Spring!

Rain (or sometimes snow!), flowers, chives, onions and hopefully strawberries!

I am so grateful for spring! I need more beginnings in my life...

And I just love having flowers outside and inside!- even with some of the weeds.

Best pic? 'Guess who won't be making it back?' I just love having one child who not only understands this humor, but who loves it as much as me! (and he'll watch it all with me too!)

And this may seem out of the blue, but it has been on my mind quite a bit, especially with Easter:
I once had someone refer to my faith as the 'tradition' of my family. I have thought a lot on that and tried to observe my family at gatherings. I have come to several conclusions. First, I must say that my faith in the true and living God is not now, and to my knowledge, has never been based upon my family. I am sure that I attended church services when I was young because of my parents. But I can honestly say that I have never believed because they believed. It sounds strange to many, I am sure. However, as long as I can remember, I have known on at least a basic level that Heavenly Father lives and that Jesus is the Christ. I believe this is a gift I was given in my life because I have needed to know this in order to do some things I had to do. I also know that as I have grown, my knowledge has also grown- and I have come to not only believe but to know that The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints is the true church here on earth. I can say with confidence that I do not believe this because of my family. The second thing I have discovered, my family loves me now and will always love me no matter what I believe to be true. I am not close to my family because of my faith. I am close to my family because of who they are and because I want to be with them. I know if I were to decide tomorrow to become an atheist (which of course, I won't), my family's feelings towards me would not change in the least. We have all worked hard at being the family that we are- and that is a great blessing in my life!
It is not a tradition... it is a choice and a great blessing!