Easter vs Last Year

Marianne and Evan both got Easter baskets this year.  They always do, but I dared to suggest that the Easter bunny might think they were too old for baskets.  They assured me that he ALWAYS brings baskets to my kids who live at home.  In fact, he even brought baskets to my brothers who were visiting last Easter!

But let's be honest.  Even though Marianne got a Les Miserables DVD and tons of candy in her basket and Evan got The Hobbit DVD and even more candy in his basket, our Easter fun was really all about Lavender this year!  In fact, we were so excited, we had Easter a week early this year.

She wore this dress and used this basket and even hunted for eggs!

As compared with last year when she fit inside the basket with room to spare for her eggs

Last year she barely fit in the newborn size of this dress

Thanks to Leighton for letting her wear the middle sized version this year!

Just like last year, we had fun with our beautiful granddaughters!

And gave them a few Easter treats.

Don't worry, Lavender got a little patio chair too!

And we really did celebrate a week early. Why? Because of my brother's wedding.  But I'll save that story for another post!

Easter Sunday

Easter Sunday was rather quiet compared to our busy Saturday the day before.  Most of our family headed home on Saturday night and my brothers flew home on Sunday before church.  So things were as quiet as can be except for:

* Lavender's first time at church
* a big Sunday dinner at my sister's house
* a huge Easter egg hunt with lots of friends
and oh, yeah . . .

our futile attempts to get a picture of our three baby girls!

We seem to have forgotten that Lavender can't sit up by herself and Leighton needs a bit of help

Brianne didn't mind though. She entertained us with her dancing

We tried again . . .

Leighton wasn't sure what was happening

And nobody wanted to hold still

Brianne was tired

But we kept trying

 

Finally Lavender got mad

and insisted on a close up 

Eventually John brought her inside

Brianne went looking for a snack, but didn't like the taste of the "cheese" she found

 And I found an easier way to get a picture of those three beautiful dresses!

A huge to thanks to Molly for finding and buying our matching dresses.

She even drove all over town to find a newborn size for Lavender!

Easter Advice from Lavender

Count your eggs so you know how many are in your basket.

Guard them carefully!

Tell your mom to knock it off if she tries to take any!

Happy Easter!

Easter Weekend Highlights

Getting to visit with my brother Scott and my sister Jenny
(Love that cheesy smile!)

Our Easter egg dyeing extravaganza.
Thanks to my awesome sister-in-law Denise!

All the beautiful colors!

Spending time with my Dad!

Having Aaron come home from BYU!
Cammi is happy too.
Celebrating Molly's birthday!

Visiting the cemetery, singing "Did Jesus Really Live Again"
and hanging Easter ornaments in the tree near Mom's grave.

Cousins

More cousins

and even more wonderful cousins!


Watching my sweetheart play with our beautiful granddaughter.

What a weekend!

Sweet Easter Sunday

I love Easter and the chance to focus on my Savior, Jesus Christ, and his atonement.
We got to spend Saturday with lots of family. We dyed eggs, hunted for eggs and even had a passover dinner. This year's dinner definitely went better than last year's!

One of the things that stood out to me was the symbol of the four cups of wine. It is based on this scripture:

Wherefore say unto the children of Israel, I am the LORD, and I will bring you out from under the burdens of the Egyptians, and I will rid you out of their bondage, and I will redeem you with a stretched out arm, and with great judgments.

And I will take you to me for a people, and I will be to you a God: and ye shall know that I am the Lord your God, which bringeth you out from under the burdens of the Egyptians. Exodus 6:6-7

We used grape juice of course, but we drank four times to remember the beautiful promises.

1. The Cup of Sanctification of Consecration
Promise: I will bring you out of Egypt.

2. The Cup of Praise
Promise: I will deliver you from their bondage.

3. The Cup of Redemption
Promise: I will redeem you with a stretched out arm.

4. The Cup of Acceptance (Also known as the cup of Elijah)
Promise: I will take you to be my people.

I am so grateful on this Easter morning that my Savior has brought me out of the bondage of sin. He has redeemed me and I praise His holy name forever. I am blessed to be called one of his daughters.

HAPPY EASTER!

Not So Ancient History

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Yesterday, I walked 4.5 miles.

The day before, I finished reading the Book of Mormon.

