Yesterday was such a fun day! As you can tell from my breakfast post, it was filled with sugar… but it was also filled with family, friends and tons and tons of FOOD.
Ryan and I spent the majority of Easter Sunday at his mom’s house, indulging in delicious food and catching up with family and friends.
Ryan’s mom always hosts the most amazing Easter brunch and we look forward to it all year. She pulls out all the stops to make one heck of a fantastic meal.
After munching away on appetizers for a hour or so, I already felt full. Put crab dip and bruschetta in front of me and all plans to pace myself throughout the day fade away immediately.
Even though I was fairly stuffed by the time we filled our plates for brunch, I still wolfed down a plate full of delicious holiday favorites.
Highlights for me included pineapple soufflé (the same dish I adored last year) and a cheesy potato casserole.
Once we were all sufficiently stuffed, we headed out to the backyard for an Easter egg hunt. Ryan and I were in charge of hiding all of the Easter eggs for the kids. I like to hide eggs in higher places because it seems like everyone looks at the ground when searching for eggs.
Can you spot a green egg?
The kids had a blast searching for eggs while we all watched. Then, as the kids were opening eggs, the adults amused themselves with several rounds of cornhole…
…And the kids’ toys.
After throwing on some shorts (gotta avoid the crotch shots!), I had such a great time on that mini dirt bike!
We also had a blast playing with a toy bow and arrows.
Ryan even volunteered to serve as our target. 
Eventually the blue skies turned gray and rain started to fall, so we took our party inside for dessert! Ryan’s mom surprised me with a half-Easter half-birthday cake to celebrate my birthday (which is on Wednesday) as well!
Isn’t it gorgeous!?
Naturally I overloaded my plate with cake, pie and cheesecake and subsequently felt a bit ill. I ate myself into a stupor several times yesterday!
Easter: Round Two
A little after 5 p.m., Ryan and I said our goodbyes and headed to my parents’ house for round two of Easter and birthday fun!
As we walked in the door, the delicious smell of lamb and mashed potatoes and gravy wafted toward us. Even though neither of us were particularly hungry, we sat down and packed in more food because it was so darn delicious!
After dinner, Ryan, my sister and I sorted through our Easter baskets before participating in the annual egg hunt! Yes, I’m married, and yes, my sister graduates from college next week, but you’re never too old for an egg hunt!
The hunt this year was a good one! My dad The Easter bunny did a great job of hiding the brightly colored eggs in spots that corresponded to their colors, so they were quite camouflaged.
In the end, I found right around 25 eggs and my sister found close to 29. Yes, I lost the annual hunt this year. Plus, my sister found the prized “golden egg” and took home the big bucks!
Fortunately I have some amazing prizes of my own to take home in the form of birthday presents!
My parents and sister did a great job and I received some amazing gifts… many of which you may expect to see on the fashion page!
No birthday celebration would be complete without cake and my mom and sister made me one heck of a birthday cake!
That little beauty would be homemade red velvet cake with chocolate marshmallow ice cream in the center and homemade buttercream frosting.
Yes, it tasted just as amazing as it sounds!
I went to sleep last night with a very full and happy belly. 
Now I’m off to change! I have to head to the dentist this morning to get a cavity filled. I wonder if they’ll be able to tell that my teeth are coated in sugar after yesterday?
And I’m off!
P.S. The Fashion page was updated this morning!
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Looks like a fun Easter! Love your Easter ensemble. 😉
Ahhhh TWO birthday cakes?! I am jealous. That second one looks especially mouthwatering. I’m glad you had a good Easter filled with family and sweets- and happy almost birthday!!
Your outfit had me so jealous of your sister’s closet! What a wonderful day you had!
I love how your family pretty much does the exact same thing with the Easter egg hunt as mine does! I even posted the same way about dad (ahem, the Easter bunny) doing a good job hiding the eggs.
