Easter

Today is Easter, the day we celebrate the resurrection of Jesus Christ, his triumph over death, and the gift of resurrection provided by our Savior. I have wanted to honor and celebrate Easter more than just doing an egg hunt, so with Kent and Brandt, we have been using the Church's Easter Study Guide to make it a more meaningful season. A neighbor, Sadie Cusick, gave me an Emmanuel Wreath, a round wooden base with 24 different names for Jesus, with a candle for each name. It can be used at Christmas or at Easter. Sadie gave it to me halfway through December, so I didn't use it at Christmas. But I brought it up from the basement for Easter, and for the week leading up to Easter, we have been reading scriptures about Jesus and sections of The Living Christ, then lighting a candle for each name mentioned. It has been a nice time of day, after dinner, to read and think about Christ, the experiences of his last week before his death and resurrection, his teachings and his love. It has helped me focus more on the Christ.

There have been other, less spiritual celebrations, too. Justine Banks sold Easter cookies and among those I bought was a set of "decorate your own" cookies. Izzy and I frosted then ate cookies. We shared too! We were not total Easter piggies. We let Brandt and Kent have one. If you count, that means we each got two! I don't feel bad about that because we worked hard to decorate them. And they are delicious, so I was happy to have two.

Kent, Brandt, and I attended church. Kent and I sang with the ward choir. Neither of us liked the song we sang. It was an old song, very high Protestant church sounding, all about seeing sheep and lambs and thinking about the Lamb of God. I had seen a very funny reel on Instagram featuring lamb cakes, and for whatever reason, showed it to Kent just before sacrament meeting started. He found it incredibly funny and laughed until he cried. He said, "If you even look at me as we sing, I'll lose it!" Below are some pictures of what a lamb cake should look like, and some of the attempts people made, as well as the jaunty little tune the reel creator composed to accompany the pictures. Too funny!

"Easter time is with us once again, when little lambs appear on hill and glen. The time of year when anyone who bakes, can sometimes create most amazing cakes.

But sometimes even lamb cakes can go wrong, and so I've made this little lamb cake song reminding you that when you start to bake, it's not as easy as a piece of cake."

An example of what a lamb cake should look like,

and terrible fails.

 

 

 

 

 

Why are they green?

I've never seen a green lamb.

 

    

That one's on fire! 

We had dinner at my mom's house, followed by an egg hunt in the back yard. Dinner was delicious! My mother asked what type/s of meat we should have and we settled on four. (shaking my head) We had lamb, tri tip, chicken, and salmon. We also had gruyere potatoes, green salad, fruit, and cheesecake and cookies for dessert. It was yummy yummy!

Before the egg hunt, Blake and Luke taped money and candy to themselves and had the kids chase them around the yard to try and get either/or. I love a good cash cow chase and the chasers were highly motivated to catch their prey. I laughed and laughed as I watched them. Blake tripped and fell and was tackled, and Luke eventually ran out of steam. 

Cash cows

Chasers waiting for the Go!

The chase is on!

Cora came away with quite a haul.

Mila too.

We made all the kids look for eggs, even the big ones, so the adults hid eggs. We tried to make them tougher for the big kids, and some had a hard time finding their full allotment of eggs. But everyone had a good time. It was a wonderful Easter.

Eugene was getting tricky in the hiding, 

but needed both hands.

Brandt found his eggs.