Easter

Easter is one of my favorite holidays of the year.  I love that it celebrates the new life that comes with springtime; I love the joyful, festival music at Church; and I LOVE the yummy brunch food.  We started our celebration weekend with an Easter egg hunt at Aunt Debbie and Uncle Rick's house.  We had to dodge the raindrops, but both of the kids did a great job finding their many eggs and they had a great time.  Deb and Rick have been hosting the egg hunt since Eric was a kid, so it's cool to have this second generation enjoy the tradition.  

Easter morning was an early one.  Nolan was up at 4:30, ready to find the goodies left by the Easter Bunny.  It took him forever to find his basket (unsurprisingly.....the kid can't find anything), but was delighted to find some candy, a new game, and some Spiderman bubbles.  Livi woke up a little later and found her basket, filled with some candy, a dolly, and some puppy bubbles.  After a quick breakfast, Mom and I headed off to church to prepare the music for the Easter service.  This year, we were lucky enough to have two trumpets and a trombone join our congregational hymns.  The choir also sang, and Mom joined the sopranos.  I now have much more appreciation for the stress our parish music director was under during the big church festivals.  It is a marathon to select and plan all the music, coordinate and rehearse with all the instrumentalists, prepare the choir, and play piano for the entirety of the service, paying close attention to the timing of each hymn based on the number of people in attendance.  Everything went beautifully, but it sure takes a lot of energy!

When we got home, it was time to get everything prepared for our brunch.  Eric and I love cooking for this meal, and we go all out....roast lamb with rosemary pesto, glazed ham, cheesy hashbrowns, caesar salad, orange vanilla glazed fruit, asparagus with eggs, and of course, eggs in a basket.  Eric started this tradition the first time we hosted Easter a few years ago, but this year I think we finally perfected the recipe, thanks to the Pioneer Woman.  We baked potatoes first, and then grated them into the muffin tins instead of using frozen hashbrowns.  It made all the difference in the world, and they were actually yummy this year!

Mom and I made the best lamb cake yet.  It turned out perfectly and the lemon poppyseed cake itself was moist and flavorful.  Best of all, the day was full of hilarious stories and the joy of spending time with our loved ones.  We are grateful for the love of our family, and the wondrous love of our Living Savior.  Alleluia. He is Risen.