HE LIVES!

Easter is one of my favorite holidays.  I love Spring!  I love treats!  I love the excitement of children!  But most importantly, I love the miracle of my Savior's love being celebrated!  HE LIVES!  I know that He atoned for me.  I know that He died, a horrific death.  I KNOW He was resurrected.

It has been an interesting week of celebrating.  How so?  Well... we drove 23 hours to Idaho to move our daughter to Rexburg.  The weather was HORRIFIC!  And it was a white knuckle drive.  Once we arrived, we unloaded our 26 foot Uhaul and helped to set up their new home/apartment.  (I mostly babysat, so other could do the hard work.... Although I soaked in every moment with my grandson and loved spending that time with him.)

Skittles loved the BIG truck!

Grandpa let him sit in the cab....

Grandpa bought him a buffalo at a gas station.

Skittles named him "Happy Jack Buffalo"!

Learning to play with Legos

with Uncle Skylar and Katia.

Service naps are my favorite!  And my grandson is my favorite nap partner!

Before we left to visit my family in Boise, we celebrated a bit of the Easter fun with Skittles.  He was a bit scared that a Bunny was coming, but when he discovered that the Bunny left eggs with candy and toy cars, he decided he really liked the Bunny.

"Look, Grandma!"

Soooo excited!

The Easter Bunny brought a backpack with candy rather than a basket.

Grandma and Grandpa brought Easter gifts too.

He loved the three books and his own pots for plants with an elephant watering can.

I can't JUST spoil my grandson.

I got Easter gifts for my oldest son and daughter with a lot of food storage too!

Don't worry, my "babies" weren't forgotten in the Easter fun!

Saying goodbye was extremely hard.  I ugly cried all day on Friday when we left.  And I continued to ugly cry all day long.  (Yes, I'm still tearing up as I write this.  I really miss my best friend, Kiara, and my grandbaby, Skittles!)  But I have faith that the Lord will watch over them and help then grow and become all that they can be.

When we got to Boise, we were lucky enough to get there early enough to go to a Living Christ program where famous paintings were recreated with live actors.  Davinci's Last Supper was amazing!  But my favorite was the one that "starred" my sweet niece as Mary Magdalene.  She invited the spirit with her beautiful portrayal of being the first witness of the resurrected Christ.

Christ and Mary at the Tomb

Mariah is my niece who portrayed Mary.

The guy in the middle is the artist.

Saturday my sister, my parents, my son and daughter (Katia and Skylar) and Skylar's parents all went to the temple.  Afterwards, Mariah and Emily invited us for a classy party of finger foods and treats.  Yum!  And after visiting for an hour or two, we went to Alicia and Ian's home for another Easter party with their family.  I absolutely LOVE Skylar's family!  And they welcomed us with open arms.  We felt so honored to be included.  (And the food and company were AWESOME!)  We left that party to go to yet, another party with my brothers and their families.  I'm sooooo grateful for such wonderful men in my life.  (I'll blog about that later.)  And then Scott and I went to play games with Ben until 1:30 AM.  Part of that fun included getting to meet my nephew's prom date and celebrating a fun dance with some crazy teenagers - whom I instantly loved.

Everything was homemade.

Everything was delicious and delightful.

And these two nieces are truly incredible and lovely!

Sunday was much more calm... which is how I love celebrating the true meaning of Easter.  Katia and Skylar shared donuts with us in the morning.  I took a nap.  We attended Church in the afternoon.  It was wonderful as the Primary children sang "Gethsemane" with such sweet belief.  And the Easter messages were beautiful.  Dinner with my sister's family, my parents, Scott and I was delicious.  And I feel so blessed.

For some reason, Mariah didn't make it into the picture....  She's to the left of Sheila.

Left to right:  Sheila, Emily, GJ, Ken, Mom, Me, Dad and Scott

For some reason... family pictures are something we do on Easter.  So my daughters carried on the tradition even though we are all separated:

Scott and me!

Kiara Lea, Skittles, and Cody!

Katia Rae and Skylar!

(Their attempt at a family pic made us all laugh!)

I know this was an extra long post with lots of pictures.  If you read this far - wow!  You are dedicated.  I just want to end this Easter blog post with my testimony:  He was born in Bethlehem.  He was perfect.  His love is perfect.  His perfect love is evident in the events during the Easter/Passover, where He sacrificed and delivered us through his actions.  HE LIVES!