Easter

We had such a fun Easter this year! Holidays are so fun with kids! We tried to talk to Payson about why we celebrate Easter, and what the real meaning is, and I think he understood some of it. The week leading up to Easter Sunday we read from the scriptures what Jesus did on those days. We had a chart where Payson got to put a picture up each day, and we would watch some bible videos from the LDS website. He loved it and looked forward to it every night. And by the end of the week, he could recall what we read about every day. It was so neat to see his little mind trying to understand everything. He has a really good memory and amazes all the time at the things he remembers. He loved learning about Jesus, and still asks to watch Jesus videos on my phone. So cute! But I loved doing that so we could focus on the real reason why we have Easter. 

We also did all the usual fun things for Easter and had a blast. This is one of my favorite holidays. I love coloring eggs, egg hunts, and this holiday has the best candy! :) Here are some of the fun things we did.
Sally put together a fun Easter activity for all the kids with games and treats and an egg hunt. She is amazing! It was so fun. Chaotic, but fun! We played a bunch of different games and she had a bunch of prizes and Payson loved it!

Payson wanted to play Chubby Bunny, so he put a marshmallow in his mouth and tried to say it. It was so funny! I loved that he wanted to do it!

 He never made it past one, but he was content to just keep trying with the one. I was laughing the whole time he was doing it.

The last activity was a big egg hunt. Each kid got to find two eggs, and then come up and pick a prize.

It was a fun afternoon!

That night we colored Easter eggs with our friends the Brinleys. We had such a fun night eating pizza and decorating our eggs! 

And on Saturday, Randi and Bauer and me and Payson went to check out what was going on at the Fairlawn Plaza. They were advertising an Easter Extravaganza, so we went to check it out. They had face painting, balloon animals, pictures with the Easter Bunny, and even had real bunnies to pet. It was so crowded! We ended up walking around for a bit and going to see the bunnies, but didn't stay long. We didn't want to wait in the long lines and Payson and Bauer didn't seem too disappointed, so we left. Next year we'll go earlier and try to beat the crowds! 

Sunday morning we woke up and found that the Easter Bunny had come to our house and hid our baskets. Payson was so excited to find his basket! He searched around for awhile before we finally gave him a hint and he found his basket behind his toy castle. He got a basket full of m&ms and jellybeans, some marshmallow and carmel eggs, and a couple of little toys. He was so excited! It was so fun to watch him. 

After we found our baskets and ate some of our candy, we made breakfast which included Resurrection Rolls. My sweet friend Nicole gave us the ingredients and the instructions and I was excited to try it. We laid out the dough for the rolls and then wrapped them around marshmallows covered in butter and cinnamon sugar. The marshmallow represents Jesus's body and the butter and cinnamon sugar represent the oils and spices they put on His body, and then the rolls represented the tomb. Then we baked the rolls and when they were done, we cut into them and found that the marshmallows had disappeared! Just like Jesus's body was gone because he was resurrected. It was really cool! And they tasted good too. :) It was fun. 

Then we got ready for church and took pictures of our Easter outfits. 

We had a great church service and Payson got to go up and sing with the primary for the first time. He was so excited! He fell asleep on the way to church and had a hard time waking up, but I was afraid he would be so sad if he didn't get up and sing; he had been practicing the song all week! I finally woke him up enough for him to know what was going on and he went up there. The primary kids did great! {Did I mention I am the primary chorister?!} And I loved watching Payson sing. Ben even filmed it on his phone. {Can you do that?!}

After church we were invited over to the Fishers with some other families for dinner. We had some delicious ham, deviled eggs, potatoes, salad, and just a yummy Easter dinner! After dinner the kids went on an Easter egg hunt and found some eggs outside. It was a really fun night. Again, it was weird to not be with family like usual, but it was nice to have time with just our family, and not have to rush around to see everyone, or worry about hurting anyone's feelings. 

We had a fun day, and a fun week! 

After church we dove right back into our baskets! 

The Easter egg hunt after dinner. It was such a nice day that day! 

 Payson and Jackson going through all their eggs they found. We were very sugared out that day! 

Love this cute kid! He makes life so fun!

Happy Easter 2013!