what i am thinking about this {easter} sunday {4}

This week was one of the hardest weeks I have ever had.

Ever.

In my 24 years of existence, this week was the worst.

As today is not only Easter but the start of a new week {a week that will be better than the last}, I found this especially appropriate to share. 

"Each of us will have our own Fridays—

those days when the universe itself seems shattered 

and the shards of our world lie littered about us in pieces. 

We all will experience those broken times when it seems 

we can never be put together again. 
We will all have our Fridays.

But I testify to you in the name of the One who conquered death—

Sunday will come. 
In the darkness of our sorrow, 
Sunday will come.

No matter our desperation, no matter our grief, 
Sunday will come.

In this life or the next, 
Sunday will come."

This is my favorite talk given at General Conference.
Whether you are of the same faith as I am or not, I wholeheartedly invite you to read it in its entirety here. The start of the talk is tenderhearted, but my favorite parts come in middle.

During weeks like this past one, even though I have not experienced the death of a loved one, I am able to draw so much comfort from those inspired words.

I hope you are all having a Sunday, and not a Friday.
And a marvelous Easter Sunday, at that!

As I stay home from Church with a sick baby, let me share my second spiritual boost for this special day {which happens to be my SECOND favorite talk ever}:

{read the rest of that talk here}

kemry's first zoo-outing

This past weekend was very much anticipated.

We needed a time off.

Time to spend as a little family.

And while 2 days hardly counts as a vacation, it was a nice refresher.

After all, we have to hold out until the end of June for a real vacation anyway, so this had to do. 

We loaded up our car and headed to Utah so Tyrel could attend his {probably} last mission reunion.

And to swim in the hotel pool {which was far too cold and just made Kemry cry... to which the remedy was to fill up the bathtub back in our room and have our own pool party. All three of us in our swimming suits, squished in that tiny tub. What you do for the baby's sake, right?}

And to eat lots of burgers and ice cream.

And to take Kemry to Hogle Zoo.

We got there early {due to both lack of sleep at the hotel and a desire to beat the crowd}, and it only took us an hour to walk the whole thing.

An hour.

I certainly remember spending a lot more time than that wandering around when I was little.

{But that might be due to the fact that my little brother dropped his binki in the gorilla pit when he was tiny...and proceeded to watch those muscular primates smash it to bits. Hours of crying ensued.}

It was a fun little time, though!

Kemry sure enjoyed herself.

She like blowing kisses to the cats and saying hi to the giraffe.

Most of the animals got pretty close since we were some of the few there that early.

I guess it is just a warm-up for when we hit this monster of a place in June!

happy sunday!

Kemryy pulled out her sunglasses yesterday and has since refused to take them off {except to sleep, of course}.

I guess that means we will just have to go outside and enjoy the weather.

Hope you have a great one!

14 months

This is pretty much how Kemry acted all day:

...so we didn't score on any awesome pictures.

Nevertheless, we made her sit through them anyway {even if we had to sit with her}.

 Ultimately, however, she ended up running away.

serious face {to make you smile}

This is the safety gate that we own.

We love it because we can screw it into the wall and use it as a swinging door {with one hand use, mind you!} or we can use it as a pressure fit gate {which will be great when we move to Minnesota and back into a smaller living space}.

We also really love it because it has clear plastic panels so we can see through it.

Kemry can wait at the top of the stairs while I run to get laundry and can see me most of the time.

Right?

But, in all reality, the only thing I kept thinking about was teaching Kemry to squish her face up against it.

You know, like you did to the car when you were little {and maybe do now...but only because you have to entertain the baby in the backseat somehow?}.

Well, my friends, today was a day of triumph.

And I caught it with my camera...

Have a great Thursday!

PS: And to all of you catching the Hunger Games at midnight, I am entirely jealous.

I read them when the had barely come out in 2008 {pros of working in a bookstore} so I need to reread them all before the hubs and I go.

Still. 

Way jealous.