Easter 2024

We had a very low-key Easter this year. Last year in April Conference, they encouraged us to make Christ the center of our Easter celebrations and to emphasize Easter like we do Christmas. We got this book several years ago (written by our friend Wendee Wilcox Rosborough), and it has really helped us to do that. Each day we read about a day in the last week of the life of Christ.

We made Resurrection Rolls with the elders. I had never heard of them, but we made them in Activity Days and I thought they were so cool. (I later realized that they were in the Easter book we read every year, but we had somehow missed the activity.)

You dip marshmallows in butter, cinnamon, and sugar, then wrap them in crescent rolls. The marshmallows are representative of Christ and his purity. The butter, cinnamon, and sugar represent the oils and spices used to prepare the body of Christ for burial. The rolls are the linens used to wrap Christ's body.

Then you bake them according to the package directions.

Once the rolls are baked, the marshmallows disappear! That is representative of Christ's body being resurrected and no longer in the tomb. So cool!

And very tasty!

Despite the fact our chickens lay a dozen eggs every 3-4 days, I bought four dozen white eggs for decorating. Ridiculous!

I steam them for four minutes in the pressure cooker.

Then I put the eggs in a 20-minute ice bath.

Then I put them in a colander to dry off.

It boils them perfectly and usually keeps the yolks from turning brown.

We decorated eggs with the elders. We love having them over for things like this.

Elders Doutt and Jones (Elder Jones went to Mountain Crest High School - same as me!)

Jalen made a breast cancer ribbon egg for Aunt Tiff.

This was one of our natural eggs that didn't even need to be colored. 

Eating pizza and decorating eggs.

The day before was Elder Jones' birthday, so Baylie made him a cake and we sang to him.

All set up for Easter morning.

We got these tokens last year for the plastic eggs and they are great.

Never too old to hunt for eggs!

I added this to our decorations this year and I love it! It was on sale with Oriental Trader for $10.

On Sunday, we only had sacrament meeting so families could spend more time together. It was a beautiful day.

Irmo Boys' Tennis

Now that Jalen is in 7th grade, he can play tennis with the Irmo team. He's really enjoying it and he's getting to be a good player. Most of the boys on the team are really nice and it's been a good experience for him.

Baylie and her teammate Sarah are the team managers. I'm glad she and Jalen are having this experience together.

I'm grateful that both of my kids get to have Coach Stan in their lives. He's a great role model.

Baylie's Sweet 16!

It took Baylie forever to decide what she wanted to do for her birthday, but she ultimately decided to do The Amazing Race. It was a great idea!

I can't believe she's 16! It's happened so fast!

We decorated everything with purple!

Catherine Williams made her an amazing cake. It was so beautiful. Baylie wanted a lemon cake and that's what she got. It had a lemon filling as well. So yummy!

We had three teams with three girls each. Beth Bailey and Tabitha Mills helped me make t-shirts for the girls.

The decorations were "top tier," as Baylie would say.

All the girls got a key chain, but the winners got to choose first.

So cute!

So many people helped to make it happen. We had volunteer drivers (because I wanted adults to drive) and several people who offered to host the girls for different challenges.

It took them about an hour and a half to complete all the challenges. 

They created a marshmallow catapult with popsicle sticks and a plastic spoon.

They built something to represent Baylie out of Legos.

They played some toss games.

They rode a merry go round.

They picked up a Little Ceasar's pizza that we ate later.

They went through a bunch of pennies until they found one with Baylie's birth year on it.

They drew a sketch of Baylie.

They also went on a nature scavenger hunt and sang The Star Spangled Banner at Wal Mart. 

When they got back, the Elders joined us for pizza, cake, and ice cream.

It was a fabulous party and I think everyone had a good time, especially Baylie.

I got so many pictures of her party on Saturday, I forgot to take any of her actual birthday on Tuesday! She took cupcakes to her seminary class and that night we opened her presents.

When Baylie was 5, David told her he'd give her $20 if she still liked hugs when she turned 16. She remembered and collected!

Baylie is a joy. I am so grateful that Heavenly Father brought her to us through miraculous means. She is a blessing and I am so glad I get to be her mother. She was definitely worth waiting for.