Easter 2013

I know this recap is way overdue since Easter was over a week ago, but I just haven't seemed to have enough time for all of the things that I want/need to do. I won't complain, though, because I'd rather be a little too busy than be bored!

Easter was a lovely day. We went to church and heard some wonderful messages about the Atonement and Resurrection of Jesus Christ.

(Above: beautiful flowers from my friend, Kellie. I love tulips because they just say "Easter" to me!) I decided to debut my new seafoam cardigan that I bought last December. Green is my favorite color and seafoam is my favorite shade of green, so when I saw saw this cardigan at New York & Company I knew I just had to have it! My mom also debuted a new sweater and we looked like quite the spring pair in our seafoam and aqua cardigans.

Getting "photo-bombed" by the Easter Bunny!

The food we had for dinner was simple, but yummy. We had ham, "funeral" potatoes, peas, pistachio salad, rolls, veggies and even a pickle bar! I'm not sure why, but my mom wanted to have a variety of pickles.  We had kosher dill pickles, bread-and-butter pickles and beet pickles. Mom also wanted to have sweet gherkins, one of her favorite kinds of pickle, but she couldn't find any at the store. I was surprised that the beet pickles went over so well with so many of our guests. I've never had pickled beets before, so I decided to try one. It wasn't the worst thing to ever pass my lips, but I don't think I'll be eating them again anytime soon. Just not my cup of tea!

We had two desserts: a lemon cream cheese filled pineapple upside down cake (a new recipe that my mom wanted to try) and chocolate peanut butter chess pie (a wonderfully rich pie that we had for the first time last Thanksgiving). I really liked it, so I suggested that we have it again for Easter. The pineapple upside down cake was also good, but I prefer chocolatey desserts. (It turned out beautifully, though, and was definitely "picture-perfect!"

We invited some friends and family over for dinner. There were 12 of us total and we had a great time visiting while we ate. Two of our dinner guests were Paul, a longtime friend of the family, and Edward, a new friend. My younger sister Laura and her family also came, but I didn't get any pictures of the entire family, so these first two pictures will have to represent that they were present!

Speaking of "new" friends, I was pleased that my friend Sienna and her family could join us for dinner. We met last November and really hit it off and have since become "fast friends." We've had a lot of fun getting to know each other, and the more I find out about her, the more I like her. I hope she feels the same way about me! ;)

Here are a few more pictures of Sienna's family that her husband Ben took in the backyard after dinner. They have the cutest little guy named Gabriel!