Easter Weekend!

Easter weekend was quite the event. We had originally planned on staying home, but then Nick received a job offer in Cheyenne, WY that we needed to look into. It was bitter sweet for me personally. It wasn't that I was sad to be going, it just also happened that we ended up traveling on my birthday, and I'd really been looking forward to spending my birthday with my girls. I didn't even get to see them. :( Oh, well. Sometimes you just have to do what you have to do.

We left the girls in Mt. View with Grandma and Grandpa and drove on to Cheyenne. The job offer was quite nice, but after driving around and looking at the city and looking at available housing and neighborhoods, neither of us felt like it was the best choice for family. It really didn't have anything to do against Cheyenne, necessarily. It just wasn't right for us for some reason.

The main highlight for the entire trip for me though was getting to stop and see Sarah B. in Laramie. I've missed her so much, and it was a wonderful, if too short, visit. Truthfully, when Nick got the job offer, being close to her was top on the list of reasons to move to Cheyenne. Not being close is also the main reason I was sad we turned it down. It's a good thing that friends can still be friends even over great distances. In Laramie, we did get to stop by the chocolate store downtown that our old landlords still own. I loved that place then, and well, I couldn't help but buy myself a bit of chocolates for a birthday treat. They were perfect on the way back to the valley.

Back in Mt. View, we enjoyed a fun Easter with Nick's family. Brady even tolerated letting the girls put little bows and barrettes in his hair. I wouldn't have believed it if I hadn't seen it myself. It was also fun to get a birthday/Easter package from my mom while we were there. She gave me a beautiful maternity statue and gave each of the girls cute Easter baskets with light-up bunnies. The bunnies ended up being a bit of an ordeal, because Emma's stopped working. It was rather traumatic for her, and she ended up writing the Easter Bunny a letter asking for a new one. It was a good thing that the Easter bunny was prepared for just such an emergency with an extra toy. Easter morning ended up being quite fun for everyone. Again, I don't have many pictures because everything is on video. If you're really interested, I guess you'll just have to come visit and look at our videos.

Brady all "dolled up:

Emma striking a pose - don't you love the WY Cowboys hat!

Cheesey Ashy in her UW hat.

Cousin Carson enjoying his loot.

One of the main Easter highlights though was our rather red-neck Easter egg hunt. I'm pretty sure that the guys had more fun setting up the hunt than the kids had doing it. They used drills to attach eggs to trees, tied them on the end of strings to make "trick" eggs, and hid them in places no kid could reach. Everyone had fun figuring out the hunt, and even the kids saw the humor in it once they got the trick eggs emptied. And of course, it's always fun to open eggs.

I'm always humbled by Easter. When I stop and ponder the real reason for the holiday, I can't help but truly be overwhelmed. My Savior did so much for me, and I am so grateful for his love for me and the rest of the world. It's such a personal feeling of love and appreciation.