Easter

Easter is one of the great holidays that is so fun to celebrate. We did our traditional egg dye on the family home evening before Easter Sunday. We also had our wonderful FHE lesson on the Atonement and Resurrection and it went really well this year. The spirit was strong and made us all feel good inside.

We like to do some of the fun egg dyes that are out there on the market. So far I think our favorite is the tie-dye eggs. This year we tried the glitter eggs and though they turned out cute - they didn't look at all like the picture on the cover of the box. I think we could've done a better job just using our own glue and glitter from home. Nonetheless it was a lot of fun and there is nothing better than a night spent at home with your family!

BEFORE THE GLITTER (notice how bright the colors are)

AFTER THE GLITTER (notice the dullness of the colors)

The Easter Bunny came on Saturday instead of Sunday this year because we have 9:00 church and it's too hard to enjoy it and hurry and get ready for church at the same time. Kaycee and Luke got spoiled as usual.

Kaycee's Easter basket had a craftlace kit, an old navy skirt, the movie Megamind, a box of Redvines and some Smarties egg gum.

Luke's basket had Bakugon, JAWS T-Shirt, the movie How To Train Your Dragon, a chocolate bunny and some Smarties egg gum.

We had our annual Chamberlain Family Easter egg hunt for the kids at Aunt Darlene's house. It is always a lot of fun. The weather was way too cold for my taste - I was really hoping that it would be a warm Easter since it was at the end of April this year, but apparently it wasn't in the cards. The kids had a blast! They were teamed up and went on a scavenger hunt to find candy filled eggs and prizes. The plan was to go on a picnic and ride 4-wheelers after but it was just too dang cold so we all took our potluck over to Josalyn's house to eat instead.

Kaycee and Logan were a team

Luke and Mason were a team

Everyone got a ton of candy!

John and I had an interesting night that Saturday. John quietly jumped out of bed at midnight saying he heard voices and footsteps in our house. Seriously scared me (and him) half to death! My heart pounded as John took a pole and went searching through our house (upstairs, downstairs, garage, backyard, everywhere)- but found no one. Then he thought it must have just been in his dreams. I had a hard time sleeping for the rest of the night. I was pretty nervous. Guess what we found outside our front door early the next morning?

This random eagle! (from a neighbor's yard across the street)

Apparently two of John's YM (names withheld:)) decided to play a little joke on us. This is the 3rd time they've struck in the neighborhood. The reason we heard them is because a car came and they had to run through the gravel on the side of our house and hide behind our air conditioner - which is on the side of our house where our bedroom is. I am determined to get revenge!

Easter is a great time for the kids to wear new clothes to church and this year was no exception. They look a little tired but still wonderful!

HAPPY EASTER 2011!!!

Springtime!

Spring is here and the usual weird weather is driving me crazy! I wish it would make up it's mind! Funny thing how every year spring has the same crazy weather patterns of sunshine, rain and snow and it always seems to really surprise me. I am always so shocked that it would dare snow enough to stick to the ground in the spring and yet, doesn't it do that every year? I really shouldn't complain too much though because once spring started we have all been healthier than we've been a while. I don't know what Kaycee's secret is but she has managed to stay healthy all winter long - no sick days off of school or anything - knock on wood! Luke got bronchitis and is finally better. My toe is a million times better and I finally got rid of one of the worst sinus infections in the history of the world - although I'm kind of bummed out because I can feel my allergies starting to stir up again. John is finally over his annoying sinusitis. He hated it so bad! Worse than strep throat!!! Despite all the yuckiness we have had some great days too. On St. Patrick's day we woke up to a mess created by a leprechaun named Lucky - much to Luke's delight. At the end of his messy trail he left green donuts and some gold for Kaycee and Luke. Bummer I've been really bad with pictures this year but I did get pictures of our GREEN dinner. We had green rice with chicken stir-fry and green scrambled eggs at the request of Luke. My kids also got to have their first "Irish beer" (IBC Rootbeer) which they thought was pretty cool.

With it being dance competition season much of our time has been devoted to Kaycee's dance. She recently competed in a competition at Northridge and one in St. George. Both were a lot of fun! I think St. George was the hardest competition we've ever been too. But it's always a favorite just because of the location. :)Kaycee did great on her solo - she took 2nd at Northridge and 5th at Dixie. Sr. Elite's (Kaycee's team) dance "Jungle Drum" keeps winning Diamond and I just love it. I wish I could post it but it's too many mbs. This cute girl on Kaycee's team, Savannah loves zebras and she made all the girls these cute zebra bows and candy lei's for good luck (sorry it's hard to tell how cute the bows are from the picture below).

I am lucky enough to have parents with a house in St. George so we love to go down and spend time with them - plus we never have to pay for a hotel for dance competition.:) We were especially happy to get to spend time with grandma and grandpa B. because they are leaving for a mission at Heber Valley camp in a little over a week. We had a blast (and again didn't take nearly enough pictures). It's always fun for Kaycee when her grandparents get to watch her dance.

Luke was super patient too. He's been to a lot of dance competitions and I know how exhausting they can be - especially for a 7 year old boy. Grandma got him some vampire teeth to help pass the time.

Kaycee had extra fun because her friend Kennedy got to go to St. George and stay with us because her parents had other commitments here that weekend. They actually got to have a sleepover. On Saturday the girls went to competition, out to lunch at Olive Garden, and shopping at the mall - a true girls day. Grandpa was great enough to have a boys day with Luke. They went to D.I. where Luke was in heaven and then had Luke's favorite food - snack ramen for lunch. They went to the rec center and played basketball too. Thanks grandpa!

Luke got a big T Rex at the D.I. and had dinosaurs on the brain and he made a cool T Rex out of wooden shapes.

I forgot to mention the bummer thing. It rained all day on Saturday in St. George and was freezing cold. So much for tan cream, swimsuits and shorts! Sunday we woke up to beautiful, blue skies (and a little crispness in the air). Too bad we had to go home. The kids enjoyed it while they could. By the way, according to Luke, he now has the coolest and best pocket knife in the whole world (imitation swiss army knife).

I'm not sure if I can wait for summer to come any more!