Easter

We had a wonderful Easter this year. My brother (Mark) and his wife (Laura) came to Dallas for a visit. They stayed in Frisco with Laura's family, so we were able to spend a couple of days with them.

On Friday night they all came to our home for a BBQ. We had a great time catching up with everyone. Laura's niece performed several gymnastic routines in our living room. I was so amazed at her abilities and I would not be surprised to see her in the Olympics one day. It brought back a lot of memories for me as I watched her tumble in our living room. I remember going to gymnastics as a young girl and doing all of those fun tricks. As I recall, I nearly broke my neck a few times, but it sure was fun! Now I can barely touch my toes, but there was a time when I could bend backwards and flip every direction. Just writing about it makes my back hurt!

On Saturday morning, our ward hosted a fun Easter egg hunt for the children at a park near our home. We had such a great time getting to know more people and especially watching Laurel interact with all of her new friends. Laurel enjoyed searching for eggs and finding the treasures inside. Dale also had a hunt of his own. He dropped his Blackberry phone somewhere in the park and we couldn't find it. Due to the size of the park, we weren't certain we would be able to find it, but we did after we retraced our steps. Thank heavens! After the hunt, we headed to Wal-Mart to purchase flowers and soil for our garden. It is so strange to finally be purchasing flowers and such for our yard - I still can't believe we finally have a home.

On Sunday, we drove up to Frisco to enjoy Easter with Laura's side of the family. Greg, Laura's brother-in-law, is a master chef, trained in Paris at Le Cordon Bleu. He invited me, a wannabe chef, to join him in the kitchen and learn some of his magic. I had so much fun! We is an amazing chef. He could chop, slice, and julienne with no effort (and he didn't cut his fingers off). Although I couldn't eat a majority of the food due to Andrew's allergies, I did manage to sneak a couple of licks. It was all so delicious. Greg cooked chicken with a garlic mushroom basil cream sauce, mushroom potato and zucchini pancakes with a tomato marinade, spinach and pine nut salad with balsamic vinaigrette, and crepes suzette. It was all delicious and most of all, I thoroughly enjoyed being Greg's assistant.

We had a wonderful Easter holiday. It was fun to watch the kids, particularly Laurel, discover their Easter baskets. But most of all, it was fun to share with Laurel why we celebrate Easter. It isn't about the Easter bunny and candy. Easter is about the death and resurrection of our Savior, Jesus Christ. Not only does each one of us have the opportunity to resurrect once we die, but each day and each week, we have the opportunity to repent of our sins and become new and clean. As I try and teach Laurel these truths, I am amazed at her innocence and purity. This was the first Easter that we were truly able to communicate with her about such an awesome event and I have to say that I enjoyed it. This was truly a memorable Easter.