find joy in the journey

easter sunday

I feel like I need to say, "I survived!"  At least the first half of it.  Whew.  We're just back from church, and can I just say that Primary is something else after the kids have spent a full morning loading up on chocolate, jelly beans, and peeps.  And I wasn't even doing sharing time, or conducting . . . I was just the helper/hall monitor.  Here's hoping that sugar levels return to normal next week.

Here's our little peeps.

 

I need to photoshop our neighbor's car tire out of the picture, but later.  Or maybe we'll just try for good pictures next week when I have my parent's property as a beautiful backdrop.

This is Anna's sassy, defiant, "I'm not going to smile" face.  Yep, she really said that.

 

Here she is in all of her frilly Easter splendor.  When she walked into the chapel there were "oohs" and "ahhs". 

She's wearing the dress that she picked out while shopping with Papa Dan.  I searched for a hat & gloves with no luck, until last night when I Scott and I made a quick stop at Fred Meyer on our way home from the temple.  I was so excited.  (Oh, and the Pad Thai for dinner at Thai Orchid was {singing} wonderful!) 

Now I need to go cook our Easter dinner:  ham, scallopped potatoes, green beans, deviled eggs, and crescent rolls.  And we're planning to sit down as a family after dinner and watch The Testaments.

I'll leave you with the scripture that Anna gave in Primary today:

John 14:6 -- "I am the way, the truth, and the life; no man cometh unto the Father, but by me."

And my testimony that Jesus Christ is our Savior.  That he came to this earth, he lived and taught and lifted and loved, that he atoned for the sins of the world (for my sins), he was crucified, and on the third day he rose from the tomb.  I have a testimony that because of him and only through him, we too can return to our Father in Heaven someday.  This testimony fills me with hope and peace.

5 steps to a happy easter

Step 1: dye some eggs

and look cute in the process.  Which isn't too hard for Payton.

what is difficult, is getting a natural smile out of Conner.  He turns into a statue when I say cheese.  Usually the goofy poses work out best

step 2: make sugar cookies

This is the boys' favorite thing to do.  Actually, I make the sugar cookies (all 6 or 7 dozen -- I really need to start halfing that recipe) and they do the frosting.  We had gone to the store earlier in the day -- keep in mind it's spring break so I had all 3 kids in the grocery store; not my favorite - and I told them that if they were really good they could pick out more decorating supplies.  And they were.

As we were frosting the cookies a heated discussion was stirred up.  Conner & Payton wanted to give some of the cookies to their friends.  But dad, who passionately loves sugar cookies, said that we should keep them all to ourselves.  A "light-hearted" debate went on and on and on between Conner and Scott -- with Conner saying multiple times, "dad, are you trying to tempt me?"  Finally, mom's voice of reason stepped in and we decided to share our cookies with 2 friends.  Leaving roughly 60 cookies for us.  I think we'll be just fine.

step 3:  a visit from the easter bunny

The easter bunny comes to our house on Saturday, and we love him for that!  The kids set out their baskets the night before and in the morning they were filled with a chocolate bunny, Reese's carrot, and art supplies -- giant coloring books, crayons, colored pencils, paint & posterboard.  Then comes the fun of finding all the eggs that EB has hidden around the house.  This year it was actually warm, but more importantly dry, enough that he hid a few eggs outside as he hopped away from our house.

   

step 4:  new easter clothes

This morning we were surprised to find that Conner's pants were about 8 inches too long.  Nothing that a little rolling can't fix.  And hopefully some washing/shrinking and growing will help too.

A little rolling also assisted in Payton's too-big white shirt.

And Anna, with her gold slippers.  Doesn't she look like a little girl?!  Right now I have a love/hate relationship with her growing up.  Oh my . . .   But she does look absolutely adorable!

I always enjoy a new easter dress too.

I missed Scott in his "easter clothes", but here he is doing some Easter chillin'.

step 5:  reflect on the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ

Today our family watched The Testaments.   "This film depicts events from the life & ministry of Jesus Christ as recorded in the New Testament and the Book of Mormon.  The story culminates with a portrayal of the resurrected Savior's visit to the ancient Americas as seen through the eyes of a fictional family."  In our family scripture study we are currently in 3 Nephi, chapter 3 or 4 and soon we will be reading the account of Christ's visit to the Nephites.  It truly is a beautiful story.  And as the words at the beginning of this film point out, "it actually happened."

I am grateful for my testimony of the gospel, for my testimony of Jesus Christ.  To know that He came to this earth as part of our Heavenly Father's plan.  To atone for our sins.  To provide a way for us to return to our Father.  He died and was resurrected, and because of Him, His love, His sacrifice, I can live forever with Him and with my family.  He loves us.  He knows us. 

And it came to pass that while they were thus conversing one with another, they heard a voice as if it came out of heaven; and they cast their eyes round about, for they understood not the voice which they heard; and it was not a harsh voice, neither was it a loud voice; nevertheless, and notwithstanding it being a small voice it did pierce them that did hear to the center, insomuch that there was no part of their frame that it did not cause to quake; yea, it did pierce them to the very soul, and did cause their hearts to burn.

And behold, the third time they did understand the voice which they heard; and it said unto them:

Behold my Beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased, in whom I have glorified my name -- hear ye him.

