Happy Easter and Spring and all

(Just focus on my cute kids in this photo - I'm only including one with me because it happens so seldom (obviously for good reason) and to prove I was there )

Today was all about flowers for us. We spent a couple hours "walking" on a lovely path near our house. We stopped approximately every ten feet and discovered all kinds of plant life emerging out of the forest floor that is still covered with the brown-black leaves from last fall.

Behold the star flower...

The harvest also included specimens of purplish-pink flowers, grape cluster flowers, umbrella leaves, bell flowers, butterfly flowers, purple flowers, heart leaf and my favorite "dandy flowers" - more commonly known as the dandelion.

I can't help but smile at how excited she gets about seeing a dandelion. The other day she picked a handful of them from our friend's yard, 4 to be exact, "one for dad, one for mom, one for me and one for jack!" She clutched them protectively as we drove home, then we put them in some water - I love seeing them on the counter - they make me smile. I love what they represent - an all too common piece of beauty that is so common we often take it for granted.

(Look out mini tangent ahead)
A couple weeks ago we went to Utah for a visit - it was the best trip we've had in a long while - it wasn't a Christmas break full of presents and parties, we didn't "do" anything, no jaunts to lake powell or disneyland or the moon - just a whole three weeks of ordinary days spent with family and friends, people we love (and one we haven't seen in years). we had meals together, ate frozen yogurt, did our grocery shopping, talked, made a few attempts to craft together, but mostly we just coexisted side by side in our daily routines - it was so ordinary and so special, just like the dandy flower is to me.

So Happy Spring to one and all - I hope the sun is shining in your neighborhood like it was in ours today, I hope that the grass is turning green and there are buds on the trees, I hope the star flowers and umbrella leaves are pushing their way through the undergrowth and I hope that will help us all remember our Savior and the hope that He provides for all of us to overcome the winter of our lives. Happy Easter!