Easter

I will admit it, I'm in a love affair with Easter. I'm so grateful for that class I went to last year that taught me how important it is to focus on, and celebrate the true meaning of Easter. We still have egg hunts and the Easter Bunny visits, but those are the least of what happens as part this special holiday.

We were in Arizona on Palm Sunday, so I taught the boys about it on Monday when we were home. We just made these simple palm fronds with tissue paper.

The idea is to discuss events in the Savior's life the whole week leading up to Easter, based on what Christ was doing the week before he died. Obviously, we don't know exactly what occurred and when, in the Savior's last week, but it's a general outline. Because of some scheduling conflicts, we didn't always stick to the outline, but we still did all my favorite activities. 

We made our own clay lamps on the day we discussed the parable of the 10 Virgins.

And we had our Passover Meal! This is my favorite night. We shared it with the Shaheens and they surprised me with how genuinely they liked the food. Lilly asked for THIRDS of lentil soup. I was in shock. We had fish, olives, dates, flatbread, goat cheese, honey yogurt and lentil soup. Oh, and Nestle Drumsticks for dessert. Gotta keep it real. And we ate by the light of our oil lamps and listened to Fiddle on the Roof music, ha!

 

 

 

 

 

I don't ever remember dying eggs as a kid (maybe we did and I just don't remember, but I do remember my mom hating it because of the mess!) Well, I agree with my mom! Dying eggs is a flippin' pain in my side. Every second that they were dunking eggs I was giving myself a pep talk to stay calm and not worry about the mess. While simultaneously giving myself huge pats on the back for letting them do this in the first place. I have a feeling, kid #5 isn't going to be so lucky.

Their baskets are so sad! I really need to get them some nice looking baskets for next year. And what's inside wasn't super great either. But they were thrilled.

On Easter morning, I made monkey bread and we went to the cemetery to eat and discuss the true meaning of Easter with the boys. (So scenic and beautiful, huh?) Of course, it wasn't so simple or easy to do. Travis was at the church, setting up for Stake Conference while I dashed around like a mad woman trying to get us all ready. I got lost trying to find the cemetery and Travis nearly got hit by a car, following me. We finally found it and had a rushed 10 min. before we had to pack up and hightail it to Stake conference. But at least we didn't have any allergic reactions like last year! Hopefully, with better planning it will turn out like I picture it to go, next year.

Notice where Weston's arm is? If he can be touching his sister, you better believe he's doing it.

Easter consisted of 3 phases to me. Phase 1- Cemetery. Check

Phase 2- Visit Neighbors

So earlier in the week I was reading a conference talk and had a strong impression that we needed to do something for our neighbors for Easter. So this is what I came up with... I made 12 mini loaves of monkey bread and attached a Passalong card to each. We got 12 Books of Mormon and I had Travis write up a little note to stick in the cover introducing ourselves, wishing them a happy Easter and explaining a bit about the Book of Mormon. We kept our Sunday clothes on after Stake Conference, loaded up the stroller with Olive, the boys and all the goodies and set out on our street. We had met several of our neighbors, but still didn't know the majority. The first house we approached was kind of comical. I guess the lady that lives there turns 100 years old that week and have some friends visiting her. We explained we were her neighbors and handed her the bread and book. She handed the book right back and said she couldn't read, then kept pestering her friends to give us money for the bread. We all kept trying to explain it was a gift and we weren't selling anything. At the very least we had a nice conversation with her friends! At least 4 or 5 homes didn't answer their doors, so we just left it on the doorstep, but the rest did answer and we had some slightly awkward encounters and some really, really nice ones! One man was so happy and welcoming and insisted we come in and meet his family and friends that were all seated and having their Easter lunch! They kept trying to get us to stay and eat with them and were just so so nice. At another house, the woman answered with a thick, Texas accent and was so happy to chat and get to know us, even though she was having a big party inside as well. They had young kids too, and we exchanged numbers and promised to get together to barbeque soon. Overall, I felt good about it. At the very least, I felt good about following my prompting and doing some missionary work. Oh, I forgot to mention, one man across the street from us had been contacted by the sister missionaries and agreed to set up an appt. to meet with them. He didn't answer his door when we knocked, but he called me later that day to thank us and express his appreciation for such nice neighbors. I found out from the sisters later that he had called them to say he was excited about the Book of Mormon he had received from us and was anxious to read it and meet with them! Who knows where it will go, but when I heard that, I felt like my heart soared. Missionary work is amazing!

Oh yes, another Pinterest fail. I let the boys make "eggs" out of glue and yarn. Obviously, it turned out spot on.

The best Easter picture I could get from these 3!

We had our big dinner with the Kings and also invited a single man from our ward over that didn't have anywhere else to go. I can't believe I didn't take any pictures of our egg roll, but we kept tradition and did that and had a lot of fun! Weston's egg won!

These two! I love this picture of Kreighton and Weston. Just 3 months apart.

This is out of order, but on Friday night we went up to McGaffey with a bunch of families from our ward and the kids had an Easter Egg hunt. They all had been camping, but we just went up for the night to have dinner and visit.

An appropriate ending I suppose. Collin's Easter bunny mask from preschool. Hippity-hop!

Spring Break in Arizona!

On Wednesday of our Spring Break, Megan and I caravaned down to Mesa for a few days. I'm so glad she came! We had a lot of fun together. The kids did great and we only stopped once in Payson for some Sonic and leg stretching. 

We didn't waste any time after that. We drove straight to Tia Rosas to pick up some tacos and burritos (and groveled for extra green salsa... come on now, don't be stingy Tia!) and then went on to Shelley's house to go swimming! It was kind of a circus and we may have scared off several of her wrinkly, sun bathing, snow bird neighbors. It was worth it for some fun in the SuN!

