Easter Celebration

We enjoyed our Easter celebration at Nate & Lauren's home with the company of Nana & Papa Lord & Grammy.  The weather was beautiful today & we enjoyed eating outside with a spread of delicious food - oh the yummy-ness of that food, it was a great little feast!

Rebecca was the party planner and was so excited to put on a talent show, which could also be called an Easter Pageant.  She was into every detail...I love her in this photo directing everyone on what to do :)

 We packed our handy-dandy scripture dress-ups that we've had for years...these pieces of fabric have dressed up many children for scripture story reenactments...I had no idea when Bryson & I were Noah & Mrs. Noah years ago that we'd still be using the fabric for many other purposes...we sure do love that scripture dress-up bin!

Rebecca had written out an invitation for the Easter Party and dropped it off at our house yesterday when their family was out running errands.  I should have taken a picture, but it was darling and had a role for everyone to play...except that we found out today that there was fighting over who got to play the part of Jesus, and so the part was given to Uncle Nate....which he did such a great job, he sealed his commitment to that role for years to come!

Nate & Bryson acting part of the Last Supper 

This is one of my favorite photos from the pageant...the Garden.  It was amazing how well laid out their yard was for this show - Bryson pointed out that the Wall of Jerusalem is in the background, which wasn't even planned.

The cast members waiting to come on ~ Rebecca was Mary, Madeleine was one of the other women (Elisabeth I think), Rachel another woman, Jacob was a Roman Soldier (he still calls it a Shoulder and it's too cute that I've given up correcting him), and Bryson Jr. played the part of multiple disciples.  

Jacob was excited about the thought of being a soldier before he got "on stage" - then he froze up a little.  He didn't want to push Nate around as the soldiers pushed Jesus, and when he was supposed to act out nailing the hands to a cross, he barely lifted his arms from his side and did the tiniest hammering action.  Nate whispered to him to nail his hands & Jacob came back with "I DID!"  Funny kid....very dramatic at home, but not as inclined on another sort of stage!

The women preparing the spices to go and annoint the body 

Jesus appears to Mary - I loved this scene as well, as Rebecca took the part so seriously.  It was adorable.  

Running to tell the disciples that Jesus is RISEN!  

Jesus appearing and allowing his hands & feet to be touched 

The Cast!  They did a great job & I have to say that I was once again reminded how well children learn and internalize something when they have a hands-on experience or act something out.  At first I was a little hesitant to think about acting this out - we act out the Nativity each Christmas, however the atonement and crucifixation is an event that I want to be careful to portray in the right way...and I get that we aren't the LDS movie studies.  However, the children took this very seriously - they wanted to show what happened and they did it in the most loving and child-like manner...it was absolutely perfect.  I hope that we'll be able to do this for many years to come as it really was beautiful to see the children acting out some of the very significant and most important events about the final hours of our Savior's life.

After the Easter Pageant, the kiddos started to play games with a few beach balls...

Which turned into a group game of volleyball/just keep the ball off the ground (and off the roof for Madeleine!...she has the extra height that sent the ball up there a few times!)

The cheering crowd or photographers :)  Grammy & Olivia - I have found a few different pictures on Pinterest that show generation photos and I like to pretend that I'm a budding photographer....

Olivia reminds me of Jacob - he would just stare at you like he was looking into your soul...they both seem to be older spirits in their little baby bodies....

Madeleine is super competitive - something we've noticed as she has gotten older, but she refuses to let us sign her up for team sports.  Too bad as she is super fast and I think it would be great for her to give it a try...then again, I always disliked the group sports I played and just wanted to do dance & singing.  Maybe we more alike after all...

We had a wonderful and beautiful Easter Sunday.  Once again, how blessed we are to live where we do and to have these opportunities for family events....the kiddos have really taken to the idea of going over to a family member's house for dinner so they can have cousin time.  I can't say that I blame them one bit!  

new circus in town

We did an Easter Egg hunt at Grandma Joy's this evening & while listening to Gma Joy gives instructions on the number of eggs for each child to find, Jacob clapped his hand over his mouth & Noel immediately copied. These two are so funny together - they adore one another & play really well....I think so much of it is that Jacob finally has someone younger than him that looks up to him...he doesn't let a chance go by to make Noel laugh, chase her and do things that she'll copy. They are quite the pair!

After the egg hunt we had a light-dinner & then we were back outside for relay races (it was definitely chilly, but we started to move up & warm up rather quickly. My mom has an amazing backyard that my sister Brooke and Dad designed & put in years ago (it was probably at least 12-13 years ago?).  It has an old English-style design which was well used to have us all on different courses for the race. The kids had a blast, and I laughed more than I did the group any good.

The last relay we were supposed to square off to see which team could hula-hoop for as long as possible. I don't know how long we actually did that exact activity - however the side shows were hilarious and much more fun! We stood in a circle and threw or rolled the hula-hoop to the person across from us. Jacob learned how to turn the hoop on his arm, as he was getting rather frustrated with the traditional hip version.

