Party! Party! Party

Here are more fun pics from our fun weekend with grandma and grandpa!

Everyone took turns on Dance Dance Revolution!
Disco Bowling!!

Natalie's illustration of when she ran too far and slipped on the bowling lane right on her bum. There were many tears of embarrassment. )o:

Good form Sarah!

Some pre-Easter treats.

Pasta Pronto - one of our local favorites we had to share with grandma and grandpa!

We all took turns with the hula hoop that Natalie or Angela discovered in the office. They were supposed to be a surprise from you-know-who. That's all I can say...

Sarah was the champion hula hooper - hands down. Look at the casual way she just folds her arms - she makes it look so easy. (o:

IHOP hot chocolate.

A Rockin' Easter Egg Hunt

The Saturday before Easter, we thought it would be fun to take grandma to the Rock Museum. We've wanted to take her there for a couple years now and it never worked out during previous visits. Grandma and Sarah both share a love a rocks and collecting rocks. It turned out that they happened to have an Easter egg hunt event going on that day - it was serendipitous! Instead, we took our empty eggs to a table where we exchanged the eggs for a mysterious grab bag.

At the gate we were given instructions to find three Easter eggs in the forest - adults and children. It was a gorgeous setting for an Easter egg hunt. I quite enjoyed the beautiful scenery while looking for colorful plastic eggs. The best part was that the eggs didn't have anything in them! I know that may sound funny, but I just get rid of candy from one holiday and another holiday comes up and, well, there's always too much.

Instead of candy, we took our empty eggs to a table where we exchanged the eggs for a mysterious grab bag. Inside we found all kinds of treasures! I think the adults in our group were just as or more excited than the kids! The picture below shows all the rocks I got in my grab bag. Everyone got four different kinds of rocks and it was so fun to look at everyone's different surprises inside. (Angela is showing off a couple of hers above.) That was the best Easter egg hunt we've ever been to and we'll definitely make this a new tradition.
When we finished the Easter egg hunt we headed inside to show grandma all the amazing rocks. We found another fun surprise inside. They were having a silent auction of several rocks starting at around $2 each. We signed up for several and came home with some additional rocks and shells and fossils for our family rock collection! What a fun day.

Sarah and grandma loved looking at each rock together. Sarah is pretty funny and explained many things to grandma because she is an expert at this museum. (o: (A funny thing too, was that she came with her class AGAIN for a field trip a few days later - I think Sarah could give tours there now.)

One of the girls thought the black inside this petrified wood looked like Twilight. (o:

Sarah's most favorite rock in the museum. Que angels singing and light shaft coming down from above.

Natalie was content to twirl and dance in the big exhibit rooms.

This was shortly before discovering the petrified dino poop. Sarah made grandma and me laugh so hard when she did a mini "show" about two dinosaurs having a conversation. "Hey do you think your scat will ever end up in a rock museum?" "No" says the other, "Well, Bob's did!"

Easter Eggs

What's Easter without the eggs!

Cutest Easter Party Ever

I have this amazing friend Elizabeth whom I just love. We have so much fun - I love talking to her and being around her. She has the most adorable little chicky just a bit younger than Angela so we have fun getting them together with a couple other little girlies in the ward every so often. The funny thing about Elizabeth is that she is the most humble person and for some reason thinks that I have a lot of "skills" (as Napoleon Dynamite would say) that I can share with her. She totally plays down all the amazing talents she has. Just take a look at this ADORABLE party she put together for the girls! It was a feast for the eyes! She had everything set up so darling and treated the girls like royalty. We had SUCH a great time. She had 7up sherbet drinks, the snazziest cupcakes, chicken nuggets (to appeal to the preschooler tastebuds!) and tons and tons of yummies for the girls. They all got complimentary bunny ears, did a fun Easter egg hunt and we did a funny bunny mask craft (see picture below). It totally made Angela's day and she talked about it all weekend. Thanks so much Elizabeth!

I've known Elizabeth for almost 9 years. She was in our first ward when we moved to Oregon. I don't know if she remembers me that well, but I remember just thinking she was the neatest person. I really admired her. I feel so honored, years later to get to be her friend. (o: I was so excited when we happened to end up in the same ward as her 5 years later. As you can see, she is a very fun and creative person and most of all so kind and thoughtful. Funny how life steers us in directions to meet certain people - I really think so many of our friendships are more than just coincidences in life. There are reasons why certain people come into our lives and I am so grateful for that!

Notice the cute carrot arrangement as part of the centerpiece. And the sparkly golden egg top left.

The huge bunnies on the table were amazing! So fun!!

Elizabeth was being a lion and trying to "get" the girls. A spontaneous game that was a HUGE hit!!

It's Always Fun When Grandpa & Grandma Come!

Easter weekend we had the wonderful treat of a visit from grandma and grandpa (Hal's* parents). It was a quick Friday to Sunday visit, but we always have quality visits when they come. As you can see the girls were not excited at all about having them here! I'll let the pictures do the talking!

Natalie was actually sooo excited that she told her teacher at school that her "eyes were blurry". It was a little mysterious, but her teacher and I deduced on the phone that Natalie was worried about missing out on grandma and grandpa time and wanted to get home. She was very sad when I told her she needed to stay at school one more hour, but she survived and was rewarded with a fabulous reunion when she got off the bus. (o: