Our Easter Weekend

I wanted to share our Easter weekend with all of you.  It was a great weekend with family that we don't always get to spend time with.  It was General Conference for our church and so we heard lots of inspiring talks & amazing things about our Savior and learned lots of ways to improve our lives, spend more time with family and celebrate what Easter is all about...of course we did all the fun things we do at Easter time too.  The egg dying, egg hunts, Easter baskets, lots of delicious foods but the weekend did make me think about some things...and thinking about things and re-evaluating our lives is a good thing, don't you think?  I did get to thinking aobut why I blog?  I love blogging, but do I blog too much?  Am I spending too much time on the internet away from my little ones?  Am I missing too much?  Then I got to thinking, and came to the decision that blogging for me is how I process my days, weeding out the not so good parts and focusing on  the positive things of the day.  This is how I record special family moments for my posterity, share information such as favorite recipes, our family traditions with family and friends far and near and with the rest of the world!  This is also how I put to good use all of those pictures that I take!  I don't ever want my blog to look like bragging or showing off, never.  So I hope you enjoy what I share because I love sharing! 
I hope you had a wonderful, spiritual and special Easter and I hope you come back & visit often!

Here you go...our Easter weekend!

My daughter is animal sitting and we've been able to spend lots of time with this adorable, sweet pup named Mitzi...Zoe poses all over the house with her and wants me to take pictures...

So here is Zoe & Mitzi, best friends!  Thanks to our friend Jen for letting us hang out with her! 

My piano, decorated in Easter sweets & candy...can you tell I have too much of a sweet tooth?

Zoe dying eggs...

My sister Laurie & my niece Caitlin...it was fun to have them here, I haven't dyed eggs with my sister since we were young...it was fun reminiscing about the way we dyed eggs when we were kids, the old fashioned egg dying techniques my mother taught us...like collecting leaves and flowers, pressing them against the egg, then wrapping in a nylon and boiling in water...if I remember right, the impressions of the leaves & flowers would stay on the eggs, very beautiful and time consuming...how did my Mom have the patience?

Zoe was very intent on getting her egg from one color to the next...plunking and splashing them from one cup of color to another!  I try to stay composed with deep breathing and not get frustrated with spills, pink stained floors & clothing and I think I did pretty good! 

I have to remind myself, she's only 4!

My 9 year old Mackenzie or "Kenz" as we call her, had a great time dying eggs.  My sister-in-law brought the most hysterical egg dying kit with monster stickers, crazy hair and glue.  We had fun designing eggs with all kinds of expressions, hair dos & colors!

Caitlin & Mackenzie are the best of cousins!

I do love my hubbers Gary and love his patience when our house is so crazy & hectic with friends, family, parties, celebrations, messes and just the daily chaos of running a home!

This little girl made out like a bandit on the egg hunt!

Easter came in abundance this year. Once again, the Easter Bunny spent too much! Can you say buyers remorse? I do this all the time, get things, hide them away, forget I have them until the night before and then pull everything out and realize I bought too much! I actually tucked some things away for a "prize box" I use to reward my children when I've caught them doing something exceptionally good!

We are heading to the California beaches this summer and Mackenzie is ready with her beachy basket! Sand toys & a new bathing suit...kind of funny it snowed tons on Easter morning!

        The kids wanted to know the night before the Easter Bunny came how they would know which basket  was theirs? This is how the Bunny handled that...

"G & C" for Gary & Christine...yes, the Easter Bunny delivers extra special candy (See's & Cadbury's) for the grown-ups!

Chelsea's Basket had Liberty of London cards...my niece spent a semester abroad in London and said "Liberty of London" stuff was all over London but was very expensive...we have it in Target Stores now and it was priced reasonably....British friends? Have you seen this stuff where you live?

                And last but not least my little Zackie Boy whose favorite treat is a giant cinnamon roll!

I was excited to use my new plates/cups/bows/salad plates I bought this year and what made it extra special was my grandmother's tablecloth!  It went perfectly with everything and kept her in our thoughts!

Our menu consists of Honeybaked Ham, Mary's Potatoes (recipe coming soon!), salad, orange rolls (we weren't able to get them this year!) and veggies or salad.  My sister-in-law made a corn casserole that was delish!  Dessert was birthday cake!  I'll post about that soon!  Traditions!  Traditions!  I love them all!