Easter & Celebration Weekend

Written Saturday April 7th, 2012.

Sunny. Restful.

Today is a good day.

Stack of laundry to be folded. House to be cleaned. Easter desserts for family of 20+ to be made. Painful hip.

Today is still a good day.

Family. Friends. Husband.

This is a good life.

Bubble Tea. Sangria. Warm Tea.

Smells of baking from my kitchen. Grey’s Anatomy on the TV. Blogging on my computer.

Actually scrap that, I had to turn Grey’s Anatomy off. I can’t write and think. That’s probably why the above paragraphs are all point form.

Yesterday Paul and I joined his sister Katie and her boyfriend Joel for lunch at Granville Island. We enjoyed the hat shop and the plethora of great treats. 

I was tired out in the hat shop.

Lunch. Tasty cold pasta Phad Thai

Paul and I took some time to celebrate because my dear, sweet, wonderful husband got accepted to UBC Education program for the Fall. Hallelujah! It is a huge answer to prayer. Like seriously huge. So we shared champagne & frozen pizza, staying up super late to watch Stargate. It was a serious celebration.

To celebrate in a more classy, grown up way we joined his grandparents for a victory lunch today. We made our way down to Granville Island (second day in a row!) to eat at Dockside restaurant – it was a lovely time of great food and even better conversation. We made our way over to the market for coffee and dessert at the Blue Parrot. It was an excellent way to celebrate.

Marine Cobb Salad

Qualicum Bay Scallop Clubhouse.

White Mocha Raspberry Latte with pastry for four.

The treats were eaten almost as quickly as I ate up the whipped cream on my latte

Afterwards we came home and I’ve spent the afternoon preparing for my Easter Dinner contributions. Tonight we’ll be joining the extended Mitchell family for dinner. I’m bringing the classic Green Bean Casserole and some treats – I made Cranberry Bliss Bars, Peanut Butter Skor Fudge and Chocolate Nests. Oh my the house smells amazing.

The prep was intense though.

Easter Nests! 

I found these on pinterest here

Homemade Peanut Butter Fudge

Cranberry Bliss Bars 

(minus white chocolate chips, oops)

Paul and John were not pleased that I wanted to take photos before they could eat. 

They did all the could to stop the photo. But I prevailed.

See? Photo.

Turkey dinner - awesome.

Note the perogies. Happy happy taste buds.

I can’t wait to join my family for Easter dinner – it’s the Mitchell’s (Greg & Debbie and their kids), the Duerrings, the other Mitchell’s (my parents), the Maxwell’s (Jenna’s family), the Morgan’s (that’s us) and our adopted friends (Lyndsay, Dustin & Stefany). There are MANY of us, and it is lovely. A time filled with joy and friendship. Laughter, food and phenomenal conversation.

We laugh so much.

So much!

Though I'm not in these photos - but I also laugh.  

I am very thankful to God today. For my husband. For my family. For my friends. For my home. So much.

But mostly, I am thankful for Easter. I am thankful that He gave his life for me. For my sins. So that I could live. Thank you Jesus.

Added after family dinner:

We are currently all resting. I love it. The final Canucks game before the playoffs is on and we are watching it. The kids are playing board games, all the young adults are playing draw free on their phones together, and all the adults are just watching the game. It’s a pretty Canadian of us. Dinner was excellent and my desserts were a hit, awesome.

Then we played Tri-Bond. Two teams of three and one team of two. Lynds and I were the team of two, and in a very tight finish we won! It was epic.

Team 1: Stefany, Jenna & Paul

They had hard questions but held their own. 

Team 2: John, Dustin & Jonathan

Almost stole the lead from us through crazy luck and genius smarts. 

Team 3: Me & Lyndsay

The winners.

Added Sunday: 

Today was another lovely weekend day. We slept in, had breakfast corn taco's (love), played Draw Free together and got ready for church. 

The assembly line

So tasty

Trader Jose & Breakfast Taco's. 

Mexican awesome.

Church was WONDERFUL. It felt full. It was lovely. It was family and friends. It was perfect. The worship was wonderful, the sermon was great, and it was so fun to talk to people. I met a new friend, and got to connect with so many women that I usually don't get to talk to. Afterwards we headed to the Mitchell's for an Open House - dinner and conversation. The house was PACKED and I got to have some awesome conversation with some more wonderful ladies. 

Ereka, Angel, Shey, Tara & Vera

Ereka, Angel, Shey, me, Vera, Diana & Cherry.

[ photos by Diana M ]

I know I sound super optimistic and happy but I can't help it. I try to temper my use of the words awesome, great and wonderful but dang it, that's how it felt. 

Afterwards our the family hung around the Mitchell's and the conversation flowed very naturally and enjoyably. I love a good time of multi generational family conversation. 

I am now home - I work early - the rest are still hanging out. I am FINALLY posting this entry I wrote on Saturday and will now attempt to combat this:

Yikes. 

Night y'all.

Oh and side note, the most recent episode of Grey's Anatomy is rather heartbreaking. Just saying. It should come with a warning.