Living the Life and Loving It!: Easter Weekend with The Grays!!

As with Holidays everyone has traditions that they have for different occasions, and one of our traditions is one that Micah and I started just after Emily was born. We decided that on Easter Weekend the Easter Bunny would come to our house on Friday night! That way it allows our kids to have fun and enjoy their Easter basket treats on Saturday and then when Sunday comes we can focus more on the true reason we celebrate Easter, the Resurrection of our Savior Jesus Christ.

Having said that, our kiddos (mainly just Emily and Haley this year) woke up and came down the stairs to find that their Easter Baskets had been filled with Easter Goodies!! They were so happy and excited they played nicely, well almost nicely, for over an hour! They also got some great DVDs that are like slide shows and tell stories and rhymes which they also watched over and over again and loved!!

Their Baskets Await!

Up and Excited to See what the Easter Bunny had Brought!

Emily came first!

Followed close behind by Haley, who was also trying to be a big girl too! We did get her to scoot on her bottom after this picture though:)

Checking Out their Baskets!

Haley LOVES books, even Bath Tub Books!

Here is our little man keeping an eye on all of the action!

Around noon on Saturday we all loaded up and headed out to Mimmi and Dooders' house for our Annual Easter Gathering! As always, we got to visit, talk and play with TONS of family!! It was a gorgeous day and everyone had a Great Time!! We all got to eat lunch together in the back yard and the kiddos got to play on the swing set and enjoy a little moon bounce that Mimmi and Dooders recently got!! It was a lot of fun! After lunch Mimmi and Dooders had organized THREE Easter Egg Hunts this year! The first one was for the 1-6 year olds, the second for the 7-14 year olds and the third for all who were 14 and up! And since that would have been A LOT of eggs for them to gather and stuff we all pitched in and each smaller family was responsible to bring 12 stuffed eggs for the hunting!! There were a lot of happy little kiddos and a good helping of competition for the 2 older sets:)

Ethan chillin' with his Uncle Josh!

Ha! I think he likes him! That is a bigger smile than Emily or Haley EVER gave him when they were that small! Haley still doesn't give him that much of a smile:)

Ethan hangin' with Mimmi after lunch!

Emily swinging her little Cousin, Olivia!

Me and Iris having a little chit chat after lunch!

And of course there was the swing set.....which Emily LOVES!

She also REALLY enjoys playing with her Cousin, Phoebe, too!

And this little cheeser LOVES the slide!

Swinging with Phoebe!

And since Sunday was my birthday, Mom surprised me with a cake and a birthday song! (Even though I said I didn't want to have anything for my birthday!)

And then it was time for the Easter Egg Hunt ~ and it started with all the little people:)

And, since they were SO CUTE we only got pics of them:)

FINALLY all the little people were together and ready to get this thing started!! (Olivia and Ethan were on the sidelines else where, but they are still a tad young to hunt! But look out next year!)

Happy Haley finding Eggs!

She looks left, she looks right!

Emily showing us her findings!

Happy to Be Hunting!

And finding fun treats!

And enjoying some of those treats BY HERSELF!!

Cheese!

All TWELVE of Mimmi and Dooders' Grand kids all in one spot!

And Mimmi and Dooders jumped in there with them!

Can You believe that all of us got together for a Picture?!?

And then we scattered!

This year my 32nd Birthday actual fell on Easter! I really didn't want a party or celebration or anything....I didn't want to make a big deal of it or anything, simply because when you share the same day with a holiday like Easter, remembered and being grateful for the Ressurrection for our Savior, Jesus Christ, everything else is really just trivial. But today, Mema actually made me a coconut cake and it was really yummy! And of course, they put candles on it. And that was the extent of my birthday! Although I must say that it seems like I have been having a birthday all week, which has been nice! That is the way I like to celebrate, I think I will start a new tradition in our family and have BIRTHDAY weeks for people:) Good Times!! Micah is amazing and he has made this birthday week so special and nice for me! Filled with gifts, and time away almost every evening with out the kiddos:) And the fun continues!!

Here I am blowing out my candles!!