Easter Sunday

Easter Sunday dawned dark and early with the kids waking up crazy early, of course.  My sister Natalie had made sure there were Easter baskets for all 13 grandchildren, bless her heart for figuring that out before we all arrived!  So kids got to find their baskets.  And grown-ups got all showered.

Camille and Nicole

Theo pulls a funny face!

Ryder Triumphant

We had the entire group split between two houses.  Leah had gotten a rental house for her family (husband and two kids), and Craig and I piled in with our three youngest, and then we also had Natalie and three of her four kids (and mostly her husband, although he had to sleep at home on the days when he had to work).  So that was crowded, but also super fun.  We had all the 7-year-olds and 3-year-olds in one place, which makes for craziness + awesomeness.

My parents house had my parents (duh), Bentley & Kendra, their cousin Samuel (Natalie's oldest), Tracy, sometimes Adam, and Rachael & Ian and their two kids.

So both houses had a lot of grownups all vying for hot water!  Fortunately, with the kids all getting up so early, we had a lot of time to get out the door and meet up with everyone else at my parents' house.

Eventually we got there, and then around eleven, our bishop came over so Natalie's new little baby could have her baby blessing!  That was very sweet, and pretty quick.  I felt bad that we hadn't dressed in church clothes for the occasion, but I had been more worried about the next event of the day, which was family pictures!

Claire has this ability to look very stoic about everything

Proud parents!

Ian and his very own Mini-Me, Harrison

Daddies with their babies!

We had some time for lunch once the baby blessing was done, and then we got everyone changed into the outfits we had planned for the family picture.  (Because obviously no one was getting dressed for pictures and THEN eating!)  I'd found the photographer and gotten everything planned, trying to figure out a time when everyone could be there (including Adam, who had to work most days) and when all these east coast kids wouldn't be too cranky.  Which was why we were doing this on Easter Sunday, even though that wouldn't normally be my first choice.  Our photographer was great, especially considering how many people she was working with.  Unfortunately, we had her for a two hour window and it rained pretty much the entire time.  So that was too bad.  She gave us nearly 200 photos, so I'm only showing you my absolute favorites.  But it's still going to be quite a few...

The whole gang

Craig hates how he's got his arm around my Dad's neck here, but I think it's hilarious!

Leah's family

I LOVE this pose.  I was so sad that it was pouring for my family's shots so we couldn't do this!

Eliot and Theo

Rachael's family

I love this picture of Harrison

Someone make this into a meme!

They got to do this pose, too!  Jerks!

Natalie's family

The photographer had to get creative while it poured, but I liked this pose!

Same picture, but it's a little sharper in black & white

Such a Ryder smile!

Colton's nose was still scraped up from falling as we ran onto the plane...

I love this smile here!

I love this picture

Tracy and Adam were too cute in every single picture she got of them

All the grandchildren (so far!)

This one makes me laugh-- my Dad with his elbow on Natalie's head.  THAT'S what we actually look like

All the sons-in-law

My parents

I know, that was a lot of pictures.  Thanks for indulging me.  The rest of the day was pretty quiet-- we had ham and funeral potatoes for Easter dinner.  Some of us walked down to the park and enjoyed seeing the water and the cool houses on the sand spit.  And we just enjoyed hanging out together.  I felt like I could breathe a HUGE sigh of relief now that the pictures were done.  I find stuff like that SO stressful!

(Because, you know, the wedding at the end of the week wouldn't be stressful at all!)