​Emma decided to ask one of her friends, James, to prom this year. They met in German class and became friends this year. James is an excellent swimmer and so they naturally had loads to talk about when it came to sports. I ended up taking pictures of what I thought was going to be a small group of girls plus Emma and her date. It ended up being a large group of single girls plus Emma and her date. The sun was in full force during photos which wasn’t ideal, but I was able to get some good photos of the group and of Emma. We let Emma get her hair and makeup done at the Blo Dry Bar this year. They did a fantastic job and she looked so beautiful. She said she had a great time at the dance with her date and with her girlfriends. Afterwards they headed to Carter Wyeth’s house for some after prom fun.  

​Madeline loves stealing Mike’s phone and takings dozens of silly selfies with him. | Cooking is not one of my favorite activities, but I do it anyways. Easter Sunday is always a time I don’t mind cooking. | Emma is constantly elevating her legs to promote recovery from her hard workouts. It has become quite comical to see her positioned all over the house. | Madeline loves to have playdates with Easton. She got to spend extra long with Easton doing projects and eating pizza while I was at Emma’s track meet in Denver. | Madeline has taken over the role of puzzle master in the house. She is quite good at puzzles just like her brother Peter was at her age. | Madeline loves to read books at night. Her favorite books lately are the LOVE book her grandma gave her and the Gabby’s Dollhouse sprinkle book she got for Easter. | I was definitely spoiled for my birthday this year. I loved opening up the little bag of treasures and homemade card from Madeline and receiving the one-of-a-kind painting of white peaches by Abby. I was floored when I opened present after present of new camera gear. I got three brand new mirrorless lenses to go with my new mirrorless camera. Wow! | I have enjoyed being in YW with Abby and our many fun activities together. The girls especially liked the movie night where we watched Megamind. | Madeline’s favorite game to play lately is Pop to the Shops. | Mike took advantage of a no work day to hike the Incline. | You know the winter is almost over when we get random warm days where it is actually warm enough to head to the pool at the club. | We treated Emma to getting her makeup and hair done before HS Prom this year. She looked so beautiful. | Abby had fun hanging out with her friends at the ES playground one afternoon. 

​It snowed a ton in April which made it hard to train for my half marathon. I did, however, love running up Rampart Range Road twice, working on pushing the downhill sections. Emma joined one of our Striders runs and enjoyed running with the faster guys and leaving the rest of us girls in the dust. We did have some nice days mid-April and Mike and I took advantage of that and headed on a longer bike ride to Criterium and back. I also took my mountain bike and headed to Pineries to do the loop there. I spent one morning by myself and ran an easy loop in the Garden after the kids were in school and that was so rejuvenating. Some of the hardest runs this month were in the Garden running the clockwise trail tempo loop, hill repeats up the Strausenback hill, hill repeats on Ridge Road, and the road tempo to balanced rock. This month ended with a beautiful, snowy climb up the Incline with Dionne. You never know what you are going to get in April, but one thing is for sure, you are bound to get both snow and at least a few short-sleeved running days. 
 

​For my birthday weekend this year Mike took off work on Friday and we spent the morning hiking the Incline and running down Barr trail. Then we headed to Rudy’s for lunch before going home to grab all our stuff for the weekend. We loaded our bags and our bikes onto the Tesla and drove up to Denver where we stayed at the Crawford hotel at Union Station. Mike has been so awesome at finding unique boutique hotels for us to stay in lately. Union Station was redone several years ago, and it looks amazing and so modern. We quickly got on our bike gear and headed out on a quick bike ride before the weather turned nasty. We got halfway through the ride with little wind but when we turned around we almost got blown over by the intense head wind we had the entire ride back to our hotel. Needless to say, we sat in our very nice hot shower for quite some time to warm up after that ride. We headed over to Pacific Mercantile for dinner and had such a good meal together. The dessert, however, was definitely my favorite. The waitress was loving that it was a birthday celebration and even brought us complimentary wine to celebrate. Too bad we don’t drink wine! That night we stayed up late watching movies and just enjoyed being together. It was marvelous to be able to sleep in the next morning. We ate breakfast back at Pacific Mercantile and had the best croissant French toast. It was divine. Then we grabbed our bags and bikes and headed to the Cherry Creek Mall to do a little bit of shopping. It was the perfect birthday weekend!

