He is risen! He is risen!
Tell it out with joyful voice.
He has burst his three days’ prison;
Let the whole wide earth rejoice.
Death is conquered; man is free.
Christ has won the victory.
Come with high and holy hymning;
Chant our Lord’s triumphant lay.
Not one darksome cloud is dimming
Yonder glorious morning ray,
Breaking o’er the purple east,
Symbol of our Easter feast.
He is risen! He is risen!
He hath opened heaven’s gate.
We are free from sin’s dark prison,
Risen to a holier state.
And a brighter Easter beam
On our longing eyes shall stream."
(Text: Cecil Frances Alexander, 1818–1895)
“He is risen!” What great joy and hope those three words truly bring! Because He is risen, I can be, too. Because He is risen, my family can be together forever. Because He is risen, he has transcended all things so he can help us also. Because He is Risen, I can repent of the many wrongs I do. Because He is risen, we can have peace in this life. Because He is risen, anybody who lives or has lived will live again. What an amazing gift!
This year, we had some fun events leading up to Easter.
My mom, sister Amy and I got together to make these to die for Peep wreaths (the wreaths are to die for, I can pass on the Peeps…the only way they’re good is when you put them in the microwave to watch them blow up and then eat, which we did BTW). We try to get together at least every few months to do a fun baking day or craft or something. It’s fun to be domestic together, especially since my mom and sis are exactly that, domestic! And creative and beautiful and sweet and talented in so many ways! We enjoyed doing these and they turned out oh-so cute! Thanks to howdoesshe.com for inspiration for this craft! I love that website.
This is my kind of peep show...
The finished product, voila!
Our microwaved peep...uh huh. That's how we roll.
Cal kept snitchin' the candy!
Emma and Cal were able to do a little egg hunt and playgroup activity with some of my friend’s kids. It was raining like crazy and pretty cold, so our party got cut a little short. But we all had a fun time. Thanks to Katrina for being such a super mom and organizing such fun playgroups all of the time! The kids made washcloth bunnies for a craft, which turned out super cute. Then we ate a picnic lunch and Kat read the Berenstein Bear’s Easter. Then we had an egg hunt, the first of four our kids would do. My sister and Kat’s mom hid the eggs under the large pavilion, so it was nice and dry!
Saturday morning, the day before Easter, we had a ward Easter egg hunt at our Bishop’s house. The Primary presidency gave an inspirational message about the Resurrection first, which was good. Then we did the egg hunt. The eggs were in pretty tricky spots! They also had face painting (which our kids are not big on), Easter crafts, and yummy popcorn from a popcorn machine, it was springy colors, kind of tasted like jell-O popcorn. Our ward is the seriously the best! 
Then we had the Stoddard/Richins family Easter picnic. We had a Mexican fiesta, and ate all kinds of yummy Mexican food. We then did the egg hunt. Each family was to bring 10 eggs, real or plastic, decorated or dyed, to contribute. The kids and I made animal eggs for it, which turned out pretty cute! Again, thanks to familyfun.com, another website I stalk for ideas, for the idea to do something like this. I really credit my creativity to other sources most of the time! (: That’s what they’re there for though I guess! The kids really got into the egg hunting thing this year. Cal would see one, reach for it, and proudly tell us all “I found one!” Emma had a blast, too! We even practiced before at home to help teach Cal how to hunt for eggs. Then we had a bunch of games my mom planned. We did some relays and games with eggs and wooden spoons. It was a roarin’ good time. Emma had a hard time with some of the games, but she stuck with it and finished. Cal mostly sat and wanted to watch. He did try the egg toss game, and seemed to enjoy that. Lucy was asleep in her carseat the entire time! So that's why there are no pictures of her, I forgot to take any since she wasn't awake!
Playing egg games!
The kids love playing at the park, of course, as well.
