Makes me Smile

The real reason we celebrate Easter is the Atonement of Jesus Christ. We celebrate the life of Jesus Christ. I know that He lives. I know that He died for me and made it possible for my family to be together forever. I know He stepped out of the tomb on Easter morning paving the way for all to be resurrected.

For me, that is what Easter is all about but, you can't take a picture of it. The camera can't photograph feelings and knowledge.

Alas the only Easter celebration photos I can post on my blog our these photos of the children that I love running around the yard picking up candy.

I love the way that Este tried to avoid the camera. AJ somehow actually managed to avoid the camera. He was there too. I just missed him somehow. This is the fun part of Easter, but not the most important part. Easter makes me smile either way.  The other thing that makes me smile in the springtime is the flowers. Daffodils are my favorite. Something about the bright yellow after a long dismal winter brings happiness to my soul.

New life, sunshine and happiness all make me smile.

Easter Early

We celebrated Easter a week early this year. My sister Monica and her family were in town from Texas for the weekend. We all enjoyed spending time at my parent's house on Sunday afternoon. It was especially nice for my mom to have all of her grandkids together. For Easter, she bought them matching T-shirts.
Here is a photo of all the girls standing together and smiling in their matching shirts.

Here is a photo of all the boys kind of standing together, some are smiling, and only a couple are in their matcing shirts. Gotta love differences in gender.

We had a massive Easter egg hunt in which the kids really enjoyed finding eggs hidden around the yard.

Then they all went inside to check out the loot.

It wasn't just the grandkids. My nephew's goat joined in the festivities. AJ tried to pet the goat.

Then, the goat tried to pet AJ.

Ethan and the goat didn't get along. It was obvious they butted heads.

The goat even tried to get in on the action inside the house.

Goat or no goat, it was great to be all together as a family. It's not about matching shirts, easter eggs, or candy. It was wonderful to be with my entire family. The reason we celebrate Easter is to remember that our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ made it possible for families to be together forever. For that, I am always grateful.

Which Came First, The Chicken or The Egg?

First, the egg. The girls found lots of them over Easter. The boys were content hiding the eggs and eating the candy. We don't really do the Easter bunny thing. Really, a big pink fluffy bunny hopping around leaving gifts? Bah Humbug! We do hunt Easter eggs. We had an Easter egg hunt with Aaron's family the weekend before and then again at our house with just our kids. Don't you love Vanessa's Easter basket? It is from my sister and Vanessa insisted on using it. Oh well, it's festive enough.Then, the chicken. Twelve baby chicks joined our family yesterday. I grew up on a farm with chickens so, I can't say I'm overly excited about this prospect but, Aaron and the kids are happy so, I am happy. I have to admit they are cute for the time being!

Happy Easter!

This year, we went to Idaho to celebrate Easter last Saturday. We had a big dinner with lots of desserts. It was yummy! You can tell by the look on Vanessa's face.After dinner, the little kids enjoyed an Easter egg hunt out on the lawn.Lauren and Ammon hid the eggs for the big kids on the mountain behind the house. They did such a good job hiding them, nobody could find the eggs. I think we'll be finding Easter eggs throughout the rest of the summer.I recently discovered some confetti eggs that we brought up from Texas. The kids had fun breaking them over each other heads. It really should be a tradition that spreads throughout the world.After the Easter egg hunt, the kids enjoyed coloring Easter eggs with Grandpa. They had lots of colors to choose from. Vanessa consumed more hard-boiled eggs than I thought was humanly possible. I think she just like peeling them. Aaron and his brothers found time to squeeze in a game of basketball. (This is a family gathering tradition.)All in all, it was a really fun day!

P.S. "The Soundtrack of My Life" didn't work this time, because I couldn't think of a song to go with this post. Instead, I picked one of my favorite Gwen Stefani songs. Enjoy!

Eventually Easter

Yes, I know I'm way behind. I still wanted to write a post about our Easter break. The boys were out of school for the Thursday, Friday, and Monday surrounding Easter. It was so nice for all of us to have a break from school.

Wednesday night Esteban had some friends come for a sleep over. His friends are a lot of fun and like all boys that age, they ate a lot. They stayed up late playing Ghosts in the Graveyard. The next morning, Aaron and I noticed a couple of young trees the previous owners had planted were missing. The trees had been run over in the darkness. I guess we won't have trees growing in the middle of the yard. That is okay by me. On Friday, we went to the American West Heritage Center with the rest of Cache Valley for their Baby Animal Days. We weren't as interested in the baby animals (we have enough here in our own backyard). We did enjoy the tee-pee and pioneer homes. The boys were happiest after we found the candy shop and they purchased old-fashioned rock candy. Aaron has always "pulled" this family along. Saturday, we went to my brother Austin's house for their annual Easter egg hunt. I love watching kids look for Easter eggs filled with candy.

We colored eggs (something I never did growing up) the week before with Aaron's side of the family. The kids all had fun designing their eggs. When they were done, we peeled them and ate deviled eggs with our dinner.

We had fun being with our families, but it was strange to celebrate Easter without even one confetti egg being smashed. For the previous 10 years, I didn't think that was possible.