Beer & Champagne: Easter Delights!!!

Easter is always a fun time of the year...First off, the Lord has risen which is very exciting news for us Christian folk. Secondly, it seems as though in the Midwest that Spring follows Easter which is also exciting considering most Mid-westerner's are ready for more sunshine and for all the yucky parts of Winter to be over. Last but certainly not least, Easter is usually a time that brings families together and good food out of the cupboards....or maybe that is just my family, but either way, this year was no exception.

Last weekend AK and I headed to Iowa for some good old fashion Easter fun. We always feel a little cramped for time, but we manage to pack the weekend full of as much quality time as we can. We got to enjoy the "simple life" (as we call it) for a few days while stuffing our faces full of some ridiculously good food.

Friday
Most of Friday afternoon was spent in the car as we made our 5ish hour trek across the Mississippi. There are not a lot of high points or interesting things along the way, but we did find one thing and that was the Aurora Outlet Mall. It is conveniently located right off I-88 which happens to be one way to IA....lucky us ME!!! AK was after some works clothes and I was hoping to find a good deal here and there. We both walked away with a few new things which is always nice!! Our next stop was IA, and I could not wait, because we were stopping for dinner at THE CORNER a.k.a That Place!! Any local knows the food doesn't get a whole lot better, and typically you're bound to see a few people you went to high school with and/or their parents. All of the above happened and we all left with full bellies and happy hearts as Tate Button (our good family friend) announced his engagement to Hunter Dye (a beautiful Eldora local)! We could not be more thrilled for them and are excited to celebrate with them when we get the chance. Cheers you guys!! :))

Saturday
Saturday was filled with of the "usual" Saturday things that we normally do while we are home. I woke up and went running with the "Eldora Running Crew," AK played with and ran Ruby (the puppy), AK helped my mom set up for the Easter gathering, we both cleaned out our cars since we had easy access to shop vacs, etc, and we played endless games of fetch with Miss Ruby!! Saturday afternoon we headed to the farm. That's right....I spent some of my time as a child living the "farm life!" My dad and his wife live on this beautiful piece of land and we were lucky enough to have our schedules match up so we paid them a visit. The visit was full of entertainment as my brother Dan and his family joined us as well. Very fun to be able to chat with Dad and Deb and equally as fun to show AK the simple pleasures that come with an acreage/farm...no neighbors, a huge yard, your own crick, and more smells than one can stand!! :) After the visit to the farm we rallied back to Eldora and geared up for grilled pizzas and the infamous ping pong tourney. My performance was abysmal, and AK only made it to the semis this time around as their was a new kid in town...Mr. Allen Jaspers. Not only was he the new kid in town, he came right in with his deadly serve and made himself a ping pong champion. Better luck next time Gehrk.

Sunday
Sunday was just like most Easter's I remember. We all woke up, we went to Easter festival service, delivered Easter lilies to the shut in church members and then hustled home for a delicious Easter dinner. My mom spent the better part of Saturday cooking and man did it pay off. From Easter ham to carrot cake....everything was mouth wateringly delicious!!! The weather was beautiful so we also spent ample time outside. I sat on the deck and was able to soak up some sun believe it or not, and AK spear headed a very competitive game of wiffle ball. From what I could see from the deck everyone had a good time playing ball....big kids and little kids alike. Before we knew it the weekend was coming to a close but we were able to leave knowing we had tons of laughs, saw some great people and ate until our hearts were content and our bellies were about to explode.

Thanks to everyone who made the weekend so great and special thanks to my momma for cooking and cooking and cooking until she could not cook anymore. It was a great weekend and I obviously can't wait until we can go again!!! :)
Enjoy a few of the Easter pics below....
Disclaimer: in true Easter fashion the meal was most important post church so there were very few "Easter pics" taken if any at all...my apologies!!

Poppa Jay and Jack

obviously this can was empty....however Tommy would kick, scream and cry every time we took it away from him. completely hilarious....we could not stop laughing!!! but his parents decided to pick their battles and let him win this one! :))

cows!

"The Farm" and if anyone is wondering....the big grassy area in the right of this picture used to have a back-stop with a big sign that read: "The Spieker's Wrigley Field".....fun to think about those days! :)