Easter Sunday

Wow, what a busy day!  We had a wonderful day celebrating our risen Savior!  I can't wait to really teach Ansley about the true meaning of Easter.  Ansley looked so beautiful in her dress that Nonny made.  We celebrated at church, and then we went over to my aunt and uncle's house for a delicious Easter lunch.  After a nap back at the house, we headed to Mitch's parents' house for Easter dinner.  We are definitely stuffed and tired, but we love spending time with our families.  Here are a few pictures of Ansley looking through her Easter Bunny surprises and the rest of the day.

Easter Eggin'

Today was a fun, but busy day.  We started off the morning with a baby shower for Maggie and Baby G.  I was going to ask my mom to keep Ansley since Mitch had to work, but I decided to take Ansley to the shower.  Even though she missed her morning nap, I thought she did really great.  She was definitely on the go the whole time, but she was really sweet and made herself right at home!  I tried to snap a few pictures of her this morning, but she would not take her paci out! I managed to convince her to take it out for a quick snap, but it went right back in!

After the shower (and a long nap), Ansley and I headed to my parent's church.  We missed the Easter Egg Hunt at our church, but we were able to go to my parent's church for theirs.  They did an afternoon hunt with a bring your own picnic snack afterwards.  My dad's family joined in on the fun.  Last year Ansley was only 5 months old and had no clue what Easter Egg Hunting was all about, but this year she understood a little better.  She quickly realized that the eggs were filled with surprises.  She was so cute in walking around, grabbing an egg, shaking it, and either opening it or putting it back.  She also only went to the really special eggs.  She knew exactly what she was looking for!  Here are a few pics from the egg hunt.

Family pictures are harder to take with this squirmy girl.

Asher and Layla giving each other love.

It was impossible to get Ansley and Asher to look at the camera at the same time.  I was doing good to get him to stand next to her!

Checking out her goodies.

Shaking the egg to see if something special was inside.

Sweet Gavin found a little surprise.

AG was not in the mood for posing.

The Easter Bunny stopped by and dropped off a few goodies.  Ansley has a new personalized step stool for her bathroom and a few goodies to play with. 

The picture makes it look blue, but it's really purple.  I made this on my new machine.  I was pretty proud of my efforts.  :)

Although Easter Egg Hunting and the Easter Bunny are both fun parts of Easter, I am thankful that we have a TRUE reason to celebrate.  Thank you Lord for your ultimate sacrifice and resurrection.  Thank you for your forgiveness, mercy and grace.  One of my favorite songs to listen to that reminds me of what Jesus did for us is Casting Crowns' song, Living He Loved Me.  Here are the lyrics below.  I hope everyone has a wonderful Easter.  I'll post more pictures of our Easter celebration after tomorrow.

One day when Heaven was filled with His praises
One day when sin was as black as could be
Jesus came forth to be born of a virgin
Dwelt among men, my example is He
Word became flesh and the light shined among us
His glory revealed

Living, He loved me
Dying, He saved me
Buried, He carried my sins far away
Rising, He justified freely forever
One day He's coming
Oh glorious day, oh glorious day

One day they led Him up Calvary's mountain
One day they nailed Him to die on a tree
Suffering anguish, despised and rejected
Bearing our sins, my Redeemer is He
Hands that healed nations, stretched out on a tree
And took the nails for me

One day the grave could conceal Him no longer
One day the stone rolled away from the door
Then He arose, over death He had conquered
Now He's ascended, my Lord evermore
Death could not hold Him, the grave could not keep Him
From rising again

One day the trumpet will sound for His coming
One day the skies with His glories will shine
Wonderful day, my Beloved One, bringing
My Savior, Jesus, is mine

Oh, glorious day

Westfield Auction

Saturday night, Mitch and I were invited to go to the Westfield Auction.  It was held at the Ag Center in Perry.  Mitch's cousin Katie had a table and invited us to join her.  Each group pays a fee for the table, and you bring your own food/drinks for the evening.  To make things fun, they had a theme for the night....television shows.  There were some really creative tables, and some people even dressed up to coordinate with their theme.  Katie did a great job of decorating our table like the television show Las Vegas.  We didn't dress up as a group, but next year we'll be ready for the friendly competition.  Some of the great tables were Duck Dynasty, The Love Boat, Soul Train, The Price is Right, and the Beverly Hillbillies.  They had a silent and live auction, and it was really entertaining to watch the live auction.  Here are just a few pictures I took at the beginning of the evening.

Here is our table with our theme Las Vegas.  Katie did a great job with the feather centerpiece.

Me and Mitch with Katie and Charlie

One of the Duck Dynasty tables.

Katie and me

Love Boat...they won first place in the secret competition.

The Big Break golf tv show.

I've been doing a TERRIBLE job of documenting our life in pictures.  Ansley is growing so fast, and I capture a lot of things on my iPhone, but I don't always get the nice camera out to get some good shots.  I'm going to try to do better.  Here are a few pictures of my sweet girl and hubby this morning before church.  I'm sure I'll be getting a few good pictures next weekend as we celebrate Easter. 

Such a big girl!

This is her face when you say, "Close your eyes."  Too cute!

Ansley loves some "nanas"

My loves...