Spring "Break"

My friend Amy Vranes recently posted on facebook that Spring Break isn't much of a break for moms.  Good point Vranes.  I always start out with grand plans and end up beaten down and worn out by the end of the week.

Here are some of the highlights:

I went to lunch with a lady I met on LDS Linkup a year ago.  I know.  Most people don't get on dating sites and end up making friends with other women but that is what happened.  Marika is really funny and she is actually getting married to a guy she met on the site.  Woohoo!
 

Are you ready for this--I took Luke and Sammie horseback riding.  HORSEBACK RIDING PEOPLE!  That should entitle me to a full day of reading US magazine in bed I say:

 

 

I bought the deal for four people on Groupon so we also took one of Luke's friends.  We had lunch up there.  It was a lot of fun:

I went to dinner with my high school girlfriends.  Look at Natalie's gorgeous kitchen!



All of my kids got haircuts which made me feel like a good mom.  I am known for having shagamuffin kids.  Ryan got the worst Dumb and Dumber Lloyd Christmas haircut:

Now I have to put product in his hair until it grows out:

 

We went to the zoo and surprisingly it wasn't a madhouse (Buster pre-hair cut):

My kids have been playing outside (hooray for fantastic weather!)

Sammie celebrated a birthday!

Easter bunny came and brought my kids stuff I would have bought them anyway for summer:

Finally, we celebrated Easter at my Mom's house.  She did the annual Easter egg hunt for the kids and we all ate too much:

Now the long slow march until Summer!

Easter Finery

*Random passerby holding a dog took these fabulous pictures.  I am too lazy to crop.  Most looked like this:

*Luke told me this morning he was going to wear his BYU tie.  As I started to bark at him about coordinating with the fam, he laughed and said, "I'm kidding Mom."  He knows how to push my buttons.

*Ryan whispered in my ear at church "You look pretty Mom."  Swoon.

*I love Buster in the back of this shot.

*Buster looks like an orphan.  He needs a haircut in the worst way.  Tuesday at 2 it is happening.

*Sun was a little bright (open your eyes everybody!) 

*Sammie is darling as always.  We discovered this morning her ears are infected (from getting her ears pierced.)  If you know anything about Sammie's sweet disposition, you can imagine how changing out her earrings went down.

Happy Easter! 

Our Easter in Pictures

Hippity Hoppity

I love Easter. I love the pastel colors, the spring weather, but most of all, I love celebrating our Savior's life and Resurrection.

After last year, I promised I wouldn't let the bunny stuff crowd out the real meaning of Easter. But with little kids, it is hard.

Earlier in the week, I had to run an errand at the mall. Here are Luke, Sammie and Buster with the bunny (Ryan was clinging to my legs, scared out of his mind):



Saturday, Sam and I took the kids to the Draper Easter Egg Hunt. Never again. 20 minutes of waiting around like this:



Then 30 seconds of mass hysteria while every egg was grabbed and then 15 minutes of combing the park trying to locate the kids and then back to the car to sit in the parking lot for 20 minutes. We finally got out of the car and let the kids look at the fire engines and play on the playground:



Then we headed back to the car and got out of there. We headed to Kneaders for lunch. It was delicious and a cute lady working there gave us some darling Easter decorations.

Later that afternoon, Sam's parents came over and brought Buster some birthday presents (b-day post later) and some cute Easter cakes for the kids:



Sam's mom with Buster:



Later that night, I filled the kids' Easter buckets. Every year I buy too much but I rationalize that it is all stuff I would have bought them anyway (like flip flops and shorts and books, etc.) They were all thrilled with their loot. (I don't put candy in their buckets because I just feel like Easter is such a candy overload anyway and my kids don't miss it.)



Here are the obligatory Easter pre-church shots. Of course Sammie had a meltdown about something and is crying in all the pictures. Awesome (I'm too lazy to crop these):



Miraculously, Sam agreed to wear the green gingham shirt that matches my boys:



No one said anything this year. He has taken massive abuse in past years for the matching sweater vests. Here is a picture from the good ol' days:



Sammie and I after she got her shiz together (remind me not to squat in any more pictures!)



