him.

Emily freaked out because we had to pass the offices of her favorite radio station to get to and from the restaurant. 

Next Stop, the Dead Sea Scrolls exhibit.  This was AWESOME!  The Dead Sea Scrolls are over 2,000 years old and are the oldest know copies of the Bible.  They were found by a shepherd in the 1940's.  He was out with his sheep and threw a rock into a cave and heard pottery shatter.  Inside the pottery he found the ancient scrolls.  Utah is only one of six US cities that will display the scrolls, so I knew this was a once in a lifetime opportunity and wanted to make sure we saw them before they left.  If you haven't been-GO!  It was such an amazing experience and it will only be in Utah for a few more weeks. 

We weren't allowed to take pictures, but it was a beautifully done exhibit.  And there was a feeling of reverence throughout the whole thing.  I found a few pictures of it online.  This is the room in the exhibit that has the scrolls in it.  Under the glass you can see a part of a scroll, like the one pictured above.  Then next to it it has an enlarged picture and also the translated text.  It is interesting because there are some parts on the scrolls that are not in the Bible.

This was one of my favorite parts of the exhibit.  It is a 3 ton stone from the Wailing Wall which is the remains of the temple built in 517 BC (or BCE - Before the Common Era- as we sadly learned it is now being called).  We were able to write our prayers on a piece of paper and put it on the wall.  We were actually able to touch a part of the Western Wall!  Do you have any idea what that means to me???  I'm so sad we couldn't take a picture of us next to it.  But hey, I found this picture of this nice family at the wall on the internet.  

The whole experience was so fantastic.  It had extra special meaning to our family right now because we are reading the Old Testament together this year.  It is a blessing that we were able to see these special, sacred artifacts.  It was also a great way to kick off our Conference Weekend.  Below are a few pictures I took at a place in the exhibit where you are allowed to take pictures.

After the exhibit, and while others in our group were enjoying other exhibits, the girls found a fun little play area where they were able to create this pixelated picture.

A Generally Awesome Weekend

I belong to The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints.  We have a living prophet and apostles who give us guidance and direction from our Heavenly Father for problems and challenges that we face in our world today.  Every six months we have a General Conference where we are able to listen to the Prophet and Apostles and other church leaders and receive counsel from them.  It is a wonderful renewal of the Spirit.  It lasts for 2 days, a Saturday and a Sunday.  There are 4 general sessions each lasting 2 hours.  If you would like to watch any part of the Conference, click here.  Our family makes a big weekend out of it.  I start a week before Conference by leaving treats for the kids to find when they wake up, counting down the days until General Conference.  We spend the entire weekend together as a family listening to the messages.  Above are some of the treats the kids found last week.  Below is our treat basket we had to help us make it through the day.

This Conference we started a new tradition that we loved, and will most certainly continue.  We put pictures of the Prophet and Apostles on the wall around our TV.  Everyone had their own stack of post it notes.  When anyone heard something from a speaker that the liked, they would write it on a post it note and place it around the picture of the person speaking.

 Saturday Morning Session and breakfast

Saturday night, after the morning and afternoon sessions, there is a Priesthood Session.  This is for all male members of our church ages 12 and up (the girls and I went to the General Women's Meeting the week before.)  Steve and Zac have a tradition of attending the Priesthood Session together and then going out for dinner after.  This time they even threw in a late movie and went to see Captain America.  The girls and I stayed at home and had a girls night.  The next morning our Conference baskets were replenished and ready to go.

I usually make crepes for Sunday Conference breakfast, but I decided to try something new.  I made German Pancakes in muffin pans.  We filled them with deliciousness.  They turned out yummy.  My family, despite their German heritage, usually doesn't like German Pancakes (I know right?), but they gobbled them up this way.  I guess this is how I will be making them from now on.

Steve and Aubrey watching Conference and refusing to be photographed.

 Ha ha!  I was able to sneak a picture!

Between the morning and the afternoon session on Sunday, we followed another tradition and went for a walk on one of our favorite trails.

 My kids can't just walk over a bridge like normal people.

 OK, quick picture to get mom off our backs.

Annnnd...back to climbing....

I really love this wall and wanted to take a picture of someone in front of it.  Addy and Emily were the only ones who would stop for me.  But then I couldn't get a serious, well placed pose from either of them.  And if one of them was being serious, the other most certainly wasn't.

Back home for the final session of Conference.

It was a most fantastic weekend.  I loved spending it with my family.  I loved all the wonderful, inspiring messages that were given.  Here is a a collage my friend Britta put together of some of her favorite quotes from General Conference.  They also happen to be some of mine.

