Happy Easter!

Easter weekend was a whirlwind of fun for us! We had been planning on spending the weekend driving to and being with family in Denver so that we could hop up to Provo for Will's graduation later in the week. The kids found out and were so excited until..... they saw the signs around town for the Owasso Egg Drop and I confessed that we would not be here for it. The huge frowns and sad eyes made us reconsider, and in the end- we drove out to Denver on Saturday AFTER the egg drop!

Being the crazy morning that it was, we had Jeremy's car getting it's oil changed (since it's more economical on gas we would be taking that one) but they were not going to finish in time to make the long-awaited egg drop, so we switched gears, left the car there to be worked on and plopped the kids into the pilot to rush over to the event across town.

We parked at the High School, where they were shuttling people over from, and found that there were CRAZY amounts of people trying to get on busses over there. We found out that over 1,000 families had registered and at least that many had just shown up that morning and tried to register last minute!

Luckily, we made it in time for both the kids' drops (they pushed back the drop times to accommodate all the people still waiting for bus rides over!) However, we forgot to get the kids' Easter buckets out of the already packed car that was in the shop, so we had to find bags for the kids to gather eggs into!

The drop was as exciting as last year... the helicopter flew in to the field and dropped hundreds and hundred of eggs and the children swarmed the fields collecting their goodies.

After the drop the kids went for a quick romp in the bounce houses and inflatable slides (also swarming with children) and we grabbed a large Pizza Hut pizza for $5 from a booth in the park on our way out to call lunch before our trek to Denver.

We got in late, but got up in time to get Hannah pretty for Easter Sunday! I curled her hair and it looks SOOOOO cute!

Look at these kiddos! So cute!

That afternoon was full of more festivities, this time with the Colorado folk :)
First, was "hunting" for baskets, which the Easter bunny had found, filled and hid.

Yes, Hannah has a strange attachment to her chocolate...while eyeing her brother's Reeses pieces!

Levi's bucket had puffs, yogurt melts, bubbles and a pinwheel. The pinwheel was the biggest hit from the start, although his savor for puffs grew over the next several days!

Here's my big boys talking ninja stuff (Yes, Nathan thinks he is a ninja)

Funny story about Nathan- He did some reading about ninjas and ninja stars and was convinced they are the coolest things that ever were or will be. He now calls himself "Shadow Warrior" and his sister "{insert whatever color she is wearing} warrior" He then started calling Jeremy and I "Master", which became problematic in public, so I was able to convince him to switch to "Sensei"- since that is what the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles call their master. After giving a talk in Primary and doing an excellent job, the leader commented how his dad (who was present) must be so proud of him and Nathan corrected her, telling her "no, not dad- that is my sensei". I guess everyone one in primary got the idea that we make him call us sensei because people started asking us... ah, the joys of parenthood. :)

Uncle Jason won over the heart of this curly headed blonde by taking her for a spin on his roller blades!

Tori was content just watching the madness.

She was so cute playing with her new ball that came in her Easter basket.

While we were eating and playing outside (which got to be a bit chilly!) the Easter bunny made a pass through the cultural hall in the church where we had gathered. Nathan went chasing after him out the doors and down the street and the girls lagged behind and cleaned up house in the egg gathering effort!

Can you tell this chocolate face has already partaken of her loot?

Tori did amazingly well for her first egg hunt. When she came in and saw eggs everywhere she went to town gathering them up and throwing them in her bucket. She had an unusually gifted aptitude for the "gather first, rummage through it later" mentality crucial to egg hunt success! I blame Jamie :)

Did I eat the chocolate from this one already?

Hannah, still enamored with her Uncle Jason, showered him with kisses- chocolate and otherwise. Poor Rasy has no idea how cute her competition is... she had better hurry up about getting here!

All in all, it was a terrific Easter full of talk of the Resurrection, and hunts for bunnies and chocolates and eggs. The cousins enjoyed sharing the holiday as did the rest of us enjoy being with family. I hope everyone had just as happy an Easter as we at this beautiful, blessed time of the year.