And it came to pass, as they understood they cast their eyes up again towards heaven; and behold, they saw a Man descending out of heaven; and he was clothed in a white robe; and he came down and stood in the midst of them; and the eyes of the whole multitude were turned upon him, and they durst not open their mouths, even one to another, and wist not what it meant, for they thought it was an angel that had appeared unto them.

And it came to pass that he stretched forth his hand and spake unto the people, saying:

Behold, I am Jesus Christ, whom the prophets testified shall come into the world.

3 Nephi 11: 3, 6-10

easter dresses, sweaters, & ties

For us, bringing out fresh new sunday clothes on Easter is a tradition.  It's something I always looked forward to as a little girl.  I loved the white hats, the lacy gloves -- all of it was so much fun.  And those easter dresses & ties are the subject of a mini-album I'm hoping to whip up sometime -- it's on the long-term to-do list.  So I just wanted to share a few photos of my cute little chicks on our Easter morning . . . .

and I got something new too!

Oh!  Today was Anna's first day in the nursery!  So I actually packed my RS manual and scriptures in the diaper bag.  It's been a long time since I've opened those at church.  It was very nice.  And she did great in the nursery.

easter bunny

The Easter Bunny came to our house on Saturday.  The boys woke us up, so excited, after spotting their baskets (which we set out the night before) full of goodies on the kitchen table.  After oogling over the new toys & stuff (Peter Pan DVD, sidewalk chalk, books, play-doh, rubber snakes, cuddly bunny rabbit, little tikes piano) they went hunting through the house for eggs hidden by the EB.  That easter bunny can be pretty tricky sometimes.

  As for the rest of the day . . . . we baked & frosted sugar cookies, earlier we contemplated going to the big egg hunt in town but the pouring rain made up our minds pretty quick, Conner's first t-ball game was cancelled due to rain, Scott watched The Masters coverage, and I took the boys to see the family matinee - Happy Feet.

easter

One of my favorite parts about Easter is getting new clothes for church.  We hang up our dark winter clothes and opt for something much more spring-y and colorful.  As you can see the boys looked handsome as always in their new sweater vests.  And Anna . . . . I just can't imagine ever having a more wonderful Easter dress & bonnet for a little girl.  She definitely turned a lot of heads.

While snapping pictures on Sunday morning I got this one . . .

   

And I couldn't believe the height difference between Conner & Payton!  For some reason I had just never noticed that Conner was a whole head taller than Payton.  It's pretty cute though to see the big brother with his arm around little brother.

And one last picture of Anna

Dinner was fantastic.  Ham, scalloped potatoes, deviled eggs, jell-o, orange rolls, and crescent rolls.  I spent about an hour and a half in the kitchen after church pulling it together.  Not to mention time spent making the crescent rolls before church -- Scott did help out by mixing the dough the night before.  Payton ate his ham, and Conner ate the deviled eggs minus the filling.  That's it.  I just don't understand the pickiness -- it's something I did not experience as a kid (alright, I will admit refusing to eat squash, lima beans, & yams -- but who really enjoys those food anyways?).  Ok, I better not get off topic because the whole dinnertime issue could be left up to it's very own post.

I hope you all enjoyed a Happy Easter!

fun day

In our house Saturdays are known as "fun day".  Scott is home from work and we get to do some of the things that normally we don't have time for in the middle of the week.

Today was an especially fun day because it was also Bunny Day.  For the last 2 years we've been doing all the easter bunny stuff on Saturday, and saving Easter Sunday to focus on remembering the Savior's resurrection.  I got the idea from a college friend who celebrated Easter this way with her family.  I think it works out really well.  It eliminates all the chaos from Sunday morning.  And when you're trying to get 3 kids ready for church, you can use all the calm you can get.

So after the boys woke up and we gave them the signal they went searching for their easter baskets and plastic eggs hidden all over the house.  (We live in the pacific northwest -- there's no such thing as an outdoor egg hunt here).  Anna got a fun new toy and the boys got Backyardigans books and a new puzzle each.  (Conner is so proud that he can tackle the 100 piece puzzles all by himself).  Payton commented, "the easter bunny is very tricky" because so many eggs were hidden in unusual places -- the last one was discovered at 3pm.

Then we loaded into the car and headed into town.  A stop at Party City was needed to pick up some accessories for the costumes we'll be sporting next week at the ward talent show.  We are very excited about our little routine -- the whole family will be participating and it is going to be a riot (just ask us).  Scott and I were up until midnight last night finalizing the choreography.  I'm really excited about this -- the whole thing is just so us.  And I think it will show a part of my personality that not many of our local friends have seen before.  Now, I know Karen, Tamra, & Bernie would vouch for my inhibitions on stage or in front of a camera.  We were quite the group of performers in our college days.  It should be great and I'll give details next week.

For lunch we ran through the McDonald's drive through to get hamburgers for the boys and then headed over to Chipotle for some mom and dad food.  It was the perfect lunch.  Everyone got just what they wanted, and everyone was happy.

Back home we spent the afternoon watching Star Wars Episode 3, doing laundry, playing with puzzles, and Payton got a haircut.  A great fun day.