Easter Weekend

Ah, Easter: A whole wonderful weekend of celebrating and remembering Jesus Christ's Resurrection. Isn't it awesome?

 

Meet Icarus the chocolate bunny. He flew too close to the sun and melted.

We always have an Easter picnic on Saturday with our Easter baskets and Sunday we go to church in the morning and then have our Easter feast afterwards.

 

 This year we went to a nearby park. The weather was gorgeous and we enjoyed eating our egg salad sandwiches and drinking our traditional orange soda in the sunshine. 

That afternoon we stopped by our friends' house. They are being kind enough to let us plant a garden in their yard and it is already getting late in the planting season here so we wanted to get started. I spent most of the rest of the day baking a homemade carrot cake and a coconut pound cake and ironing white shirts and pants for all my boys to wear to church.

I did take a few minutes to try to learn how to play the jaw hard that Stretch got in his Easter basket and to blow bubbles with Specs and Tank with the bubbles they got in their baskets.

 

I was sad to not get any Sunday pictures of the family. In our rush to get to church I forgot my camera and when we got home everyone ran and changed clothes before I could take a picture (despite my requests for them to "just wait a few minutes").

Church wasn't exactly everything I had hoped for. I discovered a tick behind Specs's ear during the service (which freaked me out. I blame a traumatic childhood experience I had with a tick) so Dave had to take him out to take care of it. After David removed the tick he and Specs came back into the meeting only to have to leave immediately again because Specs wanted me to hold him and I was holding someone else's kid (her parents were both involved with the choir). I didn't get a lot out of the service because of the minor chaos, but I did appreciate the beautiful music.

Church ran late and I was in a rush to finish getting dinner ready before our guests arrived. I think we may have to snap some pictures next week. Better late than never, right (seems like I'm saying that a lot lately)?

Our dinner was fantastic. We were so happy to get to share it with some good friends. I tried making our ham in the crockpot this year and it was ah-mazing. We also had roasted asparagus, homemade mac and cheese, rolls, jell-o, funeral potatoes, pickles, chocolate fondue and the cakes that I made.

Coconut Pound Cake--SO good. I'll share the recipe soon.

I have made a solemn oath never to reveal this carrot cake recipe, so don't even ask.

 We ate leftovers for dinner today which is one of my favorite things about making a big meal.

One of my favorite things about the day was going to some friend's house to watch their son open his mission call in the evening. We ate (just a tiny bit) more and the little kids got to participate in an Easter egg hunt, which made me happy since we hadn't had a chance to do that yet. The highlight was when everyone gathered around  to watch J open his mission call (his assignment)--he'll be serving as a representative for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in Korea for two years. It was such a happy way to end the day. 

Last night I dragged myself to bed at 10:00 (which is kind of early for me). Every inch of me ached. I think we need to live closer to family so I don't feel like I have to do these big holidays all by myself. ;)

It really was a beautiful and lovely weekend (though not perfect--keeping with the theme of my last post) but I was so grateful to be able to reflect on the life, atonement and resurrection of Jesus Christ. He is the reason we celebrate. All the other stuff is just icing on the cake.

I hope you had a wonderful Easter.

Today's Poem: "Icarus" by Wendy A. Shaffer