Easter weekend

Friday

My parents arrived around noon from Minnesota; it was Connor's last day of Spring break, so all kids were home and jumping off the walls with excitement. My mom and I did some grocery shopping in the afternoon, and in the evening we dyed Easter eggs.

Saturday

In the morning, Brian and my dad took the kids to the Home Depot Kids Workshop to make butterfly houses. The Kids Workshops are always so much fun.

While they were gone, my mom and I cleaned the house and cooked a huge brunch. Some of Brian's relatives on his mom's side were in town from California, so we all got together at my house. Brian only has 3 cousins on his mom's side, and it was super fun to see them. Catie graduates from Georgetown with her master's degree in May; Robert is a sophomore at Berkeley, where he plays Rugby. Mara is a junior in high school. They are great kids. We also had Brian's parents, his mom's two brothers, and their wives. The Kelley clan:
My brother Nate and his wife Alli arrived during our brunch; they were in town checking out a law school. Here's us with my mom and dad and Nate and Alli-

After the brunch, my family went to Estes Park for the afternoon. It was cold with periods of some serious snowfall, but we had fun shopping and walking around the town. We went home through Loveland - an amazingly beautiful drive, and we even saw a herd of bighorn sheep - and then we went out for a fun dinner. Isabel formed a serious bond with Nate and Alli, and attached herself to them for the 2 days they were here. She cried some serious alligator tears when they left.

Easter Sunday

Kids were awake bright and early to discover their Easter baskets. Growing up, my brothers and sisters and I would hide carrots for the Easter bunny and then a basket would be left in its place; I continued this tradition for my kids.

Not only did they get baskets from the Easter bunny, they also got Easter gifts from my parents, Nate and Alli, and Brian's aunt, uncle and cousins. They were well showered with Easter love this year.

Connor was THRILLED to discover his very own watch. He has learned to tell time (the real way!), and loves his new watch; he wears it everywhere. For the first few days, we told us the time pretty much every 5 minutes. :) He also got a Nerf gun and a bunch of sweet treats.

Isabel got a Hello Kitty puzzle, a sparkle pink gel pen, a Princess notebook, and a pair of purple scissors (she has been dying for a pair of her own scissors), plus candy.
Lucas got a train whistle, a toy dinosaur, Silly Putty, a toy helicopter (or hopatopter, as Lucas calls it), and candy.
Other scenes from early Easter morning-

We went to the stake center to watch the morning session of General Conference, and I'm really glad we did. The kids were super reverent and watched a lot more conference than at home. We might do this more often, actually. Easter outfits-
The kids had fun with their new bubble guns from G&G while we made an early Easter dinner

After dinner, we went on a drive to Georgetown, and then took a scenic route home through a gorgeous canyon into Golden.

What an action-packed, but incredibly fun, weekend.