​Madeline had two amazing field trips this month. Her first field trip for first grade was going to Garden of the Gods to explore. Although we have been there many times as a family, she loved going with her classmates. I decided it would be fun to ride my bike around the Garden and then stop and see her on my way out. I was able to stop and say hi right before they ate their lunch. She was so excited to see me and introduce me to some of her friends. 

​We have had so many flowers in the house from Abby’s musical and I just couldn’t pass up the opportunity to grab my macro lens and capture them before they died. I usually love photographing roses but this year my favorite to capture was the tulips. Tulips always remind me of springtime. I need to remember to pull out my camera more often to take photos of flowers. Flowers just make me so happy!

​Maayong Gabii!
 
Hello everyone, one week has passed away again and it feels like yesterday that I was whisked out the door. My parents told me I had been away for around 5 months. It has felt more like 5 days. Similar to last week we've been so busy all the time. It's absolutely wonderful but truly exhausting. We have so many kind families that we're visiting, and we have had the blessed opportunity of bearing our testimonies to many people. 
 
I would like to take a moment to reflect on a wonderful lesson I was taught as a young man. One day in young men’s quorum our teacher, Brother Murdock, told us to avoid using the word 'like'. He instructed us to count how many times someone would say the word 'like' while talking. The results were like... astounding. All of these years later I still have an uneasiness every time I use that word in a sentence. (Ignore the first paragraph)
 
With that being said, I've had to completely throw that lesson out the door in the Philippines. There are so many ways to say 'like' that it is hard to fathom. The few that I can think of off the top of my head are Kuwan, morag, parehas, and sugad. They throw them in at random places and sometimes completely replace verbs with them. These filler words are so devastatingly hard to deal with that my brain sometimes shuts down. Any skill I have seemed to gather in the language goes out the window when five strategically placed kuwans riddle the sentence. Once you get used to them they can be fun to slip into conversation but receiving them is always frustrating. 
 
The more I learn about other languages, the more I learn the power of the word. For our word should be our testimony. The testimony of our gifts, our kindness, and of our Savior. This last general conference was riddled with so many talks about being kind to others. Using our language for good rather than evil. A very wise man once told me that of all the things he had done in his life, the times he had regretted the most were when he was not kind to people when he could have been. I echo this thought and regret. I have been truly unfairly hateful to some people in the past, and those are times I can never take back. I have lost so many friends in the pursuit of my own pride. 
 
It has, however, shown me the importance of one’s words. On the mission I have had so many opportunities to bear my testimony and witness as a disciple of Christ. When me and my companion finish a lesson and bear our testimony, the Spirit is always the strongest. When we edify others, we edify ourselves. In the story of Alma, we learn that he could not reclaim his people.
 
"Save it were in bearing down in pure testimony against them." Alma 4:19
 
The power of one’s testimony is real. When we bear witness of the Father and His Son, we are blessed and bless others. Pure testimony is pure power and there is no other way about it. It was our primary weapon before this life, and it continues to be the same in this one. The sword of truth knows no equal. In the end when all mortal form is stripped away we will be left with nothing but our testimony. I leave you mine that Jesus is the Christ. Our Savior and Redeemer. That the Great Atonement was made by Him. That we need not fear, only trust in Him. He loves you, more than you can know. I say these things in his name, even Jesus Christ, amen.
 
Elder Wilhelm

Sunset

​Our worker Michael is pretty much the best

​It was a rare treat to have one of the boys home for Easter this year. Since Andrew was already in town for Abby’s musical, he was able to join us for Easter lunch before flying back to Utah. Madeline was the first one awake, of course, and immediately went searching for her Easter basket full of goodies. Afterwards she kept asking when we could do the Easter egg hunt. The temporal side of Easter morning is definitely geared towards Madeline these days. We did our traditional egg hunt with Madeline and then we all headed to church. The Easter program was amazing, and the spirit was felt by all. We came home, finished prepping for our big Easter lunch, and enjoyed being together before we had to say goodbye to Andrew. Later in the day we got to talk with Peter, which was the cherry on top of our already wonderful day. I love Easter not only for the time to remember our Savior and the resurrection, but also to be grateful for hope and new beginnings. 

