Easter Party Pleasure!

Easter has to rate right up there with Christmas and Thanksgiving for favorite holidays of the year! I am so grateful for the opportunity to really focus my thoughts on the Atonement and Resurrection of our Savior, Jesus Christ, without which I would be forever lost! I find such great hope and a sense of peace in absolutely knowing that our spirits will once again be reunited with our bodies, complete once again, never to be separated! I am also grateful for the knowledge that we will be resurrected in our perfect form! Hmmmmm, I wonder what that will be for me?  The atonement and resurrection are truly the greatest events to have ever taken place on the earth or WILL ever take place! I am in awe of His love for me and each of His children that he would undertake such pain and agony so we have that opportunity, in spite of our sins of omission as well as comission, to repent and work to become like Him and live with Him again! And I was reminded again Saturday as our daughters and their families came here for an Easter celebration how dismal any eternity would be without being together as families, the very center of our loving Heavenly Father's plan of happiness! There is no greater joy than that of our family gathered together in one heart and one mind! I felt Heavenly Father's love and the Savior's approval as we celebrated the "lighter side" of Easter...especially knowing that each family had already and would continue to teach the deep and true meaning of Easter Day! I felt as well, the absence of Matt and Sara and their kids, our other sons-in-law and my wonderful husband, Greg, and got a taste of the deep sadness and yearning I would feel if ANY of my family was absent in the eternities. Thank you all for choosing to follow Christ! Yes, He does live again and I will forever be in His debt!

Happy Easter to our Florida Cousins!

Photo and video editing at www.OneTrueMedia.com

Loads of Goodies and Cousin Fun!

These pictures are just too cute not to share! Last Saturday, March 27, 2010, was our annual Rose Family Easter Egg Hunt. Though it is usually at our house, Julie and Stanton had offered their home this year so we could also attend a joint wedding shower for our niece, Chrystal Sandall, and Kelley Argyle, the fiance of our nephew, Mitch Sandall, that afternoon in Tremonton.

We missed Luke, Emma and Gavin, our little Florida kids, and Lori's Todd who was also not able to attend due to a scout function that day. But though not present, they are never forgotten as it is our long-standing tradition to dump the goodies all together after having been hunted and found, and divide the spoils evenly among ALL the grandkids! Grandpa saves his loose change all year and that also goes into the pot. When there were only a few grandchildren it used to go a long way...but among 16, not so much! Just all part of the fun and the kids just have a ball watching their sacks fill up with all kinds of goodies. You can't tell from the pictures, but the lawn and flower beds were absolutely loaded with eggs and treats.

Regan, now almost 12, and growing into a beautiful young woman decided she just wanted to help us stuff the eggs and divide the goodies. She was so much help I honestly don't know how we could have accomplished it all in such a short time without her. Thanks, Regs! Thanks to Julie for hosting and thanks to Cindy and Lori for making the supreme effort to gather all the kids and be there in good time that morning. We were blessed with a beautiful day for traveling and outdoor fun! It is a joy for us to see how much the kids all love to be together. It makes us very excited for our family reunion this summer at Lori and Brad's.

As I expressed to Cindy, I am grateful that we held the "hunt" the weekend before Easter so that our families can concentrate on the real "reason for the season" this weekend. I love that Easter Sunday falls on General Conference weekend this year. We are again attending Conference in Salt Lake at the Conference Center and are able to take our newest little 8-year-old granddaughter, Kate, with us. How fun that will be!

I remember several years ago when we were at Conference on Easter Sunday and we heard such beautiful messages on the Atonement. I am looking forward to that again. How grateful I am for my personal Savior, Jesus Christ, who suffered unbelievably for my thoughtless, selfish ways. How I want to show my appreciation to Him! All I can do is repent constantly and try to do better. I am so ashamed of my "natural man" ways of thinking, speaking, and acting...I am so thankful that His arms are "stretched out still"! He is so patient and loving and just wants us all to be obedient and take advantage of his great atoning sacrifice. I am so grateful that we recognize and appreciate his suffering and death, but that we CELEBRATE His Resurrection on Easter...that He lives again that we may also live again! What a great gift He has freely given us. My heart is full as I approach this weekend. We love you and wish all of you a very wonderful Easter weekend!