Easter Weekend

Easter weekend was a busy one for us.  Shocking I know!  So my sister Heather was in town for the weekend.  My family packed up and went to Newton to let Paige have some cousin time.  We went to Grandma Greta's on Saturday and had a whole day of fun planned.  When we got there we picked up some lunch and headed to the park to have a picnic and play.  It was so much fun to watch them all run around.  Henry wanted to get out of the stroller and go with them so badly.  Once we were done there we were back to Grandma's for some bike riding!

Left to Right: Carly (Heather's oldest), Paigey, Elise (Heather's middle)

After struggling to get them all to sleep for naps.  When everyone woke up it was time to hunt Easter eggs.  The girls had so much fun, but Colin was the best to watch.  He got so proud every time he found an egg.

Carly and Paige racing to an egg

Colin telling Aunt Nik all about it

He's so happy about his eggs!

Sorting out all the money and candy

Paige got a little tired and decided to watch Wizard of Oz

We then had dinner at Grandma's.  We grilled out hot dogs and brats.  Henry was a bottomless pit as he has FINALLY found his love for table food.  But now he wont stop HA!  Colin thinks its so fun just to be with Henry.  He kept telling me all weekend ,"Henny needs me!".  I love those boys with all my heart.

We spent the night at Hartz's.  They are out of town currently on an amazing warm vacation (JEALOUS).  So we tried to not completely take over their house.  But the Easter bunny came to visit while the kids were sleeping!

Someone is standing on his own now

We then took all 5 kids and went to church at my Mom's church.  That was an adventure.  Rob took care of Henry and all of the exploring he wanted to do.  Heather and I tried to man the other four.  That was a task for sure.  It was so exciting for my mom though to have all 5 of her grandkids in church.  After church it was off to my Dad and Pat's for lunch and another egg hunt.  They had 6 of their 8 grandkids there.  Pat was very smart and color coded the eggs.  So each kid had their own color to look for.  That saved so much drama on who had more eggs, etc.

So in this picture left to right: Elise (Heather's), Carly (Heather), Paigey, Chase (Chantelle), and Colin (Heather)

Once again Colin was so pumped!

We got back to Ankeny and it was so nice outside.  Paige wanted to go out and play so bad.  So we put out a blanket and had some fun.  Paige wanted to get out the water table.  This was Henry's first time playing in it.  He had a BLAST!  But we did end up in swim suits eventually because they were soaked.  We enjoyed dinner on the deck which is our favorite thing to do when it's nice.  We also found out that Henry LOVES avocados.  This kid will eat about anything.  We're so lucky.

Mama and Daddy Go To Vegas

Did you like the title?  That's what Paige calls us, Mama and Daddy.  I now realize that she sounds like a Southern girl and it's my favorite.

Ok so Rob and I went to Vegas!  We went to celebrate my best friend Pat turning 30.  His wife and my bestest friend planned the whole thing and boy did we have a good time.  This is the 2nd time this group has gone to Vegas and we brought some newbies with us.  So get ready for a lot of random pictures of a lot of crazy 30 year olds and a couple non 30s.

Here is Rob's beautiful picture of us flying over the mountains.

After we got there Graham and I did a little shopping at an outlet mall.  Well the fellas all seemed to have found a happy hour while we were gone.  Rob seemed to think it was a great idea to take a selfie with everyone on the trip.  I can explain who everyone is..

This is Sean (Pat's younger brother), Robert, and Craig

This is Pat (Birthday boy) Robert, and Chris

Corbin and Rob

Of course it's us!  I'm drinking a margarita in a blender that Graham bought.

Graham, Rob, and Bobbi (Sean's girlfriend)

I had to have a picture with Pat of course!

And then Graham and I!!

 We then all went out to dinner at an amazing restaurant.  This is our entire group while we wait for our table.  These people are some of the best friends a girl could ever ask for.  I love each of them and would do anything for them.  So great to go on vacation and get away from our usual day to day life for a bit.

The next day we all walked around and took in the sights.  There was a group from our bunch that would go to the pool everyday and a group of us who would just explore the city and go shopping.  We then got ready to go out for dinner.  We ate at a restaurant some of us ate at last time called KGB.  It's a gourmet burger place that is so good!

Graham and I doing what we do best having fun while getting ready!

Here we are ready for the night!

This is our friend Chris.  He's known for taking the longest out of all the boys to get ready...he's also been known to take longer then Graham and I.  So we thought we should take a picture of us all hanging out while he gets ready!

Here we all are dressed and ready!

The Ladies!  Bobbi, Graham and I

Graham and Pat

Robby and I

This is us hanging out by the fountains at our hotel later that night.

Our last day there was Pat's actual birthday!!  We had a fun day of gambling and wondering.  We then got ready to go to dinner at Pat's favorite restaurant in Vegas, Bobby Flay's Mesa Grill.  Unfortunately Robby wasn't feeling very well so he ended up back at the hotel before dinner.  At least I got a picture of us before that happened.

I'm so thankful to have these friends.  But it was so much fun to go to Vegas and just cut loose.  We all try and not take things so seriously.  We'll put each other in check when we do.  I've grown up with most of this group since at least junior high and I wouldn't change it at all!!

Love you guys!!