Ok so I’m realizing that most of my posts (all 4 of them :) are just my “ramblings,” so I decided that I would compose a more “traditional” post about our Easter and spring break. I’ll let the pictures do most the “talking” with some explanatory comments by yours truly. Happy Easter!
Dying Easter Eggs with cousins at Grannie Annie's
2-year old Chad "helped" Kaylee dye her eggs. Here's the result. He was just so excited to see each egg come out of the dye that sometimes he would just squeeze them in delight!
Sandy 4-wheeler trip to Red Rock after dying eggs. We "staked our claim" on the big "Easter Egg" sand dune, and rolled our eggs. We had fun riding 4-wheelers, but the wind was a little much, and we decided to return to Grannie's for our "picnic" so we could eat without sand in our food. However, we had sand in our eyes, ears, teeth, and hair. (This is Trent on the 400EX)
Ok and to make this a real "traditional" blog post, I'll include the recipe (Can you believe how good I am getting at this blog stuff?!) for my Grandma Monson's potato salad that I made for the picnic. It is delish-wayyyy better than store-bought! (Probably due to the canned milk and extra sugar). However, as I was boiling and peeling eggs and potatoes for a 30+ people salad, I wondered if it was worth it. It was. YUM!
Potato Salad: (This is the standard recipe-NOT for 30)
8 large potatoes boiled.
10 hard boiled eggs.
1 Onion. (Optional-I usually make some with onions and some without for those who like and/or don't like onions. Also the recipe does not call for pickles, but my kids like pickles chopped up in the salad-my hubby doesn't, so again, I do some with and some without-we end up with several bowls, each a different variety of basically the same salad.)
Dressing:
1 cup Miracle Whip. (I always use fat free, since we are cholesterol-conscious in our fam-it still tastes great-in fact my kids don't like it if I use regular Miracle Whip.)
2 teaspoons sugar.
2 teaspoons salt.
1 cup canned milk. (Again, I use fat-free canned milk-still tastes great.)
1 teaspoon vinegar.
1/2 teaspoon celery salt. (Don't forget this-this can make or break the overall taste.)
1/2 teaspoon mustard.
Cut potatoes while hot into small cubes; peel and cut eggs. Shred onion. Dressing: Blend all ingredients and mix with eggs, potatoes, and optional onions and pickles. Note: Dressing is easier to blend if you stir sugar with Miracle Whip first. Make enough dressing to make salad quite moist.
Luke running up the big "Easter Egg" sand dune. It's impressive how easily the kids could run up and down this hill.
Our "egg trail." I offered a dollar to any egg roller whose egg made it all the way to the bottom without getting stuck. I'm realizing that I never paid up-woops! I still owe Luke, Bronc, and Camille-maybe others.
Hardy-side spring family birthday party. Celebrating Hardy-side birthdays from January through April.
Some of the birthday honorees: Darren turning 13, Becky turning 36, Ashlynn turning 1, Kay turning 45, Ann turning 74, Chad turning 2, and Todd turning 4. (The rest of the Barlows left after the presents before the cupcakes-but Luke turning 10, Kaylee turning 18, and Lynae turning 16 were also among the spring birthday honorees.) Don't we look lovely? This was after being sand-blasted all afternoon at Red Rock.
Luke, Lynae, and Trent gather candy left scattered through the house by the Easter bunny. Not sure why the bunny scatters candy on the floor, but on Easter no one seems to mind picking up and eating candy off the floor. And, if you look closely, Mr. Bunny also left candy on the windowsill (probably between a few spiderwebs and dead flies) and on the piano, tables, picture frames etc. (Kaylee did tell me she had a few "dusty" pastel peanut m&m's gathered from the top of picture frames.) (If you read the last post, this just proves that although I like to clean, my house is nevertheless, less than immaculate. Cleaning is often interrupted by cooking, laundry, and other less-favorite but necessary activities.)
Kaylee found her Easter basket in the chip/snack cupboard.
Lynae found hers in this hall closet.
Trent was the last to find his basket. It was between the shower curtain and the shower curtain liner on the side of the tub. He had checked the bathtub several times, but finally found it.
Luke found his basket in the coat closet.
Finding eggs in our front yard.
Another "spring break activity" was the Hardy side "cousins day" at the Moapa Zoo- "Roos and More." The only "taker" of the Barlow kids was Luke, but he and I went and had a fabulous time with the animals and our cousins. It was fun for Luke to be the "big kid" and help all the little cousins. The zoo was great. It was very interactive. Luke got to hold a Toucan, a baby wallaby, and this Koatamundi (spelling???). He also got to feed a sloth, an emu, goats, pigs, a camel, and horses. We also saw otters, monkeys, lemurs, and even a "bear cat." It was a fun day.
Picnic at Moapa Park after our zoo visit.
Sunday before our "regular" dinner, we had a passover celebration. (Years ago, our ward Relief Society had a passover dinner, and we were given a program for a shortened LDS version of the passover dinner. We try to do this with our family each year, but Friday (the actual passover day) did not work with our schedule this year. Of note: Analise went to an actual passover dinner with a date last year while at BYU. She said her date was most impressed when she knew what each of the items on the seder plate represented. She said he asked, "How do you know this?" She didn't reveal our family tradition, but just told him that she "knew lots of things." ) This is our seder plate. We used our dyed Easter eggs for the eggs (thus the yellow egg.) And I didn't use horseradish-just a regular radish, and I just used a picture of the lamb bone instead of a real lamb bone. (The wet-wipe is for the traditional "handwashing"-it's easier than taking a "basin" and cloth around to each family member.) My favorite part of the seder plate is the haroseth. It's supposed to be chopped apple, nuts, and cinnamon, so I just melt redhots in applesauce and add chopped walnuts. It is delicious chilled. However, my two youngest think it "looks gross" and won't eat it. The funny part is that they will eat the paper bone! (I think it's a boy thing.) All the kids love the sparkling cider "wine." They fight over who gets to drink Elijah's glass. (This year Trent told me he wants his own bottle for his birthday. Should I be worried?)
Some other things that filled our spring break but didn't make the photo cut included the annual Hardy-side ladies birthday shopping trip (Every year we choose a day to do birthday shopping and go ALL day. We shop and shop and shop while the hubbies babysit. We eat lunch and have a marvelous day); moving Kent's mom and dad out of their house in preparation for their mission (They leave next Friday.) and moving his sister Carolyn in (She and her family will live in their house while they are gone); going to Hunger Games and Mirror, Mirror; a food storage shopping trip; and opening a new bank account for savings (during which time we realized that Luke is not named in our family trust-we did it before he was born-it seems like we just barely did it. I guess we need to get that taken care of. He is ten.) Whew! Happy spring break???
Of course before ending this post, I must comment on the real reason for the vacation and celebration: the atonement, death, and resurrection of the Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. None of these "comings and goings" really matter if you take Him and his great gift out of the picture. I often fail to comment on things which I think are "obvious," (things like the sky is blue or chocolate is delicious) and my testimony of the Savior is somewhat like that. It is so much a part of me and what I know to be true and believe that sometimes I fail to verbalize it. On the front of our sacrament meeting program today were these words from President Monson: "I declare my personal witness that death has been conquered, victory over the tomb has been won. May the words made sacred by Him who fulfilled them become actual knowledge to all. Remember them. Cherish them. Honor them. He is risen." I too know these things to be true. The tomb was empty. Jesus Christ lives. He is my Savior. He is my brother. He is my friend. Happy Easter!
No comments:
Post a Comment