Happy Birthster!

My little Lyddies is 5! We returned to the more laid back, separate family party scenario (which is how it will be until she's old enough to beg me to invite her friends).  We got together with Randall's side on her actual Birthday, and then with my family over Easter weekend a week later.  The only problem with that was, Lydia got a little confused.  She excitedly announced, "I'm six now!" at the second Birthday party.  Time does fly, but not quite that fast! 

Lydia asked for blueberries and cream oatmeal and hot chocolate for breakfast, and "home-made pizza that I make myself" for dinner.  I didn't really give her the option to choose lunch because I had a lot of leftovers to get rid of.  I know, I'm  a horrible mom.  Lydia received some Barbies, a ballerina doll, a dress, and Polly Pockets.  We made chocolate cake for the Stewart gathering and a Princess Belle cake with cupcakes for the Brown side. I highly recommend the Barbie cake.  It was SO much easier than the R2-D2 cake, and everyone LOVED it. 

Favorites

Food - chicken noodle soup (home-made)
Toy - all the stuff I got from my Birthday
TV Show - Dora
Movie - Blue's Clues
Game - I love all of the games!
Color - pink and purple
Hairdo - Sleeping Beauty with lots of curls

Funny Phrases

"Oh no!  It's bruken!"

"I had a very enjoyable day."

"I don't like spicy cause I have spino difida."

"Mom!  I takeded a step!  I'm going to tell Jesus that."

She loves to share little facts about "Sytan" (Satan) all the time, like how he doesn't have a body and he is mean.  She also loves to talk about Jesus.  One day I asked her why she was crying and she said it was because she missed Jesus.

We also had a really great time celebrating Easter with our families.  My Mom, Dad, Ben, Taryn, and their kids were all able to come up.  We had the annual Brown family Easter hunt at Steve's on Saturday and Easter Dinner with the Stewarts on Sunday.  Tara put together a fun little egg hunt that taught us about Christ.  It was a really cute way to remind the kids that Easter is about Jesus, not the Easter Bunny and candy.  Of course there was plenty of that too...

 I don't ever remember Easter and Conference falling on the same weekend before, but I loved it!  No one could speak about Christ's sacrifice and resurrection better than our General Authorities.  The kids were all entertained by their Easter gifts, so I actually got to listen to the majority of it.  They talked a lot about teaching our children in the home and being a good example for them.  All of the talks were great, but a few of them really stood out to me.  Elder Holland is always amazing.  He's such a powerful speaker, and he talked about the harmful effects of pornography on families and relationships.   I also enjoyed Elder Donald Hallstrom's talk about never letting an earthly circumstance destroy you spiritually.  President Uchdorf talked about us acting as Christ's hands.  He said that "true love requires action,"  and reminded us that Christ always talked WITH people, never down to them (even if they're "canned food mormons"). Ü  I could go on and on...  I'm just so grateful to have the church in my life.  I know I could not be truly happy without it.