Easter at the Driggs

On saturday we went over to Grandpa and Grandma Driggs house to celebrate Easter and of course eat a yummy Easter dinner. Right when we first got there, Kris and Eddie hid all the eggs that Grandma had filled for each child. They had such a fun time hunting for them. Kris and Eddie were funny this year becuase they hid the older kids eggs in really hard places. They STILL were able to find them. Grandma makes equal amounts of eggs per child and writes their names on them so that the game is not dominated by my older kids. That way you just find the eggs with your name on them. We had some good laughs at the two littlest ones, Cara and Gage. Once they finally found and egg that was theirs, they were preoccupied with what was in it, becuase they knew it was candy, so they had to be "encouraged" to find their "other eggs with candy". We then came in and had a yummy Easter dinner of honey baked ham, sour cream (funeral) potatoes, veggies, fruits, salads, and of course a yummy dessert! The kids all play outside the entire time after they are finished eating. Us adults visited, played games and just relaxed the rest of the evening. We headed home after dark and got prepared for our Easter Sabbath Day.
Just a warning........I took LOTS of pictures!!

Kris hiding one of Tys eggs deep in the rose bush.....sneeky!


Eddie hiding his kids eggs in the citrus trees


Cara rounding the rose bush to find all her "candy eggies"


Shawn looking for his eggs


Grant found one of his that Kris hid in the exhaust of his truck


Ty finally found his egg


Grant found one of his in the mailbox


Gage just happy as can be just wandering the lawn looking for his eggs


Lolly looking in the grapefruit tree.......getting warmer!


Cara and one of her many silly faces


Eddie helping Abby find her eggs


Gage found one on Jessicas tire


hot, hot, getting hotter......Lolly FINALLY found it in the tree


Ty thought it was cool that we hid all his in really hard places. This one took him a while to find because he was never looking up to find his eggs. He just monkeyed himself across the window to get it....crazy kid!


Lolly helping Abby find her last eggs in the trees


All the grandkids who were there: Ty, Grant, Laurel, Shawn, Abby, Cara and Gage (in order of birth) Elizabeth was at dance and came just a little bit later, and Mandy and Derrick were up in Utah


Dad, Carter (his back), Kris and Jessica still "grazing" on what is left of dinner. Do you see Kris? I can NEVER get a decent picture of the boy! He thinks he is SOOO FUNNY too!!


Jessica gives the BEST neck and back rubs! We all stand in line when she starts the rub sessions....LOVE EM!


I tried to catch Adam sitting there with Kris and Jessica, but the stinker kept ducking behind Kris!


Lolly and Elizabeth "hanging around". Those two are the best of cousins


Ty and Grandpa discussing the tree fort and what the next plan to build is


ink a bink, a bottle of ink, the cork fell out........


and YOU STINK!! They sat there for quite a while and played this silly game, and laughed and laughed at the end of each round


Cara


Laurel


This climbing cage gets such good use from the grandkids


Laurel


Cara


Grant


Shawn.....what is on your forehead? A stamp he probably did himself, funny boy!


Ty hard at work making room for more additions to the tree fort


Cara kept laughing wanting me to see her doing "stinkbug"


"stinkbug"!!


Cara


Adam and Kris playing a game of chess with Shawn watching


the girls on the teeter-totter


Cara and Elizabeth


Abby and Lolly


Grant, Eddie, Ty and Shawn playing HORSE


Lolly and Elizabeth aka "Easter bunnies"


Lolly, Cara, Abby and Elizabeth all being "Easter bunnies"


I asked them to act silly....and this is what I got


Not a couple minutes later, she dropped her cupcake in the grass. She was contemplating eating but could not figure out how to get the grass off. Grandma came to the rescue with another fresh cupcake and all was good again!

Cousin Kati

It was a special treat this year at the Easter Pageant. My cousin Kati was one of the ten virgins. We called her to tell her that we were coming on Friday so that she could be looking for us when the cast walks around before the pageant starts. We found her while looking for Aunt Bev and Grandma. There were no words to express the look on Lollys face from seeing her in her sparkly costume. Lolly had a grin from ear to ear the whole time she was with us. She asked Kati if she could walk around with her the whole time. Thankfully we found Bev and Granny and got some pictures so that Kati could get back to the pageant without Lolly being sad. During the time when the virgins dance, all my kids were pointing out Kati and watching her the whole time. She did an awesome job and is such an amazing dancer. Thanks Kati, we ♥ you!

