​What a spectacular Sunday this Easter was this year. We all got up and got ready for church. No Easter baskets or candy was out in the morning. We focused on our Savior and the love that He has for each of us and the love we have for each other. Mike printed out programs again for church and each one of us got to participate in some way or another. Madeline was especially excited to help lead the music with Abby. Everyone made an effort to look their best. The boys actually did their hair and had church socks on. It was great. The boys took turns blessing and passing the sacrament. I love that we can do the Sacrament at home and that we have awesome boys to do that for us. Mike gave the lesson/talk like he does most Sundays. I love that he prepares each Sunday and takes charge in giving us a spiritual message each Sunday. Today’s message was appropriately on the Resurrection. Even though it was Easter, our meeting was still short, simple, and sweet. That is how we roll these days. After our church service was over, I brought out the Easter baskets. Madeline was super excited to get the Toy Story 4 toys in her basket. She has become obsessed with the characters from Toy Story and kept asking me when she could go to the store to get them. The older kids were all about the candy and chocolate. We tried to go simple this year. The older kids got some fun games in their baskets. Later in the day we did a small Easter egg hunt just for Madeline since it was cold and snowy outside. No golden eggs this year. Madeline was beyond excited even in the cold to go outside and collect all the eggs the Easter bunny left her. Being able to witness her excitement is one of the best things in this world. As she came inside to inspect her eggs, she just wanted to see what was in all of her eggs. She had no problem eating way too much chocolate. While she was enjoying her chocolate, Mike helped me finish preparing Easter dinner. I grabbed a few fun table decorations for this year. The kids were pleasantly surprised with how cute our table looked. Everything about our dinner was amazing. We dined on ham, a new scalloped potato recipe, homemade rolls with homemade raspberry jam, deviled eggs, and most of us passed on the carrots. They were not good at all. We will definitely do our usual honey roasted carrots next year. So much for trying something new.  For dessert, as if the kids didn’t already ingest a ton of chocolate, we ate the most delicious chocolate pie. It was the perfect ending to a pretty great day.

​You never know what the weather will be on Easter Sunday in Colorado. This year we got lucky with blue skies and fairly warm weather for our traditional Easter egg hunt in the backyard.  The kids woke up to fun Easter baskets filled with their favorite Japanese candies, chocolate Cadbury eggs, new journals for the girls, a cute penguin for Madeline, and some gag toys for the boys.  I don’t think you are ever too old to enjoy a basket filled with fun things.  Before church the kids headed to the backyard to collect as many eggs as they could find. The girls were still interested in finding the hard to find eggs while the boys were only interested in finding a golden egg. Each of the kids gets one golden egg to find. Inside is either $5, $10, or $20. Abby found the $20 egg this year and she was beyond excited. Madeline was so happy to find her pastel colored eggs and was pretty protective of them. Easter is such a fun time for kids but also a time to remember our Savior. We are so grateful for the Atonement and the peace that this season brings into our lives.  
 

​It was so nice to have Grandma Anne and Grandpa Franz with us for Easter Sunday.  After everyone was up in the morning we put out the Easter baskets for the kids. Madeline loved her new bunnies and was so excited to eat her strawberry pocky snacks.  The kids were all surprised by the fun things they had in their baskets this year.  Everyone got a fun little toy and a variety of fun candies, including some classic Japanese candy.  This year the boys didn’t participate in the regular Easter egg hunt but instead decided to help Madeline and just hunt for their golden eggs. The girls were in full force trying to find all the hard to find eggs.  Emma got the lucky golden egg with the $20 bill this year. This Easter egg hunt was definitely focused on Madeline and even the girls stopped hunting to watch how cute Madeline was in finding her eggs and putting them in her basket.  There was a moment when Abby found one of the hard to find eggs and Madeline saw her pick it up and put up quite a fuss.  Needless to say we just had to distract her with her pastel plastic eggs instead. When we saw that she was running out of eggs to collect we sneaked some eggs out of her basket and put them back on the grass for her to pick up again.