Easter 2014 and Spring Sports

 This is a quick shot of the kids at dinner time. We usually try to eat as a family every night that we can but there are some nights where the kids get a little Kindle time with their top ramon. Don't ask what Lani is doing, I don't have a answer for you. She is one silly little girl.

On Friday Janelle and I had the chance to go help spread eggs (I won't say hide because we literally spread them through the field) for Dax's kindergarden class. We spread out over a thousand eggs for all of the kindergarden classes at the school. Dax got to take Lani and Avery with him as they dashed for the eggs. We got to see Dayna and Dax play tag at recess, they had a lot of fun, I guess they usually don't have recess at the same time during the day. 

Dax had his first baseball game today. It was actually his first interaction or contact with his team. He has been at wrestling tournaments the last few weeks when the kids were practicing. Dax and I have practiced a little bit over the weeks at Dayna's soccer practices. The coach lobbed a few to Dax in warm ups to see what he could do, Dax ripped a few good hits and the coach had seen enough. They still have the coach lob in a few pitches to the kids and if they don't hit it then they bring out the tee. Every inning there are 10 batters, there aren't any outs. It makes for a long 3 innings. The kids are fun to watch because most of them don't have a clue why there is a glove on their hands and why the coach is telling them to be ready, ready for what? He is on a team with a couple of girls that are family friends, Ruby Warner and Bailey Webley. 

Dayna had another soccer game this weekend. It was a fun day, we were relieved that we didn't have to travel for a wrestling tournament but the day started with a tee ball game at 10am, easter egg hunt at 12, Dayna's soccer game at 2pm and Dax's tee ball pictures at 3pm. So we still managed to stay busy. I guess this is the only weekend where Dax and Dayna both have games on Saturday. Dayna is doing well with soccer. Janelle is a great coach and gets lots of compliments from other parents, teams and people from the league. She does a really good job with the girls. They are doing well so far, they won the first game 1-0, tied the second game 0-0, lost the third 0-1 and won their fourth game 4-0. Dayna almost had a couple of goals, she put one hard off of the post, so close!

Our friend Kati Anderson puts together an easter egg hunt every year at the church, you bring eggs to hide and share and some food. It was a lot of fun, it was a pretty day. The kids ran around like crazies looking for their eggs. Their was one golden egg with a dollar in it, Lani looked and looked for it, she ran all around the perimeter of the field, I was pretty impressed. Of course another kid had found the egg awhile ago. Here she is demonstrating some impressive climbing skills. I hid that egg, and many kids passed on the opportunity to climb the fence but Lani knew a good hiding spot when she saw it. 

Easter morning, the kids woke up and found their baskets. They were told not to look and definitely not to touch until mom and dad were up, but kids will be kids. They were up at the crack of dawn and we were up soon after. The kids had some time to find certain things but not touch them before we got up so Dax and Lani went right to their baskets. I had hidden one of Dayna's eggs so good that we couldn't find it. We will get a good laugh when it turns up some day. 

For Easter dinner we had the Richters, Fryes and Bells over. I smoked a Turkey on the big green egg for the first time. It was a tricky procedure with church and everything but it turned out really good. I had it all prepped before church but I had to leave early for meetings so Janelle put it on right before church and I raced home after church to check on it. Janelle cooked a ham and we did Gunderson style potatoes. We had a lot of great food and great company. It was a lot of fun to see the kids run and play and we had a chance to have an adult conversation at the table for a while. It was a great Easter, exhausting but great. It is easy to get caught up in all of the rush of day to day life with the kids, but in the end it was a special time to remember our Lord and Savior and his triumph over death. His victory is a blessing to all of us. One of the hardest things is to help emphasize that fact and cut back on the eggs and bunnies that accompany this special time of year. He lives and it is because of Him that we will be able to live again as well.