Easter Outfits

I love Easter.  It is such a wonderful time.  Easter is a celebration of all things becoming new again, a rebirth.  We celebrate the resurrection of our Savior, Jesus Christ.  I know that he lives and that through him I will be resurreted also.  I love the reminders of Christ in all of Spring.  The trees and flowers coming back after a long winter.  The birds and other animals returning.  It is truly a reminder that our Savoir conquered death and will also return someday.  One of my favorite Easter traditions is getting new clothes for church on Easter Sunday.  The new clothes are also representative of the rebirth we can recieve through Christ.  Through him, we can all be made clean.   It is so fun to dress up for this special day.  Here are some of my favorite pictures of my kids in there new Easter clothes.

Yes, I pushed them down the street in the wagon to get to the only area with grass and flowers in the neighborhood.  We live in Arizona so it is mostly rocks and desert, but I luckily found this one spot.  (I took these pictures on a random weekday and not Easter Sunday.)





Crawling Away

Peter has learned to crawl and there is no stopping him.  He learned how to sit up about two weeks ago and then started crawling about a week after that.  He never army crawled and just started out on his hands and knees.  Mariann army crawled for a good month. 

When he was first learning how he would pick up his hand and set it down in almost the exact same spot.  He would then do the same thing with his other hand.  He would still scoot his legs forward though and would either fall over forward or get stuck all scrunched up.  It was really fun to watch him try and figure it out.  He is now an expert and chases Mariann and I all over the house.  (Much to Mariann's chagrin.)  He is always trying to be involved by taking Mariann's toys from her.  I'm constantly hearing, "No Peter that's mine" or "Peter stop" or "Mom he's getting me" or "Mom he touched my toy." I guess the battle has begun.



Mariann's Birthday

This past week we celebrated Mariann's Birthday. I can't believe she is already 2 years old. Time has just flown bye. She is getting so big and does so many fun things. She makes me laugh everyday. 

Her favorite part was definately opening the presents.  She is still talking about it.  She has this book that one one page says "Here is a playful puppy that wants to be your friend.  Why don't you whisper a secret in her ear?"  Every time we ready that page, Mariann whispers "Mariann opens all the presents . . . Mariann opens all the presents."  about 10 times. 

Grandma (of course) got her clothes.  Thanks Grandma, she needed them.

She also got a color wonder paint set, which we had to play right away.

We also got her a set of duplo blocks.  Peter loves to grab them and play with them, much to Mariann's dismay.



I made Mariann this very wreckie Mickey Mouse cupcake cake for her actual birthday and then a really really awesome Mickey Mouse Clubhouse cake for her party at the park with friends.  We completely forgot to take pictures at the park, so I only have a picture of my last minute Mickey cake.  She loved it but didn't want to get to close to the candles.  (She's a little scared of fire.) So it was really hard for her to blow out the candles.  It was fun to watch her try to blow them out from a few feet away.  Finally, I helped her out a little.

The best part about a birthday is the ice cream.  Mariann is an ice creamaholic and ate more ice cream then me or Lee.  She must take after her Grandpa.

Poor Peter too young for ice cream.

We had a great time celebrating!! I'm so grateful for such a wonderful girl.  She has a great spirit and is really easy on her Mommy.

Visiting with Family

While Lee was out of town on business, I took the opportunity to go and visit my family in Utah.

On Sunday I was in the hall with Peter, (He thinks he is a bear and needs to growl all the time.) when I saw a flyer for a new Book of Mormon exhibit for kids at the Church History Muesum.  We decided to go for Family Home Evening. 

They had a boat with fish to catch.  It was the very first activity and we had a hard time getting the kids to move on.

Mariann with her fish.

Mariann also loved playing with the giant temple blocks.

We also went to the zoo one day.  I think they enjoyed climbing on this hill the most.  They didn't want to leave it to go look at more animals.   Mariann loves climbing on rocks and picking them up.  I constantly have a pocket full of rocks and her car seat usually has a few rocks in it that she has picked up along the road.

My parents, brother, and sister drove back with us to Arizona to visit with us for a week.  We had a great time sight seeing with them.  We went to the Pima Air and Space Muesum it is one of the largest Air muesums in the country.  It was really cool to see the planes from all the different eras.  

 Mariann loved flying the plane.  One little girl after Mariann climbed in the plane and moved the stick which made the rutter (I don't know if that is the correct term) move. 

She turned to her Mom and said "Did it move?" 

Her Mom said "Yes"

She began to get really frustrated and said "But it didn't fly!"  She looked so disappointed.  

        

 Ready to take off!

On the space shuttle 

 Grandma and Peter sharing the space suit.

I could not get them to look at the camera. 

Peter was just having a great time laughing at Mariann,

 which made Mariann look at Peter and laugh too. 

Mariann in space

We also went hiking in the Saguaro National Park and to Colossal Cave.  The hike was really fun but took longer then expected and we forgot the sun screen. At least the kids had hats on.  Colossal Cave Park also has a Ranch with a muesum and some fun activites for the kids including mining for rocks and dressing like cowboys. 

Little Cowgirl

 Just now had a rock placed in my pocket.  I don't know what she is going to do when we move and don't have rocks everywhere.  I would have thought that the novelity would wear off but I guess not.