Easter

 

Well, it seems  like we collectively did a poor job of taking photos of Easter this year, but I've got a handful and we can't let the holiday go undocumented.  We hosted Easter at our house this year so Erin and Nate and Dan were all there too!  Joey and Andy decided to stay local and spend the holiday with Andy's family so it was less driving for the collective group to host it at our house.  

Mom made this cute little cheese/meat try and Mom also provided the fancy cocktail for the day.  We made our traditional Easter meal - a smoked ham and au gratin potatoes.  

The Easter Bunny did things a little differently too!  This year he brought baskets for Abby/Hazel and one for Ryan and I and then he left me some fun presents for the kids that I turned into a fun egg/scavenger hunt.  The girls loved it!  (And we ended up with way less candy this year!).

The girls also created a GREAT set of games and activities for the adults.  They worked for days on coming up with all sorts of games for us to play and tickets to buy drinks.  Hazel even made a full set of cards similar to Taco Cat Goat Cheese Pizza but renamed to be Egg Basket Carrot Flowers Ham.  It was adorable and she worked very hard to make all the cards, color them in.  I didn't play because I was deep in meal prep at that point in the agenda but the adults that played said it was VERY fun.  

Abby helped with table setting and was in charge of the napkins - she's been doing them for us now for years.  This year she went with rabbits and of course we pulled up the good dishes from my friend Jennifer.   We had a great meal and lots of laughs!

I got a tattoo!

 

Forty two years and I decided I was ready to get a tattoo.  I'd been considering one for a long time - maybe since my early 20s but nothing quite felt right.  I didn't have an idea of something that I'd want on my body forever and ever and ever. 

I'd decided on a sand castle.  Why that?  Well, a few years back when I was doing that LGMC leadership program they asked us to do an activity where we had to pick from a pile of little shapes/trinkets that looked like little Monopoly game pieces in all types of shapes.  They tossed them on the table and told us to pick one that represented us and be ready to tell why.  In a way that is very unlike me, I knew almost immediately which piece I was going to pick and why.  

I quickly plucked up the sand castle and when it was my turn to explain why it represented me I asked the group what a sand castle was made of.  Of course everyone responded sand but what very few people said was "water".  See, a sand castle is made up of both.  One, the sand, is very visible, it's the front of the show, the thing everyone sees.  But, its the water that's holding it all together.  The water that is doing the hard work of pulling all the tiny pieces together and making into something beautiful. 

I see myself as the water in much of my life.  Both professionally and personally, I feel like the water, the one behind the scenes (and happy to be behind the scenes) that is pulling everything together.  The one who send the save the dates and plans the parties.  The one who plans the meals and who pulls together the hotel contract to get everyone together.  I don't want to be the one on the front of the stage and I'm not likely the center of attention at the party but I do love to pull it all together and events need both types of people.  The sand people and the water people.  

I got this the day after my 42nd birthday.  Ryan was out of town for work so my bestie Erin came out and helped support.  It only took about 15 minutes of actual tattooing - it was pretty fast.  That's good, because it didn't actually feel all that great.  I don't know that I'd want it to last much longer than what it did.  But, in the end, it wasn't too bad and I'm really glad I did it. 

I chose a pretty visible spot, right on my left wrist.  A place that I will see it often.  I love telling people the story of why this and I'm really pleased with the way it turned out.  I love the tiny dots used to make it look like sand and I love the little shovel and shell we added.  Everyone keeps asking me what I'm going to get next and while I'm not quite sure that I'll get another one, I'm also not ruling it out.  I do see how it can be a little addicting!