When Brooke was little, we started the tradition of backyard camping on Conference weekend. We've had quite the experience over the years with a little one, me camping while super pregnant, and rain during the night, but it has always been a fun and memorable experience. This weekend was no exception.
My little puppy-lovers were thrilled to find the puppy door in the tent.
We set up sleeping bags, stuffed animals, and everything they could possibly need to make the tent "ready", haha.
We all actually slept in the tent during the night, which was a first! I use the word "sleep" loosely because it was a pretty awful night of sleep for me, but at least it was a first for our family. Last year Colby wouldn't lay down, and once I threatened to take him in the house, he decided that he wanted to sleep in his crib and there was no convincing him otherwise.
In the wee hours of the morning, the Easter bunny made his appearance and left baskets full of goodies for the kids.
Since I was already up, I took a few pictures of the sleeping campers. Brooke was first to wake up, and she was so happy about the whole experience. Her talking woke Colby, and as soon as he sat up, Brooke asked him cheerfully, "Did you have fun sleeping in the tent?". His immediate reply was "no" in the grumpiest tone. We all started cracking up. Camping isn't for everyone, haha, but he really did well throughout the night.
We nearly forgot about dying Easter eggs, so we did that right after our waffle breakfast.
While Kevin and I were watching Conference, the kids were outside playing in the tent. I went to check on them, and quickly saw that they had since moved on to the trampoline and had made a gigantic mess. I was slightly frustrated at first, but when I heard their giggles and saw them playing so nicely together, I decided to let it go. But I did remind them that they needed to clean up when they were done. And of course, I ended up helping because "it was SO hard to clean up the grass."
That afternoon, we headed up to Grandma and Papa's, and we dressed the kids in their matching clothes. Without realizing it, Melanie and I had ordered the same dresses for our girls, which made for some really adorable pictures.
After a yummy meal, Kevin and Jeff went outside to hide the hundreds of eggs we had all filled.
The kids all had a blast, and it was a day full of fun memories together as a family.
The next day, we went to the annual Family Night Egg Hunt that Joanna puts on. Lots of our favorite families all get together, eat a picnic dinner, hunt for eggs, and run amuck. It's always a good time :)
Whew, that was a lot of Easter fun over the course of a week! Although we enjoyed all the fun activities, we tried something new this year by focusing on the Holy Week. I am SO glad that we did this because we all learned a lot and recognized the importance of the sacrifice of our Savior. I followed along with a book I ordered last year, and it was full of daily activities and ways to teach children about the daily events leading up to the Crucifixion and Resurrection. Each day we would add a small picture to our paper wreath that symbolized the significant event of the day. I want to make this an Easter tradition, and i'm excited to be more diligent in teaching my children the gospel.
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