Easter Festivities

When spring rolls around, I always get this intense recollection of being about 10 in the springtime and feeling flooded with newness and rebirth and the desert turns green for a few short months. As a kid, Granny's easter egg hunt was something I looked forward to more than anything but Christmastime. I still feel butterflies in my stomach when I recall the thrill of it. Needless to say, watching Emme participate in Easter festivities is a real blast.

 A couple weeks before Easter, we came home from our nightly walk to see a bunch of teenagers in our front yard. I'm sorry to say it, but I thought they were pranking us. There must have been 10 or so young women and they were giddy and running around. They jumped in an SUV and drove away before we got too close. When they left, I realized that they had put a bunch of eggs on our front lawn as well as a plate of cookies at our door and a bunch of signs in our grass with darling Easter-y expressions on them. This is the kind of neighborhood we live in. Emme loved collecting all the eggs. It just made her night.

 We went to the Cox Landing easter egg hunt with my parents and that was fun. We had to wait a bit to start the hunt, though, which Emme couldn't understand at all. It took all the restraint we could muster to keep her out of those eggs.

When she did finally get to hunt, she did pretty well, though I'm not sure that she understands the concept of a race terribly well now. She was especially thrilled by all the "pink! can-ies!" in her basket.

 

The Friday before Easter, I hosted Activity Days, as usual. Only one girl showed up, so we had a bunch of hard boiled eggs left over. Emme sure had a ball dying them with little Lainee Christensen in our ward. 

Easter festivities were so fun! What a treat to watch my baby girl soak it all in.

March in Everyday Photos

Here is March in everyday photos:

I don't remember having a real reason to take these pictures, but I sure love seeing my babies together. I love having Emme's hair back away from her eyes.

Shots of Emme with her handsome daddy. I might be the fixer and the cleaner upper and "her person," but Shaye is the fun, permissible, and more even keeled one of the two of us, that's for sure. They have a special bond and have so much fun together. I think I'm the luckiest, just to get to observe their relationship.

 

St. Patrick's Day! Being the over-the-top mom I am sometimes, a holiday--especially one in which you dress up--is a great treat. I snapped a few pictures, and I could see that Hudson felt rather "lucky" that his sister didn't hurt him. Poor guy.

We are lucky enough to get frequent visits from Auntie when she is here. My babies sure low her, and why wouldn't they? She's one of the funnest people I know.

When Em is fighting a nap, she ofen zonks in the care. This particular day, Emme wanted to "hold you hand, mama!" and so I offered her my hand as I drove and she fell asleep holding it not long after.

 We LOVE living so close to Skyler and Jamie.We have our own wards and our own space, but we often get to see them at church, which is always super fun!

A cute shot of rough housing after Sunday dinner one week.

A dorky new necklace I got. "I like big books and I cannot lie." When Shaye teased me about it being nerdy, I laughed. Isn't that the whole point?!

 

I had a wonderful birthday. Turning 28 didn't feel too traumatic. We went out for a fun date to Xetava in Kayenta in Shaye's 911. It was just so fun to be together with no babies. The meal was delicious and the views were serene. I love living in this gorgeous desert. I felt a lot of birthday love this year. People are so very kind. I sometimes feel anxious with so many kind words, wondering if people really know me at all.

My birthday dinner at my moms was fun. We had angel hair shrimp pesto and later everyone went around and said things they love about me. Brad even shared a special journal entry from his mission about the week when we wrote to him letting him know we were pregnant with Hudson. It expressed his love and faith during our battle with infertility and how he had prayed from us to be parents. The whole night was something I'll not forget.

Spring is Sprung

March brought with it the glories of spring this year. There's been such a joy to be outside now that we have such a busy toddler. I feel so much better about taking Hudson out in mild weather.

 And, boy, does Em love to be outside. The one particular day, she helped me weed. Every time I handed her a weed to put in her pail, she'd say, "thankee, momma." Little dear!

One day I put Emme in a new outfit that I particularly loved and realized--the roses are in bloom! It would be such a shame to not take pictures. So then I shamelessly took pictures of Emme in our front yard among the blooms. Sometimes I imagine how ridiculous I must look to my neighbors chasing her with a camera. I'm sure the people of Instagram get sick of all my shots of her, but sometimes I just can't contain the cuteness. Oh well, people can unfollow me if they want.

We love being so close to a park. And not just any park! Little Valley park has three separate playgrounds that Em can play on and a wonderful walking path. Since the weather has been nice, we walk nearly every day. Such a treat to be out in the fresh air. When we walk past the largest playground, Emme usually whines, "Emme wants to swiiiing!" over and over again. A lot of times, we give in.

