Easter Weekend

Easter weekend graced us with beautiful weather to enjoy - it was so nice.  Here we are outside, on Saturday just soaking up some sun.

 

 

Then we had an indoor Easter egg hunt.  We've decided we like our own  indoor hunts better than outdoor hunts because there are so many more sneaky places to hide the eggs and the kids have so much fun searching for them.  Even the little miss caught on quickly and participated in the hunt...

 

 ...that is until she found taffy inside one of the eggs.  She has quite the sweet tooth (hopefully not as bad as her sister) and immediately wanted her treat rather than finish the hunt.

It was a whirlwind of running and squealing for joy and then it over in a matter of minutes - these kids are fast!

 

This time of year we always like to make our way to D&B to see all the baby chicks they have for sale and we always go for a spring ride out on the back country roads to see all the baby animals (my favorite are baby lambs) and just plain enjoy the beautiful area we live in!

 

 

Easter morning brought with it the traditional Easter bunny trail of eggs leading the kids from their beds to their Easter treasures. 

 

The older kids each got a board game (to help Cash with math and Vanna with her letters/sounds), church outfits and stuffed animals (that came free with their new clothes - love that!). 

 

Rosie was oh so thrilled about her little toys and stuffed animal as well.  She also got a new church outfit. 

 

And yes, if you noticed in the earlier picture, we are going to DISNEYLAND and couldn't be more excited!  Actually, Vanna is most excited about going to Sea World and seeing/touching dolphins.  She LOVES dolphins!  It was so fun watching the kids' reactions to the announcement.  Disney characters wrote letters to them (with the help of Mom :) and sent them a few things in a package in the mail to announce the trip and get the kids all excited about it.  One of those things was a countdown chain that the kids can tear a piece off of each day until we leave which has been fun and has kept them excited every day for the trip! 

 

And here are the munchkins all cleaned up in their new Easter outfits.  Vanna absolutely loves matching clothes with Rosie (they have a couple matching pairs of p.j.'s and she loves to wear them on the same day so they can be "matchers") so I got them essentially the same Easter dress.  Anyway, I love the color coordination but was worried about Cash liking his pink shirt - didn't even phase him though thankfully.  They're just too cute for words! 

 

After going to church and hearing many beautiful testimonies of our Savior, his life and resurrection, we had a nice Easter dinner, we had an Easter lesson and followed up with some egg coloring.

 

 

Dad's fancy creation. :)

 

The weekend was beautiful all around - beautiful purpose and meaning behind the holiday, beautiful weather, and beautiful company.  Doesn't get much better than that!

Rosie's 1st Birthday

Although this is event has long come and gone - I have to still record for my own sake Rosalie's FIRST birthday on December 27, 2012!  The party just keeps going on at our house at that time of year - first, Christmas, then Rosie's birthday, then New Year's - it's great! 

 

A birthday is hardly a birthday without balloons right!?

As you can see, there was a ladybug theme - mostly because I thought I could actually tackle decorating a cake to look like a ladybug.  We started the evening off with Papa Murphey's.  Ever since Rosie was just a few months old, she started reaching for my pizza whenever I made it.  It was the only food she really went for in the beginning (just knowing on the crust) and she still loves it!  So we had pizza just for her! :)

Perhaps admitting this puts me to shame, but I had never attempted to make a homemade birthday cake from scratch until Rosie's 1st birthday.  I have always just used the batter from the box type.  It turned out yummy but seemed quite heavy.  I don't know if this is normal or not but maybe with more practice, I'll figure that out. Anyway, Rosie seemed to enjoy it.  In fact, once I put her in her high chair she started getting so incredibly silly (see above picture :) and hyper.  It was so fun - like she knew she was the star of the show and that this was her time to shine.

We got such a kick out of her antics!

Look what I got!

I love the above picture.  It was like Rosie knew I was taking a picture of her and she was posing perfectly.  Rosie had some help from her big sister in opening her presents.  She got a new outfit, a musical toy, and a princess ride-on toy that she loves - especially when  her brother and sister push her along on it.

Love that smile!

It was a wonderful day and what made it even better was that Grandma and Grandpa Mendenhall were still here (they had come up to enjoy the Christmas holiday with us) to join in on the celebration.  We are so grateful for grandparents that always show their love and never forget to remember these kids on their birthdays.  And we are so grateful for the ray of sunshine that Rosie is our lives.  She is absolutely adored by all who know her and by no one more than her mom.  She is simply so sweet and we just love her to pieces!