Mary or Martha?

Last Saturday night Heather and I truly had a Mary and Martha experience. While I went to soak in the counsel of our Stake presidency at the adult session of Stake conference, Heather stayed home and slaved away at our Easter outfits. She literally bought the fabric on Saturday afternoon (probably about 3 p.m.), cut out the patterns, and sewed like Betsy Ross on cocaine (is that sacrilegious?). So I will let you decide who chose the better half. Here is the pictures of our family on Sunday morning (can you tell by looking at the pictures that we were up until 1 trying to finish the dresses?). Unfortunately, it was Stake conference, which meant that her dresses got much more exposure but not to the people that really mattered. Our few friends that did see us oohed and aahed and once again marveled at Heather's crazy abilities. They call her Queen Midas, a little play on words from the story of king Midas and his golden touch. She truly is an amazing woman who turns everything around her, including us, into something much more valuable than it was to begin with. I am a very lucky man. Fortunately for me she had a minor lapse in judgement when she decided to marry me. In reference to partners, I definitely have chosen the better part (even if that wasn't true for my choice of activities). Heather truly is Amazing!!!

Looking at these pictures one might find themselves saying, "what a perfect Mormon family? I bet they don't have a care in the world. Let me tell you about Stake Conference. It began by Katie and Baker fighting over the crayons until they got to the point where Baker was screaming bloody murder. After several visits in and out of the cultural hall (a building whose sound structure amplifies the sound of a yelling baby even better than the chapel) I finally was able to calm him down. Looking back I realize the two mistakes I made was to let each of them bring one Easter toy that they received in their Easter basket. Katie brought a little Easter bunny that you could throw back and forth and catch using velcro "mitts." Well it didn't take long before Baker was throwing the bunny at every person in the congregation he could lure into his web.

Finally, I was able to wrestle the bunny away from him and send bunny to timeout for being such a terrible distraction for the poor members who sat in our wake. What was Baker's response? He looked at me, and with contempt in his eyes, simply decided that he would move on to the next battle; the toy airplane filled with Easter sweettarts (mistake #2). As always, within minutes he was able to figure out how to open the package and extract the hidden treasure in side, a feat that I was hoping would take him until the end of the meeting. Rather than trying to fight him on this as well, I decided I would give them each two pieces of candy and that they would thank me for my overwhelming graciousness by climbing into their chairs, folding their arms, and quietly praying to the Lord for such a generous father.

Guess again. Baker demanded more candy and when I decided enough was enough he decided he would retaliate. He looked at as if to say, "if you thought my first series of tantrums was impressive, just you wait. I'm going to take my game to the A-level; I am pulling out all the stops." Needless to say, this time he worked himself into such a frenzy that he was almost choking on his tears, literally. The poor boy couldn't breathe. Not to be outdone by her younger, more novice brother, Katie decided that she wanted in on the action. Needless to say, a morning that started with a beautiful family all dressed alike, ended with a mob of angry saints chasing a frustrated father out of the building carrying his two howling hulligans. What a blessed Easter Day!