Colors of Spring

Hello!

It has just been the best two weeks!

My sisters, mom, Katie, and I went to the Holi Festival at the Sri Sri Radha Krishna Temple up in Spanish Fork last weekend. This was our second year going and somehow it was even better than the first! Plus, I've been looking forward to this weekend for months and it did not disappoint.

I loooove this festival. The atmosphere is so incredibly happy, light, and encouraging. Everybody is there to have a good time. We got there a little before the gates open, and there's just so much excitement in the air! The key is to go down and reserve your spot right in front of the stage. The first event is a guided yoga class. The guy teaching it was funny and intermingled in the crowd as he taught. Then comes the fun part-- Indian dancing! The girls are in brightly colored saris and they so patiently teach the basic prayers and dances. It's one of my favorite parts of the day!

They songs start slow and traditional, but grow in tempo and excitement until the whole place is jumping, dancing, and yelling! It's so hype and the energy is so high! I don't even know how to put into words how enchanting and magnificent it is to be in the middle of it.

Every hour on the hour, there is a countdown to the color throw. This is another favorite. Everybody is shouting the countdown, and the throw is so beautiful. When the colors are in the air, everyone is jumping and celebrating. It's just the most fun a person could have on a beautiful morning in Spanish Fork.

As the day goes on, there are bands that play, dancers that teach dance. To the side of the stage, there's an ongoing yoga class you can join in on if you want something slower. Mid-afternoon, the Bollywood dancers get on stage to teach us more moves. Gracie and I were front and center for the majority of the day-- it's the best place to be! There's a video on Facebook and you can see Gracie and I dancing. Gracie said it looks like we were having and the time of our lives, and honestly, I think we were.

Most of the week days were fairly uneventful, but Friday the family headed towards Ely, Nevada. This is the second year we've gone there for Easter, and if this becomes a tradition, I am perfectly fine with it. I truly enjoy that small, sleepy town. There's not a whole ton to do, but we always have a ton of fun! This year, we went out to Great Basin National Park to the Lehman Caves. I love a good cave! Our tour guide was so, so good. She was funny, informative, and knowledgeable. It was a solid tour.

Afterward, we went to the White Pine County Museum. It was a typical county museum, but I love museums, so I didn't mind. They had a few train cars in the yard out back sitting on the tracks, so we were balancing on them and started racing. Dad and Amy went back to the hotel afterward, so us kids walked Main St. This town loves art and murals. There are beautiful murals on almost every building! There's a small grassy area between some of the buildings that have several sculptures, and a labyrinth. We walked it, all ended up in the middle, then ran out. We were laughing so hard by the time we all reached the end. I'm so glad we all can get along and have fun together now that we're older. They're seriously my favorite people.

Saturday night, we attended an Easter Vigil at St. Bartholomew's Church. I think it's interesting to go to services in different churches. We very obviously did not know what was going on, but the people were nice and just helped us along. Sunday morning, Dad and Amy went to church, and us kids went garnet hunting on Garnet Hill. There are thousands of garnets just waiting to be found. I'll be the first to admit that I was terrible at it. Gracie and Zane were finding them left and right, while I could not find one to save my life. I finally found a few tiny ones, but they paled in comparison to the large ones the others found. It was a great end to Easter weekend.

We started up improv again today-- this time the class is Games 101. It was so much fun tonight! A lot of the same people were there from the last class so that was nice. It got rowdy and it was amazing, and I so enjoy having 2 hrs to just let go and be silly.

I feel so incredibly blessed to be living this life.

What a life we live.