Our Easter

 I love Easter! Okay, I love all holidays. Who doesn't? We all love them for different reasons and every holiday comes with a different feel. Easter is no exception. There's excitement in Spring. Green, flowers, newness everywhere!

This Easter is the first holiday we spent in our new apartment. John and Krystin brought their boys over the night before to color eggs. We used food coloring and they turned out pretty awesome except for my first one. I put it in a color that was supposed to be raspberry, but only turned out tan. That's like the most boring color for an Easter egg. Tan. But all of the others were pretty vibrant colors.

 The Easter Bunny came with a few candies and wrist rockets with marbles. And also Rise of the Guardians.

 Jane also got some goodies like cereal stars and a new sippy cup. She also got the best kids book in the world. It's a Pride and Prejudice board book. I'm pretty sure I love it more than she does.

 We spent Easter Sunday going to church with Mom and Dad and then having dinner at their house followed by an egg hunt.

 I only got a picture of Lily with her haul. William was "taking a minute" because he was upset he didn't get the golden egg with $5. He tried so hard and was so close to it, but someone else found it. Life lessons can be hard. But Lily made out with a lot of candy!

 

 We went to the Nashville Temple on Good Friday to take Easter pictures. This is another thing that I love about Easter. Taking the kids to the temple in their nice clothes is always so tender. We talk about the purpose of the temple and how we are so grateful that families can be together forever. We talk about Jesus Christ and the Atonement. How everything in Spring reflects the Atonement. I'm astounded at how much these children know and can share. I learn lessons from them constantly. It's one of my most favorite traditions.

It was fun to have Jane there this year to mix it up a bit.

 And she was SO done by the end of it.

Spring Break Baby!

We went to Utah for a week of our Spring Break! Let me tell you, a week is not long enough! We had fun with the time that we had. We stayed at Carrie's new house, which is awesome! The kids loved hanging out with their cousins. William and Lily miss the Page girls and were so excited to spend the night with them every night.

We saw the Lego movie with them while we were there. William had been dying to go.

 Carrie and Jane were able to warm up to each other. So much so that Jane gave Carrie the most awkward kiss in the whole world. She opened her mouth and just rested on Carrie's face for a good solid minute. As gross as it was, Carrie agreed that the adorableness outweighed everything else.

 We got to go downtown one day. We saw the new mall that the church built across from Temple Square. We went to the Disney store and ate lunch at Kneaders. Then we went to Temple Square, of course! I knew that William and Lily wouldn't remember going when they were younger.

 We got the best photo bomb picture ever, thanks to Presley. I can't help but laugh until I cry every time I see this picture.

 We went to the Joseph Smith Memorial Building. That place is probably one of my favorite buildings. I wish that the hotel was still operational. I would totally stay there. I think this is one of William's favorite pictures because Jane is popping out behind Joseph Smith. He thinks it's hilarious as you can tell from his face in the picture.

 You've gotta love taking all of the cliche pictures! I have a picture of Matthew, William, and me when we first had William in this exact place. It's crazy to see how much our family has changed.

 We got to hang out with a lot of Matthew's family while we were there. We went to dinner at Julie and Jeff's house one night and got to hear Zach and Colton quote Napoleon Dynamite word for word. The kids had a blast playing with the boys. William and Colton were pretty much inseparable.

 The kids also got to spend a lot of time with DJ and Laura's kids. It was fun to get to know them a little better and get hugs from their sweet twin girls. Lily loved Brooklyn and the opportunity to have a little girl cousin at Grandma's house.

 

 So, we were crazy and drove to Utah in our Versa. You do what you've got to do though, right? It ended up being a lot of fun and torture all in the same trip. We packed some fun stuff for the kids and I had some help from Pinterest on some ideas to keep them busy. Poor Jane got so tired of her car seat by the end of it and there was a time about 2 hours away from home when all three of the kids were crying at the same time. But, we pulled through and made it home!

 Oh, I almost forgot! While we were on the way back home, we ran into snow and stayed in Sydney, Nebraska. Lucky for us, that it the home of the Cabela's headquarters. You know that Matthew wanted to go and the kids were insistent too. Matthew thought that the Pony Express rider statue was really cool and wanted to take a picture. As you can tell, we were not prepared for the weather there. I mean.. we were all wearing jackets and there are icicles hanging down from the horse. It was freezing.

I'm so glad that we were able to travel out west. We got to see family we haven't seen in years and met new little ones. We got to see people's new houses and loved seeing the houses that are home away from home. We got to eat at all the places we wanted to, Café Rio twice! I only wish we had more time. We'll have to go back soon.

8 Months!

 Little Jane Marie turned 8 months on the 12th! She is growing up for sure.

 Jane is sitting up all by herself really well. She can even go from her belly to her bottom, which she just did one day out of the blue!

 She is still eating really well and loves her baby snacks, especially the yogurt bites.

 Jane likes to look at herself in the mirror... as you can tell. She smiles really big and will talk to her reflection.

 This girl gives some of the best kisses, although super wet and sloppy. She'll just open her mouth wide and put her lips on your face and push up against you until she's finished. It's kind of gross and kind of the cutest thing ever.

 Jane also started scooting around to get what she wants. She will get up on her hands and tippy toes and push herself forward.

 Matthew's already training her...

 

Some of Jane's favorite things right now:

her singing remote

pacifiers

sing, sing a letter spin toy

mom's key lanyard

"Janey Marinky Dinky Dink"

Books

kisses