Easter Sunday

Easter Sunday was so awesome. We started our morning off by watching the morning session of General Conference and there were amazing talks and topics that really touched my heart! It wasn't easy to pay attention to all of the speakers or sessions with all of the kids and preparing for our big Easter dinner, but I definitely was touched by the spirit!

While we watched the morning session, I had fun curling Ella and Emi's hair! Sarah has the coolest curling iron! You just wrap the hair around the cone to create the perfect spirals! I was able to do both of the girls hair in about 30 minutes. It was SO cute and bouncy! Ella's curls lasted about 4 days!

We had an amazing, yummy and beautiful Easter dinner! The menu included: ham, cheese potatoes, homemade rolls, salad, rice, bacon wrapped smokies, and spinach artichoke dip. Warm chocolate chip cookies and strawberry shortcake were the perfect dessert. Oh...we haven't eaten that much food in a long time!

Sarah prepared a fantastic Easter program for the kids to present! They each had a part and did a great job! The songs we sang brought the spirit of Easter into their home and I couldn't stop crying! Family members bore their testimonies and it was a very special evening.

L-R: Austin, Haley, Brynn (book), Drew, Emi, Keegan, Ella, Tadj, Brayden & Morley

Before Uncle Vince headed home, he spent some time with Brayden and Ella! They always love a little piggy back time!

We were very lucky to have Kim & Carol Beck join us from Ohio for the evening! Matt served in their branch for 9 months when he was a missionary and they have a special relationship! Our kids call them Uncle Kim and Aunt Carol and we love when we can see them! Our Morley was named after their youngest son Morley!

Drew was clearly DONE with pictures!


Haley was very enthusiastic about my taking pictures of them "in air" while they jumped on the tramp! Uncle Vince could launch them pretty high. I asked Drew why he wasn't up in the air with everyone else and he said that everyone took his bounce. Funny kid!

All of the girl cousins had a sleep over with Auntie Margie and Brynn at their house. Haley and Emi get to do this all the time but Ella hasn't had a "sleep over" before. I was excited for her but nervous for Margie and hoped she wouldn't need me to come and get her in the middle of the night. Margie did have to hold her until she fell asleep (so sorry) but she woke up in good spirits and had pancakes for breakfast!

The drive home was a little bit crazy. It was starting to snow when we left and going through Park City it was really coming down. It didn't let up for about 100 miles. We had some clear spots with no snow but then it started up again. Our windshield wipers were getting frozen so they weren't working properly once the sun went down. When we bought gas on the west side of Rawlins, we said a family prayer that the roads would be safe so we could travel home in safety. We stopped in Rawlins to buy new ones, but they were out of the size we needed. By the time Matt came out of the store, it had nearly stopped snowing. We could see on the freeway again and we were able to relax a little bit. It was an awesome teaching opportunity for the kids about Heavenly Father answering our prayers! It took 10.5 hours to get home that day, which is two hours longer than it took us to get there. We arrived home safe, tired and thankful!

Our trip was amazing and I wish we could see our family more often! This summer we vow to see all of Matt's family at least one more time and get out to my parent's in WA for a few weeks! I can't wait!!!