Yay for Piano Recitals

I loved watching those video clips from the piano recital. Way to go, guys! I reminded me of a great video from Benjamin Zander at a TED conference. He emphasized the importance of "one buttock playing."

Grandma Bertha's Headstone

Bradley had me call around to some gravestone places, and it seems we can get a "adult" 24"x 12" stone in a black and white granite (think the Salt Lake Temple, it's actually not granite but a quartz monzonite) (not that it matters) for about $675. (That's more expensive than I was thinking, but we can still do it, I imagine.) If we want to go to the "infant" or "child" sized stones, the price goes down moderately.

It takes about two months to make it and install it, so we'll want to get this rolling sometime in the next two weeks, just to be on the safe side. Let me know what you guys think! We're thinking WAY basic--no pretty flowers or fish or sunsets engraved into the stone; just her full name and birth and death dates. But give us your opinions, because this is from all of us.

Deadline to have your opinions considered: Let's say next Monday, May 3. That way we can order it next week on Monday or Tuesday or something like that.

Also, Kim had me call and reserve a very nice pavilion in Canyon View Park for Saturday, July 24, so we can have a picnic dinner with all the extended family after going to the cemetery to see the stone. Does anyone have a history of Grandma Bertha? She isn't in the DUP stuff, because she isn't considered a pioneer, having not come over until after 1869. But it would be way awesome to have a history or some kind of information about her to read and talk about at the cemetery.

Boys Spring Recital

Sam and Blake's Spring Recital from laurene ross on Vimeo.

This was Blake's first recital. He was up first and was on pins and needles. Sam was on auto mode, he just kept on going. I think he was pretty nervous. I was really happy that they didn't freak out under the pressure and kept their composure when things got a little rough. I was really proud of them.

Jack Ross Recital Spring 2010 from laurene ross on Vimeo

Jack has been on this song for months. This is the best he has played it. I am glad he did so well, but I am ready to move on to the next song and so is he:) All and all they all did great!

Reunion Crazy Thought

So here's a crazy thought. What if we had a little luncheon at or near the cemetery (or just somewhere in SF) and invited all of the descendants of this ancestor????? How cool would that be? We could do it on the day we all go to SF or something??? Just throwin it out there. I personally am very curious to meet our cousins and think a little ceremony at the new headstone would be an excellent excuse!!!

We Need a Headstone

After being inspired by Keryn's Daughters of the Utah Pioneers meeting this morning, we decided to take advantage of the beautiful weather and visit the historic Spanish Fork Pioneer Cemetery. It was tricky to find since it is on a road that doesn't show up on Google Maps. (Here's a house next door that you can plot on Google Maps, even if they don't currently show the road.) We placed a couple of phone calls and got some good directions and we were off.

It was beautiful and fun. Part two of our adventure was to drop by the regular Spanish Fork Cemetery (a few blocks from our house) and try to find the grave of Bertha Ericksen Larsen. She is the great-grandmother of Grandma Peters. Michelle mentioned in a comment earlier that she was buried in Spanish, and we wanted to find her. We found her in the online cemetery records, but we were unable to find her plot in person.

We think we found the exact spot where she's supposed to be buried, but there are no headstones in that spot. We think she was buried without a headstone. This seems to be confirmed by the fact that they don't have a picture of her headstone in the online database either. We ought to remedy this! I don't actually know what a headstone costs, but I figure it is a couple of hundred dollars for a small one. Maybe we can do something before the family reunion and anyone can come visit it during the family reunion.

Keryn will double check with the cemetery officials to confirm our finding. Then we'll price out a small headstone. If anyone would like to chip in, I think it would be cool to do something for her.

LOT-O-BIRTHDAYS

HAPPY BIRTHDAY THEO! HAPPY BIRTHDAY KIM! HAPPY BELATED BIRTHDAY BRAD! HAPPY BIRTHDAY TOMORROW LAUREN! LOVE YOU ALL!

Let's Party

Here's a link to an article on the front page of our Sunday Paper...

Big Kid Easter

The week leading up to Easter we read the scriptures Michelle so generously posted for us. We had a wonderful day watching General Conference. Then after a few days of Spring snow, we finally had a nice night for the HUNT. I love Spring, and all the symbols of new life and a fresh start. (Atonement & resurrection...) Enter the egg hunt. When the kids were little this was a fun easy tradition. As they got older, they were a little too cool for some of the kiddie traditions I love.

I found a fun new idea... and we had SO much fun doing our big kid's Easter Egg Hunt. Here is what we did.

Wait until dark. Each hunter needs a flashlight and a basket. Everyone is assigned an egg color to hunt for. Then you assemble on the back porch until Mom says "GO!"














You look for your egg color and leave all other colors for their owner to find.















It's dark so eggs are a little harder to find.















To add an element of fun and competition, there are also hidden a few GOLDEN eggs. Inside the golden eggs are things like movie passes and iTunes cards. WOWZA!

But there is a twist. Take confetti eggs from Mexico and throw them in the mix. If you crack a confetti egg on someones back, then you can steal one of their golden eggs!















Now things get interesting. You have to run and hunt quickly. Try to avoid getting confettied. Try not to slip and fall, dropping a golden egg...















Eric managed the most golden eggs. But, because everyone had 8 of their own colored eggs to find, Mom got to put some fun treats and cash inside for everyone to find. We had so much fun, we are going to invite all our older cousins and friends to join in next year!

Happy Easter everyone!