EASTER 2012: A HOLIDAY OF HOLIDAYS

This year Easter was on our 8th anniversary, and also my mom's birthday is April 9th, and also it is Easter. So it was a busy day today. We managed to celebrate like crazy.

Yesterday we dyed some eggs. Stella had never done this before and we were hoping to have Ava with us, but Ash was sick all week. We still had fun and the whole process fascinated Stella. She is a very talented egg decorator.

Stella knows all about the Easter bunny even though this is his first year making a stop at our house. Stella was so excited to wake up and find her basket. Inside was a "Fur Real Friend" bunny. Stella and I saw the commercial for them a few weeks ago and she had gone crazy laughing at the bunnies hopping around, so I made a call to the Easter bunny and told him to bring one to Stella.

As soon as she checked out her basket we went egg hunting. I found a special surprise hiding with one of the eggs: a blue Tiffany & Co. bag. I assumed it was for me since it is my anniversary and all. Brent was a real cute sneak and got me an infinity necklace since it also looks like an 8 turned on its side, and it has been 8 wonderful years. Stella was awesome at finding her eggs and then I got to open my present. It was a great morning.

Stella's Easter dress was kind of a stunner this year. I got it at Janie & Jack while it was super on sale. I thought it was so adorable and special that it deserved its own photo shoot so we stopped at Temple Square on our way to my parent's house to do just that. This photo shoot was, for the most part, on Stella's terms. She decided where she would stand/sit, what kind of expression she would make, and if she was interested in any of my ideas.

When Ava got to Grandma's I got them both to hold still just long enough to get a picture of the girls in their beautiful Easter frocks.

So a little while ago my dad bought not one but two motor homes. Which of course (enter sarcasm here) he totally needed. Stella and I were the first ones to see the huge one and I about died when I saw my dad pull up to my house in the biggest motor home they allow on the road. It felt so big inside and Stella and I kind of loved it. I am not a camper, but I love the insides of motor homes. We went on a drive and Stella honked the horn and she couldn't wait to share it with Catchy-Cy and Ava. We took the boys for a drive in it while they were here, and today Stella told Ava (you'll have to imagine her very deliberate accompanying hand motions) "We took Catchy-Cy on the bus, and Daddy thought we were going to die...but we didn't."

So since today I had my camera and my dad sold the motor home yesterday, we took some pictures of us on a drive in the motor home. It has nothing to do with Easter, but here they are. (Brent did not go on this drive, to avoid death.)

Look how tiny my dad is compared to the large motor vehicle:While we were on the wide open road, the Easter bunny made a late stop at Grammy's. The girls had tons of fun finding all of the chocolate eggs.

I made my mom a sugar cookie cake with these amazing sugar cookies that I love. Ashley got the award for best present by giving Mom a tulip painting that she had made.

I spent the rest of the night looking at Tyler and Courtney's wedding pictures and when we were finally done with that we had to call it a night since Stella had had a very busy Easter day.

WILD TORNADO HAIR MORNING

When Stella was about 1.5 years of age she often woke up with wild hair. But now that it is longer it is never really that bad looking even though I comb about a million tangles out of her hair on a weekly basis. Thankfully, Stella is good at sitting down and letting me comb her hair or it would not be as long as it is now. Anyway, she must have traveled back in time last night because this morning her hair was almost vertical and I just had to take pictures of her bedhead.

Let it be noted that after this photo shoot, Stella had a bath, I combed her hair to normal, and I also cut her bangs so she could see again. My mom used to tell me that if I didn't let her comb my hair "they" would come and take me away from her, so since anyone could see this blog and report me to "them," I don't want anyone to get any ideas that I don't believe in basic hygiene for my cutie.

Oh, and one more thing...if you see these pictures and don't realize that my daughter is the cutest thing ever, then I am sorry...something is seriously wrong with you.

GUMMOW FILLED FUN

This week was certainly a highlight for Miss Stella. She had Aunt Heidi and her boys here for a full week. She was so excited she had to count the sleeps remaining a week before and the countdown took all of her patience. Every morning: "How many more sleeps until Catchy-Cy come to my house?"

We were go-go-go the whole week and I really didn't take any pictures for most of it. Cy and Catcher entertained Stella non-stop. Their favorite game was throwing balls up to the balcony while Stella was up on the balcony with one of the boys. It was loud as they ran around and bounced the ball against the railing of the balcony, but they had Stella in fits of giggles each time that the ball made it up to her so I didn't mind. (Unfortunately she had like 15 slivers in her tiny feet to show for the good times.) They also made her laugh constantly in all of our car rides. So if either of them ever want to consider a career in comedy they already have their biggest fan.

Heidi and I always want to accomplish more than we do. But our main goal was to get some pot pies made and frozen for future enjoyment. Heidi made some for me for my birthday a few years ago and I have been craving them ever since. Making the pies included a huge trip to WinCo, cooking our first turkey, watching Heidi painstakingly cut all the veggies into small equal sizes (I am not allowed to help, she likes them just so), cooking the veggies, making the rue, mixing up the insides in huge bowls, filling the pies and realizing that while we thought we would end up with 20 pies...we had only made enough filling for 10, discovering that I had frozen the pie crust tops so they took forever to thaw and put on the pies, and then finally being glad we only made 10 pies because I only had room for 10 pies in my freezer anyway. This work took a whole week. But we were darn proud.

Other activities during the week included riding in Papa Scott's huge new motor home, watching The Muppets on the big screen, taking the boys to the aquarium, feeding the ducks while Stella was at dance, introducing everyone to the deliciousness of The Pancake House, swimming with the extended Gummow family at a super fun pool, watching brand new episodes of Doc McStuffins, lots of hide 'n' seek and ball throwing and running and giggling around the house, a shopping trip to the mall with a Build-a-Bear highlight, and finally, a nature walk while we attempted to take some pictures of Wyn after sucking down Jamba Juices in the sun before the boys had to head back home to Idaho.

I had to take pics at Build-a-Bear because Stella has wanted to make a bear there forever. She was so excited as she picked out a bunny to stuff, picked out a heart, made a wish, and washed her new bunny. She picked out a cute pink robe for her bunny and named her "Cupcake."

I took some pictures of the band together during the nature walk, and the Jambas were delicious.

As the Gummow car drove off, Stella cried: "I want Catchy-Cy to come back to my house." I had to agree--it is always so fun to have them around and always so sad to say goodbye.