4 Sisters Unite!

That's right everyone last week my three sisters and I were all in the same place at the same time. It was so great. It started the Saturday before Easter. Kitt came up late, late the night before and stayed the night at our house. She kindly helped me get things ready and played with us while we waited impatiently/patiently for Seth, Kara, Klaire, and Ross to get here. Luckily Kara and Seth make good time when they travel, so they got here about 3:30 on Saturday afternoon. When they got here the girls were actually still sleeping and so Ross had a hayday playing with all the toys in a new house with no one to bother him. However, the girls did eventually get up and then his being able touch anything and be left alone was over...FOREVER. Okay not really forever, but at least for the rest of his visit. We didn't do much except for play when they got here. I did try to make potatoes for potato salad. I had made them once, but I cooked them too long, so I made some more and used the over cooked ones for twice baked mashed potatoes for dinner. Anyway, I made those potatoes and then while I was cooking stuff I cooked up the sweet potatoes for dinner. Then luckily I recruited my Kara and Klaire into making dessert for Easter. So, anyway between all the cooking we played and started dinner. I fed everyone hotdogs and potatoes. Don't worry the food got better as the week progressed. After dinner I quickly bathed the girls and then Gaupo and I got ready and went to stake conference. It was a really good meeting, but with company at my house I got pretty antsy after the first hour of the meeting.

When we got home we Kara and Klaire had made the cake and my kids were still chatting at the top of the stairs, not a real big surprise there. I then went and got changed and we had more talking and visiting, plus a little bit of Easter prep which included finishing the potato salad and frosting the cake. Oh man, our chocolate cake recipe is so good. The frosting is the best part, but with the cake it is really good. After we got all that stuff done, it was pretty late so we headed to bed, so the Easter Bunny could come and set up the Easter Egg hunt.

True to tradition the Easter Bunny came and left the kids an egg hunt. However, this year he kicked it up a notch and hid some in the basement too. He must be pretty sneaky to be able to hide those eggs right next to were Aunt Kitt and Aunt Klaire were sleeping. All the kids had a great time finding the eggs. They did really good and found them all. The very last egg was found and Kylee pulled out her shoes to get ready for church, but overall they did really good and had tons of fun.

Tia going downstairs.

Kylee hot on the hunt.

Tia the happy hunter.

Seth, Ross, and Tia hunting in the basement.

Tia and Kylee opening the spoils of their Easter eggs.

Gaupo, Kylee, Tia, Me, Klaire, Kara, Seth, and Ross. Photographer: Kitt

I wish we could have had a super good Easter breakfast, but with conference at 10 and the morning egg hunt we just had cold cereal or other leftover breakfast. Then we all quickly got ready for church, so that we could leave by about 9:15ish to get to stake conference for a decent seat. Decent in this case mean in the front have of the gym. Yes, the chapel and its small overflow is all full at least 30 minutes prior to the meeting, so all of us who show up at 9:30 are relegated to the gym, which is fine I just like to be in the frontish area of it and not the back. Conference was really good and it last about 2 hours. The newest challenges from Stk. Conference are arrive to sacrament 15 minutes early and use it to prepare not to chat. The other was to double your temple attendance. I really loved how they talked about centering on Christ and when we let what isn't centered on Christ fall away we will be doing what we can.

After the meeting we all walked back home and had sandwiches or leftovers for lunch and then took naps. I am pretty sure everyone took a nap. After I napped and was waiting for everyone else to finish I read for a little bit and chatted with Kara. Then I started getting really noisy because I needed to finish getting dinner ready. Luckily most people were awake by then so I had some help. I finished up the sweet potatoes. Gaupo really wanted corn casserole, so I found him the corn muffin recipe, so that we could make it gluten-free for Kitt. We put those two things in the oven and while they cooked it was more visiting and play. The kiddos played outside because it was a such a beautiful afternoon and we adults chatted both inside and outside. Around 5:30 dinner was ready. So, we all gathered around and had dinner and then scrumptious chocolate cake for dessert. After dinner there was a bit more playing and then time for the kids to go to bed. After the kids were in bed we played Scattergories for a bit and then we talked for some and then we had to get Kitt out the door. Booo!! However, we knew she was coming back in 4 days.

After Kitt left we chatted some more and then due to the fact that this Merrill family still had life going on we had to go to bed. Its probably okay though because Kara is expecting and Ross was having a rough time sleeping, so we all needed rest. So, that was our Easter Sunday. It was super fun to have so much family and to celebrate Christ's resurrection together.

**There are more posts coming to cover this great visit.