Eastery Events

To kick off our Easter Week, the primary sang The Miracle during Sacrament Meeting on Sunday (4/14).  We've been working on it for just three weeks in primary, and I must say, the kids knocked it out of the park.  Callie had been practicing and knew all the words, while Sam had to be convinced to join the rest of the kids.  He kept saying, "I don't want to go on the stand.  I don't know the words!"  So we told him he could just stand by Callie and smile at Dad.  "Okay!" he said.  And that's what he did.  I didn't get to see him or Cal since I was playing the piano, but I hear they did great and were the most adorable kids in the group.  (Naturally.)

On Monday (4/15) evening, after a FHE lesson about the events leading up to Christ's resurrection, we dyed hard boiled eggs for our activity.  I don't think Sam really remembered doing this last year, so he was stoked to see the eggs change colors.  Callie got into the multiple color layer look for her eggs.  We managed to keep the mess to a minimum and now have a whole carton full of colorful eggs to feast on this week.  Bring on the deviled eggs and egg salad sandwiches!

Group shot courtesy of my Christmas tripod and remote -
worked great!

His fave.

Her fave.

On Saturday (4/20), we packed in the Easter egg fun.  First we met up with the Wihongis and Grandpa and Grandma Blanchard in West Haven for more egg dying, visiting, brunching, and, of course, Easter egg hunting.  Cal has been practicing finding eggs in our yard (I hide, she finds) so she was off like a shot and collected more eggs than anyone else.

Such a yummy feast: breakfast casseroles,
bacon, sausage, three kinds of muffins,
fruit, and hard boiled eggs!  YUM!

These action shots crack me up.  She was
movin'!

We left West Haven and headed straight to Cache Valley for yet another Easter party at my Grandma and Grandpa Elwood's house in Hyde Park.  We did have a pit stop on the way, however, at Bridgerland Applied Technology College in Logan, where we dropped Gregg off to take his Ham Radio License test.  The kids and I played at Bridgerland Park nearby, and 20 minutes later he texted to say he had passed (only missed one question!).  Now he's officially a member of the Ham Fam.  ;)

We met up with my parents; my grandparents; Heather's fam; Nate's fam; Kylie; my Uncle Bryan and cousin Spencer; my Aunt Nikie, Uncle Dennis and cousins Chiara (and her baby Calvin) and Emory; and my Uncle Dale's family for more egg hunting and a yummy BBQ pork sandwiches picnic dinner (yes, there was Grandma's mac salad, and yes, it was amazing!).  It was fun to visit and play and eat together, as always.  And the weather for the day turned out to be SO nice!  We were dressed in pants and tshirts (showed up in West Haven in hoodies, even, and Paul asked if it was colder in Eden - haha) and were definitley overdressed for the mid-70s weather we enjoyed all day.  The rain and thunder and lighting came as we drove home, which was fun to watch and cooled things off significantly.

Hunting!

I'm glad my mom captured a pic of her finding
an egg - because she was done so fast I didn't
even get to watch her.

Thanks, Grandma for keeping this tradition alive for the next
generation!  :D

My mom gave each of her grands a book
and Cal read half of hers (a Heidi Heckelbeck,
new series for us!) before we reached the canyon.
(She would have kept reading if we would have
let her, but she tends to get a bit dizzy/car sick
like her mom when she reads in the car, so we
try to keep it to straight aways only.)

Sam looked at his and declared, "I think this
is fiction!" Yep, you're right, buddy.

Our Easter Sunday (4/21) was quiet and rainy and lovely.  We watched the Tabernacle Choir's special Easter Concert on youtube which was beautiful (especially the middle song when everyone stood to sing He is Risen! (my FAVE!)).  We went to church.  I played the piano at a baptism for a little girl who turned 8 that day, too.  And we last-minute invited Paul and Kim to join us for dinner, which they did, which was fun.  (We ate rootbeer marinated grilled chicken, roasted asparagus and carrots, rice pilaf and deviled eggs, with leftover carrot cake cheesecake swirled bars for dessert.)

The only pics I took this day were of Cal's candy creations
she made with Sam's and her candy from the day before.
Here is Sam by a jet.

And Cal with her alligator.  Pretty creative
use of candy, I'd say!