Easter

 Our first Easter activity was the Monday before Easter and we dyed eggs. Paige loves to do it and it was Baylor's first year doing it and she liked playing in the dye most and could care less about the eggs.

I let Baylor have pink and yellow since I knew she would make a mess with it and it would be all over her so I thought those two colors were the least likely to stand out. She had fun mixing the dye with a spoon and dipping her finger in and tasting the it. I gave her the blue dye for a little bit but then she was trying to pick the cup up and so we ended up just giving her a glass of water with a spoon and she had just as much fun with that.

Then afterwards a sink bath was the perfect ending to a fun evening.

Then on Saturday we had an Easter egg hunt with Anna and Scott's family and we also invited Addison over. Paige helped me fill the eggs earlier in the week and then Nate and I hid them. The weather was perfect and we had a barbecue afterwards to end another great day.

Baylor was really fun this year since this was the first year that she could find the eggs. She is at the perfect stage for it. She loved finding her eggs and putting them in the basket. 

Then Easter morning Paige was super excited and found everyone's baskets and gave us hints to where they were. I love Paige with holidays. She has so much joy and excitement for them and enjoys all the little things that make holidays special.

She helped Baylor find her basket and of course the only thing she really wanted out of the basket was the chocolate.

Then we all got ready for church and had a little Easter photo shoot outside in their cute Easter dresses.

Recently Baylor has started folding her arms and it is the cutest thing. She knows to do it right before we eat and will do it at night time before we go to bed. Sometimes at dinner she will get in her chair and quickly fold her arms because she wants to eat and knows we have to say a prayer before we get to eat. The top right picture she was coaxing the ducks that were in the yard and wanting to get closer to them. I also took Baylor is nursery for the first time. She doesn't officially go in until the first week of May but I decided to take her in and stay with her so that she knows what it is all about before we leave her there. She loved it and did really great.

In nursery she kept doing this with her dress. I don't know if she liked the feel of her dress or if it was a nervous habit but she did find it pretty funny.

Two of the cutest girls ever!!! I am one lucky mama!

 I am grateful as we celebrate Easter that I know because Christ was resurrected that I too can live again and see my family again after we die. I am grateful that I get to be with my family forever and I am thankful for the gospel and the peace and joy that it  brings to our lives.

Spring Break

 We had such a fun and awesome spring break! My parents came for the whole week to be with us while Paige was out of school. I planned some really fun activities. The weather didn't cooperate that well since it was rainy most of the week but we made the best of it. 

They got here on Saturday. We were watching general conference and that is what we also did on Sunday. It was nice to relax and listen to the prophet, apostles, and other church leaders. The girls did pretty good at keeping busy and quiet in the front room. I had coloring activities for Paige, candy for different words and if you heard that word then you got a piece of candy, and a conference bingo with stickers. Baylor pretty much did her own thing and napped for some of each session. Sunday evening before dinner we went on a little walk in the forest across the street to get out and enjoy some of this beautiful world we live in.

Paige thought it was cool to be taller than Poppy.

We did another birthday celebration for Paige since my parents couldn't be here on her birthday. 

Monday morning we headed out on an overnight excursion. Our first stop was Tulip Town. The tulips were a little behind this year and not all of them were in bloom but I'm glad that some of them were since this was the one thing my mom asked to do. The flowers were beautiful! We were all bundled up but thankfully it didn't rain on us.

 Paige and Baylor loved walking along the rows and smelling the different colors and Paige liked to see if they smelled differently. Paige also liked to point out the random ones that didn't match the row they were in.

 There were also some daffodil fields that we drove by. It was getting towards the end of their season but I'm glad we got to see them too.

We then drove up to Bellingham and went to Whatcom Falls Park. This park is so pretty. I love being in the forest and with all the water and the different falls, it is the perfect setting.

Paige is such a trooper and loves going on all our adventures. She walked a lot today and wanted to be a hiker and wanted to climb on a lot of things and loves to explore.

Baylor loved touching the water and would have walked right into it if we had let her.

I love, love this bridge!

 Paige and Baylor then played on the playground for a little bit before we went to our hotel. Baylor loved the swing and I love that cheesy smile!

Paige's favorite part of the trip was the hotel and swimming in the hotel pool. Baylor also loved it and would giggle and laugh every time she would splash and it would get in her face. Paige tried swimming to us without a life jacket and is slowing making progress. Then we got all cleaned up and ready for bed except that Baylor was probably over tired and hated the pack and play. She would scream every time I put her in it. I let her cry for a little bit to wear her down. I hoped that she would lay in bed with me but she has never done that so she just wanted to sit up and not go to sleep. I held her and rocked her while walking around but every movement from Nate or Paige she would whip her head up and look for them. I finally decided to sit on the couch and see if she would sit on my lap and go to sleep and thank goodness that worked. I was glad to sit down and just let her fall asleep. Once she was really out, I put her in the pack and play and she slept for the rest of the night. We all enjoyed a great breakfast at the hotel before another full day of exploring. 

Our first stop was Bowman Bay. We went on a mile hike to a different beach and did some beach combing and looked in some tide pools. 

