Easter 2015

We had such a great Easter celebration this year.  It was also General Conference, so it made the whole weekend extra special.  Sunday morning after Claire woke up and had eaten breakfast I snuck her Easter basket into her room so she would find it when we took her back in there.

The first thing she went for in her basket was the bag of dried mangos.  They are her favorite.  I probably could have just given her those and she would have been thrilled!  We also filled her Easter basket with a cute little stuffed bunny, the book Guess How Much I Love You?, a leather hairbow, an Easter sippy cup, and eggs filled with jellybeans, fruit snacks, & bunny grahams.  We also gave her an Easter dress and her very first pair of Saltwater Sandals.  I didn't get a picture of mine & Bryce's basket but ours was filled with mini cadburry eggs, jellybeans, homemade Reeses eggs, and the movie Up to add to our Disney collection.

Once she figured out there were treats in the eggs there was no stopping her!
After she had eaten a fair amount of bunny grahams she started looking at the rest of the contents of her basket.  She pulled out her bunny and just started cuddling it.  She was in love with her new bunny.  It was so adorable.  I was dying!
After we finished showing Claire her Easter basket I got her dressed and took her outside to get a few pictures in her new Easter dress.  I took quite a few pictures and tried to only post my favorites but there are too many!  She is so cute, I can hardly stand it.

We spent the rest of the morning listening to conference and then went to my parents for lunch & an Easter Egg hunt.  We ate lunch first and while we were waiting for everyone to finish Rory got lots of cuddling in with everybody.  Claire & her cousin Lydia had an especially fun time crawling all over her.

Claire still hadn't really figured out the whole Easter Egg hunt concept, but with lots of help from us we managed to fill her basket!

Claire & Lydi comparing their Easter haul.

Claire & Lydia with Papa & Nana (my parents).

We listened to the afternoon session of conference with my family and afterwards went to Bryce's parent's for another Easter Egg Hunt & dinner.  Even if it is sometimes hectic we are lucky to live close to both of our families so we get to spend time with both every holiday.  Aside from the fun parties, I tried to really focus on celebrating the resurrection of our Savior Jesus Christ.  The whole reason we even have families & a holiday to celebrate is because of Him & His atoning sacrifice for each of us.  I am SO grateful that because of Him I can live with my family forever, the greatest blessing I could ever hope for!

Claire's First Easter Egg Hunt

We took Claire to her first Easter Egg Hunt on Saturday morning at a local park.  It was equally hilarious and cute.  She had no idea what was going but she knew something exciting was happening.  As soon as all the commotion started she squealed, waved her arms excitedly, and kept tottering around in circles with the one egg she picked up by herself clutched in her little hands.  We helped her gather up a few more so she didn't have to go home with one lone egg :).  Even though she didn't understand what the Easter Egg hunt really was, she loved getting to be around so many other toddlers her age.  
The Easter Egg Hunt literally lasted less than two minutes so we decided to hang around for a while and played with Claire on the playground.  I think it was a successful first hunt.  It was so fun seeing her excitement and watching her happily play with her eggs & basket the rest of the morning. 

Baby Animal Days

Yesterday we took Claire to Baby Animal Days in Wellsville.  It was so much fun!  Claire absolutely loved it.  She was  in heaven getting to pet all the animals.  They had every kind of baby farm animal you could think of: piglets, goats, calves, chicks, ducklings, ponies, horses, bison, bunnies, and they even had baby bears!  You were able to pet several of the baby animals and most of the adult animals but some (like the baby bears) you just had to watch.

Claire & Bryce petting a baby goat.

Claire & me petting the baby calves.

Claire & Bryce with another goat.

Bryce helping Claire pet one of the donkeys.

Watching the chickens.

Claire holding a little duckling.

There was a little train you could ride on and lots of pioneer/mountain man activities as well.

The reindeer, we dutifully took it upon ourselves to name Sven :)

Sharing a bag of kettle corn that was bigger than Claire!

The baby bears!  They were sooo cute.  We wanted to bring one home with us.

We went thinking we would spend an hour or two there, but we ended up staying quite a bit longer, you could easily stay there all day.  It was such a fun springtime family outing.  I am really glad we went.  And I am especially glad Bryce decided to skip one of his classes so he could go with us :).

Portrait 13.52

Happy girl fresh out of the bath.

"A portrait of my daughter once a week, every week, in 2015."

Storytime: On the Night You were Born

I thought I would post another installment in the Storytime series on my blog (see first installment here) and share another one of our favorite books.  We gave Claire On the Night You Were Born by Nancy Tillman for her birthday and it has been on heavy rotation as one of our favorite bedtime stories ever since.  For mamas, this book is a tear jerker.  Even though we've read it dozens of times, I still can't get through it without tearing up.  For children it is such a darling book and has the sweetest message about how special you are.  It truly is a book you can't help but fall in love with after the first time you read it.  One of my favorite lines on the closing page states, "Heaven blew every trumpet and played every horn on the wonderful, marvelous night you were born."     

Camera Shy

Claire has been in front of my camera so often since she was born that half the time she doesn't even look up when she hears me snapping away.  Last Friday while we were taking a few pictures she apparently decided she was feeling a little camera shy for the first time.  She kept covering her face and hiding like she was embarrassed when she'd hear the shutter go off and then she would start giggling.  It was too cute!  I love getting to see her little personality evolve as she grows.