Monday, April 6, 2015

Easter Weekend Recap

Happy Monday!  I hope everyone had a great weekend!  Easter sort of came fast for me on one hand, but on the other hand, I feel like I've been anticipating it's arrival for weeks - mostly because I gave up sweets for Lent so was looking forward to indulging on Easter Sunday!  Here's how my weekend played out.

I had Friday off as my company recognizes Good Friday as a holiday.  On Friday morning I intended to do my long run as I wasn't able to run with my club on Saturday since I was leaving town.  I intended to run ~10 miles but my body said NOPE so I cut the run short and just did 5.5 miles.  This was one of those runs where every step felt hard.  I don't know if it was the fact that I didn't have coffee, or the fact that I was running into 15 mph winds, or the fact that with those winds it felt like 18F (burr, I hate you mother nature), but that run sucked!

On Friday afternoon I packed and got my apartment as tidy as possible as the listing agent was coming by over the weekend to take some preliminary photos for the listing.  I'm hoping and praying that it sells fast because I dread the thought of having lots of people traipsing through my unit over the next 4-6 weeks.  Later that afternoon, I went to Good Friday service at my church.  It's a very somber service but it's one of my favorites of the year. 

On Friday night, Phil and I made dinner together.  I had read a post on the blog Fannetastic Food earlier in the week that inspired our dinner.  It took maybe 15 minutes to make and was so delicious.  We just marinated some shrimp in tamari (you could use soy sauce if you can eat gluten) and garlic chili sauce, then sauted the shrimp in a little olive oil.  Then we added some steam-in-the-microwave bags of rice and Asian-style veggies as well as all the other partial bags of frozen veggies that I had in my freezer.  For the sauce we just used the same ingredients that we used in the marinade.  It was so easy to make and really delicious!


After dinner, we had another couple over for game night which was very fun as usual!  I'm so glad that our friends like game nights as much as we do!

On Saturday morning, I hit the road for the lake. Phil stayed back so that his mom would not have to be alone on the holiday.  I wish we could have spent the holiday together but I hadn't seen my family since Christmas and likely won't be back at the lake until June due to my move so it just made the most sense for us to spend the holiday with our own families. 

On Saturday afternoon we dyed eggs.  I think us adults had as much fun as the kids did.


The finished product!
The rest of the afternoon was spent hanging out with the kids.  Charlie and Evelyn had fun taking some selfies with me!



And I got a good picture of Evie with my mom.
On Saturday night I went to the Easter Vigil mass with my parents.  We didn't get home until 10:30 and I went straight to bed as I was so tired.

On Sunday morning, we woke up to some goodies from the Easter Bunny.  I think Evie's favorite part was the stuffed bunny.  She loves stuffed animals and loves to give them kisses!



After my sister and her family went to church, I headed out for a run.  It was chilly (30F with a wind that made it feel cooler) but I managed to push myself to run 5 miles.  I am SO over these windy, cooler mornings.  Spring, where are you?

The rest of the day was spent eating.  There was no shortage of food, especially sweets!  My family LOVES black jelly beans so my mom always has a dish of those sitting out.


Besides the Easter candy, my mom made a chocolate cake with Easter-themed decorations.  I helped put the peeps on the cake but that was the extent of my contribution to the dessert making process.


My mom also made a lemon custard pie and she put some custard in a separate dish for me since I can't have the crust of the pie.  Like I said - there was no shortage of food.






After all of that eating, I vegged on the couch for a bit before heading out.  Evie showed us that even though she is only 14 months old, she knows how to use a cell phone. 


In the late afternoon, I headed out and made a pit stop at my aunt and uncle's lake home so I could see my cousin and my grandma before heading back to Minneapolis. 

It was a fun, family-filled weekend that went entirely too fast but they always do!  A year ago, I was not living driving distance from my family and after living far away from family, I really appreciate the ability to drive up to my parents for a quick weekend!   And soon lake season will be here and I'll be up there more often!

How was your weekend?  Do you live close to your family?  My parents lake home is about 3 hours from Minneapolis so not too far!

20 comments:

Becky said...

What a great full weekend! (And that food looked SO good!)

I'm very grateful we live close to both sets of our parents as well! I talked to my brother, SIL, and niece Saturday morning and then yesterday I went to my inlaws for lunch, and my parents' for dinner - it was so nice to not have to cook anything! (Ben had to work but I brought him lots of leftovers!)

Too bad it's already Monday now...whomp whomp!

Kelly (She Wears a Red Sox Cap) said...

I love that Easter cake your mom made! So fun :)

I shouldn't be surprised by how big Evie is these days since shes the same age as Max but yet it's still amazing since I haven't seen a picture of her in a bit. Max did the same thing with his stuffed bunny that he got. He doesn't have the advantage of all the older siblings/cousins though so I was very lame and let him into his basket earlier in the weekend. I never care about how lame I am about Easter until I go online and see all the stuffed baskets and bunny pancakes and then I'm like, man I'm a slacker!

Also I love that she knows how to use the cell phone to call people. Max actually doesn't since he almost never sees me talk on the phone, but he sure knows how to pretend to text and swipe through photos!

I'm glad you had a good Easter and got to see your family. Eric and I had a lot of holidays apart over the years because of spending time with our families. I think we have it down to a science now but that probably means it will change!

Stephany said...

