Happy Easter!

We were excited to wake up & find that we hadn't missed all of our daffodils blooming!

Lexie was super excited about it!

We enjoyed a yummy bunny breakfast together, listened to Music & the Spoken Word & talked about Easter & got ready for church. We were awfully tired as we got home just before midnight last night, but we made it.

And here are the kids! Andrew happily announced to many people at church that Joseph was wearing his birthday suit because Joseph was wearing his new church clothes that he got for his birthday. It sure gave us all a good chuckle.

Happy Easter!

Easter Egg Hunt

Each year for Easter, my Aunt Carolee throws a big Easter Egg Hunt. As a kid I only got to go a few times but we would go up & visit at other times of the year. One really fun thing about her house is the pond in her backyard. I loved feeding all of the ducks bread as a kid. It was a lot of fun. Since we were going to be out in Utah for this party, we thought it would be a great time to let my kids experience one of these hunts. They are crazy! Candy is just everywhere & way more than enough to go around. The kids loved it! It was a great way to end our week out here & grateful we could participate & see so many more family members that we don't usually get to see too often.

After it was done we said our good byes & started our trek home! (Oh, it was cute as we were driving eastward, Lexie asked if we could stop one more time at Grandpa's grave so she could leave some Easter candy for him so he could have it to eat once he was resurrected. She was really sad when I told her that may not be the best thing to leave in a cemetery. But it sure was sweet.) We had a great Spring Break! Too bad it's not longer...but the kids are also excited to head back to school & see all of their friends.

More Utah Trip

Yesterday, I didn't take any pictures, but I headed up to Logan to visit another sister & her family. It was a great time. We just visited, ate, went for a little walk, got to watch my niece practice jump roping (she is amazing!) & let the kids play lots! We're so glad we could make it up there on this trip, too.

This morning we woke up to a few inches of snow. It was kind of funny as I realized it had been years since I've had to clear snow from my car. I'm glad we always have a scraper & some gloves in the car. It made me laugh when Andrew asked me if today was Easter. I said no, but quickly caught myself & said, "Yes, today is kind of like Christmas!" It was fun to then hear Lexie & Joseph explain to him why (because it's Christ's birthday).

Today was Rick's last day of class. Because he was at work from 7:30 am until about 5 each night he didn't get to do many of the fun things we did. But he really wanted to go to the Aerospace Museum. So, once he was done with class around lunch time he took the boys over for a quick visit while Lexie & I did some packing up & Eliza "napped" for a bit.

Then we had some lunch & went out to visit my dad's grave. I'm always so touched at how sweet my children are when they are there & what they remember about Grandpa. It was interesting today seeing Eliza there. She never met my dad here but the way she just went up & put her head down by his name like she was giving him a hug & then sitting & facing the headstone & babbling it was like she knew who he was & was having a little chat while sitting on his lap. It was really cute. And after we took this picture she started dancing all over & around. It was kind of funny how sweet, silly, & happy she was to be there. We all sure miss him, lots!

Then we went back to the apartment & let Joseph open some presents he got from us & his Grandparents.

He was pretty excited about everything.

Antelope Island

Today's adventure was heading out to Antelope Island. I had also never been there before. It was a beautiful day for it & lots to see & do. We headed out to the ranch where there was a little museum for the kids to go through of buildings with tools, old homes & where they could practice lassoing cattle. They also found plenty of walking sticks along the way.

Here are all of the cousins outside the house. The girls especially loved all of the period clothing & old things in there.

I decided I had better take a picture of one of the antelopes I saw on Antelope Island. Not the best, but tada, there it is.

Before we left we drove down to a beachy area & let the kids go down into the Great Salt Lake. They said it was pretty salty.

Just before leaving the ranch I took Eliza over to see the horses that were getting ready to go out for a ride. Eliza LOVES horses right now. The ranch hands were so nice & let me bring her over to pet them. She is usually nervous about petting dogs & cats-loves them & wants to see them but not pet them too much, so I was expecting the same thing with the horses. Nope, she immediately started petting them & tried to share her bink with them over & over. She loved every minute of it. I didn't take any pictures of this because I was too nervous she would stop loving on them. But, tonight at Heather's house the horses in the field behind her came over to eat grass & Eliza again got her fill of horses.

Lots of fun!

Hill Aerospace Museum

For our second week of Spring Break we went to Utah. Rick had a class he was taking at Hill Air Force Base, so we were all able to go out for the week. It was fun getting to see so much family & spend the days with my sister & her kids. It was also a new experience for us to stay on the AFB for the week. I was surprised with how nice the apartment was where we stayed. Today we went & spent some time at the Hill Aerospace Museum. I've driven by & off of this exit many times but have never gone. It was pretty cool. There are lots of airplanes outside & just as many inside. The kids thought it was amazing how big the planes were compared to them & that many of the tires were as tall as they were.

They also had a fun learning center inside of the museum where the kids could learn about science, dress up in uniforms, & fly some simulators.

It was a really great day!

Happy Birthday, Joseph!

Today Joseph turned 7! Woohoo! He was pretty excited & lucky to get to spend it with cousins. And they were nice to give him fun presents. First, he got new church clothes.

Then his cousins made him light sabers out of swim noodles & Grant gave him one of his Star Wars books. Joseph loved that.

Then we had some cake! It was only appropriate that he had a basketball cake for tonight.

It was yummy!

And then we headed down for a KU party where we had lots of red & blue & basketball treats for the NCAA Championship game against Kentucky. Unfortunately, UK won instead of KU...but still KU had a much better season than was expected!