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!!

As my girls wait patiently for their own dessert!

After lunch the girls participated in their last egg hunt of the season!! And by now, they were professionals!!!

I love this shot of Determination!

Haley is very proud of her eggs!

She found another one!

On Sunday, it was pretty cute because her and her 2nd cousin, Brody, made fast friends too!

He was helping her find all of the "trickier" eggs!

All Done!

We Have a WHEAT GRINDER!

For quite a long time now I have been wanting a wheat grinder, for one reason or another I have had the strange urge and desire to be able to grind my own wheat and make fresh wheat flour! But, unfortunately, we never have had any money just laying around to spend on a wheat grinder so I haven't had one. But for my birthday this year, Mummis sent me some birthday money and the SECOND thought I had was "I can buy a wheat grinder now!". The first thought was " I can pay my tithing and just BLOW the rest!". But fortunately, my second thought stayed with me longer and that is EXACTLY what we did! We went straight to East Coast Food Storage on Monday evening and I bought a wheat grinder!! And I LOVE it already!!! The kiddos and I made our first 2 loaves of bread with wheat flour that we ground and it was DELICIOUS!! We had some of the yummiest PB&J sandwiches for lunch today!! And of course, you know me, I thought it would all be more fun if we took pictures this morning and so we did, and it was fun:)

My Little Chefs!

The Wheat Granules!

Our New Grinder!

Fresh Ground Wheat Flour!

And our first 2 Loaves of Bread!! It was a SUCCESS!!

2012 Easter Photo Extravaganza!

Easter pictures are some pictures that I really LOVE!! I love all of the spring colors, I love the cute Easter outfits, and I am especially in love with the 3 little people that I get to have in our family Easter pictures!!! This year we asked Dooders to do our Easter Photo shoot! He has a great camera, he has been practicing with it a lot lately and we LOVE him!! So, thanks Dooders for a Cute Photo Shoot this past Sunday!! There were some beautiful shots, some unique expressions and it made for a great birthday present for me, since Easter fell on my birthday this year!!

Haley waiting for her 2 "Partners in Crime"!

And then there were 2 adorable little princesses on a stump together!!

Haley has a look of pleasure on her face, while Emily is seeming to say, "It's a Bird, It's a Plane...."

And Emily is REALLY ready to hold her Little Bro!

Emily is comforting Haley who seems to be stuck on this tree stump!

Emily: "Alright Daddy, I am really ready for Ethan now!"

And Cute Baby Ethan Makes Three!

Our Adorable Threesome has so much personality!!

My favorite Shot!!

Family Photo Take ONE....HILARIOUS!!

Family Photo Take TWO: Sharing the Love!

Family Photo Take THREE: Really in Love!!

The Coloring and the Hunting Continue!!!

In our family, especially since we have had kiddos, once the coloring and hunting of Easter Eggs begins it usually continues on for a while!! Takes everyone a little while to get into it, ya know!?!?!

Today, Mimmi got off work a little bit early and came by to help us color some more Easter Eggs! The girls thought it was FANTASTIC!! Not just that they got to color eggs, but that Mimmi showed up at their door during the week to help! I know it was definitely one of my highlights too!! It's always more fun to have more than one adult when taking on this kind of activity:)

The girls colored the eggs, then took a little walk around the block with Mimmi while they were drying and then came back to decorate them with all kinds of stickers (left over from the kit we got at Mema's earlier this week!) and then they got super excited to hide them and try to find them!! I was really impressed because I think in that whole process we only broke one egg and lost one egg in the hunt!! ( And the lost egg was totally my fault, I forgot....and still don't remember....where I hid it:)

Ethan, slept through most of the outside fun!

Mimmi helping the girls color the eggs!

Haley LOVED making orange eggs!

She also LOVES Mimmi too!

And So Does Emily!

Emily, showing off one of her artistic creations!!

Haley was pretty happy with her stickered egg too!

Emily doing a little relaxing on the porch!!

The hunting has begun!

Emily found a Green One!

And Haley found an orange one!

Emily was pretty happy with all of the eggs that were in her basket!

Walking around with their loot!

"Easter Egg, are you in there?"

I sure love this silly little Monkey!

Coloring Easter Eggs at Mema's House!

The kiddos and I went to visit Mema today! And to our excitement and surprise she had boiled about 9 eggs and had an Easter Egg Coloring kit ready for the girls to put to use when we got there! Needless to say, Emily and Haley were REALLY happy about it! They enjoyed everything!! First they chose the colors they wanted to make, then watched as I put the little tabs in and the water changed color, to coloring the eggs with Mema, to playing while the eggs were drying and then finally decorating the eggs!! Oh and we can't forget demolishing some of the eggs in the van on the way home (good times!!) and having a mini Easter egg hunt with the remaining eggs when we got home!! It was a Great day all the way around!!!

Mema and Haley coloring the first egg of the day!

Patiently waiting for her egg to turn pink!

Emily watches as her egg goes from white to blue!!

Gaining Confidence!! Coloring Multiple Eggs at the same time!

Haley is Proud of her Pink Egg!

As Emily shows off her blue one!

I know her eyes are closed in this one, but I LOVE her expression!

Deciding How to Decorate these colorful eggs!

This little princess LOVES stickers!

Once Ethan woke up, he got some cuddle time in with Mema!

Adoring One Another!!