Easter Weekend 2014

Hello everyone! If you are anything like me, then you are slowly coming out of the holiday weekend and embracing “real life” again. (I’m totally guilty of the slowly part… so, sorry for the lateness in joining Monday with you.)

How was your weekend? Here is my attempt to quickly share ours in highlights for you. (I’m also linking them up with Katie!)

Friday + Saturday

Both Scott and I were really looking forward to the kick off of a new worship group at our church on Friday. We caught the tail end of the Good Friday service and ran into a group of familiar faces who were all staying for the next one.

1829 was created to gather young adults in our church community, and Scott and I just squeak by into that category for one more year, thanks to yours truly.

As soon as we entered a packed to the rim chapel and saw the stage full of passionate and extremely talented young adults, I knew the night of music and worship would be a great one.

source

It was amazing! We didn’t leave until 11 p.m. and ended up heading home shortly after that in true “older members of the group” fashion.

Saturday started off with a close to sunrise run with an inspiring group of people, followed by brunch with friends and a run in with Mr. Easter Bunny.

I spent a lazy afternoon with our fur children while Scott met up with an old friend in Detroit. He came home just in time for us to catch a movie and I got really excited when I realized Heaven Is For Real was what we were driving to see.

The longtime blog readers might remember me posting all about the book the true story is based off of two summers ago.

Both Scott and I read the book and were thrilled to see the movie illustrate it really well. It’s an incredible story!

After gorging in a big tub of movie theater popcorn for dinner, we continued our date onto a favorite dessert spot of ours in Downtown Rochester. It didn’t suck.

#dessertfordinner

Easter Sunday 2014

Since moving up north and away from my family, holidays have always felt a little different for me. Scott moved out of the state from his family in his early twenties, so he is used to spending notable days of the year with new people, but it is something I am still very much getting used to.

When Alex invited us to attend Easter Sunday service with her, and then to her family’s dinner I felt thrilled and very appreciative!

Scott and I’s Easter Sunday started early with breakfast and loud music singing while preparing a big salad for dinner and getting ready. We attended a (wonderful!) late morning Easter service at our church, then quickly took over the photo station for some awkward family photos.

I can’t even try to explain what Scott’s doing in the middle of the next one.

But then again… when do I ever know what he’s doing?

We drove home for a quick minute to let Roadie out before heading over to Alex’s parents house for the remainder of the day. I was so happy to be invited to spend the day with them and the weather couldn’t have been more perfect for it. Three cheers for spring!

Right away, we hung outside in the backyard and enjoyed a couple of glasses of wine, the warm sunshine, and a yummy display of appetizers.

We spent some time chatting about this crazy Michigan weather we’ve had this year and enjoyed a few rounds of backyard cornhole.

In case you’ve never played, it’s a mini bean bag toss game played on teams and can get quite competitive. We frequently used to play the game as a family at my sister’s house, so it was nice to include that tradition on a holiday celebration with friends as well.

Eventually, we all made it inside for a fantastic dinner Alex’s mother ever so lovingly prepared for us.

(How cute are these homemade chocolates her brother made?)

Alongside the fruit and green salads we brought, there was a yummy spread of ham, cheesy potatoes (<- YUM!), asparagus, and Armenian rice pilaf.

After cleaning up the dinner table, we didn’t waste any time before digging into dessert which included her mother’s infamous homemade eclair cake.

(Anddd cheesecake with a strawberry syrup topping.)

Everything was so delicious and I left with the expected holiday food baby that always seems to appear. In fact, I still might be rocking one. Motivation to sneak in an afternoon run, perhaps?

We spent the rest of the night partaking in interesting conversations and couldn’t leave the house Alex grew up in without seeing embarrassing baby photos and Halloween costumes she sported throughout the years.

Well, I guess that wraps up another Easter in the books!

With our families living so far away, I feel very blessed to have been able to spend the holiday weekend special friends and their families up here.

(Thanks again for hosting us!)

All right. Time to figure out lunch, which will probably just consist of a small part of yesterday’s salad because I am still beyond full. I’ll be back in just a bit to share the recipe!

Questions of the Day

• Do you have any family activities that have become a tradition to play on holidays?

• Favorite holiday food dish?

Besides cornhole, my family usually breaks out Rock Band when we all get together. Oh man… it’s been ages since Scott and I have played that! One of my greatest memories is of my (96 year-old!) grandmother playing the foot pedal of the drums while a group of us sang and played a set of 80’s rock tunes. Good times!