Easter

We had a low key Easter this year. In years past, I have been on top of getting cute things for the kids from the dollar spot at Target well in advance of the actual holiday. But despite this being a later Easter than normal I was scrambling to get things at the last second for them.
Fortunately the Pratts did their Easter party, which is always fun. The sack races are always hilarious.

Go, go, GO! I especially liked the one that the adults did. Those men take sack races very seriously.

After eating a yummy brunch, we had a visit from the Easter bunny. My girls had a soccer game right before this, so they were still in their gear. 

Holland was still a little nervous about the big bunny. That Sunday we did a Sunday devotional about the true meaning of Easter, which actually was awesome. I have loved the change to two hour church, which a dedicated devotional time at home. It has been working wonderfully for our family. Look at the awesome posters our family made. Miriam wrote on hers, "Easter isn't only about finding eggs and candy, it is about Jesus and how he rose from the tomb on the third day." On Holland's poster she colored a fancy heart more precisely and carefully than she has ever colored anything before. It was impressive.

The night before Easter Sunday we dyed eggs with the kids. My mom was in town visiting for the girls' upcoming choir concerts. 

Easter Sunday church was a little stressful for me. First I was singing with my girls and the other Activity Day girls and their moms in a musical number. Second and much worse, I spoke in church. Normally, speaking would make me a little nervous, but not too bad because I know it is pretty rare for someone to remember a talk for more than 24 hours. But this was Easter, there is just so much more pressure to share something that is more meaningful and profound on the Sunday when we celebrate the atonement and resurrection of the Savior.

I was pretty nervous about it. I would get a sick feeling in my stomach when I thought about it, but I hammered out a talk and timed: more than 20 minutes! So I edited and cut, edited and cut. Finally I made it to about 12 minutes which was the top of the range of my talk. So it was acceptable. Although at the last minute we got an email saying that with all of the musical numbers our talks might need to be cut down, but that wasn't going to happen. I had already done all that I could. The conference talk I was asked to base my message from had 5 major points and it was pushing it to talk about all 5 of them in that 12 minute window. 

Well, I made it through and since I was the first of two speakers there wasn't as much pressure for me to rework my talk to accommodate the time. Since I was so nervous, I had been praying about the whole thing. Really I just asked for a blessing that I not embarrass myself and that I say something meaningful for at least one person. I feel like that prayer was answered! In that moment I wasn't really nervous so my talk came out smooth. I felt pretty comfortable up there. And then afterward, the Young Women's president that I work with came up to me and told me how meaningful it was to her. She was a little teary and said how it really helped her. What a blessing! 

 After church we came home and did an Easter hunt with the kids. For the first time we placed a couple of things in their baskets because there was somethings that belonged to an individual kid. We didn't want any fighting. Sunglasses and a magic trick for the older girls, and a stuffed lamb and peep popsicle for Holland. Even though we have way too many stuffed animals and have gotten rid of some, it just makes her so happy to get a new one. Seriously a home run. I was pleased too how much the girls like their sunglasses and magic tricks.

 Then it was time to find eggs and candy. 

There was too much loot for to fit in their baskets so they each had a grocery sack to fill as well. I wouldn't have bought so much if I had known my mom was going to bring down a bunch of stuff too!

After the kid hunt, the adults participated in adult hunt put on by the children (their idea!). Their's was downstairs, ours was upstairs. So Eliza was in charge of taking photos. This year I wised up and bought candy I was actually interested in receiving from them, just one package of dark chocolate Cadbury eggs and some Milano dark chocolate cookies. :) They cutest part was that they put little love notes in the eggs as well. My girls are seriously adorable. 

The adults with their loot. Then we had a tradition ham dinner made in the slow cooker. We added "Resurrection rolls" to the menu which was a huge hit. They are just crescent rolls wrapped around a marshmallow and when they back the marshmallow melts, leaving a hollow "empty tomb." Fresh rolls + marshmallows = happy children. They loved them! Add some asparagus, salad, and homemade ice cream, and it was one yummy day. They girls even eased up on eating Easter treats because they wanted to make the ice cream so much. That is how I feel: ice cream is the best!