Easter At The Farm 2016

 We got up early this morning so we could pack up the car, go pick up Riannon & Olivia, and head out to Aunt Sandy's & Uncle Robert's. We got to their house around 8:30 ... just in time for breakfast! The Dads & kids had spent the night camping in tents at the farm and were coming back to the house to eat, too. Nick was going to come w/ us, but he woke up this morning and was so sick so we made him stay home. Adam saw this camera set up that Rocky had left on the cabinet. Adam saw it and jabbered on and on and on into the microphone. It was so funny and we kept saying we wished we knew what he was saying. Maybe he's looking for his 15 minutes of fame? LOL!

 Olivia wasn't too sure what to think about the cute baby chicks that Aunt Sandy had in a big box under a heater lamp in her butler's pantry. She didn't mind looking at them as long as Aunt Sandy was the one holding them. It was cute!

 After breakfast we loaded up the cars and drove to a nearby park for Jamie's birthday party. Autumn wanted Aunt Lexie to help her show off her flexibility. These 2 are so silly when they are together, which makes it so fun.

 It was windy & Autumn's hair was blowing all over the place. It was making both of us nuts, so I made her hold still so I could braid it and get it out of her face. Then Emily wanted her hair to be played with so we made a chain. LOL!

 Both Uncle Robert & Aunt Sandy were so cute with Olivia. She loved cuddling up to Uncle Robert b/c I'm sure he reminds her of Papa. There were some people from one of the Baptist churches in the area walking around and handing out these little plastic bags that had candy and a flyer in them and telling us that Jesus loves us. It was a very nice gesture and good reminder what we're gathering as a family to celebrate.

 Heather & Rocky had made these cute dinosaur boxes for the kids to play games with. For this one they had to "feed" the dinosaur by throwing stuffed animals into its mouth.

 Then on this one they had to get the ring on the triceratops's "horns." They had gone to a lot of work and the kids loved it.

Here are the fun birthday party people. They had chips, drinks, a veggie tray, and cupcakes.

After all the fun & excitement of Jamie's party some of us adults went over to the farm to hide Easter eggs. Then we had the other adults bring the kids over to hunt for eggs. We always make everyone line up for our traditional picture before we turn them loose. Tyler is glad I helped hide eggs this year, b/c I hid some up high just for him.

After the Easter egg hunt everyone just relaxed and did their own thing. We roasted hot dogs and s'mores over the fire pit. Look at how many eggs Autumn had! They were overflowing out of her basket.

Aunt Sandy was so nice & took Autumn kayaking out on the pond. She even taught her how to paddle. I am so thankful for Uncle Robert & Aunt Sandy for hosting our family Easter party each year. It's so much fun and something we look forward to.

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We finally left at 3:00 so we could get home and get ready for Women's Conference. We had passed a popular shake shack on the way to the farm, and Riannon wanted to try it on our way out of town. So, we stopped there and got a shake. She got chocolate, I got peach, and Autumn got strawberry. We were laughing that they wrote on our cups "cho, pea, straw." Riannon kept asking me if I liked my "pea" shake and we just laughed and laughed.

Autumn & I dropped Olivia & Riannon off at their house and then we hurried home to be there when Lexie & her crew came over. We ordered pizza from Papa John's for dinner, b/c everyone was really hungry by this point.

Autumn had fun recreating the dogpile we did the other night for Family Home Evening w/ her cousins. They were all laughing so hard that it was contagious.

I hurried and got showered and cleaned up, and then Lexie & Autumn & I went over to the church to watch the General Women's Conference broadcast together. That's another fun tradition that we've done for a few years. My favorite quote from the night was:

"Love is making space in your life for someone else." ~Sister Neill F Marriott

While we were at Women's Conference, Nate stopped by the house while patrolling the neighborhood to say hi to the boys. He didn't go w/ us to the farm b/c he had been working nights and had to sleep. He put the boys in handcuffs, let them sit in the cop car, and he even gave them junior officer stickers.

It looks like Jackson is mad here, but he was LOVING it. That was fun of Nate to do that for the boys. When us girls got home from the broadcast, Lexie & Jon packed up the boys and headed home. They like traveling home at night so the boys will sleep. Plus, there's not as much traffic to deal with at night. It was a wonderful day spent with family making memories. It's days like this that we really miss having Papa & Mimi here. But, we're thankful that they are on a mission.