Easter Weekend (Sunday)

Easter Sunday :)

We didn't have a traditional Easter dinner...it just didn't happen this year...but we did have Francois over for some shredded beef from the crockpot. That made the day a little more special.

We had a little Easter egg hunt with just our family in the backyard after dinner. 

Jansen had to find all the blue & green eggs, Natalie had yellow & orange, and Emmy had pink & purple.

Can you spot the egg that Jansen is stumped about in this picture?

I wanted to include these pictures Kim sent us from their Easter so that I'd have them on the blog. I think this one is such a great shot of Kim, Tim, and Grandpa and Grandma Christiansen.

And Grandma looks just beautiful in this one.

Easter Weekend (Saturday)

Wow, it makes me kind of tired just looking at what we did over Easter weekend. We packed a lot in. Which usually means I am dealing with laundry and a messy house for days after. Saturday morning we did Easter baskets, and Emmy needed a little help finding hers. Nate said he was pretty sure the Easter bunny left a scent, so they followed it to her basket.

Found it.

We had decided the night before to go to Gettysburg on Saturday. Baby will be here in just a few weeks, so we are trying to do as much as possible before then and before we move later this summer. We could have spent a lot more time there, but we really enjoyed the hours we had. Jansen really got into the war thing...I think he is shooting a gun in at least half of these pictures. I like seeing the history come to life for them.

We had Subway for lunch (when we walked in Jansen dramatically expressed how AMAZING it smelled in there), and then grabbed some ice cream at a fun little place. We did a little more sightseeing from the car, and then headed back home. Nate and I had plans to go to dinner that night without the kids.

We used a gift card we had been given and ate at Morton's Steakhouse in Georgetown. This will probably be our last date for awhile!

I had to include this one since we can all be pretty sure Nate was looking at a bird.

Beautiful Georgetown sunset

I will be 36 weeks in a couple days! That's when my water broke with Jansen, but I know not to expect that  again since the others were at 39 and 40 weeks. So, one of my ears is totally plugged (and infected Nate discovered tonight) and the other partially. That feeling when you are on an airplane and are waiting for your ear to pop...my ear feels like that 99% of the day. It is driving me CRAZY, and I can't hear great. It's most likely because of the water I am retaining. Sweet. I feel like I'm in my own little world, and I am constantly reminding the kids they can't yell to me from upstairs because I cannot tell what they are saying. :)

Reuniting With Old Friends in Virginia

Nate made some really great friends his freshman year at BYU. When he got back from his mission, and after he and I started dating, I got to meet and hang out with them. On our second date, Nate borrowed Steve's (he's the one on the left) car to take me out. We went on double dates with Steve and Ellie (girlfriend then/wife now) and made some other fun memories with Travis (the one in the middle). They are quality guys. We haven't seem them in YEARS, and since they both live in Virginia with their families, we had to get together before Nate and I move back to the West. We met up in Gordonsville, VA to do some "cabin camping" at a resort.

This place was absolutely perfect for the kids. There was always something to do. Digging in sand is ALWAYS a hit with my kids.

Usually all my kids really need to be totally content for hours is a playground. This one had a basketball court, sand volleyball court, play equipment, etc. 

I made this discovery when I was walking back to the car to get some water on the first day. The night before Nate and I had noticed something kind of drop down in front of our car, but it was dark and we didn't think too much of it. Turns out it was this bat.

Kind of sad, kind of cool, kind of gross.

Right across from the playground was a mini golf course.

Jansen and Peter (Steve and Ellie's oldest) are the same age and have a lot in common. They had fun getting to know each other and playing together.

We did a little bit of hiking. 

And a little bit of fishing. There were always a TON of carpenter bees (the really big ones that very rarely sting) around our cabin, and Natalie and Emmy did not care for them. I think Emmy is scared of one in this picture.

We don't fish much, but it was probably one of the highlights of this trip.

Natalie was beyond thrilled to catch her first fish.

These are the cabins we stayed in. They were great. The older kids slept in a couple single beds in one room, and Emmy snuggled up on the floor of our room and slept through the night both nights. We had kitchens, so we took turns hosting the other families for meals.

Our second day we checked out the petting zoo and did some pony rides.

We have 11 (almost 12 kids) between the 3 families.

I'm sure Jansen will never forget this giant chess board they had. 

The weather was beautiful while we were there, and it was even warm enough to swim.

I had been a little worried about this getaway since I would be 34 weeks when we went and I wasn't sure how I would be feeling, but it was wonderful. Our kids are old enough that I wasn't chasing anyone around all day, no diapers, no bottles, so it was pretty low stress. That's all about to change soon, but it was fun to get a glimpse of vacationing with "older" kids.