Easter Weekend 2016

The Easter season is one of my most favorite times of the year. I love the Easter hymns, I love the message of the Resurrection, I love the new growth and colorful flowers, I love the peaceful way the sun warms the Earth and the cool breeze blows through the trees. It's just a beautiful time of year and I'm feeling very grateful.

It's been a crazy week. Tanner's job prospects have us all up in a dither. If he chooses to take this job offer we would have to move for about 2 years to Vasalia. Something we REALLY don't want to do. But working for this company is something we DO really want to do. So, we have a lot of balls up in the air and it's making us a little uptight.

Friday, Parker dyed eggs after school and they turned out fantastically! I also played around with Rayleigh's hair. It's finally getting longer!

 Saturday we were able to have a super fun day out in the golden sunshine! We started off at our local park for the ward's primary Easter egg hunt. It was fun seeing all of our friends and neighbors. They hid about 1,500 eggs so the kids had a blast! After that we met my family at Jon's pool for our annual Easter Extravaganza! We had brunch, dyed eggs, had a huge Easter egg hunt, and then went swimming! The cousins had a blast together. They are non stop smiles and laughter when they are together. Jon blew up a huge air mattress that the kids played on for hours. It was so cool! 

That afternoon we got a babysitter and took my parents out to the Montage for an early dinner. My parents do so much for so many. We just wanted to show our appreciation. My mom is coming this week to watch our kids for us while we are in Big Bear for youth conference and it means SO much to us that she would be willing to sacrifice her time to be with them. So we got her a beautiful Michael Kors watch that she can wear to the temple and hopefully it will always remind her of how much we love her!!!!

Parker and Sam

Ray can't really color eggs so she kept herself busy by wandering around. She was so anxious to go swimming! She tried to find her way over to the pool by walking through the bushes. I almost walked right past her as I was following after her! She's stealth!

The babies were OUT in 2 seconds flat once we got into the car.

Nothing beats the view at the Montage.

I tried to be so prepared for Sunday morning. I knew there would be a lot going on and being on time for 9am church would be challenging. I made dinner a few days prior and had our clothes laid out. I made sure everyone was ready for church before we embarked on our Easter egg hunt and see what the Easter Bunny brought us! We had to wake up Ray who is the biggest sleepy head in our family. But the kids were thrilled with all the eggs hidden all over the house (some with money in them!) and the Easter Bunny brought us all chocolate and treats! The kids got new bathing suits and toys, too. We were on time to church but Satan was working really hard on me, trying to stir up contention. I felt so badly later on. It's pretty embarrassing when you look back on yourself and see what a monster you were. I guess I'm a little wound tight. Tanner and I promised each other to make the rest of the day a delight and it was. We had a great, relaxing day. We didn't even leave the house after church- I don't think we'd spent that much time all together at home in a long time!

Once again I failed to get a decent picture of my 3 beautiful children together. But they were darling. I am thankful for the promise of everlasting life and that through Christ's infinite atonement I can be made clean and whole. I need that blessing every single day. I rely so much on my faith in Him and feel His hands lifting me up as I strive each day to be a good mother and wife. I'm not perfect but it's nice to know I don't need to be. I have my entire life to make weak things strong. What comfort this sweet sentence gives, I know that my redeemer lives!