Easter & Rattlesnake Battle

We had another good Easter season this year! I really liked pulling out our Easter decorations and candles, and doing activities at home during Holy Week from the packet we had from last year. 

Our ward did an excellent job of supporting Easter celebrations. They started things off with a Potluck and Egg Hunt at the church. We did some prep with our crochet eggs at home, so Felix was properly prepared and delighted to be collecting eggs. 

Examining the loot

Naturally, Annie finds every way possible to be upside down

At the potluck, they announced that they a couple of people in the ward with laser cutters had made a beautiful wood cut Easter Nativity for each family in the ward. Each day during Holy week, there was a table in a ward member's front yard with a piece to add to the scene, and a page with some activity ideas and suggested reading for all ages. Our ward boundary is small enough that we were able to go on daily walks to collect our pieces and put it together. We loved it. 

On Palm Sunday, a woman in our ward organized a prank on the men where all the guys would show up with the same tie. The plan was that each family would tell their husbands and sons that since General Conference was on Easter, we were going to take a cute Easter family picture in coordinated colors at church on Palm Sunday. Aaron immediately suspected something because I would never actually think of a plan like that, but he played along with it. Elliot figured it out in the parking lot walking into church, and Isaac didn't realize that he matched everyone else until we pointed it out. 

I actually do like the cute color coordinated family picture we ended up with!

I decided that I wanted to snag some live palms from Casa Johnson on our way home from church. We were walking to the backyard... and I almost stepped on a rattlesnake right outside of the door! Grumpa jumped into action to dispatch the rattler while we watched through the window. He couldn't find the flat tipped shovel, so he went at it with what turned out to be a very blunt hoe. He couldn't get the head off. He had it pinned and very mad. I went to see if I could find the flat shovel and also failed, so I came out with a pick ax and finished him off with that. 

Elliot requested the rattle as a keepsake of our unanticipated encounter.

I told this story on a group chat with some friends, and Hannah plugged it into AI to make this glorious picture of me fighting a rattlesnake with a pickaxe. 

My other friend chimed in that it would be more accurate with an easter dress and pregnant belly. 

Needless to say, this was one of the highlights of my year. 

After that, we went back to some more traditional Easter activities. We tried using a marker and tinfoil method to color eggs, but didn't like that some of the marker got to the egg beneath. We all survived the contaminated devils eggs, but will skip out on it next year. 

Easter Dinner was a lovely event at Casa Johnson with Stephen's family and Papa. I love celebrating this holiday and having an extra dose of the Savior in our lives!