A very special Easter

This quarantine has certainly impacted everyone's Easter.

For us Melvilles, it means that my nephews are here so they won't be locked in their tiny apartment. It's the first time we've spent Easter with my two younger nephews.

My brother is almost the exact opposite of me, at least as far as holidays are concerned. My life revolves around holidays, but he is completely apathetic about them. My nephews call me Holiday John, and now they've been saying that my brother is a Holiday Nhoj, since he's the opposite. My youngest nephew, who is ten, told me that they don't celebrate Easter. They just buy candy on sale after Easter.

So we had to pull out all the stops for Easter this year. It wasn't really that different for us, but we had to make it enjoyable for the boys.

Of course, we colored Easter eggs, which they had never done before. They enjoyed using "Eggmazing," a device that spins the egg around while  you draw on it with markers. I prefer crayons.

Mine are the ones in the front: clouds, bats (for coronavirus), shamrocks, spiderwebs, polka dots, carrots, trees, and hearts.

This is the family's eggs, with most of the stripes being from the boys.

Then we had Easter baskets and an egg hunt on Saturday morning, since we've always done that instead of Sunday to keep it sacred. We got lots of jelly beans, Peeps, chocolate eggs, and chocolate bunnies—the traditional stuff. (Controversial opinion: cheap Brach's jellybeans are better than the fancy Jelly Belly or Starburst jellybeans.) The boys quickly found the eggs; by the time I put my shoes on, they had already found most of them. They said, "Why don't we do this at our house?" My brother tried to defend themselves, saying they have done Easter things in the past, but not even my oldest nephew, who is fifteen, remembers doing any such thing.

Then today we had a nice dinner with ham, funeral potatoes, deviled eggs, roasted vegetables, and carrot cake. My Melville grandmother always used to decorate a (non-carrot) cake with an Easter scene, so I did a similar thing. (She used regular marshmallows cut into bunnies instead of Peeps, and she died coconut green instead of using the edible "grass.")

My nephews again asked why they don't have a big dinner for the holiday. Success! Nathaniel (10) just told me Easter is now his second-favorite holiday when they're here (Christmas being first).

I've been playing my Easter playlist, casting it to my Google Home and Google Home Mini from my phone. For some reason, the big Google Home decides it doesn't want to play some of the songs, even though they play just fine from the Mini!

Easter wasn't the only noteworthy thing this week. Recently, I decided I wanted to be more careful about spending money on things that are bad for me. But then Governor Herbert wants us to buy things from restaurants three times a week. If I can save the economy by buying cookies (and sharing the Utah cookie fad with my California nephews), I will gladly do it.

Nothing Bundt Cakes

RubySnap

Chip

Crumbl

Cutler's

Crave

One night this week, Jimmy was licking my arm at 3 a.m. I looked at my watch, and he was licking me for at least four minutes. He doesn't usually lick me that long, so it was so strange that he did for so long in the middle of the night!

On Wednesday, I went to Deseret Mill canning in Kaysville, since our ward asked for volunteers. I didn't want to, but I figured that nobody wants to, and I don't have a job or kids. My sister-in-law came with, and we made sure labels were on cans correctly. It was mostly boring; we were glad when the labels were wrong so we felt useful.

And I went trail running six days this week! On weekdays, I was surprised how non-busy the trails were; they were almost like normal days. I loved seeing all the springbeauties, glacier lilies, and yellowbells in blossom. What a lovely time of year!

Monday: the dirt road beneath Ensign Peak

Tuesday: Wild Rose

Wednesday: North Canyon. The main trail was snowed over, so I went on this dirt road, but there was a gate saying the road was permanently closed because of vandalism and illegal fires. It has been a few years since I've been there. The road's not that beautiful, so it's not a big loss, but it is a shame that rednecks ruin everything.

Thursday: The ridge between Woodbriar and City Creek

Springhill Geologic Park

Ridge between Woodbriar and City Creek

As I came home from yesterday's run, a loose dog in the street wouldn't let me past him, as though it owned the entire road. Of course, it doesn't. Yet another episode in the saga of Mark Hates Dogs. I will refrain from telling you what I hope happens to that dog.

As much as I like to think otherwise, I do seek the approval of others, and last week I didn't get one solitary like. Did I say something wrong?