Easter snapshots

 

{Our Easter}

 

It was a quiet one and included an indoor Easter egg hunt, going to a beautiful church service, brunch at a wonderful restaurant called Quivey's Grove and spending the day with my parents, our 'bigs' Nick and Lindsay and of course our 'littles.'

The sun was shining in the morning and I was able to get the two of them outside for a few Easter pics that have become our little tradition.

 You can see from the above 3 photos that Will thoroughly enjoyed his new hat.

He was one dapper guy in his argyle vest!

Sunday Snapshot - the unexpected

{Easter Sunday}

Certainly not your standard Easter photos with children

dressed up after a church service and either hunting for eggs

or holding their baskets.

I did take one of those with the camera in my phone,
and intended to take more photos of the kids with their Easter baskets with my
big camera, but that didn't happen.

 Grace and Will wanted to play.

So play they did while we waited for my family arrive 

for Easter dinner yesterday afternoon.

(A serious Superman above).

Grace was pushing Superman on the tire swing
and you can tell how he felt about it!

Taken with my Nikon d700 (with my favorite lens right now), the 35mm 1.4

Settings were:

f/ 2.8
ISO 320
1/3200

 (I wanted a fast shutter speed to freeze the movement of the tire swing).

I used Florabella's Classic Color, 1968 and Soft Warmth actions
to edit these.

14 months ago my husband Dan started looking for a new job

because his company was struggling.

He traveled all over the country to interviews

and there were several 'almost' offers.

We were on a roller coaster and not a fun one.

2 months ago his company shut down without any notice.

No job, no severance...ouch!

So he stepped up his job search and got an offer on Friday!!

It was a wonderful surprise for Easter and honestly I think

we're still on 'cloud 9.'

For now we're staying put and aren't moving but

it's highly likely we will be in a year or two to Northern California. :)

If you know Dan and I well, we are 

soft spoken, low-key people, who love to laugh, and love

our children and family more than life itself.

We have a quiet, but strong faith in God.

God was in the details of all of this, in ways too numerous to count.

My own life lesson from the last 14 months has been to completely trust in Him.

Always.

We're praising and thanking God!!!

"Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own

understanding; in all ways acknowledge him,

and he will makes your paths straight."

~ Proverbs 3:5-6

14/52 and Favorite Photo Friday - Easter week

{Easter week storyboard}

A little fun yesterday after school with Grace and Will. 

They colored eggs and enjoyed a yummy snack.

I didn't make those cookies, though sure would have liked to...

Hope everyone has a blessed and beautiful Easter!

black and white Wednesday - baskets, bunnies and brunch

Well, this year Easter started for all of us bright and early...

 thanks to Grace who got up 3 times

before 6 AM.

 She was just checking to see if the Easter bunny

had left anything.
Gotta love a little girl who's watching out for all of us. ;)

And that rabbit had hidden some treats so both kids were quite happy
when they were found!

After breakfast we enjoyed a beautiful worship service at church.

And came back home where we waited for my parents to arrive to spend the rest of the day with us.

William adores his Grandma and Grandpa and

spent some of the time waiting in our front yard.

My little bunny with the blue ears was doing the bunny hop and if you look closely at his hands,

he has a tight  grip on a few pieces of his Easter candy.
Which he promptly popped in his mouth after I snapped these.
I don't know if I've ever mentioned how much this boy loves chocolate.

This Easter I received 2 treats that I truly appreciated this year.
We went out to brunch (a FIRST for me for Easter).

I'm usually the one preparing our dinner,

which I enjoy but it was great to do something different.

It was at a fabulous restaurant in a charming and quaint historic stone house

where the kids could play and run around in the yard after our meal.

(Thank you Dan!)

And the second treat was that our oldest son Nick and his girlfriend Lindsey met us there.
I was pleasantly surprised that they could make it.
So our entire family was together for Easter this year.
That makes my heart happy.

Grace told me recently that she wishes we could have more pictures taken of all of us together.

So that is now a goal of mine, and I'll be making sure that happens this year!

I hope everyone's Easter was lovely.

(Our two littles hopping and playing on the stones).

It's Black and White Wednesday,

see what's going on with Lisa and check out all the links at

The Long Road to China (and back).

16/52 - peepalicious

My husband Dan is a type 2 diabetic, therefore doesn't eat such things,

but buys these colorful sugary treats for us.

They magically appeared in the pantry over the weekend.

I'm not fond of them to eat but think they're adorable.

So of course I had to capture them for my 52 project.

Will ate a blue and a yellow one.

And brushed his teeth afterwards. ;)