Me and the kids with Kati and her good friend. Her friend played Mary. She was the Mary who went to the tomb and found the Resurected Christ and then danced to the song "He Lives". It is one of my favorite parts. That was also neat for my kids to meet her too.


Lolly, Kati and Cara.


I am not sure what is up with Cara and her funny lips? She was being silly for me when I was wanting a nice picture. Isn't how it always goes?


Kati and Aunt Bev (Mother and daughter)


Grandma Payne, Kati and Aunt Bev (Kati's mom)


Lolly wanted to be in all the pictures. She was mesmerized by how beautiful her costume was.

Easter Pageant

Last night we went to the Easter Pageant. It is a family tradition that do as a family every Easter. We get there really early to get a good spot on the grass, set up our blankets, (this year we finally got smart and brought chairs too) and enjoy our KFC (a tradition too) and watch as the thousands of people gather to watch the pageant. As we were sitting there, a familiar voice was talking close by me. It was Mona Starks from the 6th ward who we did a ton of fun things with. Boy did the fun memories flash back. That group of friends (there were 7 couples who always did things together) had the best times together!! I told Mona to sit right by us so that we could chat for the next two hours and catch up. It was so fun! Our next door neighbors were also sitting close by us too. Lolly and Hanna played and giggled for a bit till it got dark. Me and the kids also went looking for Grandma and Aunt Bev who were also there. As we were walking down the front row, I hear someone call my name. It was Carol Griner and Janie Mason from 6th ward and their kids. We visited for a bit, and they didn't know I had another baby. Boy the time has gone by fast from when we moved. I miss that ward tremendously!! Great people and great memories! The Pageant was so good! I forget how moving it is and what a strong spirit comes from watching it. My kids did not move the entire time. They watched it like it was their first time. We did miss last year (I don't remember why) but it was good to see that they enjoyed it as much as Kris and I did. Afterwards, we went to Mesa Frozen Yogurt to get a treat. We walked in and guess who we saw......Grandpa Driggs! The kids were so excited to see him. We got to visit with him a bit, then home to get ready for the fun day we had planned at the Driggs's for Easter Dinner.

Is there any other food to eat at the Easter Pageant? Other that Petes? NO!! The Driggs regular standby, good ol' KFC!


Lolly and Cara eatin' away


Ty is an animal that needs to be contained in a barn when he eats!!


The kids always want to take pictures of me after I take ones of them. I don't know how I didn't get a picture with Grant in it. In the picture of Lolly and Cara, you can see him sitting right next to Kris. Sorry Grant, I still love pictures of you just as much as the other kids!


Me and Mona


Lolly and Hanna

O.C.D.

My dear sweet Cara has a little obsession.......BANDAIDS!!! Not a single one of my other children has even cared about them. Lolly occasionally would need one here and there, but the boys....never. Along comes Cara and the same boxes of bandaids that I have had for years...GONE! I buy more...GONE! She was hillarious today. I was off doing something when she found me and turned around and told me to look at her back. I could see the little red spot. It looked like she has brushed up against something, nothing major, just a little red spot. I kissed it better and she looked at me funny, and off she went. Not even five minutes later, she comes and finds me again, turns around, and shows me her back again. She was so proud of herself. I laughed my head off after I saw what she did. She is hillarious! The HUGE bandaid she had managed to put on her back was not even close to the red spot. She did a good job at putting it on though. I had to compose myself because she was getting upset that I was laughing at her. I told her I was so proud of her and we needed a picture of it. She was all over that! I am sooo glad that she is my little buddy all day long while the kids are at school. She entertains me and I love her to pieces!

She held so still for me, which she usually doesn't when I want a picture


She was giggling cuz she thought she was so big doing it all by herself (again notice the self haircut job)


Look at the grin on her face.....NAUGHTY but so proud! (and the no hair on her right side! gone are the curls forever!!)


Not even close to the "little red spot"....HILLARIOUS!

My body is whacked!