My very most favorite quote though is the one below.  Over the past year, I have developed this grand obsession with my Family's History.  I have been reading histories of my ancestors, and Steve's, and learning about their lives and the sacrifices they made so that I can be where I am today.  One thing that has really made a huge impression on me is the great sacrifices they made for what they believe.  Steve and I both come from people who gave so much and suffered so much for the Gospel of Jesus Christ.  Some of our ancestors even gave their very lives for their deep faith and convictions.  What an amazing legacy to pass on.  If just one of them had gone astray, I might not be where I am today.  I can't even imagine my life without my testimony of the Gospel.  I feel a huge responsibility for passing on this truly great legacy of faith to my children.  We are not required to suffer great consequences or the possible loss of our lives for what we believe.  But we are required to offer up a different kind  of sacrifice.  One of our time and efforts in order to nourish our faith and build a strong foundation.  If I don't put my all into making sure my children go out into the world with a sure foundation, generations that follow will be affected.  It makes me so thankful to the ancestors that came before us and helped to lay that foundation.  I am so thankful to those that came after them that added to that foundation until it eventually came to rest under my feet.  If I don't do may part to add to that foundation and pass it on to my children, all those who came before us and gave every fiber of their being to the building of that foundation, is lost.  That is why I so loved this talk and this quote from it:

(It was also an awesome talk because the grandfather President Eyring was referring to in this talk, who helped settle a Mormon Colony in Mexico, was friends with Steve's ancestors who also helped to settle that same colony.  A fact I made sure to pass on to my children)

March Recap

These lovely ladies and I have started walking every day (kinda) together.  We haven't been the best at it the last week.  Anyway, one day we were out and about and we were walking by this huge field and April was in a hurry to get home so she talked Tricia and me into cutting across the field with her, with a promise that there was a trail through the field that led right to our neighborhood.  It was a "shortcut".

Only problem was, she couldn't find the trail.  So we went climbing and scampering all over these rocky  muddy mounds of earth trying to spy a trail of some sort.

Finally, after some time, April spotted the trail far off in the distance.

 Yes!  We made it to the trail that led us safely home!  I don't know that any time was saved using this "shortcut", but we did have a fun adventure. 

Addison started a business called Just Art.  She has employed her sisters (she gives them paid vacations and everything).  She has hung signs all over our house.  She now has a menu of items you can order for your picture she draws for you.  I don't have a picture of the menu, but it gives a sample of a design element and a price for each element.  Depending on how many elements you choose, your custom picture can get pretty costly really fast.  But don't worry!  She offers free credit cards!  She is quite the entrepreneur.   She has been rakin' in the dough too.  Mostly from me and my mother.  She has been begging me to post these pictures in order to drum up some more business.  So here they are:

I edited out my phone number, but if you are interested in ordering anything, you can send me a message.

Emily had a Sports Banquet at her school.  Steve and I went with her.  Here they are recognizing the Volleyball Team.

Last year Zac went to AFY for the first time (Adventure for Youth).  He wants to go back this summer and Emily is old enough to go now as well.  So I was looking at the daunting price of sending 2 children on this fun summer adventure.  I noticed a contest on their website, just a few days before the contest entry deadline.  AFY is located at a place called Badger Creek.  One of the contests showed this picture of a beaver and had contestants send in their best beaver imitation.  I just knew one of  my kids could win this!

Here is Zac's beaver impersonation.  They chose the best 3 entries and posted them on Facebook.  The two pictures with the most likes and shares won free registration.  So we started spreading the word and asked our friends and family to like and share his picture.  In just under 2 days he had 122 likes and  43 shares.  Those numbers were well above the other two entries.   So he won!  WOO HOO!!!!  Thanks Zac for the creativity you showed and thank you to all who helped by liking and sharing his picture.  You helped to cut our registration costs in half!

We had our Relief Society Birthday Party.  It was the most fun I have ever had at a Relief Society activity ever.  For real.  It was a blast.  These are the ladies I was fortunate enough to share the evening with.

I won't even tell you the kind of things that came out of this pinata.  It was hilarious though.

And after the party, we topped the evening off with a massive Bag It!  That is where we put a meal together (in a bag) with all shelf stable items. 

I put together a little video for the evening.  We went around the neighborhood taking funny pictures of the ladies in our ward for the video.  We wouldn't tell them what the pictures were for.  They were all (for the most part) so willing to bust out a funny pose for us on the spot.  I live in a fantastic ward!  Here is the video:

If you've been in my kitchen and seen my orange retro bar stools, you will be so happy to know that I finally purchased new stools!!!!  I'm so excited about it!  I have waited so long.  I could never find a stool I liked that went along with our decor that was anywhere near a reasonable price.  I finally found these at Sam's a few weeks ago!  (that price pictured is not the price of the stool!)(this was just a picture I took to send to Steve before I bought them.  I'm so excited about the new stools, but that normally wouldn't warrant a post about them, except that we saw the movie Divergent the other day and our stools are in the movie!  So if you go to see it, look for them!  They're famous!

March was full of fun around here.  You can see other March posts by clicking on these links:

Aubrey's Birthday

St. George Trip

 FHE Hike

Emily's Birthday

SPRING BREAK POST COMING SOON!