The Truth Revealed (Jenna Catches the Easter Bunny)

We have never emphasized the Easter Bunny at our house. In fact we have hardly ever even mentioned the Easter Bunny so as not to take away from the true meaning of Easter. We still do Easter baskets and dye eggs and have Easter egg hunts, but we don't say things like "Aren't you excited for the Easter Bunny to come tonight?" In fact when Jenna stumbled upon some candy in my closet and asked what it was for I told it was for the Easter baskets. She said, "I thought that the Easter Bunny filled our baskets!" I didn't affirm or deny that and when she asked Rick if the Easter bunny was real he just waved his hand and scoffed and said, "no." She refused to believe that and set out to write a letter to the Easter Bunny. 

She wanted a way to prove the Easter Bunny was real and Rick suggested that she set up a camera that would supposedly take pictures during the night if it detected any movements (as if that was a thing) to "reveal the truth." After she went to bed Rick thought it would be funny to have he and I pose for the pictures as if we had been "caught in the act." I know that sounds a little mean, but we decided at ten years old she should probably know the truth about the Easter Bunny and so we decided to go ahead. She was singing a duet with Rick in Sacrament meeting on Easter Sunday and so I told Rick not to show her the "the footage" until after church so as not to upset her right before her musical number (which was absolutely beautiful by the way!)

After church she asked to see the "footage" and we showed her. She burst into tears and ran into her room. I went in to hug her and she said that we had lied to her. She said, "That means nothing is real -- Santa Claus, the Tooth Fairy, nothing!!" Then she said "you could have at least taken a picture of a stuffed bunny or something!" I said, "Well wouldn't that be lying?" I explained that Jesus was real and that Easter was a time to remember and celebrate His atonement and resurrection. Of course she already knew all that but I guess she wasn't ready to give up the fun and magic of the rest.  Later we found that she had written little messages across her can of Stax potato chips such as "Easter Bunny not real," "All a lie," "Drawn (her spelling) away from my childhood," with pictures of frownie faces with tears coming down. She is so dramatic!! 

Jenna's Sugar Eggs

Jenna has the BEST activity day leader! Karen Phillips lives next door. She has her own cake business and made the gorgeous wedding cake for Janika's wedding! (And since I am typing this in retrospect I can add in that she made Jase's wedding cake as well)! Check out these cute sugar eggs that Jenna decorated at Activity Days! Jenna joined it to her collection of sugar eggs from the past couple of years. These remind me of the sugar eggs my mom did. She would pull them out every Easter for display. Here are some of my mom's memories of the sugar eggs:

We also made sugar-mold eggs with you kids, with little "scenes" inside, and decorated on the outside. We made all different sizes. One year, your Grandma Westra/Burgener made sugar mold eggs for all of you and mailed them to Richland to you for Easter. They are a lot of work, but very fragile. They arrived all broken. I felt bad since she had gone to so much work and effort. I can't remember if I told her they broke in transit. Probably not, as that is not my nature.

Jaiden: Braces Off!!

This beautiful girl got her braces off today!! She was on the "two phase" plan. She got braces on in 2014 just before she turned ten years old and had them on for only six months -- it was a huge change!! Then she had braces on again for two years -- from 2017, when she was 13, until 2019, when she was 15. She has such a beautiful smile!

Here is the collage I did in 2014...

Clay Court of Honor

Janelle's friend, Clay, asked her and Jaiden to sing a patriotic song at his Eagle Court of Honor tonight. It was very last minute but they pulled one together! Congratulations Clay!!

Kite Festival

I brought Jenna, Clarissa, and Audrey to the Kite Festival today. They exchanged their reading calendar for ten tickets redeemable at the Festival. They had a great time!

Shakespeare in the Park

Josh didn't want any of his sisters at his party. Thankfully the Williams let Jenna hang out with them for the night and even took her to Shakespeare in the Park! A local group had set up an outdoor stage on the grassy lot across the street from the town hall. They put on A Midsummer Night's Dream. The Ence's went to the show also and so the girls had a great time together. Jenna said that the show was really good but that it was cold and she fell asleep through part of the performance!

The next night Jaiden, Emily, Mariposa, and Brynn went to see the show right after our Ward Fiesta. The girls enjoyed going to the show and wanted to see it again and so we decided to bring the whole family to see the show on Monday night for FHE! Rick's cousin, Janean, was in town with her two daughters and so we all went to the show together. The weather was much more pleasant and the cast did a great job! 

 

Josh's 13th Birthday Party

We had Josh's birthday party tonight. We were going to have it at Blackrock Park but it kept raining on and off all day and so we moved it to our house. It had cleared up again and so they did some water balloons outside and then played Left Right Center. They were getting pretty loud and hyper but thankfully Rick was there to help and got them involved in several rounds of Mafia with his magical storytelling skills. Then they played a round of steal the flag outside and then came in for cake and ice cream and games. I think they all had a good time!

 

Jenna Soccer

Jenna is enjoying Soccer and I am enjoying going to her games! She and Clarissa were bummed that they weren't on the same team!

Jase Mission Reunion!!

Jase took a quick trip up North for his mission reunion! He said it was great to see his mission president and former companions! He looks a little under dressed compared to everyone else!!

Cousins Over!

Derek and Danielle stayed over on their way to Disneyland! Our kids were SO excited to see them and the cousins had a great time! They arrived around 5:00 and Rick and Josh were just finishing up a dinner of porkchops, baked potatoes, and vegies. We had a nice meal and then the kids enjoyed playing and drawing pictures. Rick recorded Derek and I for a family podcast. We both shared some stories that the one of us had never heard. Derek and Danielle went to visit some friends in St. George and the other kids and I put together beds for the kids in the basement. The next morning they headed out about 8:30 for their vacation!

Charlotte's Web

Jenna is still really into pigs and so I thought she might enjoy reading "Charlotte's Web." So the past couple of weeks she and I read it together. She LOVED the book and especially loved the "Mommy time!" After we finished reading the book we watched both movies -- the older 70's cartoon with the great music and the newer 2006 version that wasn't animated. I didn't even know there was a newer version until I started looking up the movie on Amazon. After that Jenna decided to read it again on her own and she whizzed through it and just finished. I am glad that Jenna is FINALLY starting to enjoy reading!  Janelle read Ramona the Pest with her which really helped her get into that series. She also read Nerds to her which helped her get into that series. Now I need to find a new book for her and me to read together!