Easter 2014

Have I mentioned before that I LOVE Easter??

I'll say it again,

I LOVE EASTER!

It is such a wonderful, happy time of year, and such a beautiful holiday!  Our Easter festivities actually ended up being just a little bit lacking.  My "plan ahead" brain got mixed up in a few "lazy do-nothing, spring time" kind of days.  The Easter Bunny did find us though and left a few goodies.  Brinlee woke up to a toddler-friendly basket complete with a toddler-friendly egg hunt in the backyard (read: eggs scattered in plain site all over the lawn).  The eggs were filled with stickers, "woop nacks" (fruit snacks), and goldfish crackers, and she had a ball!  She got really frustrated trying to carry them all before she would let us show her how to put them in the basket.  But she was sure cute!

It was quite a chilly evening so after the hunting was done, grandpa Borup built a fire so she could enjoy her loot (and a stick... weird) with not so frozen hands.

The next evening we went over to MawMaw's house and enjoyed family home evening with Aunt Amy and the cousins.  She had been primed the day before so with egg hunt #2 she hit the ground running. Literally. 

I debated somehow sneaking that sucker away somewhere and hoping she would forget about it, it's so huge!  But instead I let Brinlee have her Easter Bunny treat in the only place where a small child really should ever have sticky things.  She could not have been happier.

And yes, here's my Easter treat, poised perfectly in the window sill.  Peeps are perfect when they've gotten a little more hard and chewy.  They're almost there.

It was a fun, cute couple of days for sure.
Traditions aside though, this year more than most our family has really been grateful for the enabling power of the Atonement.  We have seen more than our fair share of tender mercies lately.  What a gift it is that our Savior and older brother lived and died and now lives again, for us!  It's easy to forget about or take for granted sometimes, but how truly sweet it is.  He does know us and is pulling for us.  His gospel changes lives.  What a beautiful blessing!

PS: I fully recognize the lack of egg dying pictures in this montage.  It may be way late, but I am determined that that is still to come.  It's too much fun.

Mountain Man

Since we moved back to Boise Tim has been able to reconnect with some old friends and is getting back in touch with his more adventurous side.  Yesterday he and the fellas went out for a manly afternoon.  Rock climbing is a slight change of pace from what Tim has been up to for the last couple years (namely reading text books).  He had a good time.  I on the other hand, stayed home and took a nap... bliss.

Happiness is...

...listening to the giggles of a happy little girl playing with and loving on her goofy, wonderful daddy.

I'm kind of in love with our little family!

March Madness

Not to be fooled by that title, this is not actually a basketball post.  Although we have been keeping up with that a little bit as well (Go Kentucky!), we've mostly just been trying to keep up with life for the last few weeks.  I usually like to feel a little more in control, but most of March was a whirlwind that we're trying to recover from... it's been exhausting!

We're still just giddy over med school!  :)  In the spirit of St Patricks day, I had actually put together a "lucky" jar.  We used the rocks that Brinlee collected on her Seuss week rock walk and as our family saw Tender Mercies from the Lord, we added rocks to the jar.  The idea was to watch it fill throughout the month.  But, when we got the long awaited good news, Tim went ahead and dumped all the rocks in the jar and we spent a couple weeks  just enjoying how awesome it looked!

We moved to Boise! Two things about that:

First:  I am really dreading that drive we have to make to Ohio, because....
Second:  The trip over here was absolutely terrible!  It poured rain the whole way, and Brinlee hated the car!  It's supposed to be a 3 hour drive, and we stopped 3 or 4 times, just for her!  Tim drove the truck with all our stuff which left me and her alone in the van.  It was a long day.  That poor baby needs a travel buddy, badly!

But we're here now and happy.  Tim still has his Masters internship and thesis to finish up and the opportunities here are going to make that a whole lot smoother.  Besides, I think we'll really love the family time.  I did have to leave work though and last Saturday I worked my last shift.  I am really going to miss everyone I worked with.  They were awesome!  :(  But I don't know that I will miss night shift so much.  I kind of forgot what's it's like to function during the daytime.  I like it!

Oh yeah, and I got my hair cut!  That "yay I'm home and done with work!" photo really doesn't do it justice.  We had been up for 18+ hours by then and my hairs were a little droopy.  But I have really liked it.  

My mom and sister came for a few days during the packing process and brought some cheesecake and peanut butter Buckeye balls.  I managed to snap zero photos, but we sure ate good.  Amen.

Packing is the worst!  It's so tedious and annoying, and by the end, Brinlee was going stir crazy!  After all, a girl can only watch Toy Story so many times before she starts getting antsy for more attention (read: before she starts getting curious and hurts herself).  Not long into the packing she tipped some bookcase shelves onto herself and smashed her finger, and the night before we left she bounced off of our bed into a wall and bit through her tongue.  Poor kid.

She sure had a time in those boxes though.  She could not stay out of them and really couldn't stay off of them.  She can unpack faster than I can pack (frustrating!), and she kept climbing clear up on the pile and then would yell over and over "high! high!".  She was pretty dang cute though.  Love that fuzz head!

Hopefully April is a little less hectic.  This month wore us out!  It's a good worn out though, we have lots of exciting stuff to look forward to!  Now, back to playing with this less stressed, less injured, and much more happy little girl.