Easter

For Brian and I, our separate Easter traditions have been the easiest to meld together. Growing up, my family always did the Easter bunny stuff on Saturday so we could focus on the Savior on Sunday. That means, we can usually get together with my sisters for an egg hunt on Saturday and still be able to get together with his family on Sunday without any kind of trouble! 

Sundays, however, pose some logistical issues in trying to get the three Utah Saville families together--we all have different, fairly incompatible church schedules. This year, we were lucky that the Church decided to broadcast the Provo City Center Temple dedication statewide, meaning that the dedication would take the place of church services on March 20. Lea had the idea that we get together and do the Easter thing on the 20th so we would have more time to celebrate together and visit. We went with Lea and Shayne to the 9:00 session--Kirt and Julie went to the 9 a.m. session in Mapleton--and then we all met up at Lea's afterwards. (The temple dedication was amazing, and I was so grateful that we got to participate.)

The night before, we colored eggs with the kids. I'm pretty sure this is the first time we've colored eggs at our house. We only colored a dozen eggs, and the kids were both wishing that there was more to do.  

  

 Lucky for them, Lea hadn't colored her eggs yet, so the got to color more with Skyler and Danny the next morning:

Skyler let Rachel borrow a shirt so she didn't get her dress dirty:  

 I brought spoils from the baby shower that I helped host for my friend the day before. Rachel loved the mustache suckers, and so did the other kids.  

 Rachel LOVES Hunter. She even gets kind of shy around him, almost like a little crush. It is so cute.

 Hunter and Cole hid the eggs, and the younger 4 kiddos hunted for them. There weren't a lot. I think Rachel and Skyler each had to find 7, and Danny and Michael had to find 8. The boys all found their allotted number really quickly, and Rachel was the one finding all the ones they missed.

 After all the eggs were accounted for, the egg rolling began. The poor eggs got some rough treatment this year--even more so than other years. I love this tradition! 

  

 Shayne showed us how they celebrate Easter in England:

 And Rachel convinced Papa to read her some books. It was a great morning/afternoon with this great family! 

 Julie made Rachel and Baby Jane special Frozen quilts. She even made a pillow for Baby Jane. Rachel loves them! They match her pillowcase from Christmas. When we got home on Sunday, she hooked Baby Jane up with her new quilt and pillow:

 and we enjoyed some couch snuggles, with Rachel wrapped in her new quilt.

 The next Saturday (April 26), the Easter Bunny came. Michael had a hard time finding his basket, but both he and Rachel had found Brian and mine. They were dying to tell us, and we tried to silence them before they gave us too many hints. It proved a pointless endeavor because Rachel just went and pulled them out from their hiding places. We laughed, just happy at their excitement. Michael finally found his, with a hint from his dad.

 They each got a churchish book (Rachel got a picture book about the Provo City Center Temple; Michael got a chapter book about a couple of kids who go back in time to the pioneer days), a new church outfit, and a fun little toy (Michael got a Lego set and Rachel got a couple of Disney Little People).

 I think Rachel ate most of her Easter candy before we even got out of bed.

 That Saturday was a little crazy. Kirt came to help Brian frame out a wall downstairs (more on that later), and I had to judge at piano festival. We got a much later start in heading to Odgen for the egg hunt with my sisters than I had originally hoped. We arrived at Chelsea's house just before 5. Rachel crashed for most of the way:

 We color-coded eggs again this year. I hid Rachel and Ambers, Brian and David hid Heather's and Matthew's, Chelsea hid Sarah & Michael's, and Taryn hid Aarons. I think Brian and David had a little too much fun making it challenging for those two oldest kids.

 This year, I decided to buy nicer prizes for each kid, instead of buying the bulk party favors that nobody wants around the house. Each kid had 6 bunny bucks in their eggs that they got to uses to "buy" stuff from the Bunny Store. Taryn bought them all bubbles to go in the store too. After the egg hunt, they got to go shopping. I think everyone was happy, and I'm glad not to have the extra junk. They got lots of candy from Aunt Chelsea in the eggs. Thanks for all the hard work, Chels. She's the one who goes all out on this thing.

I ended up talking to Chelsea until almost 9, so it was pretty late by the time we made it home. The next day was a little rough getting our crew to church, but we made it in time for the opening hymn, which was a miracle. I love Easter Sunday; it's my favorite out of the whole year. Our speakers were amazing, and despite being pretty tired, I left sacrament meeting with my cup overflowing. I'm so grateful for our Savior, for everything he did for us so that we could be filled with hope. There is nothing--no pain, no sin, no death--that can't be overcome through His atonement. He makes this possible:

and so much more! I'm so grateful for Him, for his atonement, death, and resurrection. Happy (late) Easter!