Each year, Geoff and Jill have a big Easter Egg Hunt.
Two ingredients make this party so grand.
Cousins and LOTS of candy-filled eggs! Plus a couple of "gold and silver" eggs which win you money and prizes.
Even the big grandkids are into it. Here is a little photo story of how the infamous hunt went this year.
Here is the eggs, all prepped and ready to be hunted in "the forest" behind grandma's house.
Waiting to begin is the hardest part for the kiddos. They have to find different ways to entertain themselves while everyone arrives.
Here is the first wave of cousins getting their instructions and getting ready to head out.
Some of the kids waited around too long to start hunting...you snooze you lose right? :)
Pickle found a coveted golden money egg. She was pretty please by that.
Abby got the most coveted egg of them all...one of the prize eggs!! She could hardly contain her excitement!
After the big hunt and the kids mouths were full with candy, we played this video to capture the true spirit of Easter at this fun event.
Hannah, our recently returned missionary introduced the video and shared her testimony of the gospel of Jesus Christ. She is one incredible girl! We all adore her. All those youngers sure look up to her as well.
It was a super fun night! After everyone left I decided to go ahead and get the pictures edited and posted since I was scheduled to be induced with Eliza two days after.
Good thing I did because about an hour after I shared the pictures on Facebook and went to sleep, my water broke and we were on a mad dash to the hospital to meet our little Liza!
She was the best little Easter gift ever. Nothing like a newborn to turn your thoughts right where they should be on Easter. The Savior and eternity.
Our boy Jake has a such a tender heart for animals.
A wonderful trait he inherited from his father, grandfather, and great-grandfather on the Lighten side.
All animal lovers.
Over the years he has had many opportunities to spend time with animals of all shapes and sizes.
He was the first of all our kids to "get his own pet." A beta fish named Peyton (after Peyton Manning).
Some of his greatest sorrows have come from seeing animals in pain.
He pretty much flipped a gasket while watching the Life of Pi - when the hyena kills the gorilla.
Totally lost it.
He just loves animals and hates to see them hurt.
Which is such a great trait - total compassion and love for Heavenly Father's creations.
Well last summer he and his buddy Luke caught a toad.
I can't remember now what they named him, but they were very intent on keeping him and treasuring that little thing forever.
Only problem was they had previously caught another toad that died not too long after that.
Jake was so, so sad.
So I talked to Jake about it, and told him he should let it go back into the wild so that it will live.
Toads aren't meant to be kept in captivity right?
Or at least we didn't want the same thing to happen to this poor little fella as the last one.
After some time he understood it was probably best and we set out on a hill behind our house to let him go.
He was still sad to part with his little scaly friend, but there were a whole lot less tears than watching the other die.
A proud mom moment that day, to watch my son give up something he really wanted to keep for the better of something else.
Since that time Peyton the fish has passed on, and we even got him another one named, Alpha, who also did not make it.
Both times he was super sad. But at least he is learning about loss (albeit in a small way) and dealing with it.
We frequently tell him that our beloved dog, Daisy, will someday die too.
Not sure if knowing will help him when the time comes but at least he knows it will happen.
Hopefully she has another few years, because we will all be super sad when she is gone.
But maybe no one more so than him.
Tender boy.
Usually in March I am dreaming of Spring.
This is because I have just endured a few long months of winter. Heavy snow. Gray skies. Bone-chilling cold. Intense amounts of laundry because of all the bundling. Piles of drying boots, coats, hats, gloves, snow pants, and anything else my kids use to sled and build snowmen.
I think the part I don't like as much about winter is that I miss the sunshine and the warmth on my skin.
Being in Utah we have some pretty cold winters.
But not this year! In fact, I keep thinking winter is going to show up any day. February was 50's and sunny most of the time. We had like 3 snowstorms (which quickly melted away) this whole winter.
Other than that. Unseasonably warm and sunny.
It has been so nice out! Too nice actually. At church they are asking us to pray for snow.
I think I could say the words but not sure I could mean them. :)
Because here is what you get to do in March when the weather is so nice...
Be outside!
As in, not cramped inside!
Have your husband ask where the shorts are stored.
Go to the park with family and friends.
Enjoy the beauty all around us.
I should probably pray for snow, and will be sad when summer comes and there are forest fires every which way...but for now, I am going to enjoy an early spring.
Then I can just pray for rain when the times comes, right?! :)
This year's "Love" Day was a little different. I was without my sweetheart.
Trev's Grandma Lighten (grandma England) passed away. So he and his brothers, Rich and Dan, flew over there to be at the funeral services. It just so happened to be the same week as Valentine's, our 13th anniversary, and Morgan's 11th birthday.
That week is busy in our house! :)
But don't worry, he made sure to surprise me with gorgeous roses and my favorite Red Velvet Baby Bundt cake - thanks to his personal delivery boy, our nephew Lawson. :)
We stilled missed him a lot - plus I was also 36 weeks pregnant - but the week went just fine and thanks to Voxer we got to talk every day.
Even though my honey was gone, I was still surrounded by my little sweethearts and so we celebrated!
First came the school parties, personalized Valentine's, and treat boxes.
All the school hoopla took place on Friday the 13th (creepy?) since Heart Day fell on a Saturday this year.
I usually help with the school parties and this year I was in Jake's class. I was in charge of the games. The biggest hit was Marshmallow Toss. Marshmallows everywhere but super fun! :)
Here is the card one girl from his class gave him.
Wow. That's real love right there.
When I arrived at his classroom to help with the party, this little girl came up to me, asked if I was Jake's mom, and then informed me she would be marrying him someday!
Good thing she was darling. Just a little too aggressive. Jake was NOT amused. :)
Back to the celebrating...
In preparation for this day, Morgan had a cute friend come over and they did what Morgan loves to do best...BAKE!
She gave these delicious little ladies out to her teachers and closest friends. Oh how she loves this kind of thing!
Then on the ACTUAL Valentine's we had a little celebration of our own.
It started with my treat to them...a LOVE-ly Berries and Cream Waffle breakfast! While I got the food ready, the kids wrote down things they love about each person in our family - which they read aloud as we ate.
Then we did what EVERY kid wants to do on a holiday...SATURDAY JOBS!!!
Oh. Ummmm. Yeah. They had to get done and I was FOR SURE not doing them myself. :)
So I tried to make it fun.
I had a bunch of Valentine's games and the deal was that they had to do a job. When they were all done with one job we would play a Valentine's game.
Then they would do another job...play another game...and so on.
It worked like a CHARM! They were ASKING for more jobs to do!!
It is truly magical what the promise of a few candy hearts can do...
The absolute favorite game however, was the exploding Heart Peep!
It's pretty simple really. You just take a Peep. Put it on a plate. Put it in the microwave and set the timer for 30 seconds.
That thing will blow up a like a balloon!
The laughs and squeals of joy from your children will be deafening.
And they will keep asking for more Peeps to explode!
Note: They don't ACTUALLY explode. Just get really big...so no big gooey mess to clean-up in the microwave. I would not have been on board otherwise.
It was truly super fun to watch them get so excited.
I can't remember the rest of the day but I think we just hung out after that.
It was different than other years. I missed my Valentine. But I sure had fun with the other ones.
And we all felt loved by each other. So that is really what matters most.
It was truly a "Heart"-full Day.