I love that they still do it, despite the fact that we’re all grown up. 🙂
And so glad you got to enjoy all of your sweet treats…they looked amazing!
that is insane! i just read your blog post. haha – glad our families are still lettin’ us live the dream!
I got Toms this weekend too! I LOVE THEM. They are beyond comfortable! Looks like you had an amazing Easter Weekend 🙂
Love your necklace and wow check out that food! Please pass on to your sister that my bday is June 4th and I love cake….I’m just sayinnn’ 😉
WHAT a fun day!!! two parties in one day- you guys are party animals! happy early birthday too!! wow you got to celebrate BOTH- the frosting on that cake is calling out me..
calling out to me* my bad…
I am glad you enjoyed your Easter! Did you lose any weight or notice any changes in your body after giving up sweets? Can you do a post on it?
look for this post to go up today!
Love this fun filled and food yum recap! Glad you and Ryan had a wonderful easter!! Both birthday cakes look amazing!!
I see you got TOMS!!! yay! We can be TOMS twins ; )
Looks like you had an easter full of really bright colors and good food – and your plate photo’d above made me kinda really hungry..
Looks like you had a great Easter! That cake looks ridiculous…
Love your dress 🙂
I’m so glad to hear that someone else ate close to about half of my indulgence yesterday 😉 That red velvet combo looks divine! Don’t you love celebrating your birthday for days at a time?
I’m glad you had such a great Easter! I think I ate my weight in food yesterday too, but it was so worth it 🙂
Oh meeeee too.
Yum!! Look at all that delicious food and goodies! Happy early birthday Easter! 🙂
Happy belated birthday!! Good to hear you seemed to have a nice weekend to celebrate both holidays 🙂
So much delicious food! I’m jealous. My philosophy is the best kind of food to stuff yourself with is food made with love, so you hit the jackpot. That ice cream birthday cake looks delish. Now I want to try my hand at making an ice cream cake! Have a great Monday!
We did the same thing yesterday — we went from house to house with full bellies but still managed to eat more food 🙂
I really like that dress!
Wow! Both of your families host amazing Easter gatherings. I’m drooling over that cake. Cake, ice cream, and frosting?! You must have been on Cloud Nine! 😛
2 celebrations in one day?! How fun! Looks like it was a blast playing outside with everyone!
For your sake, I’m glad that your birthday falls when you can eat sweets! I would go crazy!
Wow, what a fabulous weekend!! Looks like you had some amazing food, and both of your birthday cakes look delicious! Isn’t Easter so much fun when you celebrate it with kids? Unfortunately there was no egg hunt for us this year but my cousins and I still got Easter baskets and plenty of chocolate! Have a great day Julie! 🙂
Pineapple soufflé…mmmm! That sounds like the perfect Easter dish!
My Aunt makes a butternut squash soufflé for Thanksgiving and it is to die for. I always go back for seconds, thirds…maybe fourths 🙂
Everything looks so yummy! I always try to go in with a plan at family holiday get togethers, but it goes out the window when I see the food spread. I’m such a grazer and need to try a little bit of everything.
You are NEVER to old to easter egg hunt!! There are things that I did when I was younger that I still do now and will always do. My sister and I have snuggle sessions and we will continue to do so when we are wearing are depends and oxygen tanks.
Tha red velvet cake looks UNREAL! chocolate/marshmellow ice cream filling is the kicker.
and i love the black/white/turquoise combo of your dress and necklace. 🙂
What a great family gathering, with so much great food!
And I specially like that cake your mom made, looks so delicious!
Aw that cake is so adorable! The food looks delicious. So exciting to be able to eat sweets again 🙂
All that food looks amazing, es
Especially your two birthday cakes!
(oops I got cut off up there!)
HAPPY EARLY BIRTHDAY JULIE!!
so happy you got an MK watch! Which one is it?!
haha i LOVE that you noticed that! 🙂 it’s an all-gold one. i LOVE it!
Perfect! Its his signature watch. Fun fact: it was the first watch to ever be on a runway.
