The Easter Season

I love the Easter season. There is so much symbolism that can be found in nature: the baby animals being born, the new life bursting forth in green leaves and blossoms on the once brown trees, the earth coming alive again just as our Savior did. I always finish Easter feeling like I could have done more to help my children feel the true spirit of Easter but at least they are developing a love for the holiday and know what it is really all about. A couple weeks before Easter Tanner's mom did a palm Sunday celebration with us. The kids had a lot of fun waving their "cloaks" and palm leaves and shouting Hosanna. 

We dyed Easter eggs because I'm a fun mom...but really I kind of dread this each year with little kids. But they did really well...no big messes. 

 Easter Sunday best.

 About a week before Easter Mariah saw this umbrella at a store. She immediately began telling me how badly she needed it and that I should buy it for her. I realized it might be a fun Easter gift and tried to distract her. We left the store without the umbrella and she was not too happy. I suggested we could go back to the store with her birthday money but she said she wanted me to buy it. Needless to say, I wasn't too happy and it took a lot of love for my daughter to go back and get that umbrella. But at only $4 a pop I couldn't pass up on the good deal. 

 All the while through Mariah's breakdown Chet was saying, "I'm not crying about the umbrella mom..." 

 The belt Chet has on was mine as a little girl. He really loves it and insisted on wearing it. 

 And then there's this sweet thang, who wrestled me all through Sacrament Meeting. We're at that stage...

This picture makes me giggle. We told Mariah she couldn't bring candy into Sacrament Meeting and this is the face we got for pictures. I promise she really is a happy girl most of the time. 

We had Tanner's parents, Serge, Isis and Rob over for Easter dinner. And I didn't take any pictures. But it was so nice to have family and friends here. 

This family picture was nothing short of a miracle. After naps I changed the kids back in their clothes and Tanner even got back in his dress clothes because he loves me. We put his phone so the kids could see themselves and they actually had real smiles. I am so grateful for my Savior and the knowledge I have that he lives and because of that we will live again too. 

Mini Vacay

Tanner gets a certain amount of days off each year so we decided to take off for a long weekend to DC. Our first stop was the temple. Tanner took the kids into the Visitors Center while I went in. The grounds were so beautiful! All the dogwoods, cherry trees, and a plethora of others that I didn't know the name of were in full bloom. I left the temple just in awe of Heavenly Father's beautiful creations. So I then insisted that we walk around the temple together as a family. Not sure if anyone else appreciated it as much as me but I just couldn't believe how vibrant all the colors were. 

 I have a new found love for Dogwoods...

 After taking this picture I remembered that we have a photo a lot like this one taken at the Salt Lake Temple...

Be still my heart! How have they grown so much?! We just love our temples and are so grateful for all the sacrifices that have been made for us to enjoy them. 

 That night we went to a hotel with a pool. We had high hopes of wearing the kids out so they would crash in our room. The kids were so excited to swim and that became their favorite part of the trip. After swimming we went to our room and tried to settle down for the night. This was the first time we have tried to get Austin to fall asleep with people in the room...and it didn't go too well. But we survived and Tanner was up bright and early to go to the temple. I had planned on taking the kids swimming while Tanner was at the temple but the pool didn't open until the afternoon...boo. So the kiddos got to watch shows in the room that they have never seen before and were just fine with that.

After Tanner got back we headed to the zoo. The kids were so great and loved seeing all the animals. We did trek all the way to the top of the zoo to see the beloved Pandas and they weren't out...but besides that it was really fun. Plus you can't beat free.

 Austin really liked the chimpanzees and gorillas. 

That night we headed to Tanner's cousin's home. They were celebrating their own holiday known as Interesting Day. They try to do fun and creative things the whole day. So we got to try dragon fruit and help them make Beef Wellington. And then we got much better sleep than the night before. 

The next morning we headed to downtown DC to see some museums. We were heading for the Museum of Natural History and Tanner was trusting my instincts...big mistake. We ended up at the Native American Museum and decided to start our morning out there. Which worked out well, Tanner and I needed to reconnect with our Cherokee and Mohican roots anyways. 

 Sidenote: this stroller saved our lives...there was very minimal complaining and I think a large part of that was due to this baby. 

 The kids with their Incan pendants they made. 

 After that we headed back the way we came from to the Natural History Museum. But first we took a few photos...

 Seriously, why are family photos so hard?

 The Natural History Museum was packed and the kids were starting to get tired so we did a quick walk through of the first floor and decided to call it a day. I really love going to free places because if it doesn't quite go the way you had planned it isn't a big deal. 

On the way home we stopped at some outlets and ran into the Easter bunny. Austin was so cute: he really loved the bunny and was smiling and waving in the shyest way. That was as close as he would get in the picture.