The Easter Post with all the Pictures...

Reading a book from the Easter Bunny

Easter morning

Studying the treats

Grandma and Grandpa are hilarious!

The Easter Bunny brought musical instruments

Easter is SERIOUS business

Mouth full of snacks...

Getting ready for church can make a gal hungry!

Posing on the sheet we use to cover the couch b/c of Tober's hair

So I managed to hold back on Facebook but our blog is fair game for me to post any and every picture we took on Easter.  It will be hard to believe these are my favorites.  There are many more to choose from :)

Our extended Easter family

Our Easter family

Hunting for eggs with dad

Grasping her loot...ONE egg...

We had a wonderful Easter weekend.  We got up on Saturday and drove to Windsor to meet the Easter Bunny at a small coffee shop.  It's the perfect place to see the Easter Bunny because it's never crowded and we know who is inside the suit :)  Audrey was unsure at first but after her 3rd attempt at sitting on his lap she had warmed up.  She was never upset necessarily but the Easter Bunny had to be on his best game to keep her from slipping off his lap and onto the floor in an attempt to escape.

It looks like she's got the hang of it!

So proud of herself

There's always time for a break and a snack

After meeting the Easter bunny we drove down to Colorado Springs where Scott and I got to take Luke to get a tux for prom AND go to a movie!  Audrey had a great time with my mom and Bob and slept like a rock while we were gone (she saves up her restless nights for work nights of course...). 

The next day we were ready ON TIME for church.  Audrey got to play with other little kids in the nursery.  I was worried about her during the service since it was a new place but when I went back to pick her up she had a crowd gathered around her and she became noodle baby because she didn't want to leave.  STINKER!

Learning to take the steps

Hunting eggs with grandma

The church had an egg hunt and Audrey was adorable running after the other kids who were searching wildly for eggs.  It was announced during the service that there was one, rare, golden egg worth a special prize and despite our greatest efforts Audrey just wasn't able to cram a lesson on colors into her busy egg hunting schedule.  She only found the eggs that we picked up and put in her basket but she had a great time running around swinging her basket and climbing on the hill.

Happy Easter

We went to my aunt's house for Easter lunch and had another round of egg hunting, this time just for Audrey.  She had a better idea of what to do this time but once she realized the eggs had Teddy Grahams inside she became MUCH more interested in snacking.

Carrying the basket

EASTER BUNNY SAY WHAT??!!

NOW she's got the hang of it!

We had such a nice time eating Easter lunch and spending time out in the beautiful weather.  I have pictures of Easters past where we're in winter coats, boots, and long sleeves.  I much prefer sandles and sun. 

"If only the eggs weren't so well hidden..."

"Hooray!"

We are still gorging ourselves on the Easter treats we got in our baskets.  I'm on a sugar high from m&ms and peanut butter cups.  It's a good thing Audrey's too young to know we're eating her treats as well...

HILARIOUS!  ABSOLUTELY HILARIOUS!

"Um, excuse me guys.  Could you keep it down?  I'm discussing yolks..."

Happy  Easter! 

Zoo Day

Welcome to the Zoo!

Walking to the Zoo entrance

Scott and I got to take Audrey to the zoo on Thursday.  What we didn't realize was that everyone else in Denver decided to take their kids to the zoo on Thursday as well.  We had to park around the back of the zoo by a very nice park and walk to the entrance, almost an outing in itself. It was Scott's only free day that he's had in two months so we needed to make the most of it.  The weather was great so we didn't let a few hundred-thousand people hold us back!

Once we got inside the zoo it was so funny to watch Audrey.  She spent the whole trip with a very serious look on her face.  She has learned to say a few words and one of the words she knows the best is "more".  From the time we entered the zoo until the time we left we were serenaded by a constant stream of "more. more. more".  We tried milk, ice cream, snacks, walking, carrying, but nothing was filling the need for "more." (Although, I will say the ice cream was clearly the front runner for what she was wanting...)

Studying the Animals

How do you Measure Up?

A Little African Drumming

Audrey is a sponge and it was so fun to watch her study EVERYTHING around her at the zoo. All the other little kids are running around and yelling and she had on her daddy's "reading face" as she tried to understand this complicated land we had driven her to. 

Fun Day with Mom and Dad

Estes Park Hike

We are having a great weekend.  The weather has been gorgeous, Scott has had no home events, and we have visitors from out of town.  The gorgeous weather ends tonight, so we decided to take advantage and head into the mountains.  We planned on having a picnic in the canyon on the way to Estes Park.  Unfortunately, the change in weather brought a lot of high winds and we were NOT willing to let our lunch blow away.  So, a picnic in the car was the perfect solution!  

Once we arrived in Estes we didn't really feel like walking around the town so we started driving to find a hike.  We were unable to find a trail head without some assistance, but luckily Scott is great at making friends and he pulled over to chat with the owners of a lodge around town.  They directed us to Allenspark (a place my family knows well) to Lilly Lake.  They said it would be a perfect hike for a One-Year-Old. 

ONE of us in this family is not very patient so about 10 min. into the drive I saw a sign that said Lilly Mountain Hike and decided that's where we should start.  We made it a little ways in before we were bombarded by snow and mud that was just a little too treacherous for size 6-9 month feet, so we headed back down the mountain and drove for 30 more seconds before we found Lilly Lake... which really WAS the perfect hike for little feet.

Audrey is a lot like her mother.  Once her feet hit the trail she was very independent and wanted to hike on her own. 
We could coerce her to hold a hand every now and then, and carried her over the mud and snow, but she was one determined little girl.  Scott was able to convince her the carrier was a good idea by distracting her with the ABC song.  Once strapped in she thought that wasw pretty great as well, and we started making MUCH better time.


We brought Brian and Sarah with us but forgot to tell them that the temperature would be a little colder in the mountains so they were chilly in their shorts.  The weather must have gotten to them because they kept stopping to propose (as a joke...). 

One of these days we'll get Sarah into our family, one way or another :)

Only in Colorado can you take a hike in shorts and have to avoid patches of snow and ice.  The wind picked up on the second half of our hike so we were motivated to get back in the car and head down the mountain.  It was hard for me to put my precious cargo into someone's hands but my own but Scott was very steady and careful and Audrey thought the whole thing was hilarious.  The wind really picked up and it was cold and nasty by the end of the hike but she couldn't care less. 

We had such a wonderful time, and feel so lucky to live close enough to the mountains that we can just head up there for a hike on a random Sunday afternoon.









It's fun to live in a place that people like to go on vacation because we feel like we're on vacation too!  Then, we remember we still have to go to the grocery store when we get home :)

Audrey was a champion hiker, and wanted to touch everything and anything.







 I think she's going to really love living in Colorado :)  She can thank us later for raising her here :)