Concerts

My awesome dad took his kids once again to a concert so he can watch the mosh pit (love that man). We went to Fall out Boy, All Time Low and Metro Station (though we missed them) on Monday night at Saltair. I got in the mosh pit for all of 5 seconds and I'm pretty sure I fractured a rib. I am not joking at all- I'm going to the doctor on Monday but from what I've read, it's definitely a fracture- sucks because all I can do it WAIT for it to heal and it hurts! Guess I'm feeling 30. Then on Tuesday Spencer and I went to Brittany Spears. Yes, you heard right, Brittany Spears. My sister Haylee got 6 free tickets and let us come with her. It was super fun to be with her and her friends but the concert was much worse than I could ever have envisioned. Seriously, a strip bar would have been less dirty. The only cool part were the circus acts. I have felt for Brittany Spears with all her bad publicity but after that concert I don't feel bad for her anymore.

EASTER

I love Easter time and it was so fun with Parker this year becoming more aware of holidays in general. It's fun to start our own traditions and start teaching Parker about the real meaning of Easter. I went through pictures of Christ's final week with Parker and i was really touched with his interest and insight. The final picture I showed him was the of the resurrected Savior holding out his hands. I told Parker that Jesus Christ was telling him to come to him. Every time after that when I would show that picture to him I would say "What is he saying Parker?" and he would say "Come to me, Come to me Parker" It was really sweet.

Easter Egg dying with the Clegg cousins

Parker's first Easter Egg hunt- the famous Summer Whalen Easter party. Once Parker caught on he LOVED it- candy in eggs- what could be better!?!

Ben practicing his sitting skills while he reaches for eggs

The loot

My cousin and good friend Jana came to visit (from Vegas) with her two cute girls and new little son. Here are her girls, Olivia and Zoey. I loved having them here.

Friends Stephanie, Jenni and Jana (and cousins) catching up at the Easter Egg hunt

My mom

NYC

My sister had some disappointing news last week. My beautiful parents, recognizing our connection, paid for me to go out to New York to spend the weekend with her. Although the trip was supposedly taken as a support to her, I feel like I gained more than she ever could have. Interesting how most of my life experiences with Angie have been that way. I learned that life goes on despite disappointments. I learned that it really is good to listen to a prompting (before I knew the whole story I felt like I should go out there the next day and I am NOT usually a last minute person)- I'm so glad I did. I learned that Ben is an amazing little angel of a baby - he was an unbelievably wonderful traveler despite a 12 hour trip and being I toted all over the streets of NYC. I learned that God was really watching out for Angie when he gave her Ajay. I learned I can wear skinny jeans- my high school self would be mortified- and I still love H&M. I learned that even though we live on opposite sides of the country and are in very different places in life, there is this God-given connection that I can not live without. I learned we all have different paths and to more sensitive to those not on the "typical" path. I learned I am lucky to be a mother- and she will be too someday. I learned that Angie remains the rock of humility and faith I have always been inspired by. And I learned that God takes care of us- he gave us each other.

Easter

This past weekend we had "General Conference" for my church. All of our leaders speak to us in four different sessions of 2 hours each on Saturday and Sunday. It's a lot of time, but it's totally a spiritual feast. I love it. It's not exactly what it used to be when I could sit and really listen to what is being said. A lot of my time now is dealing with tantrums and messy diapers but I also get to teach my children about the gospel of Jesus Christ through conference and I wanted to share an experience I had in doing that that was so beautiful to me:

Parker had been missing his "Lightning McQueen" cars for a few days. I had looked everywhere for them but just could not find them. During conference I was really thinking about Parker and how he is so receptive right now and there was a talk on teaching our children faith and I realized I needed to say a prayer with Parker to find his toys. I have said many prayers like this for seeminly trivial things I have lost or am in need of throughput my life and the Lord has so often aswered me. Though it may seem insignificant, these experiencse have been a foundation of my faith. I remember that happening as a very young child, being taught by the example of my mother, and finding something that was lost. It really was a foundation of my faith, that God knew me and really listened to me, even when it seemed so unimportant. So Sunday afternoon, after the morning conference session, I explained to Parker that Heavenly Father can help us when we need him, even when are missing something important to us. So Parker and I knelt down and with the faith of a child, he gave a beautiful prayer- "Heavenly Father, help me to find my Lightning McQueen toys. Name of Jesus Christ Amen." "Where do you think we should look Parker?" "in my closet" (said without hesitation). In the meantime I offered my own silent prayer to Heavenly Father. I really did want to find the toys, but mostly I wanted my sweet son to have his own faith promoting experience and I didn't want him to be let down. I was really putting my faith in God that he would come through. Like I said, I had searched the house for these toys for two days and they were nowhere to be found. But we went into Parkers room, looked in the closet, then under the bed and then in a bag I suddenly thought about checking and within 4 minutes we had found the cars. The bag. "Look Parker!" A smile lit up his face and tears immediately sprung to my eyes. "Let's go show daddy!" We raced out into the living room where we showed daddy what we had found (he had been looking too). "Now Parker, we need to say a prayer and thank Heavenly Father for helping us." So all three of us knelt and said a prayer of gratitute to Heavenly Father. My voice choked at the end. These were the beginnings of my testimony when I was a child and now my son, the beginning for his testimony too. This morning as we were talking about the purpose of Easter I asked him what Jesus does for us and he said "Helps us find our Lightning McQueen toys. I prayed"

The faith of a child.