Happy Easter!

This Easter, my mom and her husband Rod came down for General Conference and Easter Weekend. What a bonus that Easter was on GC Weekend. We love GC and have many fun traditions, so to combine them with our Easter traditions made for a fun and busy weekend.

Cole was so cute, when I asked him what his favorite part about Easter is I fully expected him to say the Easter Bunny and candy. My little darling surprised me, here's how the conversation went:
Mom - What's your favorite part about Easter?
Cole- THE RESERECTION OF JESUS CHRIST! (this was said very loud and enthusiastically).
Mom - oh - mine too Cole. What's your second favorite part? (Here's where the candy comes in) Mine's the Easter Bunny and all the candy.
Cole - Not Mine! It's GENERAL CONFERENCE!

Gotta love that kid.

THe night before GC we do a lesson on King Benjamin and how all the families gathered with there tents to hear the prophet speak with the door of the tent toward the temple. We set up our tent and the kids get to sleep in it conference nights (we take it down during the day so that we don't hear tent noises and zipping during conference) - we also do treats while watching conference and activity packets. My kids LOVE GC!

This year they lasted all 8 HOURS!! (It helped that we bribed them with Chucky Cheese on Monday if they could sit quietly and listen to all the sessions.) They did it and are better for it. Good job guys.



This was one of the placesettings my mom made for us. So cute - too bad the pic is blurry and you can't see it.



Ambra found a dollar in her egg. I think this chick lucked out with over $5 in the eggs she found.

Ariahs lot.

...and Colies

Ambra found her Easter basket in the toy room dress ups.

Grandpa's was behind the computer.

Look at all those eggs she found. It helps to be the oldest and fastest. The Easter Bunny hid over 200 eggs. What a crazy bunny.

My basket was in the game closet.

Adams was in the bathtub.

Coles was in the storage closet.

Ariahs was under the pillows behind her.

The kids right before the BIG HUNT!

Grandpa is a sport. The kids do all kinds of weird stuff to this poor guy.

AWWW - the Easter Bunny left us this heart with candy filled eggs. (He must have run out of spots to hide them with that many eggs :)

Happy Easter! I am so thankful for the Easter season of birth and renewal. I love to see blossoms on the trees and tulips coming out of the ground. What a great reminder of our Saviors Reserection. Even better that it fell on GC so that the prophets words could fill our homes and rejunvinate our spirits. LOVE THIS TIME OF YEAR!

Bear Lake

Last minute trip to Bear Lake turned into a nice getaway. I surprised Adam with 3 nights up in our Bear Lake Condo. Theres not much to do up there at this time of year, so it was super relaxing and made for some good old fashioned family fun.

We played lots of games, twister was of course a fav, Cole kept winning Jenga, made up the rules to Sorry, and we got through Monopoly.






Lots and lots of swimming in the indoor pool.

and Ariah loved sleeping on the pull out of the wall bed. She thought it was pretty cool to have this big bed all to herself.

All in all, lots of movies, games, walks on the beach and too much food.... a nice relaxing getaway.

Those Tricky Leprachauns!!

Those little tricksters! They come into our house and think they can paint faces...






evade traps.... (the kids set this trap outside their doors. They propped it open with a popsicle hoping to lure those little guys inside - instead they found an empty wrapper and a note that said "ya right!")

pee in our toilet...

turn our milk green...(which by the way I had to throw down the drain - the kids wouldn't touch it)

hang our umbrellas on our fans....

write us notes in candy...

turn our furniture upside down...

block our escape at the door...

and tie our doors together so we can't get out!!!! Those tricky leprachauns. The kids could hardly sleep the night before in antcipation. I think it was worse than the anticpation for Christmas (sad I know). They got us good :)

There is a legend that if you leave a treasure box under the light of the moon, the leprachauns are bound to fill it with treasures - but they hide it! The good thing is they leave a trail of green to the hiding spot. Those little stinkers hid our box in the garbage can! - good thing they left it full of snacks, bubbles, umbrellas, and candy.

Ambra, Cole and Ariah each took a side and decorated it. Here is Cole's side.

and Ambras.

We worked on this side together. Ariah was too busy watching the other kids to get much on her side. THe important thing is we had fun together doing it.

Join us down the rabbit hole... in Wonderland of course

Happy Birthday my curly haired little darling. You bring so much joy to my life. I love you so much and I can't believe you are three. You are a little spitfire, yet you are tenderhearted and sweet. You are a girl who knows what she wants and it is very hard to mainpulate you into what we want you to do. I love how you dress up as Alice or in that ratty old spotted dog costume everyday. I love how you are in character to whatever you are dressed up as and wont answer to Ariah for anything. I love how when I have hidden your costumes so they can be washed, that you have to wear a "pwetty" dress. You are a girl through and through. I love it. I love when your legs are hurting you at night, you look at me and say "wocky me mama" (rock me mom). You give the best hugs on the planet and are so friendly to everyone around. You have captured many hearts at your young age. Everyone who meets you can't help but be drawn into your sweet little self.

I love you Ariah. You spice up my life, and give me a reason to smile and laugh.




The Queen of Hearts did NOT want white roses, so we painted them red! Good thing this was a mommy-toddler tea party. I could not have handled red paint and three year olds on my own.

We played musical chairs to the Unbirthday song.

I was the Madhatter, Ambra was the Queen of Hearts, Cole is chillin in a way to small bunny costume and of course my darling little Alice.

We made King and Queen of Heart crowns.

Theres my little darling in her Alice costume that Grandma made for her. I am so lucky to have a fabulous mother and mother in law.

She loves those little sparkles.

The invitation.

Drink me teapots.

Flower shaped eat me cookies.

Party favors to take home.

Heart petal suckers.

...and of course the talking flower garden.

...and the cake I slaved many hours over. It was fun though. The kids helped me bake all six cakes that made up this beast. We had a lot of mommy kid time that day. Love those times.