Easters Past and Present

As Easter approached this year, talk in the Hatch household quickly turned to egg hunting at Grandma's house. We are once again in Salt Lake for Easter, and last year the hunt was epic.

You see, the great thing about Grandma's house is that, due to some warping of the time-space continuum, it exists in a veritable vacuum of rules and regulations. Pesky constraints that bind children in the outside world have no power over them in this haven for the wide-eyed, snot-nosed, attention-deficit grandkids that come from near and far for a taste of the freedom within her walls.

And so it was last Easter when, while I was in Paris and Ryan in Seattle, Layla, MJ, Weston and Josie gathered for a celebration at Grandma's. After scouring the yard, filling their baskets with pastel eggs holding confections without end, and eating an acceptable amount of lunch, someone turned on a movie upstairs so that the adults could relax and talk without all the noise and distractions of a three-ring circus. A few hours later (so the story goes), someone thought it wise to venture upstairs to check on the children.

They weren't hard to find, as there was a trail of colorful mashings in the carpet and the smell of high-fructose corn syrup to follow, at the end of which were Layla and MJ, stripped down to their skivvies, bouncing on Grandma's bed and giggling uncontrollably. While under the supervision of only each other, they had decided to eat all of their Easter candy in one sitting, and proceeded to run around the house for the next hour like monkeys escaped from the zoo. Only when the sugar wore off did they stop moving, and immediately collapsed into a pile of groans and complaints of tummy aches. They then got a firm explanation from the adults about the negative results of sugar overdose, which undoubtedly was forgotten by the following morning.

Needless to say, my children were very excited about the prospect of another unsupervised Easter gorging at Grandma's house. Layla even asked once, "Can MJ and I eat all of our candy again this year?" Unfortunately for them Mom and Dad were in town this year, and nobody can spoil a party like your own parents.

With the noted absence of sugar-induced vomiting, we had a wonderful Easter this year. We started with breakfast and church with Mimi and Makenna. This was the first time I have dressed the kids in matching outfits, and if they had looked any cuter I might actually have died. After church we hunted for eggs with MJ and Josie at Grandma and Grandpa's and had a lovely lunch followed by a few games of Bocce ball and playing in the yard. The day ended with dinner at Mimi's, after which we took Ryan to the airport to head back to Phoenix, where hopefully we will find a house and join him very soon.

I would be remiss if I did not mention in my Easter post how grateful I am for my Savior and His atonement. What a beautiful thing it is to have the opportunity to make mistakes, learn from them, and come out better people, more refined, and completely forgiven by our Father in Heaven. I feel the blessings of the atonement in my life every day as I strive to overcome my weaknesses and be the example that my children deserve.

And without further adieu, here is some Easter eye-candy!

Weston hunting for eggs

Checking out his loot

Layla & MJ

Dylan hamming it up for her photo shoot with Auntie Courtney

Yes, she really is that sweet

Ooh, look at me now! Look at me now!

She's the happiest baby in the world.

Secrets from Grandpa

I know, they live with me and I still swoon...

Dylan and Layla have matching dresses, but you can't really tell.

My favorite

This picture taken by MJ, age 4.

Uncle Brandon, Dylan's BFF

I'm sure he was guilty of something, just not sure what.

Grandma and Layla

Grandma and Dylan, picture by MJ, exploring angles

Pure Beauty

No place they'd rather be.