Easter Conference Weekend

 Elsie didn't waste any time when the 'gun' went off.

 G-ma Janene hosted an egg hunt for the younger cousins in between Saturday sessions of General Conference.  We enjoyed having Bonnie and Bryant's family in town for the weekend along with Cam, Jett and Jagger.  Chris and Julia live nearby so there were plenty of cousins under age 7.  Elsie was the cut-off for the traditional egg hunt.

 Jagger was in such a hurry to find the hidden treasures that he tipped his bucket over more than once.  Even then I don't think it slowed him down much!

 Elsie is all about egg hunts - she anticipated this great event for days.

 Brinley was really cute helping Jett find his share.

It was Lillian's job to fill the eggs and help hide them for the little ones.

Bubble-blowing microphones - a bonus surprise for everyone. 

These two didn't need a stage to entertain the rest of us.  Neither did Elsie (although I didn't snap a shot of her jamming' out at the top of her lungs).

Elsie & Greta - girls in pink

 Bennett - cheesin' it for the camera.

Mission accomplished.

 Saturday evening all the men (Bob, Aaron, Tanner, Jantzen, Bryant, Jameson, Garrett, Chris) attended the Priesthood session together then went out for Mexican food afterwards.  I made a pot of soup and had the fixings for banana splits for rest of the crew back at our house.   It was so nice to catch-up a bit with Bonnie and Janene - it's been awhile! 

Sunday morning.  When a few gripped about standing in the stairwell long enough for me to snap a shot, I threatened 'no basket' unless...how else can I document that all six were in attendance?

 No perpetuation of the Easter bunny around here.  Even Quinn knows not to spoil it for other children.  Even so, they look forward to their baskets - something they need/want with the change of season, a small chocolate bunny, jelly beans and a few peeps.  Half of them don't even like peeps anymore but are funny about 'tradition'.  The others were happy to oblige.  I laughed when Tanner sold his bunny to a willing sibling then gave the rest of his candy away.  I think he's outgrown the basket thing.  He was super happy to receive new socks and toothpaste, however!

 Yellow bunny peeps this year.  

They now sell all kinds of crazy colors, flavors, and sizes of those nasty things.

 The kids were disappointed to discover that G-ma and G-pa P were on there way home from China and wouldn't be around Easter weekend.  They have equated G-ma P + egg hunt = chips.  Never in their wildest imaginations did they suspect their own mom would ever make such a purchase:).  Ha!  The theme for this year's hunt was "cool stuff for school lunches".

 The windy weather didn't make it very enticing to have our hunt outside never mind the awkward items we were hiding...bags of chips, 100% juice capri suns, fruit snacks, mini donut packages. Honestly, Aaron and I enjoyed having awesome hiding places inside the house.  Searching took much longer and brought out the kid in all of us.

  A version of 'trading post' opened up afterwards.

 It was a win-win because the following week, I didn't hear a single complaint from the children about how they never have anything "good" to take in their school lunches.

 Nobody complained when I informed them that we would not be having the traditional word cups for General Conference this time around.  I like having Easter and Conference on the same day!

After breakfast, we all settled in to watch the Sunday sessions.  Such powerful messages all weekend.    On Saturday afternoon I asked the children how they think Heavenly Father feels about families. We truly felt the beautiful spirit associated with our Savior's Resurrection.  We also enjoyed watching various church videos throughout the week that depicted Christ's final days on earth.  I love the Easter season and the feelings of hope and happiness I feel this time of year.

Bonnie & Bryant

 We hosted Easter dinner at our place Sunday afternoon.  

It was really easy since everybody brought something and we used paper plates:).

Chris & Julia

 Faye turned 1-year old on April 7th.  G-pa Kerr would have turned 101 years old on the same day.

Bob & Aaron cutting the ham and/or being hams...

 I know... this is an amazing site.  

Yes, Bonnie is beautiful but I'm referring to the dog - INSIDE my house.

 If we could find such a well-mannered, easy-going, doesn't shed or yap, $free$ kind of dog, I'd let this become a permanent situation.  Bonnie and Bryant totally scored with this one!

 Love the brightly colored eggs.  This time around, Brinley and I were the only consumers of egg salad (good on crackers) this past week.  Maybe I won't let the kids color as many next year:).

Happy Easter/Conference Weekend!