Easter 2010

We were really excited to go the ward Easter egg hunt this year because Reagan was old enough to be really great at searching for eggs and Ainsley was old enough to participate and understand what was happening. Unfortunately, the morning of the hunt Ainsley threw a major tantrum (major meaning 1 hour+ of screaming hysterically).

We went through 2 weeks in April where she would throw these fits, at least once a day but many times twice. It was very scary for us mostly because we thought we would be dealing with it for a long time. Fortunately, it was a two week stage. WHEW! The second fit happened in McDonald's play land at a playgroup during lunchtime and I had one lady say to me, "that girl needs a good spanking!" Nothing like a little unsolicited advice during the middle of a crises. Thank heavens I had a friend there that carried Will to the car while I carried a kicking and screaming child (which I pulled from underneath a table) out to the car. GOOD TIMES.

Back to the Easter Egg Hunt... Reagan and I ended up going by ourselves. Reagan still had a good time even though we really wished Ainsley could have joined us.




My parents flew out for a visit over Easter weekend and it was so great to have them here. We really had such a great time. The girls would wake up and go straight to Grandma's room to snuggle.

We were able to dye Easter eggs together which revived a childhood memory for me. Growing up I remember my mom being particular about dying Easter eggs. I remember putting eggs in the cups and that was it. She would set timers so the colors were super dark. We watched her show us how to mix colors but really didn't participate very much (at least in my memory). This year when we started dying egg with the girls it was like re-living my childhood... except my mom would catch herself:). It was very amusing. She enjoys dying eggs enough that she was super proud of one egg she dyed (the green, blue, and yellow one below). We also ended up with two dye sets so combined the dye for a double potent color. She was in heaven:)

I also have to mention that my mom was a HUGE help as you can tell from her holding Will while helping my headstrong 2 year old not make a massive mess.









Easter weekend was also General Conference weekend. General Conference was a huge deal in my house growing up. It is one of us kids' favorite memories. We always had homemade hoagie sandwiches, the TV was turned up super loud, my dad relaxed for two days (pretty much unheard of for him) and we always stood to sing along with the congregation on TV for the rest hymns. It was fun to share in these traditions at our home this time.









One thing I learned (that I fully missed as a kid) is that my dad can really tune out anything during General Conference. ANYTHING. During the last session the kids where going wild and I was trying to finish cooking Easter dinner so we could feed the starving children and get them ready for bed. My mom, Marcus and I were working like mad and my dad was casually watching conference as if there was nothing going on. Crazy!

I had new appreciation for my mom who would be super busy during conference when I was growing up. Now I understand, she was doing it by herself. On the flip side, my dad's ability to handle all sorts of chaos around him saved us when Reagan was a screaming baby. He could hold her for hours while she screamed and not be phased. Just a few things I realized.