Happy Easter Monday!

Spring scenes from around the yard....

 

We had a wonderful week leading up to Easter.   The Easter Cantata took up much of it.  We rehearsed Tuesday and Thursday and the performance was Friday.  Sarah, Elise, and I all sang in the choir.  It went very well and, as usual, the tunes have been running through my head for days. 

On Wednesday, I took three ladies from church to check out a few local second-hand stores.  We started at Itchy’s flea market that is like an antique mall only cheaper.  We then checked out Upscale Resale, had lunch at Wendy’s, and visited The Love Seat and the Habitat for Humanity ReStore.  It was fun to treasure hunt.  We all found something.   I found a cute glass bud vase, some books for the grandkids, a little tea set for Lucy’s birthday, and, best of all, a small bottle of White Linen perfume that was almost completely full for just $3.00!  I spent a total of $7.00

I went to St. Louis twice this weekend.  On Saturday, Betty McKinley, my visiting teaching companion, and I went with Marilou Bellamy, who we visit teach, to the temple for her first time.  I was her escort. 

The flowers around the temple are gorgeous.   After our session, Marilou treated us to lunch at a totally gluten-free restaurant called New Day that is located quite near where Emily lives.  It has an AMAZING menu and I enjoyed my first store-bought meatball sub-sandwich for the first time in 17 years.  Mmmmmm. 

The second time to St. Louis was Sunday morning to accompany Emily and Elise as they sang “O Divine Redeemer” for Emily’s sacrament meeting.  They sounded so beautiful.  

 

 We then all drove back to Columbia for lunch, long naps, and Easter dinner all together.  Ham, potatoes supreme, roasted vegetables, fresh pineapple, rolls, deviled eggs, and strawberry shortcake.  Delicious!

 Bacon mooching from Steven's plate

 

 Quinn eating his strawberry shortcake.  He LOVED all of Easter dinner.

 

 Emily and Noah

 

 The Southerland clan

 We woke up to frost this morning!  LOTS of frost!  And, of course, it was the night I didn’t take any steps to protect my trees.  Two times with sheets, one time with fans, 

 

 and all three of these times, there was NO frost.  Then last night, wham!  

 

these are frost-covered buds on my sweet cherry tree :(

 

 

 all the daffodils and hyacinths were drooped down from the frost

 

 you can really see the frost on the rose bushes....

 But, I think everything is going to be OK.  At least the peach blossoms looked just fine this afternoon when I was spraying the yard for Japanese beetle grubs.