Then we had the Stoddard/Richins family Easter picnic. We had a Mexican fiesta, and ate all kinds of yummy Mexican food. We then did the egg hunt. Each family was to bring 10 eggs, real or plastic, decorated or dyed, to contribute. The kids and I made animal eggs for it, which turned out pretty cute! Again, thanks to familyfun.com, another website I stalk for ideas, for the idea to do something like this. I really credit my creativity to other sources most of the time! (: That’s what they’re there for though I guess! The kids really got into the egg hunting thing this year. Cal would see one, reach for it, and proudly tell us all “I found one!” Emma had a blast, too! We even practiced before at home to help teach Cal how to hunt for eggs. Then we had a bunch of games my mom planned. We did some relays and games with eggs and wooden spoons. It was a roarin’ good time. Emma had a hard time with some of the games, but she stuck with it and finished. Cal mostly sat and wanted to watch. He did try the egg toss game, and seemed to enjoy that. Lucy was asleep in her carseat the entire time! So that's why there are no pictures of her, I forgot to take any since she wasn't awake!
Playing egg games!
The kids love playing at the park, of course, as well.
Peek-a-boo! I see you, Cal!
Saturday night, we dyed eggs at the Ryerse grandparents. It is tradition for everyone to do a dozen eggs (we’ve cut back the last few years, but I think in all we did 5 dozen). Emma asked every day the week leading up to Easter if it was time to dye eggs. So she finally got her opportunity. Cal wanted to do all yellow eggs, and Emma enjoyed experimenting with colors and and decorating and coloring them with the “magic” crayon. Dave and I helped clean out the garage and back yard. I do love a good spring cleaning, and we got quite a bit accomplished!
Easter morning, the Easter Bunny came! We checked out our baskets. Got some pretty good stuff…Easter toys, candy, hair accessories for the girls, little games for Cal, and more.
Saturday night, we dyed eggs at the Ryerse grandparents. It is tradition for everyone to do a dozen eggs (we’ve cut back the last few years, but I think in all we did 5 dozen). Emma asked every day the week leading up to Easter if it was time to dye eggs. So she finally got her opportunity. Cal wanted to do all yellow eggs, and Emma enjoyed experimenting with colors and and decorating and coloring them with the “magic” crayon. Dave and I helped clean out the garage and back yard. I do love a good spring cleaning, and we got quite a bit accomplished!
Easter morning, the Easter Bunny came! We checked out our baskets. Got some pretty good stuff…Easter toys, candy, hair accessories for the girls, little games for Cal, and more.
Lucy sporting some of the goods.
Checking out the baskets. 
Cal loves sweets!! Good thing they're going into the dentist in a few weeks! Ha ha!
Then we got in our Sunday best and ready for church. We always go and pick Cal out a new church outfit from Sears, this year, he tried them on with Dave and picked this one out! Good job, little buddy! My mom made our girls dresses this year, I made the flowers for them and the headbands. So cute!
We attended sacrament meeting at Julie’s singles ward, since she was speaking. She spoke on the Sacrament, which is pretty appropriately tied to Easter and how it’s important to remember Him always. She did a great job! Then we went to Dave’s parent’s Sunday School and RS/Priesthood meetings.
We went to my parents to go hang out with everyone. Cal had a little incident and got hurt, but that’s nothing new. That poor kid is hurting himself so regularly, it’s sad! He scraped up his chin and neck and bit through his tongue. Bummer! We got to Skype with my brother in Michigan and his family - Adam, Meghan and Steven, and even took a family photo with them! He he! Love those guys!
Then we got in our Sunday best and ready for church. We always go and pick Cal out a new church outfit from Sears, this year, he tried them on with Dave and picked this one out! Good job, little buddy! My mom made our girls dresses this year, I made the flowers for them and the headbands. So cute!
We attended sacrament meeting at Julie’s singles ward, since she was speaking. She spoke on the Sacrament, which is pretty appropriately tied to Easter and how it’s important to remember Him always. She did a great job! Then we went to Dave’s parent’s Sunday School and RS/Priesthood meetings.
We went to my parents to go hang out with everyone. Cal had a little incident and got hurt, but that’s nothing new. That poor kid is hurting himself so regularly, it’s sad! He scraped up his chin and neck and bit through his tongue. Bummer! We got to Skype with my brother in Michigan and his family - Adam, Meghan and Steven, and even took a family photo with them! He he! Love those guys!
