Massive Update Ahead

Last week on April Fool's Day, I had my very own birthday! It was a fun day -- I was so excited that the hubby got to work from home and spend a good deal of the day with us. Then my bestest friend Summer came down to go to lunch with us at Ancho's! Really, what could be better?

After lunch, we came home and played a couple of rounds of Ticket to Ride. It's a fun game, even if I do get a little competitive when I play against the hubby!

Eli enjoyed 'helping' us play. :)

Then I got a great delivery from two of my sisters -- Ali and Emily. They sent me some beautiful tulips!

They sure brightened up my day! And speaking of wonderful sisters, Emily wrote a very sweet (and in my opinion, way too nice) blog post about me for my b-day. Of course, it made me cry, because I'm a sap. Thank you Em, you're too sweet!

One of the most surprising things to happen that day was when I received my Peeps Banner that I had won from the awesome Made blog! I got it on my birthday, which was such a fun surprise! And I think it looked adorable above my sink for Easter. Made me happy to see it while toiling away at the dishes. :)

All in all, I had a wonderful birthday with lots of well-wishes from dear friends, attention from my kiddos and husband, and a great sense that I am loved. It was awesome.


So of course, later that weekend was Easter, and the boys had a great time hunting for eggs at my in-laws' house. It was W's first real hunt that he could participate in, and he got the hang of it real quick! He loved picking up the eggs and putting them into his bucket. He would have been satisfied with that until he saw E open one of the eggs and realized there was stuff in them! Then he spent the rest of the time on the grass eating chocolate and candy. Love.

After the boys got home, we confiscated their winnings (once they got their fill) and we've still got lots left! The rest may just have to get 'lost' one of these days, since Grandma brought over more the next day! So we're set for candy for a long while. :)

Then on Conference Sunday between sessions, we dyed some Easter eggs, which was so fun. Of course, I didn't take any pictures. I manage to document the important stuff, like flour all over the kitchen, but not this trivial event (oops, is my sarcasm showing?). Ah well, it happens. Just imagine it yourself...I'll wait.



Also, we've been having this amazing weather lately! The other day it was cloudy and dark in the morning, rained for a little while, and then in the afternoon we had the most amazing blue skies! The rain cleared out all the smog (yuck!) and we were left with this:

Seriously gorgeous. I wanted to just lay out in the grass and let the breeze carry me away. (And don't worry, I was stopped at the red light when I took that picture, no shooting and driving, peeps!)

And then, of course, I've been having lots of fun with these two little munchkins. Love!

That's it for now! Stay tuned tomorrow for our great before/after reveal of our newly finished backyard! It's seriously the coolest transformation ever! (But that may just be because we've been living with dirt in the backyard for a year and a half....)

Catch you on the flip side!