Celebrating Easter

No more apologies about how behind I am ... here are our pictures from Easter:

Amaya was very excited about diving into her Easter basket:

Amaya's Easter Basket used to be mine. My mom made it for me in 1986 and now I've passed it on to her. We gave her a Dora painting book, a Dora video, and a new outfit from Gymboree:

One of my favorite traditions of Easter is filling the eggs with candy and money and hiding them for our nephew and nieces to find. This time, Amaya was a very active participant. In order to be fair to the little ones - Amaya and Miles - we hid eggs in my parent's front yard for them to find and hid eggs in the back yard for the older kids to find.

Miles and Amaya getting ready to find some eggs!

"Look Mom! I found one!

Helping each other out:

Annika finding an egg in the bushes:

Lydia, obviously having a great time:

Ben, finding one stuck in the tree:

He needed a little bit more of a challenge:

My parents and the grandkids:

The kiddos checking out all their loot:

Nurse's Day!

I knew that I'd forget something this week - it's Nurse's Day tomorrow! Somehow, my mom never forgets to send me a card - thanks Mom! I learned how to take care of people by watching you! Our celebration at work starts tomorrow and extends into next week.

Growing up, I loved being cared for by my mom. She'd get me all snuggled in on the couch with the remote or a book, take my temperature, give me medicine, cool me off with washcloths, give me popsicles, etc. I watched my mom take care of us kids and my dad, and I wanted to do the same someday. And since my mom and my beloved great aunt Gertie were nurses, it seemed like the most natural thing in the world for me to chose nursing as a profession.

Most days, I love being a nurse. I love taking care of and serving my patients. I love being needed when patient's are at their worst. I love seeing my patient's health improve. I love them depending on me for their care.

And working at Mayo Clinic is an absolutely blessing! I hope I never take this for granted. I'm reminded of so many patients who have travelled hundreds - even thousands of miles to get treated at Mayo Clinic. So many have been seen by multiple physicians and can't get a correct diagnosis or treatment plan, and they come here more often than not as a last resort. I'm glad that I am able to be an important role in their care and give them a sense of hope.

So to all of my nursing friends, co-workers, and family members - HAPPY NURSE'S DAY!!

Weekend Fun

On Friday night, Steve and I dropped Amaya at her friend Cooper's house and we went to a combined choir concert between Autumn Ridge Church and Rochester Covenant Church called, "Elijah." This was a special concert since both my dad and Steve's mom were participating. It's been a long time since either of us have been to a concert with a full orchestra and really enjoyed it. We were massively impressed with how much work everyone put into the concert!

We woke up early Saturday morning to go to our niece Lydia's soccer game. You would think that with the sun shining and the temperature being in the 50s that it would be great weather to watch a game. Unfortunately, it was REALLY windy, so it was a little chilly. The weather didn't stop Lydia from making an incredible assist to help her team score a goal. It's amazing how much progress she's made since last year and she's only in first grade!

After Lydia's game, we picked up Steve's mom to do our usual open houses and lunch. We also stopped by Sargeant's nursery to pick up a hanging plant for Steve's mom for Mother's Day and one for me.

We typically go to Saturday night church, but instead of going to church, we were needed to help out in Amaya's nursery. There is a core group of kids that Amaya has grown up with and since we haven't been in the nursery in awhile, it was fun to see how much the other kids have grown.

Today we spent most of the afternoon getting ready for my Mom's garage sale. She and my dad already had the garage cleaned out and tables set up, so all I needed to do was unload all our bins and organize. I LOVE ORGANIZING everything!! We have quite a bit to sell... and we're hoping to get rid of a lot! My mom's friends will unload things over the next few days and my sister comes on Wednesday morning to be a part of all this crazy madness! We're VERY EXCITED to see Carol and see how much Hope has changed.

And so begins another busy week...