Easter 2012

Aside from the usual reasons Easter is really important, this Easter was specifically important for Mom's side of the family. Grandma has been in and out of the hospital for the majority of the year, and has had quite a few struggles with her health lately. She's doing well, just really tired and weak. A week before Easter, she was discharged from the hospital after being there for over a month, and while she was sitting in the hospital bed she was planning Easter for our family--typical Grandma. I would call her during the week and she would tell me about her most recent ideas. It was really important for Grandma to have all of her family together (except for my cousin Austin, who is serving his 2-year mission in California for our church) for Easter weekend.

The family went down to Virginia Beach Friday afternoon, and I joined everyone Saturday evening after my Regatta was over. When I got there, everyone was gearing up to go to Mount Trashmore and fly kites. We headed on over with the kids and Grandma, and we didn't last out there for very long. After a few minutes of being outside Grandma was cold and out of breath, so she sat in the car and watched with Dad. Shortly after we got there, though, the park was closing as the sun was setting, so we all packed up. It was fun, though, with everyone trying to get the kites to fly and kids rolling down the huge grass hill. Truthfully, after being stuck at school for a few weeks, anything but being in Richmond was good!

We got back home and Aunt Sheri had been doing crafts with the kids earlier in the day, and getting everyone excited to dye the eggs. Crafts are totally Aunt Sheri's forte. Check out this cute little egg guy:


The kids dyed the Easter eggs. Suzanne and Grandpa decided to have a contest to see whose egg was more creative/looked better. Suzanne actually got Grandpa to dye some Easter eggs! Usually he just watches!

Some of the little guys with Grandma

We had to document it, or else we might forget the one year Grandpa dyed an Easter egg.

Everyone headed to bed in random areas and floors of the house, and Mom, Rachel, and I got all of the Easter hoopla together and set out for the next morning.

Evan's first Easter! He had a great time trying to dig into everyone's Easter baskets, especially our cousin Lauren's. She had a stuffed bunny animal in there that he wanted! He really liked pulling himself up onto the fireplace, too. He would get up there, or close to it, and everyone would come by and pull him off and set him on the other side of the room. Suzanne and I were laughing, and she said something like, "How frustrated and angry would you be if you were trying to get somewhere and people just keep pulling you back over and over." Good point.

We headed to church as a family, which started at 9am. It is also noteworthy to mention that all 18 people in that little house with only 2 showers made it to church on time by 9am. Who knows when that will ever happen again. After sacrament meeting we came home with Grandma and Grandpa to help get Easter Dinner ready and snap a few family photos.

Kids with Dad

Kids with Mom

What family pictures usually look like... and it's my favorite one.

Mom and I made the crescent rolls and hard boiled eggs while Grandpa finished up the ham, green bean casserole, and potatoes! Mmm love to cook!

We all ate dinner together, and it was delicious. Definitely ate too much, because it was so good! No comparison to the good I usually eat these days, that is for sure! After dinner, we had the traditional Easter Egg Hunt, which I may or may not have slept through on the couch. Uncle Joe dressed up as the Easter Bunny like he does every year (except for last year, my cousin Jared took his place because he was overseas!).

Evan was a tad bit skeptical of the Easter Bunny...

Grandpa even took a picture with the Easter Bunny this year! He better calm it down, he's getting a little out of hand.

The whole family, minus Austin!

After the hunt and hanging around for a little bit, we had to head on out of town. Now, if anyone knows my Mom, you would know that she can whip up crazy hair-brained ideas on the spot. Like, for example, stopping to go to the beach.

Yeah, I know he looks more than thrilled.

There were a ton of seagulls out there, and the boys had fun chasing them as they ran into the wet sand.

And this crew watched from afar. It was just a few degrees too cold for the beach, but still pretty! We got back on the road, and headed home. Weekends like that sure do make you even more grateful for family!