Happy Easter/ Happy Anniversary

We share our anniversary with my parents. This year we also shared our anniversary with Easter! Here is a rundown of the weekend's festivities:

Friday night Darin returned home from being out of town all week. He was a welcome sight. I really miss him when he's gone! He brought with him a dozen of these, which was the perfect way to celebrate a dozen years of marriage:

Darin gave the kids all the treasures he brought home with him from the convention he had been attending all week. We spent a couple of hours as a family, then my sister Renae and niece Michelle came over to watch the kids so we could go on an anniversary date. We really tried to be creative and think outside the box, but nothing sounded appealing. It seems like I have lost a little bit of my ambition to make the extra effort to make special days special. The same thing happened with Darin's birthday in October. I normally try to think ahead and plan something meaningful. I'm hoping my ambition returns before many more special occasions pass! The nice thing was that since he had been gone all week it was nice just to spend time together. We ate at Carraba's then walked around Costco and Target (while we held hands--it was VERY romantic!).

Saturday morning brought an Easter Egg hunt. I had a hard time convincing my family that we HAD to be on time in order for it to be worth it. They almost listened. We arrived at 9:03 (it started at 9:00) and obtained exactly three pieces of candy--total. It wasn't a complete loss as the kids were able to play at a playground (in the rain) and we got to eat donuts and juice. There were also a couple of very kind children that donated giant pixie sticks to my kids.

That afternoon I went to pick up Darin's anniversary present. His mom had given him a numbered and signed print of Joseph Smith several years ago (before we were married), and he recently expressed a desire to get it framed. I was grateful not to have to think too hard about something to get him (see paragraph above relating to lack of ambition). He loved it!

That evening we colored eggs,

had an indoor Easter egg hunt,

then Darin and I headed over to the Caziers for the crack-off. Darin won last year and had to defend his title. He will have to be satisfied as a one year champion. We were both out pretty early in the competition, but the company was great and more than made up for our disappointment of losing! After the crack-off we played Mafia. I am not so great at that game. I am easily swayed, and make wrong accusations often. It was still a lot of fun! Here is a glance at some of the eggs we competed against:

Maybe Maleen and company have some extra ambition they could share! There were some pretty amazing eggs; especially compared to ours. Darin brought a plain egg and named it "white".

Sunday morning we woke up and had a devotional with the Gospel Art pictures. We went through the events from the Last Supper through the Resurrection. It was a very emotional and gratitude filled morning as we bore testimony of the real meaning of Easter and talked about our loved ones who have passed away. There was a sweet spirit of peace.

We headed to the kitchen and made these rolls:

RESURRECTION ROLLS

Crescent rolls
melted butter
large marshmallows
cinnamon
sugar
Preheat oven to 350 degrees.Give each child a triangle of crescent rolls. The crescent roll represents the cloth that Jesus was wrapped in.
Give each child a marshmallow, this represents Jesus.Have them dip the marshmallow in melted butter, which represents the oils of embalming. Then dip the buttered marshmallow in the cinnamon and sugar which represent the spices used to anoint the body.
Then wrap the coated marshmallow tightly in the crescent roll (not like a typical crescent roll up, but bring the sides up and seal the marshmallow inside.) This represents the wrapping of Jesus' body after death.Place in a 350 degree oven for 10-12 minutes. The oven represents the tomb.When the rolls have cooled slightly, the children can open their rolls (cloth) and discover that Jesus is no longer there, He is risen. (The marshmallow and the crescent roll is puffed up, but empty.)

**It is important to seal the edges tightly. The rolls that weren't sealed all the way had marshmallow goo oozing out. The inside was still hollow, but the ones that were sealed were really cool.

As I was getting ready for church David came up looking like this:

Apparently he found the paints from the previous night's egg coloring adventures and since there were no eggs to color he colored the next best thing.

Fortunately most of it washed off before church. We had a great day at church and as we came home the kids noticed a Frisbee on the roof. Before I knew what was happening, Darin had lifted Sean up to get it. Warren and Olivia were not about to let him be the only one so up they went, too. By this time we were collecting a crowd of neighborhood children. I could see wheels turning. One little boy had a paper airplane in his hands, aiming at the roof. I quickly explained that no matter how careful they were, and no matter what was stuck on the roof we were NOT under ANY circumstances going to be lifting anyone else up on our roof. (I'm such a party pooper). I did take pictures. Check out that glorious blue sky!

Coming off the roof wasn't quite as exciting as going up. Darin put a ladder up and they were all hesitant to come down. We decided to call it a fire drill so the neighbors wouldn't judge us too harshly. (You could be on the roof in a fire, right? Plus, it's about the same height as a window so I'm calling it good.)
It was a great weekend. We had so much quality time together, which is my most favorite thing in the world.
I will leave you with some pictures of Darin and I in honor of our anniversary. Most of these were taken on our trip to Hawaii last summer. I am a bit camera shy at the moment, so these will have to do. The longer we're married, the more sure I am that he's the best match for me.