Easter Sunday

Easter Sunday was spent in our home. We were able to have sacrament meeting from our home with our kids.

After we did our Easter church service, we went down to Eden Park to take some pictures with the blooming trees and flowers.

It was a beautiful day and a beautiful area of Cincinnati, one that our family hadn't visited previously.

We walked around and got lots of nice pictures. It partially felt good just to get out of the house!

 

    

The boys got some awesome pictures together.

We had our own Easter egg hunt in the yard.

We ended the day going over to Nana and Papa's. Since they had house guests earlier that week, we were 'socially distancing,' so we did our Easter time on the back porch. Even with the awkward COVID protocols, it was good to spend time with our family.

A new member of the family

We are so happy that we have gained another member of the family when Caitlin and Andrew were married this week. We've gotten to spend some time with Caitlin in Hilton Head and over FaceTime and are so excited for the two of them.

The wedding wasn't as they originally planned (and let's be honest... Andrew and Caitlin weren't all that into planning this one... for example, on Thursday, when Jared and Rob were talking, Rob, the officiator, asked Jared what time the ceremony was to occur!). It happened in mom and dad's backyard with Rob officiating. But, it was sweet, and everyone who was able attend (Caitlin's parents and 2 siblings in person and a bunch of people via Zoom) was happy to be there.

For the hour or two leading up to the ceremony, there was someone doing yardwork right nearby. Almost miraculously, it stopped minutes before the ceremony began.

It was a strange experience because COVID and 'social distancing' was all so new, so there wasn't a lot of time spent just being together. Afterward, there was a drive-by reception. One of the cars, Megan and Adam Christensen threw tons of Easter Eggs out, filled with marital advice. They were FaceTiming the Atlanta Christensens and bringing them along for the ride.

We got a few pictures with the bride and groom.

and with just our crew as well.

And a few of the more fun variety, too!

As an added bonus, this was also the day that Andrew was officially sworn in as an attorney!

The day before Caitlin and Andrew's big day

The day before Andrew and Caitlin's wedding, we threw a wedding shower for them, live streaming it to Utah, Texas, and Georgia. 

It included a 'Newlyweds' game

and even a top 10 list given made by Matt.

Jared and Andrew held a mighty arm wrestling battle... and of course it makes the blog book because Jared won!

We have said many times that there have been unanticipated blessings of moving to Cincinnati. It urns out that one is that we're happy to be here in Cincinnati where we can participate in the festivities. 

"outside time"

Outside time is a very important part of our COVID weekday schedules - for everyone's sakes!

Fortunately, it's been beautiful outside all spring so our kids have been able to be outside all the time. They spend a lot of time on the trampoline

and riding bikes and trikes around the driveway.

We put the sprinklers on the trampoline

and Jared took a few minutes out of his workday to come join them.

Open up the pool

With Andrew's upcoming wedding likely to take place in the backyard, Nana and Papa opened up the pool extra early this year, and we were there to jump in. It was really cold - and Liam let out the highest pitch scream we've ever heard from him (and he has a high pitched voice!).

 

Perks of working from home!

Jared's home office is set up about in the master bedroom about 5 feet from our bed. We moved the white desk into the room, bought a small TV that could hook up to Jared's computer (not without some special rigging), and brought one of our new chairs from the game table upstairs. It ended up being a pretty good setup.

One of the biggest perks is the food! Often, Jared will come down and eat with everyone, but in the times he works a little later in the morning when lunch starts, a delicious hot lunch will be hand delivered (with a smile). 

And then there's snack time - Dani has made some new yummy snacks recently, including these pretzel bites (with cheese sometimes, too!). Getting these hot out of the oven is a real treat!