Eagle Project!

 We are finally finished with Mark's Eagle Project. I don't think we knew it would take this many hours to complete.  We figured that it took 108 total hours to get this job done!
Mark needed to get the 20 flower pots emptied, cleaned, primed, painted, repaired, put the plastic liners in, fill them with gravel, dirt, peat moss and then put fertilizer back in.

Collin, Jacob A., and Mark emptying the flower pots.

 Collin and Peter wire brushing the flower pots.

 Jacob Asay having way too much fun with the paint brush.

 Our Jacob is enjoying himself working hard.

 Collin, Mark, and Calin putting the plastic in a finished flower pot.

 Spike and I working hard.

 Jacob A. putting dirt in the finished flower pot.

 Mark getting the dirt just right.

Hooray!  After three weeks of working on this in our 'spare' time we are finished!  We need to have a big celebration for his Eagle Court of Honor.  Thanks so much for all those boys who worked so hard and so often.  We could really tell who Mark's good friends are.  Good friends help you finish your eagle project!

Back from New York!

 Mark was able to go on a five day New York City trip with the LHS Swing Choir.  He just got home last night at about 1:30 a.m. and was off to school this morning. We did miss him a lot over the Easter Break but I am glad that he got the opportunity to have this adventure.  He sent me these three pictures.

 The group got to attend three Broadway musicals, Wicked, Phantom of the Opera and the Lion King.  He said that he liked Wicked the best.  They toured the city, obviously made a trip out to the Statue of Liberty, and sang at the United Nations. 

I love this picture.  It is the first one he sent me.  This is the Temple in NYC.  I am very glad he is home safe and sound but it was strange that we had 'just Jacob' home with us.  We used to have a very loud, very busy house.  Everything changes eventually, I guess.

President Monson does such a better job than I of teaching about the Savior and the Atonement.  Here are his words.

He Is Not Here, but Is Risen

By President Thomas S. Monson

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Today only ruins remain of Capernaum, that city by the lakeshore, heart of the Savior’s Galilean ministry. Here He preached in the synagogue, taught by the seaside, and healed in the homes.

At the beginning of His ministry, Jesus took a text from Isaiah: “The Spirit of the Lord God is upon me; because the Lord hath anointed me to preach good tidings unto the meek; he hath sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and the opening of the prison to them that are bound” (Isaiah 61:1; see also Luke 4:18)—a clear pronouncement of a divine plan to rescue the sons and daughters of God.

But Jesus’s preaching in Galilee had been merely prelude. The Son of Man had always had a dread rendezvous to keep on a hill called Golgotha. Arrested in the Garden of Gethsemane after the Last Supper, deserted by His disciples, spat upon, tried, and humiliated, Jesus staggered under His great cross toward Calvary. He progressed from triumph to betrayal, torture, and death on the cross.

In the words of the song “The Holy City”:

The scene was changed. …

The morn was cold and chill,

As the shadow of a cross arose 

Upon a lonely hill.

For us our Heavenly Father gave His Son. For us our Elder Brother gave His life. At the last moment the Master could have turned back. But He did not. He passed beneath all things that He might save all things: the human race, the earth, and all the life that ever inhabited it.

No words in Christendom mean more to me than those spoken by the angel to the weeping Mary Magdalene and the other Mary as they approached the tomb to care for the body of their Lord: “Why seek ye the living among the dead? He is not here, but is risen” (Luke 24:5–6).

With this pronouncement, those who have lived and died, those who now live and one day will die, and those yet to be born and yet to die had just been rescued. As the result of Christ’s victory over the grave, we shall all be resurrected. This is the redemption of the soul.
Paul wrote:

“There are … celestial bodies, and bodies terrestrial: but the glory of the celestial is one, and the glory of the terrestrial is another.

“There is one glory of the sun, and another glory of the moon, and another glory of the stars: for one star differeth from another star in glory.

“So also is the resurrection of the dead” (1 Corinthians 15:40–42).

It is the celestial glory that we seek. It is in the presence of God that we desire to dwell. It is a forever family in which we want membership. Of Him who delivered each of us from endless death, I testify He is a teacher of truth—but He is more than a teacher. He is the exemplar of the perfect life—but He is more than an exemplar. He is the great physician—but He is more than a physician. He is the literal Savior of the world, the Son of God, the Prince of Peace, the Holy One of Israel, even the risen Lord, who declared, “I am the first and the last; I am he who liveth, I am he who was slain; I am your advocate with the Father” (D&C 110:4).

“Oh, sweet the joy this sentence gives: ‘I know that my Redeemer lives!’” ²

Of this I testify.

Easter Traditions!

 The Robertson Family usually goes to Slide Rock the day before Easter to do some Sliding, the traditional Easter Egg roll, and the Egg Toss.  Jacob is having lots of fun sliding down the big rock.

