Cards and gift from the kids (with plenty of help from Mom).

This year the Primary (children’s group at church) provided ties for the kids to decorate for their dads to wear to church on Father’s Day. I thought this was a great idea.

On Saturday morning I invited the kids to paint with acrylics.

Anything artistic is right up Carissa’s alley. You can tell how much focus she has by the set in her lips.

But Wes really likes to paint, too.

After the paint dried I took a stencil and cut out star and heart shapes from their pictures and then glued them to the tie. It’s not fancy, but it was something made with love.

And he had something snazzy to wear to church and teach Gospel Doctrine in. We love the Daddy of this home!

You are loved.

You are adored.

You are needed.

You are our bestest sweetheart and daddy forever.

We love you!

On Easter Sunday before church I attempted to get some nice, posed pictures of my two kids in their Easter best.

Oh, well.

In the afternoon we headed out back for our first-ever family Easter egg hunt. I filled some eggs with chocolate (for Wes) and others with crackers (for Carissa, who’s allergic to nuts processed with the chocolate).

I love Carissa’s Easter dress.

Here’s the end of our hunt:

And then they got to sit inside and reap the fruits of their labors.

The day before Easter we took the kids to BYU for two Easter egg hunts.

The first was on the green below the bell tower, sponsored by the Athletic Connection group. They have activities every Saturday during fall and winter semesters that connect people with Down syndrome with BYU athletes. But today it was just an Easter egg hunt.

The day was beautiful, and Wes had a good time.

After the hunt they sat in a circle and played Duck Duck Goose. The adults have as much fun as kids Wesley’s age. And Wes REALLY gets into the game. He can’t wait his turn to race around the circle, but basically jumps up whenever anyone does and makes a few rounds on his own. Nobody minds.

After lunch at Arby’s we headed to LaVell Edwards Stadium for the first annual BYU easter egg hunt. Four thousand people RSVP’d online, including us. The football field was strewn with candy and Easter eggs.

We patiently waited until they were ready to begin. Wes–Mr. Football himself–was in awe of the stadium and kept saying, “Football!” as he gazed across the green.

When it was time for the “hunt” they lined everyone up around the field’s perimeter. We were in the area for kids ages 0-3. There were a lot of bodies. Once they said, “GO!” there was a big rush onto the field.

Wes didn’t mind. He just found a little area and happily scooped up candies. Carissa had a good time, too.

Our Thanksgiving today was simple and sweet. My brother came to dine with us on our non-traditional take-and-bake pizzas, salad, cookies, and sparkling cider.

We have much to be grateful for. Just glad we could spend the time together today, remembering.