And sometimes she's just plain tuckered out after it's all over. :)

 

 With all this walking, the double stroller my parents got me for my birthday sure comes in handy. It just kills me to see Hudsie sitting in there like a big boy. My little homie with his hoodie on.

 Sometimes we'll just be scrounching around the house and then Emme starts doing something downright hilarious. These new sunnies were a must with the warm weather, and this girl knows how to rock them!

Had a play date with Nikki's daughter, Navi. I don't get Emme together with other little kids nearly enough, but it's always interesting to watch her play and be rather bossy. I try not to be a helicopter mom, but I don't want her to annoy people. Chill parents like Nikki are perfect for these playdate novices.

As Emme has gotten older, I've been trying to teach her more about the gospel. She has began praying and seems to at least partly understand the general concepts of church. The temple is something I've been trying to emphasize more. I realized that I want her to understand the "whys" of the gospel and to glean strength and faith from all available to her, even in her young age. She LOVES the temple grounds, though we have to watch her like a hawk to keep her from picking flowers. Silly goose. Oh, and I nearly had a panic attack thinking of her slipping and falling down those flight of granite stairs...

My little man. Could he be more adorable? He loves walks, but he doesn't like riding over the cracks in the sidewalk, and so we try to keep him on smooth pavement. He gets kid of sad not being able to see me. He would prefer to be in the baby wrap over the stroller most days, but we're working on it.

Thank goodness for beautiful spring!

Brad's Homecoming!

Anyone who has had a family member serve a mission must know the feeling--that feeling that someone is missing at every family get-together. That feeling that some part of you is far away and must soon return. I had become accustomed to this feeling in the two years that Brad was on his mission, but as his return grew nigh, I could hardly contain my excitement.

 This is the day that he returned. We could hardly contain ourselves. Ok, so the kids had no idea what was going on...but I was entirely useless. Brad's flight out of Brazil had been delayed, and so by the time he finally flew home, a day late, we were out of our minds excited.

 

I was so so excited for Brad to meet Hudson. My mom made this cute sign for me to hold at the airport. Nearly all of the pictures in this post were taken by Cam. What a gift it is to have such a great photographer in our family. She caputres details beautifully and is a girl after my own heart.

Brad really made us wait for him. He was the last to get off the plane, and when he came around the bend, he held a Brazilian flag over his face. My mom got the first hug, of course. The must have hugged for 3 minutes straight. It was very sweet.

I'm pretty sure that a bunch of us cried. My heart was just so full to have my brother home, and I was so proud.

 

Sure enough, when Emme saw Brad for the first time, she said, "I'm his princess!" I was shocked that she remembered their conversation over Skype on Christmas when Brad told her she was his princess. She took a little bit to warm up to him, but before long, she was giving him hugs and kisses.

 Oh man, thank goodness I have a lot of hands to help me when I'm in public with my kids. In a sociable situation especially, Emme can be a handful. Steph bribed her with lipstick at the airport, and I'm pretty sure she ate half the tube. Bribery is becoming a trend these days, I'm afraid.

 Here is the whole crew. We're a lively bunch, it seems. The airport is such an unfriendly place to first welcome someone, it seems, but I guess you've got to do it somewhere.

That evening, we went to Mom and Dad's and had dinner together and laughed and talked for a few hours. Brad made us some strange hot herbal concoction tereré and told us lots of stories about his mission. I honestly felt like a little kid again, and was just so thrilled to all be together.

Sunday was an eventful day, to say the least. I woke around 5 to bake Brazilian cheese bread for Brad's luncheon, and I was so thrilled when at least some of the batches turned out well. Amy and I also sang a song "Oh How Lovely Was the Morning." We had barely had time to practice and were singing some of it in Portuguese, and I was pretty sure it was going to be a huge train wreck. Of course, there's just something about singing in church. I find that when my intentions are good that things work out, even when it has little to do with me at all. This was one of those times.

The luncheon that followed was wonderful. My parents slaved over the food, and it was so delicious! Emme played in the fountain outside and on "Nana's park" a ton. I'm grateful that nothing bad befell her. It's so hard to watch her and be cordial to people chatting with me in situations like this.

It was a wonderful day and a great end to an amazing week of having Brad back. He helped so many in his time in Denver and Brazil, and I know he'll build off of these experiences as he builds his life in the real world back home. We are such a blessed family--that's for sure.