Easter

We had a nice Easter this year at my parents house. Ivan flew down to Utah on Friday night so that he could drive home with me and the kids. Of course he had SEVERAL issues with his flight, he always does, so he didn't get in until really late. On Saturday we just hung out at home and then went to visit Grandmother. It really is so nice to have her close by. I feel like we really missed out on that for a lot of years. She is such an amazing lady and she makes me laugh every single time I see her. When I am 90 I hope that I get to have an entire closet devoted to pajamas. :)
After we visited with Grandmother, my parents took the kids so that Ivan and I could go car shopping! We have been looking at getting a new car for a while now but it's tough to shop with two little ones. We ended up buying a car that night! It was kinda spur of the moment...but it seems like that's how we roll. We got a 2008 Chrysler Aspen. It is basically the same as a Durango...only better. It is the perfect color and is so much nicer than anything else we looked at. We were happy to get to drive home in it. The kids have more wiggle room and we have more room for "stuff."
Sunday morning was a little crazy. The Easter bunny forgot that she left the stuff for the kids baskets in my parents closet...and since I was out late cruisin' in my new car with Ashley...it had to wait 'til morning. I told Emma that the Easter bunny hid the baskets for them to find AFTER breakfast so that they didn't spoil their appetites. A little distraction with bathtime for the kids was just enough time for the Easter bunny to get the job done. They got some candy, bubbles, kites, pez dispensers, side walk chalk and a few other little things. I also bought each of them soccer balls for Easter. I found a pink and purple SPARKLE one at Old Navy and knew that Emma had to have it...just in time to start soccer the next week.
My mom made a wonderful breakfast and Jake and Jamie and Skylar came over to eat with us. I had been wanting to take Sky's pictures while I was there and that was our last chance. Here are a couple. She is so super cute! And they just found out that she is going to have a little sister!




Then we went to church. It was a missionary farewell that day and the place was packed. I always love church on Easter sunday. I am grateful for my Savior, Jesus Christ and for the knowledge I have about the gospel. I am grateful for the resurrection and that we can live again with our families. Emma drew a picture in primary and I didn't even look at it until we got all the way home to Washington. In my mom's ward her teacher is Gina. Gina is my mom's next door neighbor and is a really good friend. She was my teacher MANY times growing up and I love that Emma gets to learn from her on occasion as well. I still remember last Easter when Emma came home from church and told us the entire resurrection story. She is a smart little girl and I am grateful that she has such great teachers in her life. When we got home from Utah I had a comment on facebook from Gina. She said that she wished she could have visited with us while we were there and asked if I had seen the picture Emma had drawn in church. My mom had made sure that we got it out of her car before we left but I hadn't looked at it. They were told to draw a picture of someone that had died that they would see again. Gina said she got tears in her eyes as she saw Emma write the letters JOE. Emma doesn't remember Uncle Joey but I try to talk about him as much as possible. He was such a huge part of my life and I love and miss him so much. When Joey passed away, Maryn asked if there was anything of his that I wanted. I couldn't think of anything for a long time and then remembered the huge bird book that he had. He kept it in his truck with him so that he could look up different kinds of birds when he came across them. A couple weeks ago when it finally started warming up, I took the book outside and Emma and I looked through it. She loves animals and we have so many birds at our house. She had wanted me to look up pictures of birds on the internet for her, but I told her I had something way better. I really enjoyed looking through the book with her and telling her about her Uncle Joe. Here is the picture. I love the backwards "J".

After church I went back to my Mom's house to take more pictures. This time it was of sweet little Paityn. She is Jared and Maryn's new baby girl. She is so cute and I am grateful that Maryn and Jared found eachother and were blessed with this special little spirit in their home. They are going to be wonderful parents. Paityn had been sick that week, the doctor thinks she had the flu, so we ended pictures pretty early. I think we got a few good ones though! I wish I lived closer and could take cute pictures of my nieces and nephews every day.




The only time that we could get everyone together for an Easter egg hunt was that afternoon. I was so glad that Matt and Jacky and the kids were able to come. We got to see them for Emma's birthday party too...just not Matt. It is hard to live so far away and then not get to see everyone when we visit...so we were happy that Matt was able to come. The kids had lots of fun searching for eggs in Grandma's back yard. My parents made our traditional ham and new potatoes for dinner. It was yummy! We were in the middle of packing up to leave and I wish I could have relaxed a little more to enjoy dinner with the family. Apparently I really like to take pictures of Skylar...can you blame me though? That little girl has some serious cuteness goin' on. The picture of Levi with the happiest face in the world is when he discovered there was an egg on each step of the slide. He just laughed and laughed.

After we got all packed up we headed to Corinne to spend the night. Butch and Marjie had gone up and spent the day with Dusty and Brandee and the kids and had gotten home just before we got there. Emma loves to snuggle with Grandpa Butch. She was also excited that Grandma had a birthday present for her. Grandma and Grandpa gave her the movie, "the velveteen rabbit." She loved it and watched it all the way home the next day in the car.

The next morning Marjie rescheduled a few things so she could spend some time with us. She made a nice breakfast and we just hung out for a while. Before we left we went out to see Grandpa's new calf only to find out he was missing! Grandpa was sure someone had stole him. :) We looked all around the corrals for a while and I finally spotted him as I was walking back to the car. He was just snuggled up taking a nap on some soft grass. If I had the chance to get out of a poop filled corral with BIG bulls to have a nap on soft, clean grass, I would do it too. He was super cute so I snapped a few pictures.

We also got to say hello to Pedro...Grandma's colt. We were glad we got to spend a little time in Corinne. Grandpa's truck was in the shop so we got to give him a ride out to Promontory as well. It was a little out of the way, but it is always nice to drive out there. It was a long drive home after we left so late...and we had to stop at the airport to pick up Ivan's truck. I am surprised Emma did as well as she did the next day at school and at soccer for the first time!