Easter Weekend

We had one of the nicest Easter weekends that I think we've had yet here in Wisconsin. The weather was so great, we spent basically the whole weekend outside. We loved that it was also Conference weekend too, what a great excuse to sit around and play with the kids while we try to hear as much conference as we can on TV.

We had been playing outside so much that we kept putting off the egg decorating until Saturday evening...when I had realized that I had forgotten to buy more eggs at the grocery store earlier in the day. GEESH! So we had a total of 5 eggs to color, since two got cracked while cooking and Nolan started peeling those to eat right away. But at least that left one egg for each of us, and a bonus egg for Nolan to color.

Later that night the Easter Bunny made a visit, and he also delivered some goods that were sent out by Grandma Whittaker and Grandma Merrell. Needless to say our kids had a pretty decent Easter haul this year! Yikes.

Nolan was super excited to start finding the eggs that were hidden in the living room and dining room, poor kid was bouncing off the walls going from his new toys, to a newly discovered egg and back to his new toys. Good thing he had all of that sugar to keep him fueled up!

Audrey was a pretty big fan of the egg hunting as well. Especially since her eggs contained Gerber Yogurt Melts, her favorite thing in the world. She does the funniest hyperventilating laugh whenever you show her the bag.

Easter also happened to be the day that Audrey decided that she no longer needed to hold one of our hands in order to walk across the room. First thing she did after finding her second egg was toddle over to show it to me! She amazed and startled us all day by just taking off on her own all around the house. In about a month's time she's gone from just standing pretty well alone, to walking everywhere all by herself. She's really stable too, she just mostly has to contend with her brother whizzing by or running circles around her, or even better trying to help "Audgey" walk...which never ends well.

Easter weekend brought us so many fun memories, and we were so thankful to have the time to spend together-homework and hospital call free. This year is really cruising by, and our kids are growing up so fast I can't believe that we're going to be celebrating Audrey's first birthday on the 30th. We have so much to be thankful for, and we have so much that the Lord has blessed us with. On a side note, we have a Catholic church about a block away from our house that has wonderful church bells that ring every day on the hour and especially on Sundays and holidays to announce mass. This year I did a little reading about Easter and what different cultures practice and celebrate during Maudy Thursday, Good Friday, Holy Saturday and Easter Sunday. It really made a big impression on me. I know that I paid a lot more attention to the sacred events on each of those days, and I was so glad for the opportunity to reflect on our beliefs and to also have the ability to listen to our Prophet and Apostles teach us about the things that the Lord needs us to know in these latter days. I am so thankful for all that I have and for all of the wonderful people that are in our lives. I think Easter has definitely moved up on my favorite holidays list for good.