Easter, 2012

I love holidays! I love big celebrations, complete with long-standing traditions, yummy food, and lots of people. Right now, though, much of our family is scattered about, making it difficult to get a large group together. Our extended family all live on the west coast. Luke and his family are in Indiana. Eli is in the MTC. And Isaiah, though right here in Salt Lake City, works double shifts every weekend at Macaroni Grill. So as you can see from the photo above, we didn't have a particularly large group for Easter. On the left are Shulamith, Mathew, and Kitty (with Baby Swen making his presence more and more obvious); in the center, Gerald, Seth and I; and on the right, Matt's parents, Dawn and Todd. I am so thankful to the Monsons (Matt's parents) for their willingness to share some of the holidays with us. It was a delightful afternoon.

Before they arrived, we went to church. Our choir did the entire Sacrament Meeting. That was way fun; I don't have a good singing voice, but I can blend with a choir so long as there's a strong alto beside me, and I thoroughly enjoyed participating. Gerald had hidden eggs early in the morning, so after church, we set Seth off to find all 18 of them. Keep in mind, Seth isn't used to sharing. He's been the "baby" for so long; no one else competes for eggs. Until this year. I should have predicted that Matt would want in on the action. The two of them raced to find the most, diving over furniture to beat each other to each highly-coveted egg. Fun times!

When the Monsons arrived, we began to prepare food around the theme "Easter breakfast buffet!" Dawn made a delicious egg, cheese, and potato casserole while Todd prepared Belgian waffles topped with strawberries and whipped cream. Matt made his famous french toast, using cinnamon bread from Kneader's and topped with Dawn's homemade maple syrup. Shulamith cooked bacon and scrambled eggs. I tried to stay out of the whole thing, ensuring that the meal would be delicious. And it was!

While we missed those who weren't with us, including Matt's brother Hayden, it was a fabulous Easter. Once again, we celebrate the resurrection of our Savior, whose infinite atonement makes possible that which would otherwise be impossible. "He is not here, for he is Risen!"