Family Visits- Part I of the Great Exodus to Pennsylvania

Since we are moving all the way out to Northeastern Pennsylvania, we decided to spend our last month before graduation visiting my family. Before we left California we wanted to visit Erik's grandparents in Los Angeles. Sarah is named after Erik's grandmother, Elaine. I sure do love both of them. It is hard to see them struggle through the difficulties of old age. They are definitely some of the kindest, most loving people I have ever met. Here are just a few pictures.

Sarah was not cooperating in the least bit. It made it difficult to get a decent picture! Oh well, we tried.

Fortunately, Reagan was in the mood to be photographed. I just love her sweet smile!

It was hard for Erik to say goodbye to his grandparents. We kept the visit a little on the short side because the kids were a tad bit out of control.

After we said our goodbyes to his grandparents, we headed to Malibu beach. I really wanted to hit the beach before we left California. The temperature was nice but the breeze combined with being wet from the water made it a little hard. Reagan was freezing and shivering the whole time. Sarah couldn't get enough of the experience. She was all over the place and particularly enjoyed getting in the waves. I could tell she was cold but she didn't seem phased by it at all.

Notice the lack of pictures? Erik and I were both really busy trying to keep up with these two. I thought I'd include a picture of Sarah in motion. I didn't get any of Reagan because that kid is the squirreliest (made up that word) kid you've ever seen. We had fun but were all chilled and tired by the time we left.

The next stop was to visit Erik's grandmother, Grandma Rosenlof in St. George. The girls loved seeing her and exploring around her house. This was only the 2nd time she had seen the girls so she was really excited that we stopped by. Once again, kids not cooperating very well with the picture taking.

We also stopped at my Grandma Cannon's house in Circleville, UT but I was a dummy and didn't take any pictures. We stayed overnight and loved visiting with her. She's a lot of fun to be around and very full of life at her age!

Our last stop was in Provo which we were all very excited about. Erik's sister Tara just had her baby Lydia in March. Hooray! My girls finally have a cousin in the family! We loved seeing Tara, her husband Dustin, and sweet Lydia. She is such a sweet little thing and so beautiful. Erik really enjoyed holding her. Maybe there is hope that someday I can convince him to have more kiddos!

Tara is such a great aunt. My girls sure feel loved when she is around! She cuddled them and read stories. They loved the extra attention.

Erik's younger brother Trevor is also going to school in Provo. Sarah felt right at home in his lap while he read books to her. My kids are so lucky that they have such great aunts and uncles!

Reagan had been anticipating visiting baby cousin Lydia for a long time. She was so excited to see her and she did really well holding her. She gave lots and lots of kisses. We really enjoyed our visit but sadly it went by too fast. We can't wait to see everyone again- hopefully sooner rather than later.

Easter

I guess it's about time that I blogged about Easter. I have a lot to catch up on. My excuse is always that I'm a bad picture taker and usually Erik is the one that takes them. So, in short, I'm too lazy to take pictures and to hunt down his camera and upload the pictures. We had fun this Easter, which was spent in California. We did an easter egg hunt on Saturday so that we could focus on the true meaning of Easter on Sunday.

I decided it would be fun to have Reagan do a little treasure hunt to find hers and Sarah's easter baskets. So, I used a clip art program and printed off pictures for clues since she can't read yet. She had a blast running around the house to find the easter eggs with clues in them. We eventually ended up in the backyard where the baskets were hidden and they could start finding eggs right away. It is so much fun because Reagan is finally old enough to grasp the concept of things and gets excited about things. She went to town and gathered quite a bit more than Sarah, even though daddy and mommy were helping Sarah out. It was funny to notice the difference between the two girls. The girls are only 18 months apart and even though Sarah is younger than Reagan was last year at Easter, she knew right away that there was candy inside the eggs. She is 100% addicted to sweets, just like her mommy! Feeling bad for her! I seriously need to get myself under control. Erik tried to take pictures but the girls weren't cooperating very well. Here are the few that we got:

Reagan figuring out where to find the next clue.

Pretty excited about the candy inside the eggs! This is the only picture we got of her once we started the hunt. If you know Reagan, she doesn't hold still for anything, especially when candy is involved.

Sarah discovering the goods inside the egg.

Shoving the candy in her mouth. I swear I've never seen a child who loved candy so much. But, she is related to me...poor poor girl. Hahaha!

We had a great Easter this year. Such a beautiful day!