Tuesday, April 6, 2010

Totally unplanned & totally amazing!

I have to admit that this Easter weekend was one of the most amazing family weekends I've experienced in awhile. In years past I've gone to great lengths to do everything "perfectly", from turning the house into an Easter wonderland, to coloring eggs & decorating cookies, setting up the "perfect" Easter baskets (complete with the jelly bean trail that Mr. Cottontail left behind in his hurry to get to the next house), and preparing a gorgeous Easter dinner after church on Easter Sunday. Well this year, I let all the "perfect" go and had one of the best Easter's ever!
Elissa & her boyfriend Zach, complete with Subie the pup (who I'm sure went home with a belly ache after eating Mr. Cottontail's jelly bean trail!), came down from St. George for the weekend. It was a big step for Zach, as he's never spent a holiday away from his family! So we felt honored that he would step outside his comfort zone to spend the holiday with our family!
Sunday brought lots of wind and just enough sunshine to send the little kids out for an egg hunt after church. You have to love the looks on their faces while they're hunting for those colorful little things :) After the hunting of eggs was completed, we were surprised by a visit from Rich's oldest son Jared and his girlfriend Megan. 2010 is the first time since we joined these 2 crazy families together almost 8 years ago, that ALL of the kids have been here together on Easter! Totally unplanned, totally unexpected and totally amazing! My heart was so full of love and satisfaction as I sat down at my table to eat an Easter dinner with a family of 12! Ok, so that's a stretch of the truth, we could never fit all 12 people around our table, so there was a little lap and floor eating going on as well :) Nonetheless, it was a beautiful day spent in faith and overwhelming gratitude for a Savior who gave his life for this humble family, that we may be a family always and live with him again one day.
Now....enjoy some pictures!!!

4 comments:

Aubrey Messick said...

What a wonderful Easter! And your pictures are beautiful Heather. Love you all!!!

Bracken and Bracken said...

Isn't spontenaity the best!?!? Your family pictures turned out so well :) Love your beautiful family!

Florene or Lori said...

Oh, Heather, you sure know how to make a mother (grandmother) cry! That was a beautiful post, and a keeper. I am so blessed to have your amazing family be a part of mine! See? These rich days make all of the others seem so unimportant!

Kim Messick said...

What a fun Easter for you! We had a simple one as well! Only Scott and Aubrey were here and the bunny thought they were to old to stop here this year! Ah, bummer! But General Conference was AWESOME!
Love your pictures and slide-show!