Easter Prep

This year I decided to make homemade treats with and without the kids for Easter baskets. Here are some of the things we've been making in preparation for Easter. There will be no chocolate bunnies in their baskets this year. Hope they aren't disappointed.

Fortunately Erin's Sunday School teacher,who happens to be the Bishop's wife, has reminded us to focus on the true meaning of Easter. She is in the process of writing a children's book on the last week of Christ's life on Earth. She hasn't published it yet, but she made copies of it for each member of her class and so we have been reading it each night for our scripture study. What a powerful book she has written. I'm so thankful that Erin is blessed with this wonderful teacher. Erin loves her. She has five young children at home but still manages to find time to put together these incredible lessons each week.


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Pinewood Derby Pictures

I actually used my good camera (instead of my iphone) to take pictures at the Pinewood Derby.  When I came home and downloaded the pictures to my computer, I realized the pictures from last year's derby were still on my camera.  So I checked my blog, and sure enough, I never put the pictures on there.  So, here are derby pictures from the past 2 years.  Last year, the boys tied for 4th place out of about 30 boys.  This year, they didn't do as well.  Never, ever have we seen such a competitive group.  Bishop Webber's sons took 1st and 2nd place this year.  Last year, his son took 1st place as well.  So, he obviously must own the Pinewood Derby Bible, as seen in the movie-Down and Derby.  Mario booked an early flight and made it home in time to see the boys compete.  He missed last year because he had already moved up here to Omaha.  So it was great to have him home.  Notice the difference in Zach's uniform from last year compared to this year.  Too funny and reminds me of his big brother, Eric.

May 2012

May 2012

2013 Zach's iPhone

2013 Nate's Batman

Zach's 3rd Place for Bears 2013

Beautiful Loaf

I watched a cooking show when I couldn't sleep yesterday morning. It was a show with tips on making wheat bread. I have been making wheat bread for years but decided to use some of his tips. The family loved the bread last night and Mario and Erin fought over the leftovers this morning. So I made 3 more loaves today. Wish Sister Park was in our neighborhood so we could bring her a loaf. We miss her and Brother Park. They were so kind to our family when we lived in Arizona.

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Our New Home

Mario flew to Florida last Wednesday and closed on our new home.  He originally wanted to send me to do all the paperwork and as much as I would love to get a break from the cold weather in Nebraska, I wanted no part in finding new tenants for it.  Landlording doesn't sound the least bit fun to me.

The sellers close on their new home the first week of April so we decided to be generous and let them stay in the home until they close so they don't have to move twice.  That may have been a mistake in hindsight because now we may have to pay cleaners to come in and clean because we won't be there to do it ourselves.  The sellers agreed to clean it well but who knows what standards they use.

We originally set the rent at $1700.  That would cover everything including all the taxes, insurance, lawn and pool care. But we didn't have a lot of calls about the property at first so we dropped it to $1675.  Now we will have to pay the optional flood insurance out of our pocket.  We still weren't getting a lot of calls so Mario was ready to drop the price by a hundred or two hundred dollars.  I told him no way.  Be patient.  I was confident that we would find a good renter sooner than later.  When I told Erin that Mario wanted to drop the price she said, "Just wait.  You'll find a good renter just like us."  That was good encouragement from our 13 year-old.

Mario got a call on Sunday from a parts manager of a dealership that was transferring down to Sarasota.  He asked to see the house on Monday.  So Mario showed his girlfriend/wife (not sure which one) on Monday afternoon and she gave him a $500 deposit to hold the home for them plus the $70 required for criminal and credit check.  Mario ran the checks and called all the references.  They came highly recommended by everyone he talked to.  So they move in April 6.

I feel like March has been a stressful month and now I realize that Mario and I stressed for nothing.  We have been so blessed.  I am hoping that if we can keep a good renter in the property, we will be able to pay off the mortgage by time he is ready to retire in 5 years.  It will require me to stick to my budget though.  So I might not be taking any fancy vacations (cruises) for awhile.  But being debt free is so important to us, it will be worth it.

Taylor Swift

Taylor Swift opened her Red tour in Omaha. Erin asked for tickets but they were pricey and so I didn't buy them. But then I saw Taylor Swift on the Omaha news last week while working out at the YMCA and I decided maybe I could find some tickets on Craigslist to surprise Erin with. Fearing that I may get scammed, I decided to check with Ticketmaster to see if by chance there were more tickets for the next evening. Surprisingly they had just opened a few more seats in a section that was straight across from the main stage and directly behind a second stage that she uses for about 5 songs. So all her friends that bought tickets months in advance got nose bleed seats for same price I paid for very good seats. I guess in that case, it paid off to wait.

Erin and I had such a great time. Taylor is an awesome performer. Eric was a little bummed to find out that Ed Sheeran had opened for Taylor. He likes his music. So he wishes he would have been invited to go too. I had no idea who he was or that Eric liked him.

Erin and her friends(Snyders and Snows) tried super hard to get selected to stand in the pit but they weren't selected. I wasn't disappointed because it would have meant standing for four hours straight. But it would have been fun I'm sure.

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Mormon Messages

Mario and I really enjoy all the little Mormon Message videos that the church has put out. They are great videos to share with the whole family. We have so many favorites. A recent one quickly became a favorite of Mario's. It's a really sweet video on fatherhood.

http://www.lds.org/pages/mormon-messages?lang=eng#earthly-father-heavenly-father


Here's a recent one that I really enjoyed as well.  It's a humorous one set on a cruise ship.

http://www.lds.org/pages/mormon-messages?lang=eng#your-potential-your-privileges

I love all the little inspirational messages. You can go into the website and choose a topic and find a video that is the perfect message for you. I love them. I'm grateful for all the new resources the church has put out in recent years. They are so helpful in parenting and just getting through everyday life.

Another Four Day Weekend

Wow! I think this is the kids 3rd four day weekend since starting back to school after Christmas. We got several inches of snow yesterday and so church was shortened to just Sacrament Meeting. Thank goodness we had plans to spend afternoon at a friends house. Kids had a lot of fun sledding and playing outside.

I thought when they told us that we were going to Nebraska, there would have to be a blizzard to cancel school. They are wimpy here than I thought. But that's ok. We enjoy the snow days!


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