Easter Weekend!!

Wow!! What a busy weekend and week we have had. I think I need to write about it now before I forget everything.

Playgroup Easter Egg Hunt

On Thursdays we go to playgroup here at a local park in our community! My friend Karen loves to put parties together and put a little egg hunt together with all the kids! I took Alissa out of school early this day so she could come! I bet there were at least 30 kids there! We played all day and Taft was especially excited to have found the square Sponge Bob egg! My kids love Sponge Bob because I do not let them watch it. Emily had fun eating everything she could find off the ground too! The kids sure love all of their friends and especially Spinnaker Bay Park!!

Easter Pageant

On Thursday night we decided to go to Easter Pageant. We like to go on Thursday each year because the kids are out of school on Friday so staying up late isn't as big of deal. I was so excited this year because Alissa and Kenzie are now both old enough to sit and listen through the whole thing. They even asked questions and were even concerned about the "man" (actor playing Jesus) really getting nails put in his hands. It was so fun to watch their faces as they sincerely focused on the true Easter celebration! Taft and Emily did pretty well too! We were a few minutes late to the production due to an accident, but Ryan and his friend Steve had gone early to save seats! We had dinner as we watched the show! It was adorable to see the kids trying hard not to fall asleep on the way home. Note to self driving alone to the Easter Pageant with four kids and trying to hall them and all the stuff by yourself is not the best idea! All in all we had a great night and got to focus on our Savior and the sacrifices he has made for us!

Good Friday

It was nice to have a day to relax.....Garner style as our friends would say. We spent the morning relaxing. I did some shopping and the kids got to play around at the house! Ryan was home by 10:30am because he only had a half day!! Got to love half days when your day starts bright and early! When Ry got home he took Kenzie and Taft to a birthday party and I baked all day. We had some very special friends, Lindsay and Danny and their sweet kids come over for dinner. I was realizing this is the first time I have had dinner guests since we moved here that was not family. We always go to other people's houses so this was fun! I made coconut shrimp and chicken, fresh pineapple apricot salsa, spinach artichoke dip, twice baked potatoes, two cakes, veggies and prepped for the Easter crafts! Our friends came over at 6 and we had a wonderful time. Dinner went really well!! We made homemade birds nests out of chow mien noodles and chocolate and colored eggs!

Easter Saturday

Easter Saturday started early and wonderful! Alissa and I left the house at 5:30am to start the morning with Bountiful Baskets. I have started a site here in Val Vista Lakes and we are getting about 30 baskets each week!! It is a lot of fun and I love having the opportunity to serve the community!! This was Alissa's first time coming with me and she had so much fun helping sort and count things! I will definitely be bringing her with me again!

After that we rushed over to the Ward Pancake Breakfast and Egg Hunt. The kids love spending time with their friends and I really feel like we have a great "Ward Family!" We have made some truly great friends here and I would say they are our family too! The Easter Bunny made an appearance and when I tried to hand Emily off for a picture she screamed!

Next we jumped in the car and drove straight to Dobson Ranch to my Dad's house for Easter fun! They have a carnival and Egg Hunt here and the kids love all the free stuff! They have games, bounce houses, face painting, snow cones and popcorn for free. It is very safe and the kids have fun running from thing to thing. This was Emily's first Egg Hunt she participated in! They got healthy baskets from Grandpa John and Grandma Debbie and eggs with money too! We were so excited for all the healthy stuff! Ryan also got a very special birthday present from them! New Vibram shoes! He had put a hole in his last set of shoes so this was a favorite birthday present! He was soo excited!!! My grandparents also showed up to the Egg Hunt and we all sat at visited while the kids ran around!

After this we hopped in the car and drove quickly to Kenzie's baseball game! He had a few great hits and had fun at the first game of the season he attended! I love that there are no outs or strikes. It is very helpful in just teaching the kids the basics of the game without negativity! He loves baseball and I think we will keep him playing in the future!! He has several friends on the team too from out ward which is fun! While at the game Ryan, Alissa, Emily and Taft were doing tricks on the fences and running all around! I love how active my family is!

Next we went home for a bit to relax and Mema took Alissa Easter dress shopping! Alissa loves to have one on one time and found a beautiful dress!!! It is amazing how even one hour of just relaxing at home feels!

For the evening we spent time with the Garner side of the family! Ryan's grandparents live near by and have a potluck one a month with all of the family that lives here! There were about 10 kids and plenty of adults! Ryan has two Uncle's and one Aunt that came and they even had an Egg Hunt with real eggs! It was so fun to spend hours chatting with family and getting to know all the cousins better! We truly are blessed to have so much family around! Ryan has a first cousin Alissa's age and one Kenzie's age so it works out great! They love to play with cousin's! Ryan stayed at his grandparents a bit longer to get to visit!

I have to say my favorite part of the day is bedtime!!! The thing is that it is not because the kids go to bed. Every night Ryan spends at least a half hour extra reading to our children. It is their "daddy time" and I love to listen in! They all lay in bed as Daddy reads to them from the scriptures and teaches them the great lessons there. Then they read chapter books like Chronicles of Narnia or Peter Pan! I know that this time will always be special to them! I can not wait until Emily is a bit older and won't need her own bedtime routine and we can all participate in "Daddy time!" This is when Ryan really took time to teach them about Easter and the resurrection of our Savior!

Easter Sunday

This Easter we did a few things differently. We tried to focus less on Easter Bunny, the kids did get baskets though and had 33 eggs to find! Luckily we didn't have a lot of candy and the kids were so excited to each find a fishing pole! A few weeks ago our friends The Blake and Ami invited us to go fishing at the lake here! Ever since then, the kids have been saving for fishing poles. They were so happy to find they each got one! Emily was not very happy she could not get in the crinkly paper the kids were eating. She loved her big stuffed bunny!!

In the mid morning we were invited to go participate in egg racing at a local park with our friends! This will definitely be a new tradition! Each person decorated and named two eggs! We had a blast racing them down the hills and then playing Peter Cottontail! I am so thankful for good friends! The kids had soo much fun!! Most of the eggs lasted longer then I though until the cement racing!

We got ready for church and the kids loved their new clothes. Both of the boys got their own church suit!! And the girls looked like princesses! Alissa had the scripture today in Primary and spoke about the Resurrection! I am so thankful for all they are learning from church! They know the scriptures are true and have their own testimonies of Jesus Christ! It is so fun to see hoe much they truly listen when we think they do not.

After our busy weekend I sat and reflected....we are so truly blessed to have so much good in our life. I am thankful for opportunities to look back and see all that good. We are thankful for our family that surrounds us. We are thankful for good friends that influence us in so many aspects of our lives. We are so lucky to have the gospel of Jesus Christ to guide us right now at this time in the world where there is so much confusion out there. We know that families are the central purpose of God's plan and that we are blessed to have such a special one! Hope everyone had a wonderful Easter remember our SAVIOR, for her truly is our Savior if we will come unto him! We love you all!