​Abby has really enjoyed being part of her high school musical, Bye Bye Birdie. She was the only freshman that made it into the main cast. She played Randolph, the little brother to Kim, who is a major character and was played by her friend Kastyn. She loved every rehearsal and came home tired but excited to tell us all about what they were doing. Musicals is where Abby shines. Her voice is amazing, and we were so happy that we got to see her act not only as Randolph, but also as part of the girl’s ensemble. She had a tiny solo singing part as Randolph near the end of the show and she knocked it out of the park both times we saw her perform. During the intermission, the main characters came out into the hallway so that audience members could get Conrad Birdie’s autograph and take photos with him. Madeline was so excited to do that. It was fun to have Andrew and Grandpa Al in town for the weekend so they could watch Abby perform! 

​Cheat day, or cheaper travel day, one of the two. Instead of kids going back to school today and Mike going to work we decided to fly home today since the tickets were cheaper and the flight less crowded. In the end, the flight ended up being more expensive just because Mike lost his mind for a minute and upgraded everyone to First Class. It was his gift so that everyone could sleep a bit on the flight, be comfy, and be as rested as possible since we were travelling for so long today. In the end, the difference in cost between Sunday and Monday almost covered the upgrade. So, missing one day of school? Worth it. 
 
We got up early, finished packing up, had breakfast (our favorite granola) and cleaned up the apartment. The girl’s bathroom had reached the apex of stinkiness. Mike determined it was the bidet probably letting sewer stink back up into the bathroom, but in the end we may never know. One thing is for sure, big cities in Europe have stinky sewer issues, just like big cities in the U.S. It’s hard to fathom what it was like when people were just throwing their waste into the streets. Yikes. 
 
Mike took the garbage out and luckily found the garbage this time and then the whole crew headed out to the streets for our hike back up to Roma Termini. It probably is quite the sight to see this American family, pushing their suitcases along in the morning rush of people headed to work. It was a bit uphill, and a bit bumpy along the old cobblestone streets, but we made it to the train station in the mad rush of humanity. People everywhere, people going to work, vacation, the airport. It was a bit crowded getting on the train, but we made it on the train to the airport on platform 24. It took about 30 minutes to get there, and it was overall a smooth ride since there are no stops between the Roma Termini station and the airport. 
 
Once at the airport, we checked into our flight (checked all our bags since we could do two bags with our tickets), got through passport control, security, and then more passport control. Once we reached the international terminal, it was like being in the nicest mall on earth. Wow, Rome’s airport interior is stunning and full of high-end shops. I guess if money is no object, Italy is your place. We were able to use the ITA lounge, so we had a bit of breakfast, and then a bit o’ lunch. The best part of being in the lounge, is that we got to talk to Peter. He had a good week, which always makes us a little happier. It’s stressful having a kid on a mission, certainly more stressful than I thought it would be for us as parents. We are thrilled he likes and gets along well with his companion. They are doing a lot of finding and teaching a lot of people. The tricky part is getting them to come to church and be committed. He really likes speaking Cebuano as well, which he finds to be much easier than speaking Waray. Once we finished talking with Peter, it was time to board our flight. We got to go in the special people line. The stewardess at the gate looked at me and all our kids and was like, “You are all flying Delta One?” She then looked at our passports and looked at me and said, “You are a lucky man.” No doubt about it. 

The girls were pretty excited about the whole adventure being in first class, this being their first-time up front in the pods. Madeline was just happy to have her own seat/bed and TV to watch. Abby said she felt like a movie star. Mike was just happy to be able to stretch out his feet and not be scrunched up in a seat for 10 hours. We had a lovely meal, then everyone laid down for a spell, woke up to warm cookies, ate a fabulous breakfast, and before we knew it we were landing in New York City. Our next flight wasn’t as grand, but we eventually made it back home to Denver and our comfy beds back in Colorado Springs! What an adventure!

