and a happy easter it was.

I love holidays. I count down to them for a hundred reasons.

A few things I love and miss about Alberta:
- family and friends
- good highway roads
- good radio stations
- good restaurants
- lower gas prices
- divided highways

It was a great weekend, if not too brief.

We did have a little bit of a headstart though, which was awesome. Trent finished his clinic early so we were on the road by 4pm Thursday instead of 6pm. We headed straight for Kurt and Meg's and got there by 7:30 - plenty of time to visit and feel like we were actually there (since we were leaving the next afternoon). Friday morning we had Easter. Tate was so excited. There were mini egg trails everywhere and she loved finding the more hidden treats. Mani knew what was up, too. She's only 14 months, but she's walking all over and knew exactly what to do with those mini eggs - put them in her mouth.

After a fantastic breakfast, we went for a truck ride and then came home to dye easter eggs.

We had a contest for most beautiful easter egg. Trent took his egg dying very seriously.

I totally won. But trent thinks he won because he drew Tate and his face on his egg so Tate thought it was cool. It's too bad you can't see the faces in the pic. But mine was totally most beautiful.

Then came the real contest - the easter egg shoot out.
We lined all the eggs up on the ground and then took turns shooting them with the .22.

Needless to say I wasn't even in the running (though I did proudly shoot 4 or 5). The real competition was between Trent and Meg. In the end Trent won by one (12-11). Atta boy. He's such a pressure performer. He can always step it up when he needs to.

Funny story about shooting though. So of course with guns around, they want to teach Tate to be safe. The rule is you must always be behind the gun. Not always so simple for a 3 year old that just wants to see and be in the action - and has a really short attention span. Well in between re-loading, Tate had wandered and gotten a rock to play with. She ended up beside the chair with her rock, not behind. Kurt had to tell her to get behind the gun a couple times, and in the end grabbed her and pulled her back. She started crying and screaming (which she hadn't all the other times we pulled her back). Finally Kurt says, "Tate! What is the problem?!" to which she sobs, "My rock isn't safe!" Trent and I burst out laughing and all Kurt can say is, "Well I can't argue with that." and tells Meg to wait to shoot while he gets Tate's rock and brings it back behind the chair to her.

Meg prepared a great Easter dinner, too. Ham and mashed potatoes and gravy with yorkshire pudding (my fav!). So delicious. And her sugar cookies are magnificent.

Then it was back in the car for another 3 and a half hours to get to my cousin's reception fashionably an hour and a half late. Lurel got married last year in the states and hasn't been able to enter Canada since, so she was finally making her grand appearance so I had to be there! So we could meet each other's husbands. Crazy. It was lovely to see friends and family again. I was in a crazy mood, but I think I was just happy to be around people who will laugh at my jokes and antics.

Saturday was another good day: flying kites, dying easter eggs and lunch at Grandma's, meeting with a financial planner, and birthday/grad dinner for Michelle. I secretly love dying easter eggs. I don't know what it is, but I love it. And planning always makes me happy, especially when it's the kind of planning that makes me feel like we're on top of our finances and making good decisions and have things under control and I understand what's going on. And who doesn't love a good turkey dinner. My mom's a great cook. Like magazine worthy turkey - it was beautiful. And family is always fun - and so are card games. Oh and I got my hair cut! Perhaps a brighter moment in my day than it would have been for most - but most don't get to visit with Jess when they get their hair cut (nor did they need it so desperately). And at the end of the day we got to go back to Tyson and Audie's and visit and laugh with them before bed. Fun filled, warm, sunny, wonderful day.

Sunday we were back on the road again. But Trent has friends outside of Drumheller that weren't available for Easter dinner at Kurt and Megs so we stopped halfway back for a couple hours. It was the most beautiful day yet and we just sat outside on their deck and soaked in all the sun we could (Trent and I have tan lines and our faces are a little pink - I love it). Kolt took us all for a drive around his dirtbike track in his old jeep to check out the river and everything. I was so glad to have an opportunity to stop mid day and enjoy the sun and warmth. I would have been so sad to drive the whole day away. We got home a little later than planned, but it was worth it.

Sidenote about the drive home and the things I miss and love about Alberta:
There may have been a 15 min stretch of road on which there were no lines and I felt like a racecar driver as I weeved and wove all over the road trying to avoid the potholes. There were moments when Trent and I both gripped a little tighter and held our breath and wove a little quicker as massive pits came out of nowhere. It was ridiculous, but we survived.

Today Trent was back to school - boo - but I had the day off - wahoo!
I made sure it was a day well spent. It was sunny and warm again today and I soaked in all I could. I sat outside and talked to Michelle for hours which was so fun and simply necessary - it was her birthday afterall! I knocked 7.5 things off my to-do list, including cleaning and learning and planning. It was a great relaxingly productive day.

This weekend has been so wonderful. It's amazing how rejuvinating 4 days can be.