easter

I loved the week leading up to Easter as we focused on the life of Christ, but to be honest, Sunday was a little chaotic, which I'll explain in a bit.  But despite the fact that Claire and Grace weren't at their house, the Easter Bunny still filled their baskets nicely...

I had to get a picture of the kids all gathered in Brooke's room in anticipation of going downstairs to find their baskets. Although my kids know that this has nothing to do with the real reason we celebrate Easter, they still get excited for their baskets, egg hunts, etc. 

After a quick breakfast, we readied ourselves for church and took a cousin picture.  Brooke and Colby are used to always getting cousin pictures with the Peacocks, so it was fun to continue the tradition with the Griffiths girls. 

As we drove to church, I kept thinking about the news we received the day before about my mom having ankle surgery on Monday morning.  It was very sudden, but the doctor she met with on Friday felt that they needed to do surgery since she wasn't healing (apparently she had a fibular non-union which they never caught) and he had an opening the following Monday. My parents tried to assure us that Dad could drive Mom to and from the hospital, but I was not convinced that he would be able to help her after surgery and take care of her needs.  Since I have my in-laws close by, it made the most sense for me to go, but it wasn't an easy thing to coordinate.  I hated asking because they had just returned home from a long RV trip, but I texted them at the beginning of Sacrament Meeting and they so graciously said that they would do anything we needed so that I could go on the trip.

   I have never purchased a plane ticket hours before I left, but I felt strongly that I should be there, and with Kevin's encouragement and help from my in-laws, I booked the flight. 

My in-laws were already coming over for Easter dinner, so when they arrived, Bev jumped right in to help Kevin cook dinner, Kimberly hid all the Easter eggs and planned a cute scavenger hunt for the kids, and Josh helped get the guest bed made up for Bev.  While they did all the work, I packed my bags and made a few arrangements to be gone all week.

I did manage to get a few pics of the festivities...

It was cute to listen to my nieces look out for each other and walk past eggs to "make sure everyone else had enough", even though they were the youngest ones.

Brooke found the Golden Egg, which had a few dollars inside. 

I can't remember what we had for dinner, but based on pictures, it looks like some sort of steak or beef tenderloin, baked potatoes, salad, fruit, garlic bread, and a pie for dessert. 

It was really special to have Kimberly's family with us for a holiday, and although I felt a little scattered and lacking as a hostess, everyone was super helpful and it was still a beautiful day as a family.  And I'm especially thankful for Jesus, His atonement, death, and subsequent resurrection.