​Today was our last full day in Rome and our last full day in Italy! Nooo! Why can’t we be super wealthy trust fund babies and sail on our daddy’s yacht until we run out of champagne and grapes! Well, we are very fortunate, and there is no doubt about that. We headed out on Palm Sunday into the heart of Rome and went to the Pantheon. They were finishing up their services and we were able to sneak in with the crowd. On the first Sunday of the month, all the museums in Rome are free! So, we got in without tickets and enjoyed the spectacular Pantheon. It really is an amazing building. The oculus is cool, the church resplendent. No tour needed here (despite the annoying white guy trying to get us to take his 15 Euro tour. Pretty good grift to charge tourists to tour a building you can see for free. Well done Mussolini). The one good thing we got out of our tour yesterday was that the best gelato in Rome was near the Pantheon, so after the church, we headed that way. On our way, we happened upon an awesome French church, then happened upon an awesome toy store (lucky Madeline), and then happened upon an awesome place for lunch. So, our 10-minute walk to gelato, took about 2 hours, but it was perfect. That’s the perfect way to enjoy Rome and Italy, just wandering around. Also, screw Trip Advisor and Google Reviews, the secret to finding good places to eat is to look for Italians. The place we went for lunch was brimming with noisy Italians outside eating and laughing. That’s the place you want to go. The food was resplendent, the atmosphere delightful. We will miss the food scene in Italy. We won’t miss the dirt, the crowded streets, the tourists, or the smoking, but the food, oh my. 
 
After lunch, we finally made it to the gelato place. It was divine. Oh, my heavens. Thank you for such delicious food. Madeline was right, let’s just bring our house here and have good food forever. From there, we walked down the streets of fancy stores, the best was the Lego store. The mural of the Trevi fountain was superb. After using a bathroom in a pub, we decided to go to the LDS Rome temple.
 
We then grabbed an Uber (which turns out to be way more expensive than the Taxis) and headed around the ring road to the temple. What a wonderful way to spend a Sunday afternoon. The grounds are meticulous, the Spirit abundant, and the people so nice. Madeline prayed next to the olive tree, which we thought was cute and special. Turns out, the temple was built on an olive grove, so they moved all the trees because you can’t cut them down. The four olive trees were brought in from other places and were more than four hundred years old. The olive leaves features prominently in the stain glass. The temple itself is shaped like the center of a Venn diagram (the intersection of heaven and earth). It was pretty neat. 
 
The visitor’s center was even better than we had envisioned. The statue of the Christus was amazing, but having the rest of the twelve there was really neat. The sister missionaries were amazing and spent so much time with our girls and with Madeline. The visitor center is phenomenal and the spirt was so strong the whole time. We loved watching Abby’s countenance change from being a bit grumpy earlier in the day to just being bright and full of joy. Those sister missionaries were amazing. I am so grateful for them and the Spirit they brought to our family. They were just so full of light and joy. They passed it on to the rest of us. We loved learning about the mural behind the Apostles, the meaning of each statue’s item, and the history of the Temple in Rome. It was the perfect way to end our Palm Sunday and also the perfect way to end our trip to Italy. Of all the things we saw, the one that brought us the most joy was the temple and the people there. That has to say something about the truth of what Peter is out teaching. I just wish everyone that was coursing around Rome could have felt what we felt there and been there with us. So much is spent seeing dead stones from eras long since passed. They have no life. But just on the outskirts of the city is a place of light and truth where joy is abundant. 
 
Uber wasn’t keen on getting us, so the Bushmans (the senior couple there) helped us get a taxi home. It was half the cost of the Uber and much more comfortable. We got back to the apartment, got our umbrellas, and headed out for one last meal in Italy. It was a little Osteria just a block from our apartment and it was divine. Thank you Italy for making simple ingredients delicious. Gratzie Mille! 

