Easter Part 2: Because of Him

While the eggs, candy, and bunnies part of Easter can be fun, Easter is about something much more important. It is a chance to celebrate the life and resurrection of our savior, Jesus Christ. I am so grateful that I have the knowledge of His resurrection. Because of Him, I have the knowledge of the restored gospel on earth. And the gospel is such an important part of my life. Because of Jesus Christ, I am free to make my own mistakes. I am free to learn and grow as Heavenly Father intended us to. Because of Jesus Christ, I can then repent of my mistakes and become pure and clean again. Because of Him, I know that families can be together forever. Because of Him, we can return to live with Heavenly Father. Because of Him, I know who I am and who I want to be. Because of Him, we can make it through all the trials and hardships we face in life. Because of Him, I know we are never alone.  Jesus Christ is our Savior and Redeemer. I know He was born, lived, and died for me. I am so grateful that He died so I can live. I am grateful for His example, for His patience, and for His unconditional love. Because of Him, I have great joy.

Easter Part 1: Colson's First Easter

We have had such a fun Easter weekend. We loved having Hannah come up and stay with us during her spring break. We all had such a fun time playing with each other and Hannah is always so great to help with Colson. She came up Thursday night and stayed until Sunday. Friday we played games together, had a movie day with Stacey's boys when they got out of school and watched Frozen, and had fun playing with Ben when he got home. Saturday we went to the small zoo just around the corner from our house. It was Colson's first time there. The weather was beautiful and we had a good time. We also dyed Easter eggs together. We each did one for Colson so he could have some eggs too. Then we went to listen to Ben and Morgan sing for a program at another church. They did a good job. Sunday we got up early. The Easter bunny brought Colson a cute new Sunday outfit and some bubbles. We all got some candy. We enjoyed going to church and then came home to get dinner ready. My family was coming up for dinner along with my cousin and his wife. We had such a fun time. It was so great to see everyone. Colson absolutely loves being the center of attention and thinks it is so great when people are around. We had a great day together. It was a good ending to a fun-filled weekend.

Monkeys at the zoo

Colson decided he didn't want to stay in the stroller.

Little deer

Tortoise and baby

These swans sat and honked at each other for a while. It was fun to watch.

Hannah and Colson at the zoo

The whole family

Looking at the animals with Daddy

What is that thing, Mom?

Pretty birds

Ben built an egg holding contraption.

Working on my eggs

Hannah dyeing her eggs

Colson watching the fun

All of our finished eggs

Ben's are on top. He went for bright vibrant colors. We each did one for Colson on the bottom.

Mine are on top here. I like doing one egg a few different shades of a color. Hannah's are on the bottom. She liked trying different textures.

The Easter bunny came

Colson in his new outfit. His eyes are so pretty with it.

This is the closest I could get to a smile while he was wearing it.

Playing around

Crawling after Hannah

Big smiles for Hannah

Hannah and Colson dressed up for Easter. He sure loves his aunt.

Catching Up

Sorry it has taken me a while to post something new. Last month we finished packing our boxes and got all moved into our new apartment. We are absolutely loving it. We love the area and have already made some friends in the ward. I feel very blessed. We live really close to several parks, the local zoo, and the river trail. Since the weather has been kind enough to warm up, Colson and I have spent quite a bit of time going on walks together. Ben has joined us and has been super helpful in encouraging me to run more so I can get ready for the races I am doing later this year. I am participating in a 10k in June and a Sprint Triathlon in September. Those should be interesting. Colson is growing up so fast. He will be 9 months on Friday. I can't believe how fast the time has flown by. He is getting to be quite the independent little guy. He loves to crawl around and get into everything. (What baby doesn't at this age?) He is super speedy on his hands and knees, loves to pull himself up to everything to walk around, and is even starting to balance while standing without holding on to anything. He is definitely getting a fair amount of bumps because of this though despite my best efforts. Colson loves to make us laugh. He is such a happy kid and does some really funny things. He loves to blow raspberries all the time. He also loves to play with our mesh gate that keeps him from going down the stairs. He thinks it is funny when we put our faces in it or to do it himself. He loves to play with his toys and especially loved it when my cousin Mason came over one day to play with him. I'm not kidding about how much he loves people. He has also started to do silly dances whenever he hears music. He'll kind of shake his head and wiggle his upper body a little bit. It is super funny. We certainly are loving watching him grow and learn. We are excited to have Hannah come spend this weekend with us and to have family at our place for Easter. We are loving life right now. Here's some pictures of what we've been up to. Enjoy.

So happy to see Mommy in the mornings and Daddy coming home from work

Can you tell he likes attention? I don't know if he's loved enough...

Pulling himself up...

To everything

Loving the nearby parks and trails

He loves to pull everything off any shelf he can reach

Sometimes Colson falls asleep in the funniest places

Cousins playing ball

Colson loves to be a big boy with Mommy and Daddy at the table. He also loves to eat real food too. None of that baby food.

Wearing Daddy's tie

Going on walks with Mommy