Easter 2025

We started off our Easter morning bright and early by waking up Lia at 7 o'clock due to the fact that we had church at 9 a.m.  After the children came downstairs to find their Easter baskets, we then ate a quick breakfast before rushing off to church.  After enjoying a lovely Easter sacrament meeting, we were able to go home since our ward is now only holding one-hour church on Easter Sunday.   We then continued with our Easter celebrations by having the kids search for their eggs in the house.  After lunch, I gave the family a lesson on Christ's last week of his life and discussed the steps of the Atonement that took place over Easter weekend.  After a well needed nap (for me), we drove up to Issaquah to celebrate Easter with my parents, Rebecca, and Vivian since Chris' family and Eric and Bryce were all flying back from the Bahamas that day.  We finished off the day with a lovely Easter dinner and another hunt that my mom put together like she does every year.  Sadly, after a week of glorious, sunny weather, a storm came in over the weekend, causing it to rain on and off all Easter Sunday.  As a result, the kids had to do their hunt in the basement which isn't quite as fun, but we made the most of it. 

The three younger kiddos eagerly waiting to waking up Lia on Easter morning.

Emmett's Easter gifts.

Ella's Easter gifts.

Logan's Easter gifts.

And, lastly, Lia's Easter gifts.

All of the children running downstairs after being given the green light to come down.

Emmett and Logan first looking at their loot.

Lia picking up one of her stuffed swans she got for Easter after playing the role of Penny Swan in "Honk" a few weeks earlier.

Ella hugging her stuffed, dino nuggie that she had been wanting ever since Lia got one for her 17th birthday.

Ella and her dino nuggie.

Emmett showing off his alcohol markers that he has been asking to get for weeks now.

Logan and his newest remote control car.

Lia showing off her new book, Wings of Starlight.

Lia and Emmett looking for eggs in our house after church.

Emmett finding one in our laundry room.

Ella finding one in the living room.

And Logan grabbing one hidden behind the cards in the dining room.

The four children all dress up for Easter church service.

Lia searching for hidden goodies in the apartment bedroom in the grandparent's basement.

Logan searching hard in the storage room.

Ella finding one in the closet.

Emmett spotting a goodie in the toy bookshelf.

All five cousins together at the end of Easter Sunday!

Dying Easter Eggs!

After a busy week, we gathered around the table tonight to decorate eggs the night before Easter.  Like previous years, we all enjoyed using Sharpie pens instead of crayons to decorate our large haul of eggs before dyeing them.  We had a great time spending this hour together and can't wait to eat some deviled eggs for Easter dinner tomorrow!

Emmett working on decorating one of his eggs.

Ella flashing me a smile while working on one of her eggs.

Logan and his cheesy grin.

And Lia, too.

It's hard to believe that this is our second to last Easter with her.

Momma giving Ella a kiss while decorating our eggs together.

Lia Performs in "Women at the Well"

Lia was asked several weeks ago to participate in our stake's presentation of the "Women of the Well" program that was hosted tonight by our stake Relief Society presidency.  Lia sang with three other girls who attend her high school and who are also involved in her school's choir program.  The four of them sang the song, "Daughters," and did a great job.  Since Lia usually only sings in front of others at her school choir concerts or in musical productions, it was fun to hear her beautiful voice inside the chapel.  It was a wonderful, spiritual evening and I am so glad that Lia was able to be a part of it.

Spring Break Ski Day

While Emmett was spending the day at my parent's house, the five of us headed back to White Pass for one final skoarding day of the season on the Monday of our Spring Break.  Although it was raining at the base of the mountain, we luckily were able to ski in fresh snow at the top of the resort all day long.  We joined two other families from our ward and had a great time spending the day flying in and out of the trees as a group.  I have really loved spending the past two ski seasons skoarding on top of the mountain as a family of five.  Now, we just need to get Emmett up there with us!

The one family picture we were able to take before heading into the trees behind us.

Ella and Lia skiing through the trees.

Lia skiing past me on a light layer of fresh snow.

Logan snowboarding past me.

Ella flying down a hill with Lia behind her.

Ella's "Late Over" Birthday Party

Since Lia's play performed the weekend right before Ella's 11th birthday, we had to schedule her friend party for the weekend afterwards.  So, today we hosted 15 of her friends for a "late over" birthday party that went from 5 to 9 p.m.  We used the exact same decorations from Lia's party that I also hosted for her 11th birthday in 5th grade.  This year, Ella narrowed down her invitation list and invited only her school friends and her gymnastics friends, with the exception of her best friend and nextdoor neighbor, Poppy.  We were blessed with an amazing spring day, so the girls had a great time playing outside before dinner, after dinner, and after opening presents.  The girls enjoyed a pizza dinner together, before opening gifts and eating cupcakes and ice cream.  We finished off the evening by watching the movie, Barbie, in the basement.  The girls all had a great time together and Ella felt thoroughly loved and celebrated!

The decorations on the mantle in the family room.

A close-up of the cupcakes on the table.

A shot of one of the two tables I decorated in the kitchen.

Ella dressed up in her pajamas, waiting for the party to start.

All of the girls eating dinner together.

It was so fun to see so many of Ella's gymnast friends doing flips and tricks in the backyard throughout the evening.  Her school friends had fun playing on the sports court and playground.  

Here is the entire gang:

Back row (left to right):

Leah holding Payton, Ainsley, Adelee, Poppy, Ella W, Annabelle, Ella H, Ava M, Shy, Harper P, JoJo, and Victoria

Front row (left to right):

Harper S and Elizabeth

Ella opening her gift with her dear friend, Ainsley, who she has known since preschool.

Ella and her best buddy, Poppy.

Ella and Ava M, one of her good friends from gymnastics, who wore the same pajamas as Ella to the party.

We played two games after gifts.  The first one was trying to figure out what item we put inside a pillow case.  Here is Ella walking around and letting everyone feel the pillow case.  We also played a trivia game that tested the girls knowledge on how well they knew Ella.

Ella getting ready to blow out her candles.

All of the girls bundled up with their blankets and pillows getting ready to watch Barbie at the end of the evening.

The Boys Walk in the Daffodil Parade

Logan and Emmett had the opportunity to walk with the South Hill Running Club today in the Daffodil Parade.  Although Lia and Ella have both walked in the Santa Parade in December, neither one of the boys have ever been involved in a group or organization that has participated in one of our two, local parades.  Since they are both running track together this spring with this club, they jumped at the chance to walk with their club in this parade with Ron accompanying them. While Lia was helping to line up all of the floats for the parade with her high school's Key Club, I raced to Auburn to pick Ella up from her gymnastics practice a few minutes early, so that we could make it back to our town in time to cheer on the boys.  After parking illegally in our school district's main office parking lot, Ella and I were able to find a great spot to watch the parade after it had started.  Since it was such a sunny and beautiful day, we had a great time watching about sixty groups before South Hill Running Club walked by us.  It was so fun to see smiling Emmett at the front of the group following Coach Joel who was leading the club in doing some warm-up drills.  Although we weren't able to get Emmett's attention, we were able to yell Logan's name loud enough that he heard us from the back of the group as he walked by us.  It was so fun to cheer them on from the sidelines!

A picture of Emmett at the front of his club as they walked towards us.

Cute Emmett waving his blue and orange pom poms.

Logan waiving to Ella and me after we got his attention.

Cute Ella sitting on top of my van where she watched the first part of the parade.