Two Easters

 This year we got to celebrate two Easters.  The kids were out of school since they hadn't had any snow days this year and we headed down to the desert to visit family for the first one.  We are very blessed to have aunts, uncles, grandparents and great-grandparents close enough to celebrate with them a few times a year all together.  We also got to see my sweet nephew and watch him toddle all over Great-grandma's house.  It's such a neat experience to enjoy holidays with kiddos and it reminds you of the value of family.  Also, seeing one of my sisters reminds me of how much I miss her since we live several hours away and don't get to visit very often. 

Then we went out to the wilderness and camped with some friends and rode ATVs.  We woke up from our tents to find that the Easter bunny had hidden eggs all over the campsite.  Luckily, the dogs were all tied up so they couldn't get to them first.  The kids had a fun time looking all over for eggs and doing a little target practicing with their bb guns when they were done.  They were very different kinds of Easters but both were fun.

Easter at the River

While it was cold and icky in our neck of the woods, we were enjoying ourselves on the Colorado River.  The weather was warm enough to ride on the inner tube, the sites are isolated enough that we had no neighbors to speak of, and we are so close to the water that we just backed the boat down from our site.  Plus, the daddies caught fish, which is usually important in measuring a successful weekend.

Happy Easter!

May God's blessings and promise sink past your brain and into your hearts today~
Click here for one of my favorite Easter Songs

Easter in the Desert

Grandma Tanyon is a seasoned professional when it comes to hosting Easter at her house in the desert. Here's some Grandma T tips if you are planning a candy hunt in the desert:
1) Milk chocolate melts in the sun. Grandma Tanyon uses only hard candies.
2) Don't bother with plastic eggs. They just take up space and make finding the candy easier.3) Keep control of the dogs because they like to eat candy in low places.4) Buy lots of candy because the adults will take part in the candy hunt too.5) Have everyone count their candy at the end for prizes, it's a great counting exercise kids.
Thanks Grandma, for another great Easter. We love you a bushel~

Aiming for a good time

When you think of Easter you may think of cute little bunnies, egg hunts and baskets, but when we go down to Grandma Tanyon's house, another fun activity comes to mind. Often times, when the extended family gets together out by the desert, we pack up the guns, ammo and targets to go shooting. This Easter was no exception. I got to shoot my new 220 bolt action rifle. Fun times.What? This isn't what EVERYONE uses the back of their "soccer mom" minivan for? Well, my kids don't play soccer, so there.

Easter Egg Playdate

We had such a fun time visiting with friends at Aiden & Ethan's house this week. The kids played on the trampoline, played in the sand box, played on the teeter totter, played in the yard, had treats, and oh yeah, decorated Easter eggs too. It was great to see lots of friends get together and spend time in the sunshine. Thank you to our hosts and all the friends who came to play.

A Quiet Easter Morning at Home

Yesterday morning we woke up with no where to go. No one to call. Nothing pressing that HAD to be done. What a nice start to a quiet family Easter at home. The kiddos came in and crawled all over us in bed and we snuggled and cuddled a bit before Daddy headed down the stairs to make us all some waffles. After breakfast we all headed outside where it appears a rabbit had come to hide some eggs for the kids (and daddy) to find. There were 25 blue ones for a little boy, 35 pink ones for a little girl, and 45 green ones for the 30-something peter pan in our house. Much to her delight, and daddy's chagrin, my sweet daughter won the hunt by finding all of her eggs first. Her brother somehow lost two eggs (I'm guessing they were eaten) so we're not sure when he finally had all of his, but Daddy brought up the rear by finding his last egg after everyone else. What a very fun morning full of warm and cozy memories. I am so very thankful for our many blessings and the ability to spend days like this with such wonderful people.

Family Easter

We had a nice time yesterday visiting with our family down in Desert Hot Springs. Although the wind picked up later in the afternoon, the weather in the mid-morning and for our egg hunt was perfect. For those of you reading this from up north, feel free to come visit our beautiful sunshine any time.

Thank you Grandma Tanyon for having us all over to spend a day together. We had a great time.

What to Make

This is an Easter-style recipe: HOT CROSS BUNS!

I got the idea from The Pioneer Woman's Website. I modified the recipe for my bread maker and they turned out nicely. It was rather easy to do. Here's what you do:

1) Make cinnamon roll dough (sweet bread) in the bread machine, which requires some water, salt, sugar, flour, and egg.
2) Roll out the dough as you would for cinnamon rolls and sprinkle some cinnamon sugar and raisins over the dough then fold it in. Repeat this step twice.
3) Pull off bits of dough and roll them into balls then let them rise for 30 minutes.
4) Brush the risen dough with a wash of milk & egg white.
5) Bake the rolls for 16 minutes or so until golden brown.
6) Pipe frosting on top of them in the shape of a cross.

I made these the night before our family Easter party. I think if I were to do these again I would make a glaze to go over the whole roll and then pipe on thicker frosting or a colored frosting for the cross. The rolls were kind of plain without some kind of glaze. The flavor and texture were both good though and if eaten right out of the oven they would have been much better I am sure.

The Familliar Smell

There are few things in this world that are more recognizable of a smell than fresh cut grass or chocolate chip cookies baking in the oven. One of those things is the smell of dying eggs for Easter, more specifically, the vinegar used to help dye the eggs. All year long when I cook and a recipe calls for vinegar, I get comments from my hubby about the smell and how he thinks of Easter with just one whiff. Well, we're instilling that memory in our kiddos too. They had a great time making Easter eggs with Daddy tonight.

Happy Easter Daddy

We got to do our first at home Easter egg hunt this morning. The weather was perfect. The kids didn't fight. Each one found lots of eggs and it all went great. There was only one thing missing that would have made it perfect....

Family Easter

Yesterday we went down to Desert Hot Springs to visit Great-Grandma & Great-Grandpa for Easter. We were also joined by Nana, Grandpa, an aunt, uncle & cousin too. The one thing missing was Daddy, who is having fun at the Masters this year. It was a beautiful (albeit windy) day and we got to have a fun egg hunt outside among all the other fun and visiting. The kids had such a good time that they slept in until 7:30 this morning, which, for them, is over an hour longer than normal - so Happy Easter Mommy, huh?!

My Brave Little Man

This Sunday was my little man's first Easter egg hunt. His sister was gone with Nana & Grandpa to Disney on Ice for her birthday and Daddy doesn't "do" Easter egg hunts he says, so it was just the two of us. A friend of ours invited us to join her and her daughter to the event that was hosted by her church. There was a volleyball game, tug-o-war, face painting, a bounce house, and the ever popular egg hunt. The hunt was definitely the highlight of his day. It didn't take long to figure out that there was candy in them-there eggs and has since spent every day disassembling the plastic decorative eggs laid out around our house in the hopes of finding more candy. He sure is a persistent little one.
The highlight of the day for me was not the hunt however, but the introduction of the Easter Bunny himself. At first, this 7 foot animal was quite daunting to my 1.75-year-old. He was inquisitive though and was soon following Mr. Bunny everywhere (keeping a safe distance). Eventually, with some coaxing from mom, the two became acquainted long enough for me to snap a quick photo. You'll note however, that the trust was not entirely there as my brave little man was NOT willing to take his eyes off of the suspicious rabbit.