A Month After Easter

Better late than never with sharing a couple pictures from Easter, right? Haha.

Nicole had an Easter egg hunt last year, but this year was entirely different because 1) we could actually hide the eggs (in rather obvious places) and 2) we put candy in the eggs. She was ecstatic upon discovering those jellybeans. She found all of the eggs with ease, and was excited to see the treasures in her Easter basket. Favorite item = the Elsa doll. Elsa immediately earned a place next to Nicole for bed time, an honor only granted to her favorite stuffed animals and dolls.

^^^Eating her spoils

While we're talking about Elsa, I should mention that Nicole got to meet several Disney characters the week before Easter: Ariel, Moana, Olaf, Elsa, and Anna. She was shy around Ariel and was brave enough to wave goodbye to Moana. She was VERY excited to see Olaf and immediately went up to give him an enormous hug. Then we went to meet Elsa and Anna. I kid you not, her mind was blown. She was in a state of toddler shock, getting to meet her favorite princess and queen. As I brought her over to them her mouth dropped open, and then she closed her eyes and just stood there, slack-jawed and eyes practically rolling to the back of her head. Then Anna picked her up. I fully expected her to start crying at that point, but I suppose she was still too shocked to respond. The poor, star-struck toddler! I wish I had a picture of the look on her face, it was priceless. She was dazed the whole ride home. Like I said... her mind was blown.

No fear when it came to Olaf, though! Olaf got all the hugs and smiles.

Let's see... any other updates? Now that the weather is warming up, we go walks on an almost daily basis. Nicole already has a tan line, even though I'm pretty sure that I slather her up with more sunscreen than I do myself! And my tan is non-existent!

Also, an awesome splash pad is opening up about 5 minutes from our house sometime in midsummer. It's going to be the best one in Utah County. Better than the one in Springville, even. I anticipate spending lots of time there when it finally opens. Meanwhile, we have a kiddie pool stowed away in the garage, just waiting to be inflated! The hose water is so cold, though...

Lastly, we purchased our first watermelon of the season over the weekend. Nicole and Austin are both loving it. Oh, we're going to have such a great summer! I love my babies!

Nicole's First Easter Egg Hunt

I tossed some plastic eggs out on the grass at a local park on Easter morning to see if Nicole could figure out this whole "Easter egg hunt" business, and it was a better success than I expected! She found nearly all of the 20 eggs before making a mad dash for the playground ;) I'm so excited for years down the road when the Easter Bunny can start really hiding the eggs.

I love my little family.

 ^^^I love this Daddy-Daughter-Duo!

 ^^^Doug looked at Nicole's hair in this picture and said, "Who does she think she is, Elizabeth Bennett?!" Ha! Husband points!

Happy Easter!

From our family, to yours!

Easter egg hunt pictures will be coming later, but for now... don't forget to spend time today remembering why Easter is such an important time of year! If you want a great Easter message, or to learn a bit about why Easter is so dear to me, watch the short video below! :) May we all be filled with joy in remembering all that He did for us, and that He lives!

Wait, it's nearly Easter already?

Easter is nearly here! And that means a cute Easter dress for the baby! I know that Easter is this coming Sunday, but since we'll be spending our Easter weekend watching this, I figured that the Sunday before Easter was as good as any to wear it. And she'll definitely be wearing this dress after Easter too because it's so stinkin' cute. And it's still a little big on her, so we'll get some good use out of it!

In other news, Nicole met one of her sets of Great-Grandparents this past week. They just finished serving an LDS mission in Nebraska and were so excited to meet her. Unfortunately, the only pics I took were in the restaurant we ate dinner at. NOT good lighting. I think it's the first time I've ever used flash on my camera!

Well, happy end of March, everyone! And happy spring!