Sunday evening, we went up to my mom's house for her Easter egg hunt. It is amazing. My dad hid 17 eggs for each kid--they each get their own color. There were also little gifts hidden for the kids.







My mom put on a delicious dinner (I know I have been photographing a lot of food lately--I'm hungry!) You have to remember that my mom did all of this after babysitting my kids for five days while I was in D.C.!



We watched a really great movie about Christ at my mom's house and I think we will do that every year.

I will end with this picture of Sammie. She put on those ears, gathered all of her stuffed animals and demanded that I take the picture. She will be looking for it on my blog!

Easter Eggstavaganza

Easter is becoming as crazy as Halloween around here. Not really, but it felt like it the last couple of days. Easter is one of my favorite holidays. I love the spring weather (not this year!), I love the pastel colors, I love Easter decor and candy and I love celebrating our Savior's resurrection.

Last year, my kids came home from church on Easter complaining that no one talked about Easter. I didn't believe them and pressed them on it. They said "All we talked about was Jesus--no one even mentioned the bunny!" So this year, I got the brilliant idea to tell my kids there is no Easter bunny--it's just me!

My plan totally backfired. From that moment on, they pestered me about what they wanted for Easter and begged for certain items for their baskets. Sheesh. Just for the record, I didn't buy them a single thing they asked for just on principle--you don't ask for stuff from the Easter bunny!


Easter festivities started on Thursday when my awesome mom picked up the kids and took them to her house to dye Easter eggs. I am so not into doing this so I'm grateful my mom picks up my slack:


She also built an Easter snow bunny with them--how cute is that? The weather here in Utah is so crazy in the spring:


Thursday night, I took my kids to the mall to do a return just to get them out of Sam's hair while he worked on the floors. They ended up sitting on the Easter bunny's lap which I'm totally opposed to--once again, too much like asking for stuff from Santa...


Friday I took my kids to Thanksgiving Point to the Dinosaur museum along with every other family in the greater Salt Lake area. Crowds give me claustrophobia and I had to bail pretty quick. I think we were there for a total of 30 minutes and then enjoyed a leisurely lunch in the cafe:


Saturday was Sammie's birthday. We woke up early and went to not one--but two Easter egg hunts. This was my first time taking my kids to something like this. The first hunt was amazing and really well organized. There were clowns making balloon animals for kids and really great prizes for the kids if they found tickets inside their eggs:




The second hunt we went to (at Farnsworth Farms) was a total disaster--muddy, crowded, disorganized, chaotic and squashed plastic eggs everywhere. I was ticked off (mostly at myself for trying to do two on the same day.) Lesson learned. I didn't even get a picture at this one because I was up to my ankles in mud and carrying around a 30 pound toddler.

Saturday night, I filled the kids' Easter buckets after they went to bed. I kind of went overboard but I justify it by telling myself it is all stuff I would have bought for them anyway like flip flops, an electric pencil sharpener, workbooks for our trip to CA, etc. They were totally thrilled with their loot this morning:


Our day was nice. We have no kitchen and when I say no kitchen I mean we have no appliances, no sink, no counter tops and only a few cabinets, none of which have fronts. It's really fun. I put my range and microwave on KSL last night and some people came and bought the microwave this morning so I can't even heat up stuff from the fridge. Maybe I should have thought that one through a little more...

We hung around in our pjs all day and watched conference.

This evening we went to my mom's for Easter/Sammie's b-day dinner. My mom always decorates the table so cute. Sammie loved the princesses:




My mom had an indoor egg hunt for the kids where she hides little presents in addition to eggs:


Sammie got everything she wanted for her birthday. While the adults were preparing dinner, she and Luke literally combed my parents house until they found Sammie's bike hidden in a closet. classy:


That was our Easter. Glad it's over. Is anyone still out there? Sorry this turned out to be the world's longest post. How was your Easter?