Happy Easter

The annual decorating of Easter Eggs.  One dozen eggs for each child plus 6 more for the adults = cheap and fun entertainment.

Easter Festivities

We had a perfect Easter this year.  The weather was snowy and cold but that didn't stop the Easter Bunny from coming.  The kids hauled in the loot this year, the bunny must have been feeling extra generous.  Lucky, lucky children.

What made it even more enjoyable was the fact that it was Conference Sunday. That meant no Bishopric meetings for daddy, pajamas for nearly the whole day, and many, many uplifting and spiritual talks to feed the soul.  Every talk was so meaningful and I truly felt spiritually fed.

Plus daddy felt like experimenting and tried out a new recipe once again.  He made stuffed french toast.  He used homemade bread, a cream cheese and raspberry filling and encrusted the whole thing with crushed pecans and Cinnamon Toast Crunch Cereal.  They were delicious.

Between the sessions of conference we decorated Easter Eggs of course.  We always go crazy and I boiled 3 dozen eggs for the event.  I figure it is cheap entertainment and the kids love it.  As always the creativity came out and when all was said and done we had a beautiful plethora of dazzling eggs.

After the last session of conference we headed over to Grandma and Grandpa's house for a family dinner and Easter Egg Hunt.  As always, the food was plentiful and delicious.  We are all getting pretty good at coming up with new and creative meals.  It takes a lot to feed 20 people but we usually are successful and we always have our fill. 

When we were finished with our meal, we head over to Uncle Dane's family's house.  He and Amberly had prepared an Easter Egg Hunt for all of the nieces and nephews.  It was a huge success.  Since his family lives on a farm, there are many places to hide the eggs.  Alyssa had an especially hard time finding the ones they hid for her.  The kids loved it and I loved that they actually had to "hunt" to be rewarded.

When we were finished we were able to pet Amber and Dane's horses, which is always a hit with the kids. 

To wind down the festivities we had Chocolate Molten Lava Cakes, made by yours truly.  It was a decadent ending to an amazing day.

Egg Decorating

We love decorating Easter eggs. We always cook at least 3 dozen eggs to ensure that everyone has all the opportunity they need to express their creativity.

For some reason we got some faulty dye this year and had to improvise on our colors. Our favorite was the ugly brown color that was supposed to be purple. We have never had "Camo" eggs before.

The end results. Now I hope we all enjoy egg salad because we will be eating it for the next several days.

Easter Bunny

Chocolate, chocolate and more chocolate. I think that that the Easter bunny knows no other word. On Easter morning the kids couldn't contain their excitement over the varied assortment of wonderful chocolate confections. It's amazing that the Easter Bunny's favorite treats are some of my own favorites as well.

Following the pattern of many years, Alyssa and Ryan conservatively waited on tasting their candy until after breakfast. Even then they carefully chose which piece to start with and savored every bite. Brianna on the other was totally different. She jumped in with no reservation. Mom had to finally puts some limits on candy consumption until at least after breakfast.

After a lovely french toast breakfast made with homemade bread and a custard breading (another Alton Brown recipe), I let Brianna back to her business. She then started on her solid chocolate bunny. She made it about 1/3rd of the way through it before she slowly wrapped it up and pushed it aside. She then declared "I have had enough calories for the day". I wonder where she got that from? It was quite hilarious.

Easter Egg Hunt and Family Festivities

This year we decided to forgo the traditional city Easter egg hunts and do one on our own. So in spite of the rainy weather, Roger hid several eggs around our yard and let the kids have at it. Of course Brianna was super enthusiastic but both Alyssa and Ryan got into it as well. I guess you are never too old to want to hunt for goodies.

Each kid had a set number of eggs and it was funny because the younger two found all of theirs before Alyssa. (Being a "good-looker" has never been her forte). With a little help of hot and cold she eventually found them all.

We had stuffed the eggs with mostly candy, a few dollar bills and a note that was worth a special prize from daddy. It said: You may choose one of the following; 1. Go shopping and pick out something special to buy. 2. Go and get ice cream with Dad. 3. Spend an hour of one on one time daddy doing anything you want. Well Brianna without hesitation chose to spend the hour with daddy. It not only surprised him but touched him deeply. Ryan chose to go shopping and Alyssa just couldn't decide. When Brianna was opening her eggs she declared "this is the best day of my whole life". That made it all worth it.

After the hunt we headed out to Rubios, one of the newer restaurant's in the area. We all enjoyed a nice yummy meal of Mexican Food. After going to Game Stop to pick out Ryan's prize we headed back home. Brianna was then thrilled to have daddy all to herself and they played Wii games together.

The rest of the day was spent relaxing and playing together. That night Roger tried a new recipe from the show Good Eats. He is a big fan of Alton Brown on the Food Network Channel. Roger loves to cook and try new things. In fact, he told me that if he ever won 5 million dollars then he would retire from Optometry, go to cooking school, and learn to play the electric guitar. Quite the mental picture, huh? So he made southern style chicken fried steak and gravy. It was delicious, even the kids loved it. For dessert, I also tried a new recipe for Molten Lava Cakes. Of course dessert is always a hit. We ended the evening with a family movie.

Overall it was a very pleasant day. We all enjoyed just being together which at times is a rare treat. I hope to have more of these type of days in the future.

Brianna's Easter Party

Today at preschool Brianna had an Easter Celebration. They hunted for Easter eggs and made crafts. She is really getting into the whole holiday this year and was so excited to open each egg and see what was inside it.

Here she is as my little Easter bunny.She got lots of yummy candy and no less than two hours later she had eaten it all (except for the few pieces she had saved for her brother and sister).And here is mom, messing around with the camera and trying to capture the essence of my four year old before it goes away.