Strawberries, Garden, and Easter Bunny...Oh My!

Friday night my sister-in-law called and told me that they were selling strawberries for $8 a flat. That is better than you can almost ever get in a store. Plus, they are fresh and sooo good. So, she bought us each a flat and Saturday afternoon we made jam. We made about 5 batches of jam and ended up with about 45 jars full.



It turned out so good. We made some toast when we got done to try it out and it was yummy yummy! So, my first canning experience of the year is complete!

Dave had a big project for Saturday. Two years ago when we laid our sod, I tried to talk Dave into leaving room for a garden. He really didn't want to. Well, two years later, we decided to do a garden! So, now, we are having to pull up our sod, and pay to have our sprinkler system refigured in that area so that we can have a garden! :) Dave went and rented a sod cutter on Saturday and cut the area. It is going to be a 20 by 20 foot garden. That ought to do it! :) I hope it isn't too much. The sodcutter wouldn't get the area right by the house or the fence and so after he returned it, he had to do all that with a shovel. That took him all afternoon.



Most of the sod cutting is done now. Our next project is getting all the rocks out, and then putting wood around the outside to build it up a bit. Then we will bring in a bunch of good dirt. Dave and I have NO idea of what to do with a garden. This will definately be a learning experience, and I am so excited for it.


Saturday night we went out on a date. We have a babysitter in our ward that we really like come babysit. She is always good about playing with the kids and getting them to bed on time and making sure the house is clean. :) All important in my book! When we got home she told us that the kids wouldn't go to bed until she wrote notes for the Easter Bunny and hung them up. So, they dictated notes and she wrote them out. They also left carrots and water for him. They wanted to leave milk, but our babysitter convinced them that Easter Bunnies don't drink milk. So, this is what they left our for him...





Cute! They asked questions and so we answered them. They had even left out a pen so that the Easter Bunny would be able to write. They wanted to know funny things. I love their innocence!

Easter morning was a bit chaotic. Just getting through the excitement of the baskets and candy and trying not to get them to eat any before church and breakfast. And then getting us all ready to leave for church by 8:45. Kinda crazy. I am really mad at myself. I had TOTALLY forgotten that last year we started a new tradition...that obviously we didn't follow through with...but we did the baskets/candy, etc on Saturday. I know several people do that and I love the idea. That way, you can totally enjoy the Easter Bunny part, let the kids eat candy, lounge around, etc and then on Sunday it will be all about the Savior and the true meaning of Easter. I loved doing that last year. And, for some reason, I totally forgot this year. So, next year, we will go back to the Saturday thing.

Anyway, the kids loved their baskets and candy. They each also got a new movie and a Sunday outfit. They looked so nice for church.






I was so excited about the girls' matching dresses. I love it when they match.



After church we let them go out and find the eggs that they had colored that the Easter Bunny had hid for them. They really enjoyed that. I definately made sure that we found all the eggs and didn't leave any out to rot and find later! That would be fun! :)





We went to my grandparents' house for Easter dinner. It was really good and so fun. Pretty crazy. There were 12 little kids running around. My grandparents live in a condo and they basically have no backyard. It is a hottub, patio area with no grass. But, all the kids liked playing out there. Or, they would be inside running around the 14 adults. I could tell by the look on my grandparents' faces at the end that they were exhausted and kind of glad that everyone was leaving! But, it was great to be able to visit.

All in all it was a really nice (and busy) weekend.