Happy Easter!
(Cookies from our sweet friend Amy Perkins. "Treats for my Peeps" So darling and delicious.)
Caleb's first Easter! Unfortunately he didn't get to participate in a single egg hunt - other than as a spectator, of course. Which is saying something because our Easter Egg Hunt count made it up to four this year. I like events like this and tend to want to go to all of them, because they are fun, and they are free, and they give us something to go do, and the excitement in the crowd is contagious. But there's also worry that the kids won't get enough eggs and will be sad about it or that it will be a big bust. I think that in the future maybe just our Cooper Egg hunt and then a family egg hunt might just need to be enough. We will see I suppose. But as for this year, we had a great time milking those egg hunts for all they were worth.
Egg Hunt #1: Lehi City
Much better planned and much bigger than the Lehi City hunt that we tried to attend several years ago. We invited Jenna and her kids down to come with us, which worked out because Austin and Lydia were in different age brackets. It was kind of chilly, but didn't rain and we had fun.
Egg Hunt #2: Cooper/Peaden Annual Egg Hunt
Egg Hunt #3: Rex Real Estate Egg Hunt
The brother of a lady in our ward owns a real estate company and each year they put on an egg hunt. Donuts, orange juice, a massive amount of eggs, facepainting, bounce houses, etc... In past years it has been amazing, but this year it was kind of a bust. There were soccer games being held on the big fields where they usually have the hunt so they were over in a much smaller area of grass. It wasn't as organized and the big kids pretty much ran the show. Austin got one egg and Lydia got three. (This is when I decided that maybe we wouldn't do big organized egg hunts anymore - it's just so hard to control.) The sweetest thing though: several big kids came up when they saw how few eggs my kids had gotten and gave them some of theirs. It was so kind and if we ever do come to hunts like this when my kids are older, it will be so that they can do the same thing for other little kids. The kids had fun for the most part, but my biggest fail was having us stay too long. They said that they were going to have a helicopter come and drop eggs and I thought it would be cool and that the kids would like it. But it took a long time for it to come, then dropped way not enough eggs, and Lydia was super disappointed and Austin was tired and wanted to go home. The helicopter itself was pretty cool though! The biggest success was that this was on a Saturday and David was at work so it gave us something fun to do!
Egg Hunt #4: Grandma & Grandpa Walker's House
Kind of last minute we decided to have one more egg hunt in Morgan on the Saturday before Easter. We were up there helping Jenna and Kevin move into a little house there (yay!) and thought it would be a fun tradition to start. Right now there are only the four little ones. But next year there will be five, and it would be fun to just keep growing as the kids get older and there are more of them.
Easter Sunday
Obviously our Easter Celebrations were pretty egg-hunt heavy this year. But throughout the week we talked a lot about the reason for Easter (Starting on Palm Sunday when we made our own palm fronds and shouted Hosanna to welcome Jesus to our lives.) We want to incorporate fun family memories into the holiday, but also remember the importance of Easter and what we are really celebrating. We didn't even consider doing an Easter Bunny, but we did put together baskets with Bible story Water-wow books and a new Book of Mormon for our family scripture study.
We got everyone ready and had plenty of time to walk to church and sit in the chapel to listen to the prelude music. It was our first Sunday back to church with all of us since Caleb was born and it was so nice to be early instead of rushing out the door. Also, matching boy outfits are just as darling as matching girl outfits! I just love those handsome little boys of mine. And Lydia wanted to match them, too. I just love all three of those kids and their amazing Daddy, too. Can't believe we are a family of five!
We went to Grandma and Grandpa Peaden's house for Easter Dinner. Unfortunately, right in the middle of dinner Lydia said that she wasn't feeling well and went to lay down on the couch. By the time dinner was over it was clear that she had a fever and really wasn't feeling well. So we changed everyone into jammies and headed home early. All three kids were asleep before we even reached the freeway. It was a bummer that we didn't get to stay longer, and that Lydia wasn't feeling well - but it was a nice evening regardless.
An excerpt from Elder Joseph B Wirthlin's incredible talk, "Sunday Will Come":
I think of how dark that Friday was when Christ was lifted up on the cross.
On that terrible Friday the earth shook and grew dark. Frightful storms lashed at the earth. Those evil men who sought His life rejoiced. Now that Jesus was no more, surely those who followed Him would disperse. On that day they stood triumphant. It was a Friday filled with devastating, consuming sorrow that gnawed at the souls of those who loved and honored the Son of God. I think that of all the days since the beginning of this world’s history, that Friday was the darkest.
But the doom of that day did not endure.
The despair did not linger because on Sunday, the resurrected Lord burst the bonds of death. He ascended from the grave and appeared gloriously triumphant as the Savior of all mankind.
And in an instant the eyes that had been filled with ever-flowing tears dried. The lips that had whispered prayers of distress and grief now filled the air with wondrous praise, for Jesus the Christ, the Son of the living God, stood before them as the firstfruits of the Resurrection, the proof that death is merely the beginning of a new and wondrous existence.
Each of us will have our own Fridays—those days when the universe itself seems shattered and the shards of our world lie littered about us in pieces. We all will experience those broken times when it seems we can never be put together again. We will all have our Fridays.
But I testify to you in the name of the One who conquered death—Sunday will come. In the darkness of our sorrow, Sunday will come.
On this Easter Sunday, I'm filled with gratitude for my Savior Jesus Christ and his victory over death. Because He Lives, He brings peace to my life and to my heart. #princeofpeace
