Easter Bunny's Early Visit

Happy Birthday to Allie and Lane

Allie came into town with her boyfriend, Tommy. 

Lane, Allie's friend from Arkansas, also came.

Mel's friend Kate came. 

Allie's high school friend Kiana came.

Kaleb, Kobi, and Makei came.

Kamiko and Bekki came.

It was a busy week. 

Allie and Tommy flew in without a hitch on the night of February 28, Allie's 28th birthday. Mel picked them up. They stopped at Keenan's house, getting to my place after midnight. I had decided that Allie needed a birthday cake, so I tried a recipe for an olive oil cake with browned butter frosting. I have been hearing great things about it. 

Everyone was too tired to have cake, but it was fun to have Allie home. 

I had work on Thursday and Mel took me to work so Allie and Tommy could have my car to go snowboarding. Neither one of them had ever snowboarded or skied. They took lessons at Sundance. Thursday night, I had a virtual career fair for SFLSA, so I was on zoom, answering questions about the FCS major. We had a couple of graduates join me and Natalie and it was a good night. 

Back row: Kate, Tommy, Makei, Kobi, Kaleb
Front row: Kiana, Allie, Lane, Mel

It can be exhausting, but I love it when my house is full of family and those who feel like family

I had meetings for SFLSA on Friday until about 3:00 pm, then I went home to spend time with family. Lane arrived on her way back to Boise. We ordered pizza and Kobi, Makei, Kaleb, Kiana, Allie, Tommy, Mel and I enjoyed pizza and games. We also had cake and pie to celebrate Allie's bday that had just passed and Lane's upcoming birthday. It was fun playing some get-to-know you games and Mantis, a new favorite. Tommy is really nice. He and Allie had fun snowboarding, but they were sore. The instructor took them right up to the regular run - no bunny hill for them. It was Kamiko's last night of filming with his students and he got to the house around 9:00. The kids played video games until the wee hours of the morning. I have no idea who slept where. All I know is, I had to get up early to fix breakfast and hide Easter eggs. 

We love having an annual Easter egg hunt - yes, even at my kids' age, we love it. I had bought candy and more eggs to accommodate more people. Joining us for the egg hunt were Kate, Lane, and Bekki. Tommy didn't want to hunt, so I had him help me hide. As we hid eggs, we had a nice talk about his growing up and I answered questions about the church. He is tall, so he mentioned that for the first time in years, everyone would have to search up high. I'm sure we hid over 150 eggs. Once Bekki arrived (she slept at her house, in her own bed), we led the hunters from the basement to my main level and let them search for eggs. There was a golden egg that had $20 in it. Bekki usually finds the money and she did again! We hid it under the sewing machine case, so I was sure one of my girls would find it, but Bekki did. Kamiko had a sore foot, so he was slower than usual. Tommy took some video. I loved his commentary in the videos. I think he enjoyed watching. I hope that if he's around next year, he'll want to join in the hunting. I'll take him as a hider if that makes him happy!

Post breakfast and Easter egg hunt: Tommy, Allie, Kamiko, Bekki, Lane, Kate, and Melia

After the hunt, we enjoyed a yummy breakfast. I had made pastries on Friday. Allie helped me prep everything else. We had scrambled eggs, bacon (that I burned in the oven), hash browns, and juice. It was a long, busy, fun day. Then I took Allie and Tommy to the airport. It didn't look good, but we went anyway. On our way, it started to snow. The flights started to look worse and worse. 32 seats on one flight went down to 0. Allie and Tommy ended up taking the train to Kamiko and Bekki's house. They spent the night, and Kamiko took them back to the airport on Sunday. They finally got on flights, but it was a crazy day. Tommy took a flight to Chicago. He got kicked off the first flight he got on, due to a broken seat belt. He finally got on a flight. Allie took a flight to Indianapolis via Newark. When she finally got home, she got in the car and drove halfway to Chicago to meet Tommy, who took an Uber to meet her. WHEW. That sounded like a lot. It was!

Jim and Michelle Brau came over on Sunday for dinner to celebrate Michelle's upcoming birthday. I made a baked Parmesan Garlic Lemon Chicken, roasted vegetables, and artisan bread. I had enough leftover apple pie from the weekend with the kids that we had pie for dessert. Michelle said pie is her favorite dessert, so it was perfect. At the last minute, Kamiko and Bekki couldn't come because Bekki wasn't feeling great, so it was just me and Mel hosting the Braus. Michelle loved the cashmere scarf that I got her in Edinburgh. I love spending time with them. We are blessed to be family!