 Nate stayed with the girls at the beach while my parents and I went up to a higher view point.

 We then crossed over Deception Pass. Nate dropped my parents and I off at the first of the bridge so we could walk across and he drove to the other side and waited for us with the girls. It was SO windy on the bridge but really cool.

 Then we went to Fort Casey and got to explore there. It was super windy there too but once you got to the Fort it blocked the wind mostly and it was fun to explore. I don't really like the dark rooms or corridors but it was cool to walk around and see some of the upgrades that have happened since the last time we were here.

 The switchboard was open so I got to experience that for the first time. It is a really dark room that has this tiny hallway that goes all around it. It is pitch black when you are walking in the hallway. I wasn't sure if I was going to do it since I am scared of the dark. We all did it together the first time in a long train- Nate leading the way while holding Baylor, then I was holding onto him, I had Paige, then Grandma, and then Poppy. Nate would use his phone occasionally to help us along the way and my dad got scared (he says he was getting claustrophobic) towards the end and used the light of his phone. After I did it once and knew what to expect I did it by myself without any light and was proud of myself that I did it without freaking out too much. Paige was also super brave. She did it with Nate once where she was leading the way with the phone light and then they did it again with no light. 

 Poppy lifted Paige out the window instead of using the stairs and then he followed suit so of course I had to document it.

Fort Casey

 Then we drove over to the light house that is near the fort.

 Next we drove down to the bottom of Whidbey Island and got on the ferry to go back to the mainland. 

 The lighthouse and ferry on the mainland. We played on a little playground there and enjoyed some Ivars for dinner before heading home.

 On Wednesday it was super rainy and my parents needed to go to Ikea. I let Baylor get a good nap in the morning since the last two days she hardly got any naps. Then after lunch we had a successful trip to Ikea. Then Thursday was another pretty rainy day and so we went to Tacoma and went to two museums.

The first museum was the Washington State History Museum. It is a good size museum with lots of information. They had a bingo for kids and so most of the time I was helping Paige find the items on her bingo. It was fun to look around and gain a little more knowledge.

 This was probably both girls' favorite part- watching the trains go by in this model town of Tacoma.

We then walked on the bridge with the glass art.

We then went to the Children's Museum. Both girls loved it. Paige wanted to try everything out and Baylor just wanted to do anything involving climbing or putting something in a hole.

Baylor loved taking all the blocks off the wall and putting them in the barrel.

After we did our first initial go around, we went to the water area which I thought Baylor would love since she loves water but I tried putting a smock on her to keep her clothes dry and then she wanted nothing to do with it. Oh well. So I stayed with Paige and followed her around while my parents kept an eye on Baylor.

While it was just Paige and I we went to the art area. Paige is my little crafting queen so she really liked this area. She did different paintings and a drawing. Then we went to go and see what Baylor was up to.

And this is what she was up to and it was so cute to watch. She loved putting the balls in the hole that would suck it up and then she would watch the ball go up. She did this over and over again. It was so cute to watch as soon as she put the ball in and her little head look up too see the ball.

Friday we got lucky and had a pretty nice final day. We went to the spring fair in Puyallup. It was a fun day filled with walking around and seeing all the little sights of a fair. We all loved the animal areas and looking at all the different animals. Paige especially loved the bunnies and now she really wants a bunny. We watched some little pigs race and Paige went on a carousel.

Paige also got her face painted for free and of course she picked the unicorn.

This farm area was put together really well and it was free and fun for both girls.

The first stop was the milk barn. Paige got to "milk" a cow and see a kid version of how milk is pasteurized. 

Next stop was an apple orchard. She had to pick three different colored apples and put them through a washer and then sort them into different colors.

Third place was the chicken coop. They got to gather some eggs and had little baby chicks to look at.

Fourth stop was grinding some wheat. Paige got to feel what wheat looks like and see how you can grind it into flour.

The last stop was a garden area. They had different ways and places to plant gardens and some dirt to dig in.

After each place both girls got a little prize and then we played on some of the play equipment there before moving onto the next area to explore.

Paige got to drive this cute pink tractor around a track and really liked that.

We got three different treats at the fair and only had to pay for one. First we got some scones. My dad had never had the kind of scones they sell there and they were really good especially with the raspberry jam. That is one of the cheaper things at the fair so that's what I wanted to get. Nate decided to get an elephant ear. They didn't have prices on the board so Nate asked how much they were and the young lady said 9 dollars. Nate said he didn't want to pay that much so the girl asked how much he would pay and he said 4 dollars and she accepted that price. So he paid and then had to wait in line forever. There were only maybe 4 people in front of him and had to wait at least a half an hour maybe more and he complained about it so we got the elephant ear for free which was pretty awesome. Then as we were leaving we realized that someone had left an unopened bag of cotton candy right by us. We waited a bit to see if anyone came back to get it and no one did so we also got a free bag of cotton candy which worked out perfect since that is what Paige wanted for a treat.

I'm so glad that my parents got to come and visit us for the week. I miss my family since they are far away and enjoy every minute with them whether it is here in Washington or when we go and see them.