Easter

Easter snuck up on us this year with all of the shows the kids and I have been working on and so, by the time Saturday approached, we found that our day was once again packed.  

Our cute friend Elise Smith was baptized Saturday morning, Becca, Sara, Shannon and Joey had auditions, and Jake was performing at the Anamax Park Easter Celebration.  By the time we finished the day with an evening broadcast and dinner, we didn't start painting easter eggs until 8pm.  

Carlee reminded us that we hadn't had an Easter Egg hunt and so in a desperate attempt to redeem myself I put 5 eggs together, had the kids hide them, and Carlee went to bed a happy camper.   

We had plans to get up at 6 am, make breakfast, find Easter baskets and get ready for our 9 am church service, but with a house full of teenagers, the first one to wake up was Carlee at 6:40 so our morning ended up being a little more rushed then we had intended.

The kids were good sports and even agreed to wear coordinating colors to church.  We haven't done that as a family in forever, so it was kinda fun.  Unfortunately when we tried to take pictures after church the sun was in everyone's eyes, but you get the idea.  I still think they looked cute.

Joey didn't like the sun and so in over half the pictures, he let us know . . .

After church we had the family and the Smiths come over for Easter dinner.  We finally have a table large enough to seat all of the adults and so the girls helped make napkin holders and we dressed things up a bit for the meal.  The younger kids ate outside but they had a pretty fancy set up too.  

And yes . . . after 18 years of marriage I successfully made my mother in law's chocolate pie.

As I sit and think about all the things we do to celebrate Easter, cooking fancy meals, decorating our homes, going to church,  and surrounding ourselves with friends and family I am filled with gratitude.

We wouldn't have anything to celebrate if 2000 years ago our Savior Jesus Christ hadn't performed a perfect atonement.  If He had never been crucified or risen from the tomb, we would instead find ourselves today in a world without a Savior, without hope, and without a reason to celebrate.  How grateful I am that He was willing to do what I could never have done.  There is a beautiful song going around Facebook called, "It's about the cross," reminding us that we celebrate Christ because He atoned for our sins, because He died and rose again, and because through Him we have the promise of eternal life.  What a gift, what a blessing, and what a reason to celebrate.