Easter

This year we decorated Easter eggs a week and a half before Easter. Usually I forget, and we end up doing it just a few days before. Ryan was still out of town for work, so we invited our fun neighbors, the Denneys, to join in on the fun! They are super creative, so I bet it was hard for them to watch us make pretty basic eggs, but we sure had fun with them here!

Bro. Denney helping the boys

The kids and I were on the road for Easter weekend (Ryan stayed home to work). Since it was Spring Break and since my parents are soon moving from Arizona to Washington D.C., we wanted to go and visit them this one last time that we could drive to them! The boys had swim lessons on Saturday morning, so we left in the afternoon. They were good travelers, and we got all the way to Flagstaff on Saturday. We spent the night at a hotel, and I was surprised at how well everyone went to sleep -- no jumping on the beds or bothering their brother like on previous hotel stays!

The Easter bunny is VERY low-key at our house . . . so much so that I bet the kids wouldn't have even noticed if the Easter bunny didn't find us this year. But when they woke up at the hotel, they found their Easter baskets. The boys each got a pair of sunglasses and a card game. Elizabeth got a toothbrush (she's had a tooth for about 2-3 weeks now) and some really cute shoes. I had the kids pose in front of the car before we got back on the road, but it was so windy that Joshua ran straight into the car and wouldn't come out for the picture!


I couldn't have asked for better kids on this trip. Nathan was so helpful with Elizabeth in the car. He even went back to the car by himself while the rest of us were in the hotel room to get a binky for Elizabeth. I was a little nervous, but it was 10:00 at night and I didn't want to drag all the kids back in the cold and wind. It was a pretty straight shot from our room to the elevator and then from the elevator to the door out to the parking lot, so I felt it was something I could let him do. And he did great, except that he accidentally held the unlock button down too long, causing all the windows to roll down! He came up all flustered that he couldn't get them up and the car wouldn't lock. I was able to go down later after I got the kids settled in bed and fix it.

At breakfast that morning, I could tell that most of the other hotel guests were watching us. But luckily they all had smiles on their faces and not scowls. I thought, "Yes, I do have great kids!" Of course their almost-perfect behavior did not last the whole trip, but at least they were good when I needed it the most!

We got to my parents' house about 10:15 that morning. We spent the rest of Easter watching Conference, playing with Uncle Brantly, and enjoying a delicious meal prepared by my dad (his meals are always one of the highlights of our visits!). Here is how Benjamin entertained himself:

It was an unconventional Easter, but a great one!