Encouragement

I heard someone say this on the radio yesterday and was really encouraged by it. I hope you are too.

Weekend in Pictures

(Alternate post title: Easter picture overload)

Saturday night we celebrated Matt's birthday early, along with his brother-in-law's birthday, at John's Incredible Pizza (it's pretty much an enormous Chuck-E-Cheese).

 The kids (big and little) had fun with the games...

 Easter Sunday started with church, and then Bloody Mary's...

Quiche, fresh fruit, green salad

Assorted muffins and cupcakes



Dad, Deanna and Aunt Stacey

Ila, Mary, Katie and Katie

Bubbles!

Hiding eggs

The kids waiting patiently while the eggs are hidden

Found one!

 They found all 50 eggs in about 2 minutes

Mom, Justin and Uncle Clay

Vanilla Meringue party favors

(Courtesy of Trader Joe's and THIS adorable Martha Stewart downloadable grass graphic)



And a happy host and hostess. :)

We hope you had a wonderful Easter with your families.

We are so, so blessed and eternally grateful for the incredible sacrifice Christ made for us.

He is risen indeed!

Easter Egg Bunting

To quote Heather on Pinterest: "never enough buntings"

(Side note: Anyone else obsessed with this site? Heidi, please join and collect style images for me. Thanks.)

This paint chip garland was way too cute and too easy to pass up.

Trace, cut, hole punch, string, repeat.

I love how it turned out!

A simple, sweet addition to our Spring decor.

We were sitting in the back yard last night enjoying a fire in the fire pit and I was stringing the eggs on to the ribbon. Matt kept snickering, but when I was finished he looked at the garland and commented, "I can't believe you made something so cool out of paint chips."

Awww :)

I have a problem

I cannot sit down.

At least, not when I'm home alone. If either Matt or Mason are around, I am usually pretty good about just hanging out with them or relaxing on the couch. But on my days off, when Mason is sleeping, this is what I do...

Pioneer Woman's Sour Cream Noodle Bake

(This was pretty bland. I should have added way more sauce.)

Made's Coconut Lime Banana Bread

(I need to find a way to infuse that glaze into the whole loaf!!!)

Joy's Hope's Toffee Crack

(Made this for Matt to take to work. Always a big hit. Ridiculously easy and SO yummy.)



Now I'm going to pretend I don't just check out recipes all day long and look forward to my days off so I can try them...

Easter invites

I can't believe this worked.

Did you know you can mail some crazy things?

Last year I mailed Kim's birthday card attached to a frisbee.

When I saw this idea on Giver's Log, I thought it would be perfect for Easter brunch invitations. And it actually worked! All but one recipient found one of these in their mailbox last week...

The invitation was typed out on a strip of paper (several, taped together) and gave the service time for church, and instructions to come to our house for "brunch, Bocce, and family fun in general".

All rolled up, stuffed with paper shreds, and secured with ribbon tape.

The address labels and stamps stuck right on the egg. Awesome!

We can't wait to have our families over to celebrate!

10 on 10 :: April 2011

Er, make that 4 on 10.

Seriously, it has been on my calendar for MONTHS to do the 10 on 10 today. It rarely falls on a day other than a work day, and the pictures of my banker job would be super boring. So here we are, on a Sunday, and I barely got past noon. Lame.

At any rate, here ya go!

Starting out Sunday mornings at the farmers market are the best. Can you handle all those flowers? Mason is chowing down on a basket of strawberries.

Sunday school! 

Service was great this morning-- a Biblical perspective on wisdom from a passage in James 3.

And a trial run for the triathlon next weekend. Let's not even get into how it went and I'll leave you with these two comments: 1) THANK YOU, Auntie Lindsey, for babysitting. 2) Matt is the most patient person alive.

Hope you had a great weekend too. :)

Recipes

Add these to your "I have to make that" list...

Bakerella's Red Velvet Cake

That frosting is sooo amazing

(Happy birthday to my dad, who turned 52 last week!)

Veggie Muffins

Don't roll your eyes at me, these were GOOD! Of course, it helped that some had the above referenced frosting on top of them. Even without the frosting though, they were surprisingly tasty.

Chicken Penne Bake

Low-cal and delicious. I made this for our monthly family dinner and it was a hit with everyone. It was even easier because I cooked the chicken in the slow cooker and prepared everything ahead of time. I doubled the recipe and had a ton of leftovers (um, which we cleaned up for lunch the next day).