Last week, we spent our spring break in Arizona.

We love vacationing with family (especially while wearing sunglasses)

I got to visit my friend Tammy, our friends Stuart and Malissa,
as well as a candy factory! Here are the kids hard at work.

We also toured Frank Lloyd Wright's home and architecture school.
His blend of form and function is beautiful and amazing!

We also explored music and instruments from around the world at
the fantastic Musical Instrument Museum.
My favorite part was the Experience Gallery that was completely hands-on.
We tried a nickelodeon, drums, bells, ukeleles, harps and this huge gong!


But the best part of our trip was attending the
Easter Pageant at the lovely Mesa temple.


The music, dancing and acting were phenomenal
and the costumes were spectacular.


But Evan's favorite part may have been eating the
giant 3 pound bag of popcorn!

Easter Fail!

I love the Easter season and I've always tried to make it a special time at our house. I want our family to find ways to focus on the life and resurrection of our Savior, but I also love celebrating with eggs, Easter baskets and candy. The way I see it, all those "fun" things are just symbols of something even more joyful and exciting.

The Easter bunny always hides the kids' baskets and they have to search all over the house. This year the bunny had especially good taste and included books along with the ridiculous amounts of candy. Here are links for some great Easter books. Choose your category: Nephite, Restoration, First Easter, Isaiah, Easter ideas

Sorry, for going off on a book tangent. I just couldn't resist!

We also had a great time trying some of Martha Stewart's egg dying techniques. Here is a "cracked" egg I made. It gave me a good chance to develop my patience as I cut a jagged edge out of sticky electrical tape using little tiny scissors.

Another new project this year was making a garden tomb. Marianne has more wonderful pictures on her blog and a link to the creative friends who inspired us. It was exciting to get up on Easter morning and find the stone rolled away. The next day, the little buds you see just above the stone, surprised us by bursting into bloom. Special thanks to my sister who forgave us for visiting their yard while they were gone and digging up some moss for our garden.

Now for our Easter disaster. . .

I really wanted to have a seder dinner with my family this year. My younger kids can hardly remember the last time, so I decided to celebrate Passover during Family Home Evening the day after Easter. Unfortunately, I had trouble with my grocery list.

Grape juice - check!
Green herbs - check!
Roasted eggs - hey we can use the ones we dyed!
Lamb bone - umm, why don't we just use a breadstick
Matzah - totally forgot

I am embarrassed to admit that instead of kosher unleavened bread, we used ritz crackers. Without the lamb bone and the Matzah I probably should have abandoned the whole idea, but I persevered. I got out my almonds, apples and cinnamon and set to work making the haroset. My blender gave me a bit of trouble, but it was finally finished. A quick taste confirmed it was delicious!


As our Passover dinner proceeded, things were going well. We lit the candles, recited scriptures and sang songs. We sampled the haroset and herbs. Then I noticed that the haroset looked a bit gray. Upon closer inspection I found that there seemed to be little gray things rising to the top the of bowl. What was going on?!

When Aaron spit out pieces of rubber, I suddenly realized why my blender hadn't worked very well.. The rubber sealing ring at the base had gotten caught on one of the blades and was chopped up along with the haroset.

Uggghh! I guess it's a good thing we're not Jewish.

Easter Before and After

Before

My nephew Heath absolutely loves to swing!
He really didn't want to get off for our egg hunt,
but he reluctantly grabbed a basket . .

After
. . . and it was worth it!
He had a good time hunting and filled his basket
Isn't his green shirt perfect for Easter?!

Before
Evan arranged these eggs so beautifully
and he really can balance an egg on one end!

After
We had a great time trying some new egg dyeing techniques
These tie-dyed ones were lots of fun!

We used rubber bands to get these stripes

Before
This picture cracks me up!
The cousins are on the go and racing off to find those eggs

After
The baskets are full and the candy trading is about to begin!

Before
Look at my thin, lifeless heart!

After
Easter is a beautiful opportunity to:
Think about my Savior, Jesus Christ
and ponder his gift to all mankind and to me personally.

To listen to beautiful, sacred music

To remember my loved ones who have died and
think with joy of the day we will be reunited.

To spend time enjoying and loving my family.

My heart is full!

I hope your Easter was joyous!