Easter

Easter is one of my most favorite holidays. Maybe it's because it's in the Spring, or for the pastel colors, or because of the true meaning it holds, but I always feel so excited to celebrate and shop for Easter baskets! Our tradition is to wake up Saturday morning to Easter baskets and egg hunts so that Sunday can be left for reflecting on Christ and feeling the Spirit. Although, just now as I'm typing this I've decided I might make it so they get their new Sunday clothes on Sunday morning instead of with their Easter baskets. I don't know, I'll have to give it some more thought!

I got a little carried away, but we needed some outside toys! Originally I was going to do separate baskets until I realized pretty much everything I had was for Shasta, so I decided to do a shared basket and separate baskets with their new Sunday clothes.

I love seeing them stand at the couch to see what they got!

Shelby digging through to see what she got!

After looking through her basket, Shasta ran upstairs to change her clothes. I told her the Easter Bunny left something for her in the front yard. I wouldn't have cared if she went out in her jammies, but she was wearing footed jammies and I still needed to "hide" the eggs, so it was an excuse for me to sneak outside really quickly while she was upstairs.

Shelby and I watched from the front step while Shasta hunted for eggs.

At first she wanted to open each egg as she picked them up, but it was cold and a little rainy so I told her she needed to gather them all first and she could open them in the house. She was completely oblivious to "hunting" for them. She found all the ones in the grass, but when it came to the ones in the rocks and plants, she picked up maybe two and thought she was done. I told her she needed to keep looking, but eventually I ended up showing her where they were (right in plain sight) because she wasn't quite understanding how it worked. Oh well. Next year she'll be a pro!

Then we went to Bountiful to celebrate Easter with Nick's family and celebrate April birthdays. It just so happens that Shasta and Shelby are the only birthdays in April, so it was one of many birthday parties for them!

Opening presents. (Shelby, Shasta, Kennedy)

Clearly Shelby loves opening presents!

But she eventually caught on!

Shasta LOVES this blanket that Grandma made her. She carries it all over and always tells me it's her favorite blanket. And sometimes she says in her prayers, "thank you for this blanket that Grandma made me".

After opening presents it was time to hunt for Easter eggs! Grandma Raylene does her best to make sure it's fair for all the grandkids, so this year she separated the hunt by age groups. Shelby and Jackson were in the backyard, Ruby, Shasta, Meili, and Kennedy were in the front yard, and Gigi, Audrey, and Chloe were in the backyard up on the hill. And Grant and Ivy were content in the mother's arms... or maybe they were napping, who knows! And the more I think about it, Kennedy may have been lumped with the bigger kids. I can't remember for sure. In any case, they all loved the egg hunt, and afterwards they got to go shopping in Grandma's Easter store; a tradition that Raylene has started where she gives them fake money and they can each take a turn buying fun prizes.

Shasta collecting eggs.

Shelby participating in the egg hunt by sitting in the grass while Nick and I handed her some eggs.

Some of the girls checking out their spoils! (Shasta, Gigi, Chloe, Audrey, Shelby, Kennedy)

Shelby crawling around in the grass after all the eggs were collected. If only she would have been more interested in crawling while there were still eggs for her to gather...!

After the egg hunt it was time for birthday cake!

Shelby's cake representing a Shelby Cobra.

Shasta's cake representing a Shasta Daisy.

Blowing out the candles!

And holding her back so she doesn't dive into the cake.

Happy first and third birthday to these sweet little girls!

Nick made both of the cakes. It's kind of a tradition for him to make the birthday cakes in our house. I felt a little bad because he stayed up late working on the cakes after he got home from work at 1am, and then worked on them all morning before we went to Bountiful and even had to do some finishing touches at his parents house, and then neither cake even got cut into. There were so many treats available to munch on the whole time we were there, that by the time we got to cake nobody wanted any. Oh well, it's the thought that counts! It was a fun day celebrating Easter and the girl's birthdays.