Easter Sunday

Easter morning is one of my favorite mornings! The Easter bunny hides the baskets and leaves a trail of carrots from the kids' rooms to the first clue and they race all around the house finding clue after clue until the Easter bunny runs out of rhymes and then the kids find their baskets. This year the older boys weren't quite as enthusiastic as in years past but they still followed the younger ones around to help read clues and decipher where they should go next. It was a little more exercise than in years past since we now have stairs for them to go up and down(the Easter bunny utilized the stairs well.) I actually had to wake all of the kids up this year.

The Easter Baskets this year were hidden in my shower. Not a great place . I was trying to get up early and be all ready for the morning and I was not able to take an early shower.We had Stake conference at 10:00 and I knew if we didn't get things going we would all be late and cranky for church! We then went to conference, second week in a row of not attending regular church, and actually had a fairly pleasant stake conference. Adam realized he could get some reactions out of the row behind us so he poured on the charm here and there during the meeting but besides that it was a relatively smooth conference. We then came home took some pictures outside with the boys and their new Easter ties. You would have thought I was asking them to give me all of their candy by the reaction I got when I said "don't run in and take your Sunday clothes off right away I want to take pictures." My mom also made the boys ties and we will be posting pictures of those soon. Thanks Grandma! The boys then proceeded to inhale most of the candy in their baskets while we waited for the time to come that we were to go over to papa's house for dinner and another Easter egg hunt. We (or should I say the Easter bunny) over did it a little this year and the boys ended up with so much candy that we have put it away and only get it out once in a while. It was a great relaxing weekend , the only thing that would have made it better would to have my family around to celebrate with also!

Just a thought about Easter. I know my Savior died for me and that is the reason for this holiday. He died and then rose again from the bonds of death. I know that many of the drops of blood the Savior spilt was for me and I am so grateful for His sacrifice. I know that I don't understand the atonement completely but when I think about how much I would sacrifice for my children and the sorrow it instills in me when they make a bad choice I in some small way understand the love Jesus has for me, faults and all. I am no where near close to perfection but when a holiday like Easter and Christmas come along I definitely think about doubling or tripling my efforts. It also makes me look more outside myself and realize that there is a lot more I should be doing. I am truly grateful for Easter in many ways. I am so blessed to have the knowledge of the gospel and now it is time to really apply it more in my life!