The kiddos were taking the hula-hoops and throwing them extremely high and they started to go close to the fence separating our yard from the neighbor. Eventually, a hoop went over and after a few moments deliberation on what to do, Bryson (Sr.) stood back and took a run to scale the 8 foot wall. Once on top, he lowered himself over the side & was going to let go when I mentioned to him that I thought the neighbor's had a bulldog. His face popped back up over the fence. I told him I wasn't sure on the type of dog, but they definitely had a dog. He brought his upper half of his body up, and then his whole body was finally resting on the fence. He told us that he wasn't afraid of a possible dog - he was the one that made the choice to try to get the hula-hoop this new way. The timing and delivery of the line was perfect for the moment - it's hard to recreate how funny it was...but he did lean his body down and with his arm grabbed the missing hula-hoop and then after doing a circus wall routine - was back down on the ground.  If we ever need to act out Samuel the Lamanite we know where to go...and who will be cast as Samuel :) 

Oh, those hula-hoops provided the best entertainment of the evening! We were probably out there for at least a 1/2 hour just playing with those, and fine tuning our skills in case as a family we want to join a circus. Or maybe we'll create our own circus...although I think we are already a certain type of circus most days :)

We definitely look forward to what we've decided Grandma Joy's Easter Games will definitely be an annual treat now that we are in the area to enjoy with family! 

date night

11 years ago before our wedding day, I decided to take Bryson on a surprise date night.  A father of one of my student's had a connection to get Jazz tickets, and I called him up and when I realized the price of the tickets, bought the two that I could afford.  We were waaaaayyyy up in the nose-bleed seats, but it was a fun game - anything was fun at that point in life, we were crazy in love - weeks away from our wedding - and we could have sat in a mud swamp and thought we were having fun.  Well....almost :) 

We were lucky to have another opportunity to go to a Jazz game - 11 years later we were back in the arena but with much better seats thanks to the gracious gift of tickets from my father-in-law.  I must admit that going to a Jazz game probably isn't in my top 3 date night ideas - but as a couple, doing something together it's in our Top 5....when we get the chance!  

I didn't grow up watching sports - when I made cheerleader in high school that was the first time I stayed through an entire game.  I remember that first game & thinking it lasted FOREVER!  I didn't have a clue about the games - I wouldn't call myself an air-head, but I didn't help the stereotype of cheerleader when that first year I started a cheer for defense when we were on offense, and when I was told by the other girls in my squad to go and stand on the key when learning a new dance....I wandered around the court hoping somehow a light would shine down on this magical key...what in the world was a key?!  It was rather comical those first few months of cheer - but then I started to pay more attention, learn from the other girls & I started to enjoy the games.  I didn't jump to being a crazy fan - but I do like sports & I like cheering for a hometown team....that was probably my favorite part of cheering in Montana because it always seemed like the entire town came out to support high school sports....the energy, excitement and love for YOUR team was the best!

We aren't super crazy fans....just crazy people :) 

There is a  lot of love and support for the Jazz!  It was fun once again to be sitting among others cheering for YOUR team.  It was a rather exciting game as we stayed about 10 points away from the other team for most of the game.  There were some awesome plays, rotten calls, and one of my favorite parts....great people watching :) 

I especially get a kick watching the bear - he is a great mascot!  Really plays it up with the crowd and goes to great lengths to do crazy tricks involving the crowd.  We were part of one these as he came up the stairs by us holding buckets of popcorn and then throwing them into the crowd....popcorn was spilling all over these people.  Bryson stood up and shouted for a bucket --- and we got one!  The bucket was hurled toward us, and after it dumped some on the people near us, it landed in Bryson's hands....and instead of throwing it back at the bear like many of our seat-mates wanted....we enjoyed the bottom 1/4 of a bucket of popcorn for part of the game.  Great treat at no cost - except for the popcorn down our shirts and in our hair for a bit :) 

It was a great treat to watch the Jazz, and enjoy a date night together.  We have heard that the best way to plan a date is to plan for the OTHER person....plan a date that they would enjoy from beginning to end.  We aren't quite to that level of perfection - 11 years of marriage and we feel like we are still at the starting gate in so many ways!  It's funny but someone asked us what our favorite date was in NYC ---- and I had to stop and think....we enjoyed the time we went to Mary Poppins, and we enjoyed dates when we got a chance to go to the temple - however, it was so expensive to get a babysitter and Bryson's schedule was always so random that we didn't go on a lot of dates there.  Now that we are here and Bryson's schedule actually has him off at night & weekends are time for family....we have been much more consistent at working to have weekly date nights.  And I must say that we like it a lot.  Thanks to family that help to watch our kiddos while we go.....we have really enjoyed dating one another again!  

Now, that we have done a Jazz game, I think an upcoming date night will have to include the symphony :)