They also hid eggs at Grandma's House on Sunday...Heidi was an old pro at finding eggs!

Addie, Danny, & Heidi search the sandbox for more Easter eggs.

Easter Fun

Addie & Heidi discover their baskets Sunday morning...

Our Bunnies

Heidi eating her chocolate bunny for breakfast

Addie and her chocolate bunny

This was actually Saturday...Addie played with Heidi's toys while Heidi was napping

Happy Easter

Enjoy your celebrations today and the symbolic beauty of spring! Here is one of my favorite thoughts about Easter and the Resurrection...

“Then dawned the first day of the week, the Sabbath of the Lord as we have come to know it. To those who came to the tomb, heavy with sorrow, the attending angel declared, ‘Why seek ye the living among the dead?” (Luke 24:5).

“ ‘He is not here: … he is risen, as he said’ (Matt. 28:6).

“Here was the greatest miracle of human history. Earlier He had told them, ‘I am the resurrection, and the life’ (John 11:25). But they had not understood. Now they knew. He had died in misery and pain and loneliness. Now, on the third day, He arose in power and beauty and life, the firstfruits of all who slept, the assurance for men of all ages that ‘as in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive’ (I Cor. 15:22).

“On Calvary He was the dying Jesus. From the tomb He emerged the Living Christ. The cross had been the bitter fruit of Judas’s betrayal, the summary of Peter’s denial. The empty tomb now became the testimony of His divinity, the assurance of eternal life, the answer to Job’s unanswered question: ‘If a man die, shall he live again?’ (Job 14:14). …

“And so, because our Savior lives, we do not use the symbol of His death as the symbol of our faith. But what shall we use? No sign, no work of art, no representation of form is adequate to express the glory and the wonder of the Living Christ. He told us what that symbol should be when He said, ‘If ye love me, keep my commandments’ (John 14:15).

“As His followers, we cannot do a mean or shoddy or ungracious thing without tarnishing His image. Nor can we do a good and gracious and generous act without burnishing more brightly the symbol of Him whose name we have taken upon ourselves. And so our lives must become a meaningful expression, the symbol of our declaration of our testimony of the Living Christ, the Eternal Son of the Living God”

(President Gordon B. Hinckley, “The Symbol of Our Faith,” Liahona and Ensign, Apr. 2005, 4–6).

ON THIS DATE IN HISTORY...

...two years ago, Heidi Lynn joined our family. Thank you, Heidi, for all the sunshine and joy you bring to each of us! Happy Birthday, Heideline!

Happy Hunting

Today is Heidi's second birthday and we celebrated with an Easter Egg Hunt at our house this morning. Here's our neighbor Brianna and Addie finding eggs out on the lawn.
There's Brianna with Addie close behind on the other side of the yard.
Heidi found lots of eggs around the aspen trees...
...and in the rocks!

Around the lunch table: Heidi, Addie, Gracie, Kelli, Tyrel, & George Tyner (from church), Riley, Mackenzie, & Brianna Watt ( our nice neighbors).
Addie laughs at Heidi drinking a Capri Sun; Cailin & Colton Orton are behind Heidi.

(Not pictured are Orrin Tyner and cousins Danny, Rosalie, Jake and Sam, who were eating in the family room).
All the Easter Egg Hunters with their loot!

Heidi got a Barbie bike from Daddy so she can ride with Addie on the driveway
Nana sent a snuggly baby doll
Cousins Danny & Rosalie brought Heidi a BABY pony! The Tyner kids got her a smaller wedding pony and a Little People dinosaur. The Watt kids brought a fun doll with a little bed and diaper bag full of stuff, and the Orton kids brought a fun Strawberry Shortcake puzzle. It was better then Christmas around here!

We sang happy birthday over Easter Basket cupcakes...
...and Heidi (or was it Addie?) blew the candles out.
Heidi enjoyed her cupcake!

Heidi and Jake played for a while in the princess tent in Heidi's room...
...Poor Jake get his fill of pink stuff at our house (although he sure has fun playing babies and pushing the shopping cart or stroller around!)
Just as the party ended, Great-Grandpa & Grandma Elrey called and sang Happy Birthday to Heidi. A little after 1pm, the birthday girl crashed for a nap with her new baby doll, pony, and a special birthday bottle of chocolate milk ("mockit miwk")...she's still asleep! :) Thanks, everyone, who remembered Heidi's special day!

TGIF

Friday morning, my brother Matt called and asked if he and his family could come stay over Firday night...OF COURSE! So we did our traditional trip to Chico Hot Springs with the kids...we kidnapped Rich from his office about 5 minutes early and headed down the valley to take a dip in the hot springs, then eat some yummy pizza at the Poolside Grille. The timing was perfect! We loaded up the kids to head home at 8pm and they were in bed by 9pm and we enjoyed a little grown up visit and a good night's sleep! Heidi (next to Matt) at the Poolside Grille at Chico
We drove up the canyon from the resort to the old town of Chico and took a picture of this shed.
Jake & Addie being silly at Chico
Amie with Baby Sam