"Silver Linings"

 This year the Trickett family Spring Fling and annual Easter egg  hunt was made possible by the blessing of technology! Because of the COVID-19 pandemic and "stay at home" orders, we didn't gather at Clint's parents like usual, but instead, we all used Zoom and held a virtual egg hunt!

Clint won the $50 golden egg, but the best thing of all, was having all 9 of the siblings and Jim and Gerry all "in" the same room at the same time! The whole family hasn't been able to be together in years, but through the blessing of technology, we now know we can do it at anytime. I consider this to be one of the "silver linings" to the pandemic "storm." There will always be something good, even through the hard times.

 Saturday morning also brought the Easter Bunny!!! He always visits our house the day before Easter and the kids love it! They set their baskets out in their rooms the night before, and then in the morning, they run through the house trying to find them. This year the Easter bunny had them hid good! ;)

 The girls both got new Easter dresses in their baskets, and the boys all got new ties. They also got t-shirts and books, and stuffed bunny dolls, chap stick, eggs, and candy galore!

 It was Easton's first Easter and he got some cute new bibs, a sun hat, treats, and a new Jumper!

 It was so fun to watch him exploring his new toy and trying to figure out what to do next. :)

 This was also the day that Kierra and Riley were heading home after staying for 3 weeks for a visit! It was such a fun time having them here, another "silver lining" for us for sure. And although I hated to see them go, I know I have to let them, and they are happy in their own life they are building together.

 I just had to be sure that Easton got his very first Easter Bunny from his Lolli and Pops! Lucky for me, I had bought this bunny months ago from the Lolli and Pops candy store before all of this craziness happened and before all of the stores were closed...

 I knew I wanted him to have it to play with, snuggle with, drool on, and to remember us by.

I love my family, I have LOVED having them all together for the past few weeks, and I have loved this week long Easter celebration! I have felt so much love from my Heavenly Father and my Savior Jesus Christ, and I know that they smile on us when we are celebrating these things that matter most...I feel their blessing and approval all around me, but especially through the love of my family. XOXOXOXO

Good Friday

 Good Friday proved to be a good good Friday indeed. :) With the sun shining bright, all of the kids together, no school, and Spring Break in full force, the kids spent a good portion of the day painting away in the back yard. :)

 Dallin had been collecting old records from the D.I. and so with Kierra here, he really wanted to paint with her, and so they did! I love the way he painted his rocket on the record so that it will look as if it's flying around while it's playing. ;)

 Knowing how much Dallin loves the beach, Kierra decided to paint her record like the waves of the ocean for him. :) He plans to paint lots of records and hang them all up in his room. :)

 Kambriella and Kesslyn got in on the painting fun and had a blast too. I tell you I have some very talented children and I think they can all paint better than me! ;)

 They all did such a good job and are all so creative. :)

 We were still full force in our Easter celebration, and went on our daily walk with Easton. The girls just love pushing him in his stroller, and he loves it so much too that he doesn't even make a peep while we are out! :)

 We had also colored Easter eggs during our Easter week celebration, and read a book about why we use eggs and what the symbolism behind them is...

 These activities never seem to get old, and I realize that with little Kesslyn just learning about all of these things, that we really do need to continue teaching abut them all the time!

After all, as soon as my own children know and understand things, we will begin teaching Easton and our future grandchildren about all of these neat traditions and lessons of Easter. :)

 We also completed two temple puzzles (thanks mostly in part to Riley! ;)

 And all the activities we did on Friday were during our worldwide fast for relief from the COVID-19 pandemic.

We prayed specifically for the relief to come in President Nelson'd words:

 We have fasted and continue to pray, and we await the miracles that are coming.

After we ended our fast as a family, we all sat down together and had a yummy dinner, and then after it was dark and we had a Christ centered gospel discussion, we headed outside in the dark for our "3 Days of Darkness Easter egg hunt!"

 This was our first Easter egg hunt in our new home, and it was my favorite one yet. After Clint and I hid all of the eggs, we let everyone find 2 money eggs each, and 10 candy filled eggs, and wouldn't you know it, the two youngest kids found the most money! ;)

The light of the fire helped give just the right amount of light to our hunt, and then just the right amount of warmth to gather around as we opened our eggs together.

Like I have said many times, I am so grateful for the traditions that we have that bring both laughter and the spirit to our family. So glad these special people are mine forever!

Our Jerusalem Dinner

Last night we celebrated one of our very favorite Easter traditions of all!

Our Jerusalem dinner. :)

Every year on the Thursday before Easter which would have been the night that the Savior had the Last Supper, we turn down all the lights, move all the furniture, and have a primitive dinner that Jesus would have eaten with our own oil lamps that the kids sculpted with clay.

