Easter, etc.

Easter was fab. Quiet and simple. We don't have church until 11 so we took our time in the morning and let Ev play with the things in her Easter basket. Okay, she could have cared less about anything in her basket - all she really wanted was the fake grass:

She looked adorable in her Easter dress. (Thanks Grandma She-She!) Ev and her BCF Ally have matching Easter dresses. Hopefully we can get them together sometime this summer and take a picture of them in their outfits.

This was Evie's 2nd Easter. Weird since Easter was the week before her birthday this year and a couple days after she was born last year. For her 2nd Easter Evie received some dresses from Grandma She-She and Grandpa Smart and a touch-and-feel book from Grandma Melinda. From the "Easter Bunny" Evie received some easy to read scriptures (BOM and New Testament), two books, some bath toys, and some stuffed peeps. The Easter Bunny was good to her.

I got the idea to give her the scriptures from my sister. Every Easter her kids receive a reminder of Christ in their basket. Usually in the form of a book, but I really liked that tradition because hopefully when she's older Ev will understand that even though Easter baskets are the bomb, Easter is really about the Savior.

We try to read from her scriptures every night now that she's one, but we are pretty spotty. She's usually cranky, tired and ready for bed, so we're working on making scripture reading with her habitual. She seems to like the pictures in the books, but there is still a lot of text. I think the books we got her would be great for a child learning to read, but maybe not so much for a toddler. 

In addition to trying to remember to read and pray with her every night, Nick has started brushing her teeth. We've also been pretty spotty with this as well. So far she loves when Nick brushes her teeth. She sits still with her mouth open as he brushes! We'll see if that lasts. (Probably not)

Anyway, Easter was wonderful. After church we played with Nick for a little bit and then Nick drove Evie and I up to the Portland airport where we caught a small commuter plane to Yakima.

It was an 8 passenger plane and I was VERY nervous about getting sick/freaked out/having Ev alone, etc. but she did great and so did I!

It was a gorgeous flight. Not cloudy at all and you could see Mt. Hood perfectly. Evie charmed everyone on the plane and loved facing forward and being able to see everything out the window.

Plus the flight was only 40 minutes, so it felt like we were landing not long after we took off.

The reason I flew to Yakima was to attend a fundraiser for the YWCA with my mom. The fundraiser focused on battered women, abuse, and domestic violence. The keynote speaker was Elizabeth Smart. I really wanted to attend so my mom graciously flew Evie and I back home.

The fundraiser was amazing. Elizabeth is an incredible speaker and it was fascinating to hear what she had to say. She spoke for about 45 minutes and recounted "her story" of being kidnapped. I had never heard many of the details she shared and I was quite shocked that she shared such personal information about herself. She spoke frankly and openly about what happened to her the night she was kidnapped and what ensued the following nine months. I wish I had the time/energy to write down all that she said here on the blog so everyone could hear it. It was incredible. She was just so down to earth and calm - you can't help but admire her for what she's doing. Anyway, it was really fun/inspiring/interesting and I'm glad I was able to go with my mom.

Hearing Elizabeth speak about such a difficult trial made me realize (yet, again) what an easy life I have. It also made me so grateful for my two favorite people:

Hear is a video of Elizabeth answering a few questions for the Yakima Herald.

And here's a link if you'd rather read what Elizabeth spoke about.