Easter Sunday

Happy Easter!  We have enjoyed a lovely holiday weekend.

I made the kids put on their matching church clothes on a Saturday (gasp!) so we could take a few pictures to commemorate Easter without having pressure to get to our 9 a.m. church meetings today.  I wish Colorado could offer a nice spring backdrop at this time of year, but since our yard is still brown, we get shadowy fireplace photos instead.  (Can you guess who was orneriest during the photo shoot?  His name starts with a Z and ends with ACHARY!!!)

  

A word about sweet Lexi.  I bought her dress when I was pregnant with Tyler and *positive* he was a girl (apparently I have no intuition of this nature).  It has been patiently waiting in a box for many years!  I am thrilled to see my girl wearing it!  We took this photo of Lexi last Sunday, when we first attempted pictures.  Zach was so dramatically awful that day that we had to try again for the group, but I am glad we got a sweet shot of Lexi without a big scrape on her forehead.

On Saturday I took Zach and Tyler to a choral performance known as the Easter Cantata.  Our LDS friends may have heard of the composer Sally DeFord.  She lives here in Colorado Springs, and every year she composes and directs a cantata.  Members of local LDS congregations participate in the choir and orchestra (one day I hope to join...but this wasn't really my year). The music we heard yesterday was simply beautiful and, more importantly, the testifying spirit of Jesus Christ during the performance was powerful.  I am so grateful for the Savior's atonement that we celebrate at Easter.

Yesterday was pretty cold outside, but I was still surprised to see snow falling when I went to bed.  We woke up to a white Easter! 

Today we saved the commercial portion of Easter for after our church meetings.  The kids enjoyed finding their hidden baskets, and the little treasures inside kept them happily occupied for a while.  Then, after nap time and a visit from our home teachers, I hid Easter eggs around the main level of the house and the kids squealed as they ran around trying to find them.  They'll be all hopped up on sugar for a while, and I'm sure we'll be finding brightly-colored grass in nooks and crannies until Christmas.

Garry fixed us a fantastic Easter feast of honey ham, au gratin potatoes, homemade crescent rolls, fruity Jell-O salad, green bean casserole, and Texas cake.  (Keep in mind he spent most of Saturday building another shelf in the garage, too!)  Our dinner conversation revolved around the life, death, and resurrection of the Savior.  We are so blessed by and thankful for His sacrifice -- today and always.