Easter Party

Today we threw an Easter Party for all our family who lives nearby.  There were 9 adults and 10 kids.  

Clark and Emily and I made these homemade cupcakes.  They are supposed to look like birds' nests on top.  They tasted pretty good too.  The frosting was just semi-sweet chocolate and heavy whipping cream - YUM.  

We started the party with a casual lunch.  Hot dogs for the kids and chicken salad sandwiches for the adults.  Here are 7 of the kids.  

Little Cousin  Johnny and Aunt Stacey:

Cousin Drew and Aunt Mary:

After lunch, the dads all went outside to hide eggs while the kids and the moms all decorated Easter bags.  

The egg hunt was a huge success!  How many people can host an egg hunt in their backyard and have it encompass a waterfall, a creek, and a view of the river?  And none of it is actually on our own property - just adjacent to it - so we don't have to take care of it!  What a lovely place to live.  

It took Kate a minute to get the idea.  You can see Johnny in the background.  He had an egg hunt the week before and already knew that those little plastic eggs had candy inside!

We explained that she should put the eggs in her bag.

Then, one of her eggs broke open and... voila!.... there was candy inside!  We couldn't get her to look around anymore because she just wanted to eat.  Besides, the egg has spilled its Skittles all over the grass and so she had to pick them all up.  By the end, she had grass coming out of her mouth.

Here is Clark and Josh finding eggs by the waterfall.

I just love this photo.  See Josh with his victory egg over on the right?  And there is Blake pointing to another egg for Kate.  Click on the photo to see it larger.

Julia needed a bit of encouragement too.  Here she is with my cousin's daughter, Stephanie.  Stephanie is living with my sister Mary for awhile, while Mary's husband is in Iraq.

Emily, dutifully posing for me:

Here is Anna standing on our patio with the pretty river bend in the background.  

After the egg hunt we went inside and let the kids play in our basement.  Here is cousin Drew and cousin Johnny in the playhouse.  Earlier, Drew had been in the house with his little sister Anna, and had told her, "I'm going out for a walk, Mother."  I guess they play house a lot at home.

Kate tried to show the boys what the playhouse was really for, climbing:

One time, I couldn't find any of the kids and I went back into our guest room and found Stephanie with 6 of them.  The kids informed me they were playing baby.  

I had a great time.  This is what is nice about being back in Utah: family.