This really is one of the favorites for everyone in the family, and I love that they all look forward to it.

 Every year as we make our oil lamps we talk about the parable of the 10 Virgins, and how we can be prepared and have oil in our own lamps as we prepare for the Second Coming of the Savior of the world.

Everyone gets creative in their sculpting and it's always so fun to see what fun things they come up with!

 This year, Kierra made an elephant, 

 Carew and Dallin assisted Kesslyn in making a baby elephant, 

 Dallin made a candlestick, 

 Riley made a lamp with a lid, 

 Gavin made a coil lamp, and Kambriella made a sloth. ;)

We sat together around the floor to a dinner of fish, flat bread, yogurt, blueberries, pickles, cheese, and carrots. We lit our oil lamps (that only burned for a few seconds due to my lack of oil from the hobby store before it closed...isn't that ironic?? ;), and lit a few extra candles for some light. We listened to a pre-recorded video of my mom sharing her testimony and a few stories of her as a child (like being baptized in the river in Idaho ON her 8th birthday, November 19th...brrrrrrr), then we shared a few stories and testimonies with each other as well.

 With the lights down low, and the yummy food, this night tends to be a special night with a special spirit that accompanies our family. I hope and pray that the good that comes from these spiritual and fun traditions will sink deep into the souls of each of my children. I want nothing more than for each of them to have the gospel of Jesus Christ sink deep into their hearts.

At the close of this meal, it was time to begin our fast that would go through Good Friday with the rest of the world uniting together for "the present pandemic to be controlled, caregivers protected, the economy strengthened, and life normalized."

I know that miracles can come through fasting and prayer and I am grateful for the spirit that accompanies us during this petition to our loving and merciful God.

Our Easter Walk

 A fun tradition that we have for part of our Easter celebration is to go on our "Easter Walk." 

This year we actually went on an Easter "hike" to Ensign Peak in Salt Lake City!

The kids were obviously excited to get out of the car when we got there as they immediately doggie piled on each other...:)

 It's always so fun to me to be outside in the beauty of nature doing these fun activities that bring us together, and also help us remember the special things that our Savior has done for us.

 I love watching and hearing my family interact with each other in these "undistracted" atmospheres...there are simple pleasures and simple conversations, and simple gratitude expressed.

 Usually when we go on our Easter walk, we look for symbols of Easter, such as something prickly to represent the crown of thorns, something wood to represent the cross, something round, black, dead, red, and alive, each to represent something about the Savior's death and Resurrection.

This year, instead of finding those things on the trail, I made up a "trail mix" to eat that had a food item that represented all of those things. It was pretty fun and the kids loved it!

 Another fun thing about going on this hike, to this point on this day, was that it was exactly 3 years ago in this very same spot where Riley proposed to Kierra!!!

Now, looking back, much has changed, but much remains the same...

 We still love our people so much, and now we just have even more people to love!

 We joked while we were hiking that even though Easton wasn't here 3 years ago, he was probably watching from heaven and cheering on his mom and dad. ;) ;)

 As we hiked down the trail, this sweet little baby got sleepy and began cuddling in to his momma. :)

 He is so sweet and I just love watching Kierra fulfilling her role as a mom in such a loving and natural way.

We walked down the mountain together with lots of gratitude and another Easter tradition complete. :)

Beginning Our Easter Celebration

 This week is our Spring Break, but more importantly, it''s our week long Easter celebration! I'm always so happy when this week falls while there is no school, because then I am free to do things and celebrate with my family however we please. 

(Little did we know that there would literally be no school for the entire world!!!)

 We began on Palm Sunday with general conference, our Love One Another dinner table, and by choosing "secret pals" for the week.

Since Monday was the day that Jesus cleansed the temple, we tried to focus on temple activities, such as our whisper game that we played throughout the day, doing temple puzzles, and even taking this trip to the Salt Lake City cemetery to find the graves of  some important people, like this one, Porter Rockwell, who was Joseph Smith's body guard. We tried to find the grave of Truman O. Angel, because he was the architect for the Salt Lake temple, and we thought finding his would certainly be appropriate for our temple activities!

 But even just going to the cemetery itself brought the spirit of the temple and family history for the day and it was fun too. Especially seeing this little family of deer grazing on the grounds!

 I also thought it was appropriate to see Hyrum Smith's memorial even though he isn't really buried in that cemetery. With the Bicentennial celebration it is another reminder of the sacrifice and commitment of the early members of the church.

After we finished at the cemetery we got ice cream and headed home, grateful for another day with those people that I love so much. The people that are mine for eternity. :)