A Blanchard Easter 2022

Happy Easter from the Blanchards! 

Easter is truly the meaning of hope, and we cling to that. This holiday recap MUST start with that. I pray that everyone knows, and celebrates, the true "reason of the season." 

We kicked off our Easter weekend with Shane coming home from MARSOC training (our first time seeing each other in a week and a half, and the first time since a serious life event) around 3PM on Saturday. We lounged and had a lazy afternoon just enjoying all of us being together again- especially Caylor...

Shane had the idea to set up the air mattress in our living room so we could get comfy while eating frozen pizza and watching a movie. 

Can you tell who was the most excited about this??

Shane and I had a nice Easter together. We realized this was our first Easter together in at least 3 years. It was a quiet one with just us, Cash, and Caylor, but with Shane heading back to MARSOC training on the evening of Easter, we were mostly just glad to have time together since we'll be apart again until the following Saturday.

Here are some of our Easter decorations we've had up this season!

Shane picked out this for our entryway door; I was pulling for the same version but with pinks, blues, and purples, but I let him win with this one.

Loving the Easter egg garland on our bed!

Our entryway table is looking a little "off" with a lot of our picture frames still with Shane's mom in Louisiana after using them at our wedding venue.

We added a lot of new Easter decor this year though- all from Marshalls or TJ Maxx.

We always have to switch out the kitchen towels to go with the nearest holiday.

We went to an early church service today so that we could enjoy more time together throughout the day. Our pastor was as hilarious and spot on as always. He shared lots of good points today.

One of my favorite things that he says is how he leads a church for those who typically don't want to go to church. He says our Baptist church is a rehab for Catholics (and Lutheran is pretty similar to that) in that we don't just do things because of tradition or because of religion, we get away from that and get into Christ being part of every day, normal life. 

Some other good points of his for this Easter Sunday (a lot of them are hard to say in a way that is short and sweet, out of context but here's some):

• Christianity is what God has done for YOU, not what you can do to get in good standing.
• If the resurrection didn't happen, then everything else is worthless. It's the resurrection that validates EVERYTHING else about Jesus.
• Nobody would question the resurrection except:
• It's so unusual. 
• If it really happened, then you truly have to change the way you live (and no one wants to do that).
• Referring to the resurrection, how could Jesus save you (or anyone you love) if He couldn't save himself? That means that if He didn't save himself or save you, every single person that you know who has died...is really dead and is not in Heaven, and you'll never see them again.
• Because Christ rose from the dead, what does that mean for us today?
• My sins can be forgiven
• My life can be changed
• My future is secure
• 100% of us will die and stand in front of Jesus as a savior or as a judge
• ALL of us will die (he then said- "Happy Easter!") like he was leaving us with that- which was hilarious, but then of course he followed it up with how believers are saved

If you are interested in hearing more, I would LOVE to share a recording of his sermon (or other amazing sermons of his) with you!

We snapped some family pics after church. We weren't intending for the dogs to be in these, but they kind of lined themselves up and were waiting around in camera-view (they know the drill when the camera is on), so we did the best we could, which isn't that great, hah!

Anyone notice my hair looking shorter? I randomly chopped 2-3 inches off of it myself, yes all by myself, last week. It was scraggly and breaking off, and I was so over it! 

My Cashy has been blowing his winter coat, so whenever I get the chance, I'm sliding those hundreds of tufts of fur right out. If you've never seen this happen with a husky before, it is truly mind-blowing. And of course my outdoor squint face has to be on, sigh.

We had our Easter brunch on the back patio after church. I made my mom's egg casserole, banana bread, and we also had fruit, yogurt, and a bagel to share.

With Shane being gone and me recently coming back into town, with job stuff and other stuff going on as well, I didn't get to make/dye eggs like I wanted. We got this super cute deviled egg tray off our wedding registry and I wanted to break it in for the first time for Easter, but there's always next time I guess.

It's Mud Pie brand that I actually got with a gift card off of Amazon, and I love it! You can find it linked here- https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07L2ZZCP9?psc=1&ref=ppx_yo2ov_dt_b_product_details

Shane took a short nap outside while I read my Kindle before we cleaned the house and he mowed the lawn.

I guess our household "Easter basket" gift is these Jessica Simpson wine glasses that I saw on sale for cheap that were too cute to resist. I rarely, rarely drink, so we don't need wineglasses often, but when we are hosting, I'm always looking for more. These colors were super fun I thought, and they're Jessica Simpson, enough said!

I also maybe treated myself to two new spring purses...it's been quite a week, y'all.

I've had my eye on bucket bags for awhile and this is the one that jumped out to me.

Since Shane had to head back to base at 5:30, we walked the dogs together before that and then he grilled an early dinner of steaks, asparagus, and his homemade mashed potatoes. 

It was a gorgeous, perfectly warm day outside all day, so we had dinner outside too.

After Shane left, which was hard this time again, I tried not to get in a funk (like I sometimes do when he leaves for extended periods or when I'm alone on a holiday) and caught up on some work, did some of this blogging, and took a nice, warm bath with my Kindle, while texting with some close friends. 

We hope your Easter was full of Jesus, family, fun, love, and memories. We love you guys!

Side note: I finally got comments working on this blog for the first time today. Let me your thoughts!! (Update: false alarm. I think it’s because my blog is set to private.) Also, if anyone else wants help setting up a blog like this, just let me know! I'd love to read what's going on in your life too.