​Today was our busiest day. We were up early and off to the Vatican. We braved the metro again, but since it wasn’t too crowded, and it was barely after seven in the morning, there were not so many pick pockets. We took the metro to the Vatican and then met up with our tour group. Tomorrow happened to be Palm Sunday, so it was pretty darn crowded. They were also getting set-up for Palm Sunday, Good Friday, and Easter, so it was chairs for days in the plaza. Our tour guide for the basilica and the museums was Massimo. He was awesome. He was funny, but not too funny, full of good information, but not a bunch of stuff you didn’t want to know, and had a soothing voice, but not too soothing that you went to sleep. He also wore Hokas and a scarf. Comfortable yet still fashionable. It was pricey doing the tour, but hard to imagine navigating the zoo of the Vatican without a tour group. We started with the stairs up to the top of the Basilica and that was well worth the climb. Turns out, the paining on the ceiling is not a painting but rather a giant mosaic made up of one-inch little tiles. The first Lego mosaic before Legos were invented! It was breathtaking. The view from the top was spectacular of Rome and the Tiber River and the surrounding hills. Madeline really enjoyed the seagull that had laid eggs by the tower, so everyone wins. Mom gets pictures, Mike gets to go up lots of stairs, Abby and Emma get to take selfies, and Madeline sees a bird. Good times. We also got to see where the Pope lives and see the Swiss guards in their goofy awesome uniforms. On our tour, Massimo let us in on all the good things the fascists did to screw up Italy and always ended with the statement: “Well done Mussolini.” Say it with an Italian accent and a bit of a sarcastic smirk and it captures the beauty of it for all of us. Turns out Mussolini tried to fix a lot of things with cement, and totally failed. Well done Mussolini!
 
After the dome hike, we got to go inside the church, and it was unreal. It was so grand with so many amazing pieces of art, relics, altars, chapels, and of course another Michelangelo masterpiece. It really was quite striking to see Mary holding Jesus across her lap. It was moving. Mike really enjoyed seeing where St. Peter was buried and learning about all the different stories about the statues. This was an amazing basilica and truly hard to wrap your mind around. 
 
After the basilica, we mailed some postcards from the Vatican post office (after losing Sara for a minute) and then sped around the corner and down the street to go the museums. The museums are a treasure trove of stuff from Greece, Egypt, Italy, and all over the world. The ceilings were amazing, the tapestries unreal, the staircases inspirational, and of course a 2,000-year-old pine cone statue. How could it get any better? Well, we learned that Mussolini filled in the rivers and canals around Milan with cement creating a mess for today’s residents: Well done Mussolini. 
 
The highlight of the museums, is of course, the ceiling of the Sistine chapel. It really is hard to imagine that being done. Equally fun, is the mural on the front of the final judgment. The Pope’s advisor was all put out by Michelangelo’s portrayal of things, so Michelangelo painted him in the bottom corner in hell getting his genitals eaten by a snake. Don’t mess with the legendary artist or else you will end up immortalized in hell. Pretty great stuff. 
 
From there, we took an Uber back to the apartment, got some food (cheese, grapes, toasty bread, and cookies).  Then we walked about ¾ mile to the Colosseum for our next tour. On our way there, some street vendor asked Mike if he was a bodyguard.  In the end, I guess he kind of is since he was keeping the rest of the group safe. 
 
Anyway, the tour guide at the Colosseum was no Massimo. It was Dario, like Mario, but without the M or the super. The Colosseum can be done in 30 minutes, maybe 15, because it’s basically a big empty arena. It’s amazing to see, the steps are huge, the stories intense, but it’s overrun with tourist and our group was full of people that had to pee all the time and walked as fast as Joe Biden up a flight of stairs while holding his ice cream. It was a bit painful. Also, the skip the line part of the tour, wasn’t so skippy, it was really just a different line of people in groups. Overall, it was amazing to see, but we were a bit over toured at this point. By the time we got into the Roman Forum, we were done and turned in our headphones and toured on our own. The roman Forum and Palatine hill were much cooler and more interesting than the Colosseum. They were much prettier than the Boboli gardens. It was interesting to see the arch of Titus who destroyed Jerusalem and the temple. There was a little menorah on the arch. It was crazy to think that he fulfilled Christ’s prophesy about the temple. Overall, you could spend days listening and learning about Rome here, but it was time to eat. So, we walked back to our apartment, then ate at the little Osteria by our apartment. The apartment was very average, but it was tucked in with a bunch of great little restaurants. Dinner was wonderful and we got back to sleep after a very long day full of tasty food. It was a nice way to end the day.