Spring Break - Cousins and San Clemente Camping!

Do you do this?  We buy Lunchables for lunches in the car on road trips.  Usually it ends in a big fight over who brought which one, and who ate my lunch.... I get a little tired of it - so I started taking pictures of the kids with their lunchables!  No fights!  

We drove to California on Sunday and listened to Conference on the way!  Poor Jace got car sick though.  He barfed 3 times.  This was after the first time, and he fell asleep after.  The next one was not as lucky, and he got his whole clothes!  Gross.  

We made it to Cam and Rach's house in Yorba Linda!  We stayed at their house that night.  The cousins played outside and then played Settlers after it got too dark outside.  The adults stayed up late talking and catching up.  So good to spend time with family!

Monday morning, we drove over to San Clemente State Beach and set up camp there.  It was a great little site, and close to the bathrooms!  

After we were all set up, we walked down the cliffs to the beach.  It was a lovely beach!  The hike down to the beach was steep, so we tried to bring everything down the first trip so we didn't have to go back up!  It was a little foggy that morning, but by noon-ish it burned off and it was sunny!

 After playing in the water for a while, the kids made boogie board fort.  :)

 We brought a little bean bag toss for the beach too - so fun!

The kids spent hours boogie boarding!  We borrowed Cam and Rach's boards - so nice of them to let us use them!

I loved boogie boarding with the kids too!  Josh snapped these one of the times I went out.

Getting in is the hardest step!  ;)

Jace was a fierce seagull pirate!

I love Sophie's curlies that happen when water, sun, and sunscreen meet.  

Then we all showered in the coin showers by our tent.  We got ready and watched the sunset.  

 This was the exact moment Sophie told me what her wedding dress/makeup/jewelry would look like.  Oh this girl keeps me on my toes!

Out to eat for dinner and then back to our tent for games.  We played a new one - Beat the Parents - and it was a fun one!  

Celebrating Easter

We did something a little different this year!  I have read about Holy Week and how families learn about the last week of the Savior's life.  I wanted to do more than just our usual 2 FHE lessons about Easter this year, so this looked like it might be great for us!  I used the 71toes, Mercy River and Power of Moms blogs to help me plan these!  

I really learned a lot about our Savior in planning this, and teaching the kids about it.  There were so many videos, songs, scriptures and activities!  

 Our temple pictures from Mad Monday - when Jesus cleansed the temple.

 Teaching Tuesday - each person read a parable from the scriptures and then drew a picture and taught it to the family.  I was worried that we were not "old enough" to do this one, but WE ARE!  Our family nights are about to get REAL!  ;)  

 Our Passover pictures - we had grape juice for our authentic passover drink ;)  Maybe someday we will branch out, but it was a great start for us!

 Our cross - to remind us that Jesus died for each one of us.  

We had many special moments as a family learning about Jesus.  I don't know if I will ever forget our Easter Sunday.  I showed the kids a couple of Mormon.org videos, and then one that I found on Facebook.  The FB one speculated how we would receive the news TODAY if Jesus was resurrected TODAY.  It shows many people receiving texts or calls and they are clearly happy and thrilled.  We see at the end of the clip what the text said: The grave is empty.  HE IS RISEN.  I still get chills thinking about it.  

I loved the sweet spirit in our home the whole week.  Our kids were so receptive to the stories.  We went deeper into meaning of things that we had before.  Our kids understood and felt what we were trying to teach them.  Our prayers that week were sweeter, the pictures on our wall helped us remember Jesus and encouraged more questions about Him.  I loved singing the Easter songs from the Hymn book and the Children's song book with the kids, as well as a few new ones that I was impressed to share with our kids.  It really made us closer as a family, and encouraged me as a mother to be better and more diligent in teaching my kids.  

I am so thankful for my Savior and for the sacrifice He made for me.  I am thankful for the scriptures that tell of Jesus' life and how they can still apply to me today.  I love being able to share my testimony with my kids and see their testimonies grow and strengthen mine at the same time!  I am truly blessed to be the mother to these 5 special spirits!