Lucy & Grandma.
"Daddy hold you!" Cal says, after he gets his "owies". Daddy can make anything feel better.
Our cherry kolachies. Luckily I don't have a recipe blog. I'd be fired because of the pictures of food that I take and their presentation! At least they taste good, right, and that's what matters?
We also went to the Ryerse’s to do our outdoor egg hunt. Grandpa Dan hides them every year, and he doesn’t make it easy! It seems like there are always about five or so eggs that take FOERVER to find! (: We enjoy that. We had a ham dinner, and we made cherry kolachies. I burnt out their electric hand mixer making these. It started smoking and then stopped working. That was the second thing that malfunctioned while I was using it this week, the first being a glue gun when we were making the animal eggs. It literally exploded on me! It was pretty scary, luckily no one was injured in the making of the eggs. The glue gun jumped off the table, made a bang sound, and started smoking up. Anyways, the picture of these rolls looks terrible, but they taste so goooood. We started making them every Easter (that or an egg braid roll) growing up, and now continuing that tradition.
Our cherry kolachies. Luckily I don't have a recipe blog. I'd be fired because of the pictures of food that I take and their presentation! At least they taste good, right, and that's what matters?
We also went to the Ryerse’s to do our outdoor egg hunt. Grandpa Dan hides them every year, and he doesn’t make it easy! It seems like there are always about five or so eggs that take FOERVER to find! (: We enjoy that. We had a ham dinner, and we made cherry kolachies. I burnt out their electric hand mixer making these. It started smoking and then stopped working. That was the second thing that malfunctioned while I was using it this week, the first being a glue gun when we were making the animal eggs. It literally exploded on me! It was pretty scary, luckily no one was injured in the making of the eggs. The glue gun jumped off the table, made a bang sound, and started smoking up. Anyways, the picture of these rolls looks terrible, but they taste so goooood. We started making them every Easter (that or an egg braid roll) growing up, and now continuing that tradition.
The cute little cousins, Brody and Lucy! They're about a month apart, but about the same size!
I find this picture quite comical! It looks like Brody is trying to punch Lucy, but really, they love each other, I promise!
I find this picture quite comical! It looks like Brody is trying to punch Lucy, but really, they love each other, I promise!
What a little stud muffin!
The cousins - Kaison, Tayla, Cal and Emma looking for the eggs.
The cousins - Kaison, Tayla, Cal and Emma looking for the eggs.
Egg hunters.
Our family on Easter in our Sunday best.
Cutie patooties, Tayla and Emma!
We try to make Easter fun and have lots of fun things going on, but we also try to focus it on the Savior and the reason we celebrate Easter. We do an egg hunt that has objects in it that represent something about the crucifixion or the Atonement. We do the hunt first, and then go through the eggs and talk about what each object means. The Easter Bunny always brings a gift that helps us remember Jesus. This year, it was a DVD of scripture stories. Do you have ways in your family to help you center Easter on Jesus? I’d like to hear your ideas because I'm always looking for more myself. Happy Easter!
Again, I am grateful for the Savior. I know He lives and loves us so much more than we can comprehend. I know He lives!!! And that means everything.
Our family on Easter in our Sunday best.
Cutie patooties, Tayla and Emma!
We try to make Easter fun and have lots of fun things going on, but we also try to focus it on the Savior and the reason we celebrate Easter. We do an egg hunt that has objects in it that represent something about the crucifixion or the Atonement. We do the hunt first, and then go through the eggs and talk about what each object means. The Easter Bunny always brings a gift that helps us remember Jesus. This year, it was a DVD of scripture stories. Do you have ways in your family to help you center Easter on Jesus? I’d like to hear your ideas because I'm always looking for more myself. Happy Easter!
Again, I am grateful for the Savior. I know He lives and loves us so much more than we can comprehend. I know He lives!!! And that means everything.
1 comment:
I love all the ideas you always have. I love how you have your blog. Very cute. Easter was great. It was fun to share it with you guys. You might have to share some of those pictures with me. your awesome thanks.
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