Why would you stop when they leave home?

A FB friend posted pictures of her three kids hunting for Easter eggs, with the words, "The kids say they want Easter egg hunts until they leave home." My response: "Why would you stop when they leave home?" Although only one of our kids currently lives here full time and another comes and goes with college breaks, all four who reside in the Salt Lake Valley come home for Easter and hunt for eggs. I mean why should all the fun end when kids grow up? No reason I can think of.

I was woefully behind this year. Sunday morning found me prepping Easter baskets and rushing to fill all the plastic eggs with yummy chocolate delights, while trying to watch a bit of stake conference, which was broadcast because our stake is too large for everyone to meet in person. Can I just mention here that waiting until the last minute is not my style; I'm usually super organized and skillfully avoid the stress of last-minute hurrying. But this time, nope. Didn't happen. That's because I have no weekends this semester. I teach Friday mornings in Orem from 7:00 to 11:00 a.m. Then I serve in the temple from 1:00 - 6:00 p.m. And Saturday I teach all day at SLCC. Fortunately, this schedule ends this coming Saturday. Hallelujah! (Note to self: Never again agree to teach on Friday mornings or all day Saturday.)

The tricky part came when Seth arrived before I had a chance to hide the eggs. I immediately texted Shulamith: "Seth is already here, and the eggs are not hidden! What do I do?" Her response: "Just hide them nonchalantly; he'll never notice." She knows her baby brother well. But then Isaiah went downstairs to hang out with Seth, so there they were, the two of them, sprawled out in the living room, solving world problems. These two are practically clones, and I love that they are such close friends, despite their 9-year age difference. 

But help! Now I needed to hide all these eggs without either of them noticing. Could it be done? Indeed. I proceeded to hide 30 plastic eggs throughout the main level of the house (including the living room), entirely unnoticed. Later that night, Seth asked, "When did you hide all the eggs? I didn't see any of them when I first got here."

Once Shulamith and Eli, Amanda, and Jane arrived, we ate yummy ribs that Shulamith had smoked all day, along with her famous pasta salad, and baked potatoes. Eli and Amanda brought my favorite bread from Harmon's. If you haven't tried Harmon's white chocolate pecan bread, you should probably go get some today. 

The egg hunt was a huge success; I think Seth collected the most, closely followed by Eli and Amanda. 

After dinner, we added to the Easter festivities by also celebrating Isaiah's birthday, which was two days earlier. We got our favorite Costco cake, and Seth's girlfriend, Sav, brought not just one pie, but two (!), banana cream and Oreo. So it was pretty much dessert heaven!

In the middle of all this, we finally put Jane in this little pink dress. My grandpa brought it back from Switzerland when I was a baby, and I was the first to wear it. Since then, we've made sure all the baby girls in the family wear it at least once, including Shulamith, Kennedy, and now Jane.

Finally, every Easter needs baskets:

Because why would you stop when they leave home?