Easter

Each year around Easter I am torn between wanting to celebrate in a fun way (i.e. Easter eggs, baskets, candy, etc) and being annoyed by the consumerism and gaudiness of the most important religious holiday being turned into pastels and rabbits. To compromise this year, we did "fun" Easter stuff on Saturday, and "reverent" Easter stuff on Sunday. It was perfect!

Austin and I had fun hiding the eggs around the house. Growing up my parents hid jellybeans in our house and it made for a much more challenging and satisfying hunt. We will do this with our kids once Claire is old enough not to worry about choking. For now, eggs were really fun!

We didn't tell the kids that we were doing Easter baskets a day early, so they were extra surprised. The boys got LEGOs, Natalie got a super soft squishy animal, and Claire got a bubble machine. All were pleased with their loot. (And Austin and I were pleased with the Reese's eggs that we rescued from their baskets when they weren't looking.)

The bubble machine was popular and messy. I can't believe that this is our first bubble machine with four kids! Definitely recommend. (Also, LOOK AT CLAIRE'S KITTY SHOES. She doesn't usually keep them on for more than a minute but they are SO cute.)

Claire needed a bath after a particularly messy bubble incident, and Stockton wanted to make sure that she was safe. He patrolled the bathroom and did a great job making sure I was watching her.

Makall and Noah were visiting from St. George and they came over to dye eggs with us. The kids did a great job! I am surprised that Stockton was so into it. He probably dyed more eggs than anyone else. I did a terrible job of hard boiling the eggs (I was distracted during the whole process so they looked and smelled very unfortunate) so we let the kids (and adults) destroy the eggs in a myriad of ways. Two dozen colorful eggs were in pieces all over our front and back yard, and the birds were very happy! Our favorite mode of destruction was batting the egg with a tennis racket. Very satisfying.

Claire was very amused by taking selfies on Makall's phone. 

Grandpa and Daddy hid the plastic eggs all around the backyard and the kids had fun searching. Stockton found one egg and was satisfied.

playing Wario Ware with Makall!

Austin and Noah completely passed out while the kids jumped and Makae got some biking in haha

Easter morning around 5am brought this HUGE hail storm! I have never seen hail so huge or loud. It sounded like our ceiling was being pelted with steel golf balls. I can't believe it didn't wake the kids up! Austin and I looked out the window and it was kind of fun to see the neighbors up and down the street turn lights on and look outside. One neighbor was brave enough to rush out and move her car into the garage.

Easter was nice and calm. We did a good "sacrament meeting" lesson on the Savior's last days, and watched some good LDS Easter videos. Stockton loves standing close to Austin when he is preparing and blessing the sacrament. It is very sweet. I am glad that he looks forward to blessing and passing the sacrament when he is old enough. We had Easter dinner at the Poulsens and were happy to spend it with Makall and Noah, too. Nine years ago (on Easter) was the first time I went over to the Poulsens for dinner and met everyone when Austin and I were dating. That night we drove around on back roads talking about getting married, how many kids we wanted, and deciding that we wanted to name one of our sons Stockton. Austin parked at my dorm when it was time to drop me off and said, "Well...I guess I need to get a ring now." I was like "well yes, but don't act like it's such a chore!" It is weird to remember the days when we had to say goodbye and go our separate ways each day! I am grateful for those special memories the summer before we got married, but I'm very happy where we are today.