And here we have Idaho...

Olivia is in fourth grade. This means that she has the opportunity to learn all about our great state of Idaho. She was chosen to play a Native American in her school play. She did an excellent job opening the play and looked pretty adorable singing songs about "this land we all love."

Easter Egg-sraviganza

Easter! Spring! Fun!

When I was little, my dad decided that it was better that we not believe that a 6 foot bunny came into our home to leave baskets full of goodies. I still remember when he decided to tell me and my sibs ~ I was relieved! It kinda freaked me out to be honest. I mean, Santa is a man...but a HUGE bunny? So, when I had kids, I decided that I'd play Easter Bunny, but I'd be honest that it was me. So, when Olivia was 4 and in pre-school, I told her that I was the Easter Bunny. Unfortunately, she took that literally. One afternoon after our discussion, I found her searching my closet. I asked her what she was doing tearing my closet apart and she replied that she was looking for the suit I wear to the mall to meet little kids. She looked up at me with smiling eyes and said, "You can trust me mom. Pleeeease show it to me." I was lost. I did not understand that she was referencing a BUNNY suit! So, we cleaned up the mess and went about the day. Then, one night the week before Easter, she asked me how long I'd be gone delivering baskets to kids. I asked her who I was supposed to be delivering baskets too, and she just smiled up at me and said, "Oh, I get it. It's a secret." I was confused until I got a phone call from her pre-school teacher. Apparently, she went to school and told all of her little Easter Bunny believing buddies that HER mom WAS the Easter Bunny! Poor, poor child. I had to sit her down and explain that while I wasn't THE big bunny, I helped the Easter bunny by filling her basket. So, Olivia and I have since agreed that we just allow Abby to believe in a creepy 6 foot bunny :).

We had an egg hunt at Grandma Becky and Grandpa Steve's on Saturday:

Abby Searching Olivia is almost done
Mitch has found quite a few
Brighton gets a lift
The loot!

They each found 49 eggs!
And went to their own private corner...
to count coins and eat their candy :)

We went to church on Sunday in our new Easter skirts.

We all felt the spirit and were thankful for our Savior.

Then, later that day,we had Easter dinner at Grandma Wendy's house. We also had another egg hunt, flew kites, and ate more treats. Wendy always has a fun egg hunt where each kid has a certain color of eggs to find. Each year she also gives each family a HUGE basket of Easter candy. I can't believe I forgot to take a picture of it! I did weigh it though ~ 9.8 POUNDS of sugary delight! Needless to say, with the sugar strike at our house, we'll have Easter candy for a long, LONG time! She has also started a kite flying tradition.

Michael helping Abby search for her pink eggs...

Olivia choose yellow eggs and was frustrated with her allergies and the search.

Abby was the first to get her kite flying high...

while Uncle JB and Max spent time trying to fix kites that wouldn't fly.

Everyone is having fun!

Ike choose to eat his kite...

while Tyson took a nap.

Then we all went in for cakes for Grandpa Fackrell's 83rd birthday!!!

I love Easter.

Me and My "Peeps"

So, I was hoping, as I'm sure many do, that April would be carefree and full of lazy days spent reading in the sunshine. HA!

So many things to post, so little time. Since this really is the ONLY thing in my life currently resembling a journal, I need to post a few things.

#1...29 FOREVER!! My baby sister turned 29. It was her "golden" birthday and it was celebrated in true Reader fashion (meaning a whole week of birthday events and fun). We apparently LOVE birthdays. If you don't know what a "golden" birthday is, Sarah would be all too happy to enlighten you as she was pretty pumped about hers :). It means you turn the age of the date you were born, and ideally in the year. Well, as she put it..."29 on the 29th of 2009 is pretty damn close!" That's my Jo for ya! She threw me a big 'ole surprise bash for my 30th, which wasn't at all golden, but really quite gloomy, but I digress. SO, I decided I had to put together a SuRpRiSe for Ms. Sarah Jo's "golden" birthday. My friend Karli, who happens to be Sarah's sister-in-law (or vice-versa), helped me a ton and we pulled off the big surprise! I had cleaned and cooked all day to try to make it "just so." We ate homemade pizza ~ a recipe I have that is a copy of California Pizza Kitchen's California Club Pizza which features homemade crust topped with a little olive oil, mozzarella cheese, chicken pounded thin and grilled in a little olive oil and a dash of garlic, crumbled bacon; served with romaine lettuce tossed in some mayo, Roma tomatoes, and fresh avocado slices. Yep...it really was yummy. We also ate rice balls, stuffed mushrooms Sandpiper style, and we had a dessert bar of sorts as Sarah is a sweets kinda girl.

The girls and I decorated the house with balloons and posters, but I failed to get a picture :( ...

I made a Black Forest Cake and mini cheesecakes (my mom's recipes) and Karli brought all of Sarah's favorite candies including Lindor truffles, Cadbury eggs (both the creamy and the mini variety), and bags of other Easter treats that Jo just loves. She can seriously eat the Easter treats each year and complain of gaining two pounds, while I (her poor, poor sister) only need take a glance at the kids' baskets and two pounds find me...;) Anyway...she blew out all 29 candles in one breath and hopefully all of her wishes come true!

#2...Curlers. Tonight I put curlers in Olivia's hair for her school play, which is tomorrow. Abby insisted that she needed some too. This is NOT the usual as Abby hates having her hair done. However, she is determined to grow it out so it will resemble her sister's luxurious locks, so I put curlers in. The it hit me that this was the FIRST time Abby would sleep in curlers! This may not seem odd to some, but I started putting curlers in Olivia's hair at 8 months!!! (I'll have to scan a picture sometime, it's so adorable!) This Abby milestone had to be documented:

She also just inherited a BUNCH of her sister's hand-me-downs (the Christmas PJ's featured) and was ecstatic to dress in Olivia's clothes. I wish Liv would realize that although her little sis drives her CrAzY at times, she just adores her!

#3...Easter treats for everyone's school classes. Tonight I made 90 Easter nests that will be topped with soft, sickly sweet PEEPS in the morning. Some for Abby's class, some for Livvy's class, and some for my Honors English class (the kids assign treats in this class for each Friday, tomorrow it's my turn):

(Sorry for the blurry picture...it's late.)

#4...I am going to spinning at 5 am ~ good night:0]