Travis's parents were out of town on a cruise, so Megan stayed in the outside apartment and I stayed in his parent's room. Slightlyyy awkward, but we worked it out! :) Megan was so nice to stay back and let me get some Target shopping in after I got my kids to bed. Then I was feeling a little peckish. Yoko peckish, if you get my drift. I snarfed at my mom's and guilted Marcie into coming over and chatting with me.

We spent the next morning at Riverview Park. Can I get an AWWWW for this cutie?! Gaw! Love her and her biggest headband yet.

These next two pictures might be my favorite of these 4 munchinks. I'm so glad they have each other! And Rubi's face kills me! Cute little scrunched up lips! She looks like she's thinking of doing some damage, haha!

After Riverview, we moved our crazy over to Chick-fi-la, then on to my mom's for some swimming. They swam for HOURS. It was perfect. My mom snuggled up on Olive and put her down for a nap and Meg and I just talked the afternoon away. 

By the time we got the kids home, bathed, and in bed, it was nearly 9pm! So I hurried my booty over to Gecko to pick up some dinner and a little sugar at Sweet Tooth Fairy. We were eating when Brinn stopped by for a minute to pick up a package I had brought down for her. She was in Scottsdale with her mom and kids and they had gone to the Easter Pageant that night. I told my mom she was going to be there and they found each other! I love Brinn. So much positive energy going on in that girl.

The next morning we spent at the Mesa Youth Museum... along with like a hundred elementary school kids on a field trip! Bah! Should have thought to call and avoid that. So it was pretty crowded, but the kids still had fun and it was a worth while outing.

We got lunch downtown at Sweet Cakes. It was yummy, but just picture 4 loud kids, 2 crying babies and 2 tired moms amongst a quiet, business lunch sort of crowd. Yikes. We split up for a bit after that to get some shopping done. Old Navy and I do not get along. My whiny kids were all up in my bidness and I was just trying to get us outta there! So there was no price tag checking. The cashier rang us up and I had to gulp before handing over my card.

It might have been worth it for this picture though. Chocolate smudge on the face and all.

We had about an hour to kill before needing to head over to the Easter pageant, so I let them swim at my mom's for a bit. I was expecting Travis to drive in any minute, but he was nowhere in sight. 

After dropping a screaming Olive off at Marcies (she had just dropped off to sleep when I left her) and getting to the Easter pageant at 6pm, there weren't the best seats left. Bum. I really wanted to be front and center. Travis got us Ned's for dinner and came shortly later, sans braces. So THAT was the holdup! :) 

My mom, Dad and brother Craig are in the pageant this year, so it was fun to see them there in their costumes! I also broke the rules and videotaped a little bit for my mom. Hopefully the big guy forgives me. I was just really excited to be there for the first time in at least 6 years! Megan and her kids came too. And so did Miss Josie! I was so glad she came!

Her mom had dropped her off, so I gave her a ride home since we had two cars. She was telling me about Grandmother's yard getting some city award, so I had to drive by and get myself a picture! We talked in her driveway for hours. She always has some pearls of wisdom for me and even being dead tired, it was time well spent.

The next morning was Saturday and Megan headed back to Gallup. Bron had been at a CE course in Denver, and he was due back on Sunday. 

We had farmed out our kids that morning (thank you AUBREY!!!)  to go to Phoenix and run the Warrior Dash with Reddin.

It's a 5k with 12 obstacle courses. So basically a weenie Tough Mudder. We signed up late so our race time wasn't until 1pm. It was an hour to drive out there and took us about an hour to park and check in and get ready to run. It was hot! I started out feeling pretty good and keeping a fairly quick pace, but that heat was annoying! My only goal was to never stop running and we at least did that! But at the very end, you climb up some ropes, then over a net and go down a water slide and then through a mud pit. It's pretty fun. The mud pit has strings of barbed wire across it so you have to really go deep in the mud. We were caked. It was a lot of fun! Good thing for Megan who advised Reddin to bring towels, water bottles and tubs for our muddy clothes.

Since we were already way out into Phoenix, I googled the ever famous "Ritos" to see if we were close. We were! So we hightailed it over there right before it closed. Yum. Very worth it. It may have just been I was starving, but that was a decent burrito.

After we got home and showered, the plan was to take the boys and Aubrey to the Diamonbacks game. Trevor and Gretchen ended up going to. I had planned on going, but truth was, I was utterly exhausted and remembered I still needed to get to Costco for formula. So I sent them on without me. Turned out OK though, I got the formula (barely... why does flippin' Costco close at 6pm??!!!) and then went to ghetto-tastic Fiesta mall for a few things. Call me crazy, but even with Olive in her stroller, I have so much fun shopping with her! She better not grow up to be a tom-boy! Just sayin', Olive. :) And you know you're in the ghetto when homeboy makes a pass at you while you're strollin' your BABY. Blech. Pretty sure that's the last time I ever go to that mall. Kind of a shame though. I still have memories of going there as a little kid with my mom and getting a pretzel and cheese from the Smith's pretzel shop. We LOVED trips to the pretzel mall. 

Sunday was pretty uneventful. Just another day at the ward we are part members of.  :) We ate with my family and headed out wayyy too late. Since we had two cars, Trav took Collin and drove behind me. Weston and Olive fell asleep fairly quickly and I got to finish listening to a book I started on the drive out to AZ! Battlehymn of the Tiger Mother. Super interesting. Unfortunately, it ended with an hour left to drive. I was crazy tired. I blasted music in my headphones and concentrated really hard on keeping my eyes open. Trav said later he was just as tired and had a "freeze out" in his car just to stay awake. Trips home are always packed full of fun, but the drive home is killer. Glad it wasn't literally killer though. ;)