Make sure u don’t pay to get it sized, any MK store will size it for free.
Happy Early Birthday Julie!
I too ate myself into a food coma yesterday! even with the added sugar from the candy…all I could do was lay in bed….and it was totally worth it 🙂
Perhaps one of those presents is the beautiful gold MK watch…. !
it was! i am in love! 🙂
HOLY MOLY. That red velvet cake looks like the best thing I’ve ever seen! I think I just drooled. Did your mom make that gem herself then!? WOWZA!!!
It looks like you had a super fun Easter 🙂 How old will you be on Wednesday? Happy Birthday Eve Eve!
i’ll be 26 🙂
P.S! do you have any recommendations on a college graduation dress? Mostly color and style? (I wash thinking creams…light pinks…white….lol)
I have been looking at rue la la, piperlime, and various stores like ann taylor loft…..and I can’t decide if some are too causal/formal
I would love to buy a super pretty dress that I can use again also
& I love your easter outfit
THANKS!
the colors you are thinking sound perfect! i would just go with something classic and not overly trendy… or too short. 🙂 i think i wore a coral-colored dress that hit right above my knees.
Thanks for your help! there is this adorable, lilac A.B.S. dress on rue la la that I am obsessing about…but it looks pretty short and the model has gazelle legs (mine are also long so I don’t know if it’ll work)….so I am going to have to make a choice in 10 hours!
p.s. Yay on the watch 🙂
I love being a girl and sometimes getting carried away by beautiful fashion goodness….
what a fun Easter Sunday! Your smile REALLY shows how happy you are to be eating sweets again 🙂
Sounds like a fun Easter full of family and love! I see you got your Tom’s too!!
oh what a wonderful family Easter weekend!
BTW your outfit is wonderful! 🙂
YAY for two rounds of Easter food! I’m so glad you got TOMS, you are going to LOVE them!!! I wear mine constantly, both flats and wedges.
Awesome Awesome Awesome! Your family has so many talented chefs!
I love that you have a family like yours! I can’t wait to have that one day! 😀
PS Congrats to your sister for graduating college next week!
You do realize now that you may get hits from google searches that included the words “crotch shot” don’t you? 😉
Happy Birthday!
What yummy food — your mother in law goes all out! 🙂
Ahhh!! What FEAST y’all had yesterday! And those cakes are so pretty! Did Ryan’s mom make the first one?! And oh my goodness… redvelvet icecream cake?!?! I would die on the spot. Sounds delicious! Hope your dentist appt checks out okay with all of that sugar! 😛
no, she bought it. isn’t it gorgeous!?
omg LOVE this 🙂 i love the dress and that cake sounds SOOO yummy! xo glad you had a great weekend! xo
Oooh what Toms did you get? I just got the solid navy and have been LIVING in them! They’re so, so comfy!
the distressed red color. 🙂 i may exchange them for a solid color though b/c they’re a little more faded than i anticipated.
Your easter looked so delicious! I think I would eat myself into a stupor too if that much good food was placed in front of me. 🙂
Your Easter looked like a lot of fun! I sometimes eat myself into a stupor on special occasions—but luckily those only pop up 2-3 times a year. ha! Glad you enjoyed the end of Lent, Julie 🙂
WOW! That’s my kind of day, one filled with festivities, food, family, & friends. Holy illiteration! hehe
You look so happy in those pictures Julie – I love that your all about family 🙂
I feel a little better knowing that I’m not the only one that ate myself into a sugar/carb coma yesterday :).
Hope you had a great easter!!! All of that food looks deeelicious!
OMG!!! Can I PLEASE have your family’s cake recipe!?!?! Their homemade red velvet, chocolate marshmallow ice cream cake w/ homemade buttercream frosting embarrassingly made me drool!!! I bet it was INCREDIBLE! Happy Birthday!
What a fun time! I get so jealous reading blogs where people have fun with their family and actually get to eat good food 😉