Happy Easter

I love Easter. I love the Atonement. I love Jesus Christ. I love that He lived for me. I love that He died for me. I love that He overcame death. I love that I will be able to live with Him again. I love that I will be able to keep these little beings of perfection with me forever and ever. Could there be a happier day?

Could taking a decent family photo be any more difficult?

I mean ridiculously difficult?

Happy Easter!!

The Easter Bunny Hops By

In an effort to keep Sunday super spiritual Jesus filled, the Easter Bunny comes to the Zimmerman abode on Saturday. It doesn't really work, but I feel better inside thinking I attempted righteousness.

The morning was spent clawing each other's eyes out peacefully gathering eggs hidden throughout the house.

Then promptly cracking open the eggs to discover their hidden gems of deliciousness.

Then rapidly stuffing as many of those gems into one's mouth as possible before mother can rush to stop you.

Once every egg had been found, it was time to dye eggs. Why??? I hate the practice. And every single stinky hard boiled egg is still sitting in my fridge. But, I feel like a failure of a mother if I don't. So we did.

Literally 30 seconds after this photo was snapped, Tessa was sent to bed screaming. Two minutes later, Linley spilled the red dye all over one of my fabric covered chairs.

Dyeing eggs is evil.

Grandma and Grandpa had to leave Sunday afternoon, so we had our big Easter feast Saturday as well. It was a day packed full of fun and food and family. And a fabulous red stain on one of my chairs.

Ryder's Birthday Party

It was a friend-party year for Ryder's birthday (gag). He begged and pleaded that we do it at The Funplex (basically Chuck E Cheese on steroids). Being the totally awesome mom that I am, I allowed it. Being the genius that I am, I scheduled it a week early when Allen was off work and Grandma and Grandpa were in town. Hello built-in babysitters.

Bumper cars was a major attraction during the party.

As was The Foam Frenzy. A three story ball pit full of guns and canons and all other forms of foam ball shooting fun.

The pizza and drinks went down smoothly

And the ice cream cake made for one very satisfied birthday boy.

Ryder got to inside this air-blowing booth and try to stuff as many token checks in the slot as possible in 25 seconds. He ended up earning 5,850 tokens. Which, in case you were wondering, buys a whole load of crap.

Tessa, aka the Garbage Can, finished off every last bite of cake off of every single guest's plate. We love germs.

The last twenty minutes each of the kids got a baggie of tokens to go play games. Mine with their winnings.

Happy Almost 7th Birthday Ryder. You are my most favorite boy in the whole wide world.

And a most humongous thank you to the grandparents and the mister who's helping hands made everything go off without a hitch. I couldn't have done it without your fabulousness!!

  

Grandma and Grandpa Arrive!!!

We were so lucky to have Grandma and Grandpa Z spend a long weekend here with us. The party began Thursday morning and didn't end until they boarded their flight Sunday afternoon. We started our adventures with a drive into Hoboken to visit Carlo's Bakery.

However, The Cake Boss was a apparently too cool for school that day, creating a 5-6 hour wait just to get inside the doors. The line seriously circled blocks of Hoboken. We aren't really the spend-the-day-standing-in-line type, so we settled for Grimaldi's pizza and Crumb's cupcakes instead. Pretty sure our tummy's weren't missing the Cannolis. Next time.

The kids loved every second spent with Grandma and Grandpa.

They couldn't wait to wake them every morning, hung onto their knees all day long, and then whined when it was time to say goodnight.

Thank you so much for spending your precious vacation time with us. We loved every second and can't wait until we get to play again!!!

Another One Bites the Dust

And another set of fantastically fabulous friends flees the garden state for greener pastures. We celebrated/mourned with Italian and ice cream.

In honor of tradition, more car pics.

Attempt #1: Colossal FAIL

Slightly improved. And as good as it's gonna get.

We are seriously going to miss this better half of Contagion. Late nights won't be the same without you. Rock Band won't be the same without you. Eating in mass quantities won't be the same without you. I could go on, but I have two more weeks to drown you in the mushies, so I'll stop.

Playgroup Easter Egg Hunt

Yesterday the girl's did their first Easter egg hunt for the year. It was freezing. And Tessa was far more interested in collecting tennis balls than eggs. They can't all be geniuses.

No hunt is complete without decorating cookies. Because what is better than sugar? More sugar, my friends.

Cousin Craze

One of the major advantages of this trip was getting to be all by myself with my baby and my mom and dad. Which has happened, never. It was so refreshing to be their little girl again. And so fun to see Tessa play the part of only child. Which she did quite well.

I loved every second spent with my brothers, The Fantastic Miss Tracy and most of all their babies.

We kept Graham (Elliot and Tracy's Mister Man) Friday night and he and Tess were so completely adorable with each other.

That there would be Harrison Birch (Grant's perfect angel). This was my first time meeting Harry the Helmet. And I am fully in love with that chunk of perfection.

It was tempting to stay in the big house, the 85 degree temps, and the 50 boxes of chocolates. But, my jeans were getting too tight and those other kids of mine were missing their mother. Okay, they really weren't, since their father was giving them the best four days of their lives (complete with dinner at a martian restaurant, roller blading, birthday parties, etc) but it makes me feel better to think that my absence was keeping them up at night.

Destination: Dream Come True

The 22-month remodel of the Atlanta Temple was just completed. My dad was put on the Temple Re-dedication Committee with the specific task to invite sports VIPs and news crews in the Atlanta area to the reception/temple tour in an effort to create as much publicity for temple as possible. To help the buzz, present would be just a couple Hall of Famers. Father invited me to help. I agreed. Because helping, meant meeting this:

You see, I believed I was destined to be his wife. And I don't think you can understand how completely serious I am when I say this. Ever since I was a wee girl, I knew I was going to marry him. When I started at BYU, he was still single. Because he was waiting for me. I went to a Fireside my first weekend on campus, and he was in attendance. It was fate, I was certain. Then a few months later I learned he was getting married. To someone other than myself. I was devastated. And so, you see, I deserved this moment. Just me and Steve. My teenage dreams turning to reality. Even if only fleeting.

(PS, obviously my real husband is the actual man of my dreams. I just didn't know it at the time)

I gave myself the assignment of escorting Mr. Young to his various interviews with the news crews. It was sort of heavenly.

And I was a full creepster stalker. Not ashamed.

Also in attendance was Mr. Martin Luther King, III. He's sort of a big deal.

Dale Murphy, Steve Young, and Mr. King walking out from the tour of the temple.

Mr King and Elder Giddens

Some random dude, Stevie, Elder Giddens, and The Murph

I wasn't the only creepster present

Daddy and The Murph

Who, by the way, was a super awesome dude. And quite possibly the most beloved man to ever walk on Atlanta soil. People were obsessed with him. Which was quite convenient for me and that other VIP.

I am still on cloud nine.

Fair Enough

Wednesday Tess and I will be escaping this:

Thu
Apr 7

Showers

55°
42°

40%

55°F

Fri
Apr 8

Showers

49°
39°

40%

49°F

Sat
Apr 9

Few Showers

50°
43°

30%

50°F

Sun
Apr 10

Cloudy

65°
49°

20%

65°F

to play in this:

Thu
Apr 7

Mostly Sunny

76°
56°

10%

76°F

Fri
Apr 8

Partly Cloudy

77°
60°

20%

77°F

Sat
Apr 9

Partly Cloudy

85°
60°

10%

85°F

Sun
Apr 10

Partly Cloudy

84°
58°

20%

84°F