Last week as March Madness came to a close (in April) Joey awarded the Boyce/Biron Mad to the Max trophy to Nate. For the past two years, Joey's mom, Jackie, has had the winning picks and beat EVERYONE, so we were all looking to snatch that trophy away from her! Joey came in a close second and, surprisingly, out of the twelve of us, I was third. Those darn bonus points really made a difference this year. It looks like taking less than three minutes to complete the bracket and doing absolutely no research was a good strategy for me. Next year I'm aiming for two minutes and more oblivion to basketball and maybe I'll be the champion. Max loves being on our mantle. I think he wants to stay.
Easter might not be the most festive holiday, but I'm now convinced it's definitely the cutest! Bunnies and baby chicks and colored eggs...it practically screams cute. Just when I thought I had finished Easter's sweet treats, I put my beloved Kitchenaid to work one more time and came out with these:
Cute, right? Just like the rest of Easter. It was definitely more time consuming than the cupcakes, but, actually, pretty relaxing. I'm no pro. In fact I've never made bunnies before, but maybe if I really do lose my job I'll take up cookie decorating. Not quite as lucrative, but creative and fun for sure!
So now that I've got all of the 'Hallmark' parts of Easter taken care of, tomorrow we'll focus on the real reason to celebrate this day. I think we'll start with a message by Jeffrey R. Holland.
HAPPY EASTER!
* And, of course, if you want the recipe for my new favorite sugar cookies go HERE. *
Have I mentioned before that my family is packed full of holiday traditions? I honestly can't remember an Easter when I haven't made these. Even in college I called my mom and had her talk me through making frosting. (Because I didn't know you could buy frosting!) They're fun to assemble, especially with friends or kids, but I was on my own this year because Nate's out of town. And, they're also a great memory each year of one way we got ready for Easter in my younger years. Oh, and they're really fun treats to deliver to friends! Thanks Mom, for being so creative all those years ago! This is one tradition that will definitely keep going.
(oh, and you can get the exact instructions, not that it's super complicated or anything, HERE.)
As a kid I LOVEDCadbury Creme Eggs. It probably had something to do with the novelty of them only coming around once a year, but that, combined with the chocolate shell and sugary creme filling was all it took. My sister and I used to wait for the first Cadbury commercial of the season. You remember the rabbit that would sound like a chicken and then lay the eggs, right?
When we were much younger my sister even convinced me to try them frozen. Pretty good, at least from what I remember, and not so messy. I don't know when the last time was that I ate a creme egg, because it's just sugar overload for me. But I do have great admiration for my friend Julie who can still eat one (or maybe two) and loves it as much as I did when I was seven.
I'm sure those folks at Cadbury never imagined their eggs would be used for this purpose. Pretty ingenious and, I guess if you're not going to EAT those creme eggs, they may as well be put to some other creative use! Whether it's Cadburys, Peeps or Sweet Tart Jelly Beans (a new favorite of mine!) may your days approaching Easter be filled with sweetness!
Oh, and Julie, here's a new way to eat those Cadburys, if you're interested!
That would be the Boyce in the middle there. Congratulations to K.C. We just found out last night that he's headed to Uruguay in June! K.C. is one of the many blessings that have come from being married to Nate. He's HiLaRiOuS (Can anybody make weirder faces and noises than K.C.? Well, Tyler' IS a close second...). Back to the point -- he's focused, ridiculously talented when it comes to LOTS of things, especially music and so much fun. And, he's going to be a great missionary. I finally have a brother (in-law!) going on a mission! Hmmm....what baked goodies travel well by mail to the MTC? Oh, wait...he's going straight to the MTC in Argentina. That presents a bit of a challenge...I may be calling on my friends Mr. Hershey and Mr. Wonka for some of their products instead!
Some of you might remember that about five months after Nate and I were married I found myself back in my wedding dress, at the temple and we were taking pictures to go with an article in the Ensign Magazine. We didn’t know when it would be published, but after hearing from some friends in South Africa and then Brazil that they had seen us (by the way, how did they get an Ensign/Liahona before we did?) we found ourselves matched with a beautiful article in the October 2007 issue. By the way, my dress was not long-sleeved. Somebody in Salt Lake must have done a little creative editing!Fast forward to this morning when I got a text message from our friend Greg in Texas that said, "You’re in the temple video on the church website." Hmmm…I figured there must have been a photograph of us that they used, but Greg wasn’t talking about the collective 'you'. He meant ME.
I had completely forgotten that at the time of the Sacramento Temple open house, way back in August of 2006, that I had the opportunity to sit with the Church’s film crew and share my thoughts about the temple. It was intended that the footage would be used in the open house film that is viewed before the tour of the temple begins, but I must have ended up on the editing room floor, because my remarks weren't included in that production.
Getting to the point FINALLY...for your viewing pleasure, I’m sharing with you this beautifully made short video, because...um...I'm in it, AND it really does encapsulate so much that is precious to me as a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints regarding temples. You’ll see me for about six seconds at around the 2:25 mark. Silly, I know, but I thought it would be fun to share…especially when it’s surrounded by such a great message.
I'm still getting familiar with the Boyce genealogy, but I can tell you that the Halls are exactly 0% Irish. We have absolutely no excuse for celebrating St. Patrick's Day EXCEPT that we do love a good Hallmark-promoted holiday and making traditions. I like corned beef and cabbage a whole lot more now than I did as a kid. Throw in some potatoes, carrots and onions and you pretty much have an Irish pot roast. And pot roast has got to be one of the best Sunday dinner meals my mom makes in the wintertime! So, on Sunday, we Halls feasted on the traditional Irish grub and festively wore green. (Thanks Dad for taking the picture. Aren't we colorcoordinated nicely?) Inspired by saying what we're thankful for when we're at Thanksgiving, we went around the table and each had about ten seconds to come up with one reason we were feeling lucky. It got kind of silly, but may be the start of yet another tradition! Why are YOUfeeling lucky today? Quick...think fast!
Last week as March Madness came to a close (in April) Joey awarded the Boyce/Biron Mad to the Max trophy to Nate. For the past two years, Joey's mom, Jackie, has had the winning picks and beat EVERYONE, so we were all looking to snatch that trophy away from her!
