Easter

We had a really great Easter this year. It started out a little rough but ended up being a wonderful day.

Since we had just returned from Sydney a few days earlier, the kids were still not adjusted to Denver time and were up half the night, very awake and alert. Jeramy and I - very tired and grumpy! Finally at about 4 or 5 am everyone fell asleep. Thankfully the Easter bunny was kind enough to not come in the morning , allowing all of us to get a little extra, much needed, sleep.

Since having children of my own, I have decided that it is really fun to coordinate our family's outfits for Christmas and Easter. It is completely cheesy and something I used to roll my eyes at, but I've decided I love doing it, even if it is a bit cheesy! And Jeramy, who won't admit it, but I know doesn't like it, is a really good sport about it! He only complained about his tie a few times. :) So, we all donned our black, white and yellow outfits, and headed off to church looking like "bumblebees", according to Jeramy.

The full view of the bumblees!
Despite my friend Erin taking about
30 family pictures, there wasn't a
single one where we were all looking
with eyes open, etc. We are a
sad, pathetic group of subjects!

Church was wonderful and was nice to be able spend some time reflecting on our Savior and the true purpose and meaning of Easter. It was a good calming influence on our family and helped replace the chaos and grumpiness with feelings of love and peace.

After church we were invited by our friends, Sverre & Erin, to go to their parents house for Easter dinner and an egg hunt. Sverre's mom really goes all out for the easter egg hunt and creates several eggs that have a slip of paper with what the real prize is - such as silly putty, crayons, a bunny, baby duck.... Yup, that's right - a few lucky kids (and even luckier parents!) get to walk away with some real, live animals. It was so cute to see all the kids going full force ahead, seeking out eggs and excitedly prying them open to see what was inside. It was also great to see the look of panic on the parents faces when it was a slip of paper inside. You know everyone was fervently wishing - "please don't be an animal, please don't be an animal..." At least that's what I was thinking. So, I was pretty happy when Ella's slip of paper said "silly putty!"

Ella trying to figure out what her
paper says. Three cheers for silly putty!
Cute Tait and Sierra delving into their eggs.

Ella with one of the baby ducks.

Finn with one of the bunnies. They were
pretty cute and even came with cages!

After leaving the Jensens, we came home to find that the Easter bunny had visited our house. Despite being completely exhausted, the kids perked up a little for the little scavenger hunt that the Easter bunny always does. Right after the scavenger hunt the kids just crashed. Ella didn't even want to eat any of her candy because she said she was too tired. We all fell into bed exhausted and happy after a wonderful, uplifting and enjoyable day!