Easter Egg Hunt 2014

 We did our annual easter egg hunt on Saturday--this is our 4th year of hosting this tradition. We did an open invite, and I didn't ask for RSVP's because I wasn't planning a meal. No food, no decorations, no stress--but plenty of fun! We just met at a park, hid the eggs, and had the kids find them. The entire event lasted exactly an hour. It was a lot less stressful than previous years of preparing food for an unknown number of friends. I think it still accomplished the same purpose--easter egg hunt on Saturday, gathered friends together, and the kids had fun.

There were a few differences this year. The biggest one was that this was the first year that we didn't hide easter eggs in the snow. The park was a wet, muddy mess. The only place we could find that was dry enough was a small hill on the edge of the field and a line of stickery bushes--which unfortunately was next to the road. See one of the daddys stationed as our "bouncer?" I thought it was funny--but a few of the daddys manned their post well to keep the kids a safe distance from the road.

 David is trading in his snow boots for rubber boots these days. (I'm always happy to get rid of boots after a season. By this time, they are usually smelly and they need to be retired anyway. We are happy to pass on other winter gear, but boots get a one-time use in our house.) We've had an incredibly mild spring--usually we are still getting snow dumps at this time, but this year my trees starting sprouting new buds in February. They were confused. We've had a few cold spells and snow dumps, but overall the winter has been mild. So the combination of a late Easter and a warm spring made it so it was a muddy egg hunt in Alaska--instead of a snowy one.

 See the giant field behind the egg hunters? It was full of standing water, so we didn't hide anything in there at all. There's another "bouncer"--Brother Everett--keeping the children away from the road. There were lots of eggs in the bushes, but the bushes were scratchy, and I think that deterred some of the kids from reaching in to get them.

 In true Alina form, she was happy to watch everything going on. But as soon as she got an egg of her own to hold, she was over the moon happy. I'm going to have to be careful to always offer this little girl experiences--her personality is to not ask for them on her own. But when she gets to be part of it all, she lights up.

Treasures--Daddy holds his treasure, Alina holds hers.

 It was in the 50's and sunny--we couldn't have asked for better weather!

 The Elders showed up, and this Elder was put to work with the crank attached to this little tram. The kids had fun! I think we wore out Elder Owen.

 Each year it seems that we come up with a few eggs short for all the kids to take home their share. We ask each family to bring 10 eggs per child, then each child is supposed to find 10 eggs. It should work out, but last year I found out that the same families seem to come up short each year. So we provided an extra 30 eggs to make sure everyone got the 10 eggs. I was planning to turn the kids loose for any extra eggs at the end, so we didn't leave any treats lying around for the moose or bears. Anyway, since we were at a park this time, there were 3 other kids at the park that were not part of our activity. Long story, but in the end, these three kids joined us in our hunt (Brother Everett was happy to invite them) so the eggs worked out just right. However, the same family came up short this year. They took it all in stride, but I was sorry that it happened again. I'm glad we did the extras, so we felt like we could invite the other kids to join us!