Easter 2012

We had a very unique and special Easter this year. We loved every minute of it.

When I went to go pick up Zachary from daycare the Friday before Easter, his classroom had a tank full of baby chicks.  Something about how adorable they were got me excited for the holiday.

Spring had arrived and the tulips were in full bloom!

I was able to spend some time with Lauren the Saturday before. She is a new friend that I get to work/hang out with here in Philly a few Saturdays per month.  She is in a wheelchair and needs assistance when she goes places.  Such an inspirational person to be around, and makes me want to be a better person and live my life to the fullest. I feel lucky to be able to help her.

This particular day, she wanted to go to a candy store and get candy for some friends for Easter. 

I was so tempted to put together a big Easter basket for Kade, but remembered that he probably wouldn't eat the treats before we left, and the basket wouldn't be able to travel with us.  Next year will be a year to catch up on all the holidays we half celebrated.

Amber and I decided that since we didn't have family around to be with for dinner, 

we would cook our own for our husbands! We bought our very first ham and, of course, had to document it. 

Our Easter Sunday started out with early church.  The Sacrament meeting messages were powerful, as usual, and then we had an incredible meeting in the Primary.  My little sunbeams probably didn't know a lot of what was going on with the actors, but the spirit that filled the room while they patiently watched was is incredible. I feel lucky to have been able to spend so much time with those little people while we were here in Philly. 

We took some pictures after church, and then headed to our apartment to start the cooking.  

We ended up cooking for what felt like twelve people, on accident, and had way too much food! Salad, cooked carrots, mashed potatoes, ham, deviled eggs, and fruit. We were pretty proud of ourselves, and like to forget the fact that we might have needed Jeff's help a little bit towards the end. 

We topped the meal off with homemade cinnamon rolls thanks to Amber's delicious recipe and Kitchen Aid mixer!

Kade was pretty excited to say the least.

Being away from family on such a sacred and traditional holiday was supposed to be hard, but we had so much fun with Jeff and Amber.  We will miss them so much!

Our first Visitor!

Our first, and only, visitor came to stay at our apartment this past month...JORD! 

We were excited when we found out that she wanted to come fly in, and the time went by way too fast.  She had already seen the sites of Philly, so she just wanted to come hang with Kade and me and see our everyday life here.

I picked her up from the train station and then got to show her our neighborhood and cute little apartment.  I had a crock pot dinner waiting when we got there--we were both very hungry! I tried to cook a lot at home so save her some money. 

After, Jeff and Amber picked us up and we headed to get some Rita's! Jord spotted Kade on his bike while we were driving, so we picked him up and he was able to join us.

Jord has religiously been doing the Brazilian Butt Lift 6 days a week...and being in Philly didn't stop her! We didn't have weights so we put our beverages to use! (Compliments to Kade for the pictures while laughing at us and our brazilian dance moves!)

The next day we went for a mini road trip to pick up the baby that I nanny who had been staying with her Grammy. I had never seen the countryside of Philly with all the fields...it was beautiful.  

We shopped our hearts out at the outlet mall on our way home, and then headed back for homemade pizza's for dinner. YUM.

The next day I showed her around Rittenhouse and she was able to eat at her favorite restaurant...Cosi! We also went shopping and to Trader Joes--my favorite.

That night we went on a double date with my handsome hubby and his friend Austin. We got gelato for dessert and played Phase 10 until midnight.

The next day we went with Lauren to the famous Pats vs. Ginos corner in Philly to get some cheesesteaks and then met Kade, Austin, Jeff, and Amber at the huge King of Prussia mall to see The Hunger Games.

We saved the campus tour for after church on Sunday.  We took a little nap, and then headed out.

That night we had a big Italian dinner with the Jacks and then played more Phase 10.

I took Jord to the airport at 5:30 am on Monday, and was sad to drop her off! It was a lot of fun to have her here, and even though we were both worn out, I think it was a great weekend!

Spring Break!

Spring Break this year consisted of family, friends, sun, and beach.  Could it get any better?

We got invited to stay with Jeff and Amber at their family's beach house in Mission Beach, CA. It is so close to where some of my family lives that I don't get to see much, so of course we had to start the trip there. 

Uncle Bob and Aunt Joyce picked us up from the airport Friday night and we stayed at their house for the weekend.  On our way home from the airport we stopped at In-N-Out. Delicious!

Their dog Olive had recently given birth to 12 golden doodle puppies and I was in heaven playing with them.  Kade kept his distance from the poop smell and took some good pictures!

My cousin Trav and his new wife Megan came to hot tub with all of us on Friday night. I hadn't seen him since he got home from his mission, he had never met Kade, and I had never met his wife! It was fun to share stories and catch up.  Saturday we went shopping and got to hang out with my cousin Justin and his cute prego wife. 

On Saturday night we got together with the Grandmas! It was good to see Grandma Sheri, and especially our Great Grandma Haslam who turned 94 this year! She had never met Kade before, and always talked about wanting to meet "my sweetheart." They wanted to get to know Kade better, so he got bombarded with the questions.  The story they were most excited about was our meeting/dating/proposal story.  When he was done telling it, we heard each of theirs.  They are two incredible women. Both of my Grandpas have passed away, but I am glad they have each other for company!

We didn't get any pictures with Bob and Joyce, but it was so fun to spend time with them and hang out.  They had only met Kade once on our wedding day so I got to sit back and play proud wife as he did all the talking.

The next day we went to church, and then the Grandmas drove us down the the beach.

We quickly realized how lucky the Jack family is...their beach house is in an amazing spot!

Our next week was filled with delicious food, a slight bit of working out, and more delicious food.

Jeff had been going there ever since he was little, so he knew all the good places to take us.

The sunsets each night on the balcony were pretty incredible!

We did some shopping while we were there, and we also had time for a little date night.  Amber and Jeff went to a family party, so we had the night to ourselves. 

We took the beach cruisers for a ride and found a yummy italian pizza restaurant for dinner. We ended the night with The Bachelor Finale on tv.  It was comical, but such a waste of time!

Jeff's cousin Andrew took us to Balboa Park one day to walk around and we also got to go to a play with Grandpa Jack and Shirley.  They were very generous to pay for all of us.

We are so grateful that Jeff and Amber invited us along on their Spring Break trip.  They were so much fun to be around...always thinking of fun things to do.  We spent a lot of time at the beach reading or playing bocce ball.

It was not a fun transition to come back to Philly/get back into the grind of school and work, but we managed to bring the good weather back with us.  It wasn't too painful.

We are grateful for the family and friends that we have in our lives.  Hopefully we can host people in the future at our home and provide a fun time!