It is amazing what my body can do on NOOOOO sleep! On Tuesday night, I got to bed around midnight. Cara crawled into my bed around three. I can sleep through a tornado, so I just scooted over and she nestled on in. I absolultely LOVE snuggling with my kids in bed, and having them sleep next to me. Cara, she killed all those happy thoughts and fond memories of past nights. She has to be literally breathing the same air you are in bed. She sleeps "all jacked up", not normal like my three others. She has to be RIGHT NEXT to your face, and touching you with all parts of her body......until she goes to sleep. So, in the mean time, I am still half asleep, and not in a comfortable postition, and KNOW I will wake up with a stiff neck, sore back, and feeling like I got absolutely NO SLEEP!! Lazy bones, on the other hand, will still be sleeping like a log till I wake her up long after the kids have gone to bed. (if she wasn't so darn cute, I would be more prone to not have as much compassion on her!) Well, this morning Kris really needed me to come to work with him and help him with a couple of things. So, that means that I had to wake up earlier than normal (7am) and get myself and Cara ready so that we could be out the door and on the road when the three others left at 7:40am. Do I need to remind you that my nights sleep was disturbed! Any other day, I would have just crawled right back into my snuggly, comfy, cold, soft covers and resnuggled up next to lazy bones and drifted off into a wonderful slumber for a couple more hours. NOT THIS MORNING!! We were out the door as scheduled, all dressed and put together (I wanted to go no makeup/no hair done, but thought that might not be good for Kris's job standing! DANG!) Kris, me and Cara were off to the other side of Arizona (Glendale, just felt like it). We got all the things done that he needed me to help him with, grabbed some lunch, and he had me back home by 1:30. I was absolutely beat! Cara napped in the car on the drive home, so I knew she was good to go, and the possibility of a quick hour nap before the kids came home from school was definately not happening. Wednesdays I am a single parent because Kris goes from work to school. His class gets out at 10pm, so I see him when he walks in the door exhausted, and he chats for a couple of minutes, then off to bed. Needless to say, all day I was exhausted. I still had to run the boys to baseball, which we dont get home till 7pm, and then do dinner, showers, and get them to bed. I was soooo wiped out!! Let me just entertain you for a little bit.......on the way home from baseball, Grant tells me that his "Arizona project" was due TOMORROW!! I had not heard a thing about this till then. Having allready done one with Ty when he was in 4th grade, I knew that this was a huge part of their grade, and could not be just something that I quickly threw together!! ARE YOU KIDDING ME???? I tried to talk myself into every feasable excuse to just put it off and do it tomorrow with him (letting him stay home from school). After saying family prayers, Grant asks if we are going to do his project. I tell him my plan to just do it in the morning, with him staying home from school. I was thinking that he would be totally happy, especially the staying home from school part. The look on his face told me different. He started to get all upset and out of his mouth comes, "but then I will miss the thing in the morning for the PARENTS where everyone shows thier projects." My head was throbbing at the thought of having to do this ALL NIGHT by myself. I assured him that I would stay up and do all that I could so that he could get up early and help my finish it in the morning so he could be to school with his finished project. AND that I would happily be there to see him for the parent part. Soooooo, another night of NO SLEEP! When Kris called on his way home from school, I told him what my evening turned in to. When he came home, I was on the computer, searching away for unique things and pictures about Arizona. Of course my computer has not been working right STILL and the darn printer told me (as I was copying my first of 13 pages of pictures and blurbs) that it was low on ink!! ARE YOU KIDDING ME AGAIN?? I was NOT running to Wally World to get ink! Not saying I have not run there this late, but I was totally exhausted, and frankly not in the mood. So I did what I could, and the last of the pics were a little red tinged, but whatever, its a 4th grade thing, not his college thesis paper. Off to the family room for assembly. Did I mention the time by now? 1:30 in the morning. I started cutting and taping and glueing pictures and quotes together. At 3:34 I finally crawled into bed. I remembered to set my alarm for 6am so I could get Grant up and have him help me glue the things on the posterboard. He also had to draw an Arizona flag. Of course it could not be copied!! That would have been tooo easy for me. He was so pleased with my efforts all night long. It made the 2 1/2 hours of sleep seem like nothing when he gave me the hugest hug and told me how much he loved me and appreciated my help with it. He was off to school at 7:30, with the project in tow. Man could I have crawled right back into bed for the rest of the day. NOPE!! Off to get myself and Cara dressed and ready for a day of things to do. We made it in time to see Grant at the school. He really loves it that I make an effort to come to everything that goes on at school. It is a small sacrifice on my part when I know it means the world to my kids. Now I am off to see my Granny Grunt. Then on the way home I have to stop and get Easter candy and a couple dozen eggs to dye. I am truely amazed that my body is still functioning............

I went down for the parent showing (I was one of the few parents there, how sad!)


I told Grant to hold it up closer so I could get a good picture of it and Cara stood right in the middle in front of it. Grant was giggling and told me to take the picture anyways. She is hillarious!


We finally got the stinker to move to the side so we could get a picture. Doesn't look like it would take me ALL NIGHT LONG huh? It did!