That looks like such a fun Easter weekend! What a bummer you and Phil couldn’t spend the weekend together, but I’m sure it was nice to spend lots of time with your family. :)

My Easter was very low-key: my mom and I had my grandparents, brother, SIL, and nephew over for lunch. We had sandwich fixing’s, potato chips, brownies, and stuff like that. It was very nice, even though my brother/SIL couldn’t stay very long and the baby slept the entire time! Boo. Haha. But I did get some fab one-on-one time with my older nephew, and got to chat with my grandparents for a while, which was so, so nice.

Nora said...

I don't know if I've ever had a black jelly bean. Cherry ones are my favorite (which figures as I know the red dye is bad for me!)

Yesterday was church (with tears, big surprise) and a lovely Easter Brunch with my boys, before coming home and crashing for a several hour nap-- in my defense I was out until after midnight the night before with my dad as we went to see a play!-- Apart from that, a quick workout, visit with friends, and relaxing. I don't feel really rested today but that's how it goes on holiday weekends!

Alli said...

Black jelly beans are the only jelly beans worth eating.

Leigh said...

Busy weekend for you! But so glad you were able to spend time with your family :) Brian's family lives 3 hours away, so we made that drive this weekend. It takes a bit longer now with Amelia but it's nice to see them so it's worth it :)

Carolina John said...

How fun! Getting time with the kiddos during this time had to be a blast. My kids went nuts.

Unknown said...

Ew, black jelly beans? I just don't like licorice so that's probably why!

I haven't lived near my parents in almost 10 years, since I moved to the East Coast. I usually see them one or two times a year. Although this past Christmas was the first time I had seen my dad in almost 18 months and it was the first time I had visited Oregon in more than 2 years, so it was long overdue. But we're heading back there in August, and then we'll see them again for Christmas. We see my husband's mom about once a month.

-Allison, withfaithandgrace.com

The Many Thoughts of a Reader said...

Our weekend was great! We went to my husband's grandma's farm with about half the fam. We live about 15 minutes from her place so it's a quick trip. My parents were out of state on vacation so we will be seeing them soon. They also live 15 minutes away in a different direction. Inlaws live 25 minutes (10 minutes north of my parents) so we are quite close.

J and A said...

Busy weekend! I love Easter at the lake. You niece and nephew are too cute. So awesome to spend time with them!

Jeanie said...

Looks like a super weekend! What a fun family you have -- and creative, too.

I'm working on my post-Easter-post! A big weekend with eggs, baking, shopping, cooking, decorating and the kids with us for dinner. Couldn't have been nicer!

Nilsa @ SoMi Speaks said...

I could've sworn that bowl of black jelly beans was chocolate covered almonds. I kept looking back at it and still am not convinced it's jelly beans. hahaha.

My family isn't close, but Sweets' family is. We see his parents a number of times each month. We're lucky that both sets of our parents are mobile and both sets of parents like each other, which means we have flexibility with how we spend time with each other. Given how big your family is, if you continue to spend time with Phil, maybe you consider including his mom in family events at some point in the future. It's not for every family, but it's made the holidays so much easier for Sweets and me to manage.

Anonymous said...

You are related to so many cute kids!

I made a shrimp dish last week, too, and it was so good and easy and it convinced me that I need to make shrimp more often.

I love your mom's Easter cake. Adorable.

This post made me hungry. :)

Charis Faith said...

Such a fun busy weekend! That cake with the peeps looks amazing!!!! I love the pictures of your nieces and nephews! I'm so thrilled for you that you are back in driving distance to your family!

Marlys said...

It was a great weekend despite the cool weather, but at least it didn't snow! I remember one Easter when the church's Christmas Crib Scene was still frozen into the ground and we had to chip it out of the ice before Easter!
It was great having you "home" for the weekend and we look forward to more weekends this summer with Phil and you spending time with us!

Kyria @ Travel Spot said...

Oh my gosh, that cake is so fun! I love it. My family used to get together in the Bay Area (with my Mom's side) every Easter, but then we all starting working around the country and Easter kind of fell apart. Now it's not as important to us as it once was. So I went to WY and did some snow hiking instead!

I love that your family likes black jelly beans. My dad used to always have black licorice on hand and nobody else likes it, so he and I would have it all to ourselves!

Abby said...

Easter weekend looked like such a great time! I love the picture of Evelyn on the phone! She's a true girl :)

I will take any conditions for running over a headwind. That mentally makes me unable to move forward! Miserable!

Amber said...

Looks like a great weekend! My mom is the only family we have in our city and even that's very recent as she only moved here two years ago and we've been living here for almost seven years now! My dad, extended family and Eric's family are all a 10-11 hour drive away from us! I wish my family was 3-4 hours away, I think that would be the perfect distance. Eric and I talk often about how we're kind of glad they aren't all in the same city as us though... We still manage to see everyone 3-4 times per year as both Eric's parents and my dad make extended trips down here.

Easter weekend didn't even feel like Easter to me this year since we were in Maui! But it was obviously a wonderful weekend for us :)

Jolene - EverydayFoodie said...

That sounds like a great Easter :-) I love that you dyed eggs; I haven't done that in years and years. The food looks great, and how nice to be able to spend time with the little ones.

My mom lives two hours away, my dad and siblings live in my city. Christopher's parents and siblings are all here. It's nice because we can see everyone in our family quite often.

Shoshanah said...

I can't believe how big your neice and nephews are getting! It definitely puts things into perspective about how long you've been reading someone blog when you see kids grow through the years.

And I love that you and Phil have started going to game night! I remember last year when I used to post pictures of games we were playing and you'd comment that it looked fun, but you weren't living with people who played. But now you are... so yeah! I'm not sure the games you guys are playing, but if you're looking for new ideas, let me know! And visa versa.. that way we both might add new ones to play!