 Devin found a tiny lizard and Gavin was so brave this year and held it.  How cute!  Last year Spike scared him half to death with the lizards he caught.

 Amanda took first in the Easter Egg roll.  We roll them from the top of the slide and the egg that goes the furthest with it's yolk still in the white wins.  Joyce got second and Jacob took third.

Here are some brave souls getting ready to do the raw egg toss.  The rules are that you toss and then take a step backwards, toss, take another step and so forth until there is only one pair left with an intact egg.  I am not sure who won that one.  I think it was Joyce.  It was a fun day and very nice to see Joyce and family, Margaret and her family, Devin and his little family, Gary and his family and Grandma Flash and Bob.  Jacob and I went and we were missing Mark since he is gone to New York this weekend.

Dumb Dog!

 What does a Beagle named Molly and about a pound of accessible Easter Chocolate add up to?  One sick puppy!  Mark has been packing to go on his trip to New York.  He will be gone over Easter, so being the good and thoughtful mother that I am, I packed some Easter Candy in his suitcase.  I put the suitcase on the couch when he brought friends home for lunch and then forgot to put the suitcase back on the table before I left for Cub Scouts.  When I got home from Scouts, Molly was shaking pretty badly.  The thought crossed my mind that she was having a seizure like Duchess but this seemed different.  When Mark got home I went to show him the Chocolate in his suitcase..... that..... wasn't.... there.... anymore.  Hmmm.  Yes, indeed, Molly ate the entire solid chocolate bunny and the whole bag of peanut butter cups.  The evidence was in her kennel.

I called the vet and told them how much she ate and how much she weighed and they told me to make her throw up.  I politely asked just how I was supposed to do that.  I was told that I needed to get two table spoons of peroxide down her gullet.  WHAT?!?  Mark was willing to help.  He poured the peroxide down her throat while I held her mouth open.  It took about three tries to get the job done.

Sure enough that does the trick.  Soon there was fizzy chocolate dog puke all over the kitchen floor.  Dumb Dog!  She is alive and well this morning.  I can actually hear her snoring while taking her morning nap on the couch.

Festival!

Click here to watch the video.   This is the Lovell High School Swing Choir singing Danny Boy.  They sounded great and they looked great too!

Click here to watch Poison Ivy. This is a picture of the boys while they were singing Poison Ivy.  It looks to me like they were itching a lot! The judge gave these boys lots of compliments and chastised them a bit for only having two of the eight boys try out for All-State choir.  He did compliment them on being active in their school and being in sports as well as Choir.  He told them they were well rounded men.  How nice!

Click here to watch Mark sing!Here is a picture of Mark having a laugh with the judge just before his performance.  He sang Loch Lomand and got  33 out of 35 points possible. Fantastic!

Fill Your Basket - The Ultimate Gift

We read this book for our Relief Society 'Fill your Basket' meeting that we are holding once a month.  This book truly filled my basket the day that I read it and the day we had our discussion.  It is so nice to be able to meet together with other people and hear what is special to them and how they felt about the book.  I found this review on the internet and decided that I couldn't really make it sound any better.

It's a story about Jason Stevens, a wealthy, "spoiled" young man with an attitude. When Jason's great-uncle (grandfather in the movie) dies, Jason ungratefully expects to receive a huge financial inheritance.

Instead, he receives "The Ultimate Gift" as his inheritance, which involves a year-long journey about what's really important in life. As his great-uncle states, "If you stay the course over the next year, and embrace each element, at that point you will be the recipient of the most significant bequest I can leave you through my will. . . . [and you'll] have the further responsibility of passing along the ultimate gift whenever it is possible."

I checked this book out of our library but I decided that this is definitely one book that I want to have on the shelves in my living room.  I think I might even get some for my older children as gifts, hoping that they can make time to read it.  This is a quick read.  I read it in about an hour and a half one evening.  I couldn't put it down.

Lovell Track Meet

Lovell hosted their meet on Saturday.  We woke up Saturday morning with about an inch of snow on the ground.  Thank goodness it didn't stick to the cement or roads or the track.  Mark threw the shotput first thing in the morning.  He threw a 37 something and was just one place out of finals.  I am sure by the end of the season he will be getting into the 40's.  He ran the 200 this week which is a new race for him.  He did pretty well, placing third and that was with a relatively bad start.  I am sure he will get his time down into the 22's or 23's since it was a very cold day.  After the 200 he ran  the third leg of the 4 X 400 relay and then ran the final leg of the weightman's relay.  That is always fun at the end of the meet. The only other team that put together a weightman's relay was Powell.  We got beat by them but that race is all in fun.  It was great to see AJ Montanez run the first 100.  He is pretty darn quick!

This video is of Mark running his 200. He is beating Clay Cundall of Greybull.