Easter with my Family

Easter celebrations this year have been such fun! Back in late February, my parents had planned on flying into town right after we moved into our new house. Due to some business related reasons, they had to postpone their trip for a month and it just so happened that they re-booked their trip for this Easter weekend! It was so much fun to do all of our traditions together for the first time since 2005 (before I left for college)! We were also glad that my brother Mike and his sweet, fun girlfriend AshLynn could make it down from Rexburg for the weekend.

One tradition we have is that we all must take a picture after church in our Easter attire. Here's the whole gang:

And here's one of my family (minus AshLynn... she wanted us to make sure we'd snap one without her since she's not related).

Of course, another Easter tradition is that the Easter Bunny comes and leaves us baskets full of candy and eggs (and a little hopping bunny toy for Charlie!):

As with years past, we also continued the tradition of making the bunny cake:

Here's an excellent depiction of my concentration face. It takes a lot of focus to ice a very soft cake without getting crumbs mixed all in the frosting:

AshLynn tried her hand at frosting the bow tie!

Mike even got involved with decorating the cake. He added spots to the bow tie using a frosting bag. He looked so natural in the kitchen, we all agreed we could see him on Cupcake Wars as one of those hipster cupcake bakers. :)

Mike's handywork:

Master Baker Mike and his signature frosting "M":

And now a look at the finished cake!
Another tradition we started this year was letting Charlie hunt for Easter eggs.

I accidentally spaced the neighborhood egg hunt on the Thursday before Easter, so to make up for it, we let Charlie practice finding and picking up eggs in my front yard. He had a blast! Until he discovered the mulch... then he got distracted and wasn't too interested in the eggs anymore. (Boys WILL be boys!)

We ran out of time to dye eggs, although we did hard boil the eggs and had a dyeing kit ready. Maybe we'll do it tomorrow... just a day late, right?

We also had a traditional Easter lunch/dinner of ham, sweet potatoes, rolls, and asparagus (instead of green beans). It was absolutely delicious. Holiday comfort food at its finest! :)

Finally, we all had the opportunity this morning of going to church together as a family. Our Bishop gave a two-hour lesson for the last two hours of church that walked us through the scriptures leading up to the Savior's crucifixion and then his death and resurrection. The Bishop provided maps and wonderful videos to help immerse us in the story and the spirit of the sacrifice that Jesus Christ made for all mankind. More-so than candy, eggs, bunnies, and cakes, I am grateful for the TRUE meaning of Easter. I am so humbled and so grateful that Jesus Christ suffered for all of our sins and infirmities, and then died so I may live again with Him someday. I am in awe that he rose again on the third day so that I, too, may be resurrected. I am so grateful that, because of all of His sacrifices, I can repent of my sins and shortcomings and strive daily to become more like He wants me to be. I know HE LIVES. I know he loves me and my family and every other person on this earth. How grateful I am for the knowledge of His gospel and for the peace it brings to my life each day.

Happy Easter <3