Happy Easter!

This year was the first time in a long time that we have actually been home for Easter!  It was really laid back and nice.

Church was wonderful and refreshing.  There's a beautiful video going around the internet about the Savior and what he did for us.  If you haven't seen it you can check it out here.  Lately I've been feeling especially grateful that because of him I will one day be able to see my loved ones who have passed away.

The Easter Bunny came, but the kids got to the baskets way before Bart and I woke up, so we only got post-Easter-morning-craziness pictures.

Then the kids demanded that we dye eggs.  The only places with decent light in my house are carpeted, and I wasn't about to risk dying eggs over carpet, so we had less-than-ideal lighting as we died, but there was a lot of greater-than-ideal fun that was had.  ;)

After this picture, I told Maya she didn't have to look at the camera and smile every time I was taking a picture...

So this is what she did instead...

And below on the right is what Lilly did when I asked if I could get a picture of her.
 

Then we tried to get fancy and do some two-toned eggs.

But seconds after I took that picture I was reminded  why I refuse to dye eggs over carpet as Addison accidentally elbowed the red dye, causing it to spill all over my counter (for the record, it's not such a great idea to dye eggs on a wood counter top either.  We now have a slight, but permanent reminder of the fun we had tattooed in the heart of our kitchen). 

The kids were pretty much done at that point anyway.  But Addison did insist we go out and get a picture of the eggs in a basket with the chocolate bunnies, so I obliged.

One of my good friends from high school came over for dinner, and that is how we ended the day. 

I did post a few pictures of the girls in their Easter Dresses on my business blog, but I thought I'd post one here too.

 

And this one on my Facebook page is my favorite.  I seriously love my kids.  :)  Happy Easter Everyone!

Put Yourself in the Picture

This month's blog circle was "Put yourself in the Picture."  I took this before Christmas, but my brother got me an awesome remote timer for my camera, so in the future, I'm going to have to put that to some good use for things like this.  Now go check out how Bianca put herself in the picture.

Fourth of July - Part Deux

That's "two" in french by the way.

On Tuesday we headed up the canyon for a picnic dinner and a walk up to Bridal Veil Falls.

 Normally our kids are in tennis shoes when we do this "hike" (anyone who's been to Bridal Veil Falls knows why I put the word hike in quotes), so we don't let them go in the water.  I know my kids and if we let them go in with their shoes, they'll complain the whole way back home about wet shoes, and if we let them take off their shoes, they'll complain about the sharp rocks below the water.  Solution: they don't go in.  

But this time they had sandals on, so we told them they could go in...they were very excited.

 By the way, if I ever ask Hannah to smile for me while I'm taking a picture...or even look at me for that matter, this is what she does:

 

Silly little Hannah Bun.

Maya was also excited about the water.

Until she realized we weren't going to let her go in.

Then she wasn't very happy with us.

Lilly wasn't to happy about it either.

And when it was time to go, Hannah joined in their displeasure.

But after wiping away some tears, we actually had quite a pleasant walk back to the cars.  The whole time I got to walk behind this sweetness:

I gotta say, I am really really glad these two are my grandparents.  They are seriously just some of the most wonderful people I know, and I love them so much.  Just thinking about them makes me so happy!

And here's a little picture of some of their kids, grand kids, and great grand kids on the path in front of them.

I Love you grandma and grandpa!

Fourth of July - Part One

My extended family on my dad's side is in town for the week for a mini family reunion, so we've been celebrating the 4th of July all week.  :)

We started Monday with fireworks.

Addison was terrified of the sparklers, but Hannah was all for it...

Okay, maybe all for it is a strong word.  She wasn't quite as hesitant as Addison.  She was willing to try it anyway.

In my children's defense, the sparklers we had were crazy.  They were popping and flashing and throwing sparks everywhere.  Yeah, I know, you're probably thinking, "Um...duh Rebecca, they ARE sparklers."  But These were even crazier than normal.  Hannah actually ended up getting burned.  Just a tiny bit, but we're lucky nobody else was hurt.

After sparklers, the kids were ready for the real fireworks.

Well, as real as they get when they're from Sam's Club anyway.

Sam's Club fireworks or no, a good time was had by all.  :)