Easter Weekend

Last year, Gram and Pap sent Mackenzie a big white rabbit that would hop and sing "Here Comes Peter Cottontail". The batteries died and I stealthly hid it away. This year Gram and Pap sent this crazy duck that quacks the tune "Here Comes Peter Cottontail" while flapping its wings and nodding its head. I wonder how long before the batteries die on this one...;) What could possibly be left for next year? I'm afraid to find out!! :)


Making easter cookies



Getting ready for the easter egg hunt


Yay! Candy filled eggs!

Mackenzie would still not have anything to do with the easter bunny.

Getting ready to color eggs...it was pretty much a disaster after this!

This was when we gave up on the dye and went for finger paint instead!

I can NEVER get a good picture of Mackenzie in her Easter dress. I always wait until after church but that is when she is most wound up! Next year maybe we'll try for before church. *sigh*

Done!

Back in November, we purchased a small cabin is Estes Park and Byron (mostly) spent the last 4 months renovating and updating it. There are some "before" pictures in an earlier post. The plan was to get it finished then put it on the market to sell since it was too small for us to fit into! Well, we didn't even have to put it on the market. It was sold before we even had it finished! So here are the results of many long days and evenings (for all of us!).


Bathroom~new cabinets/counter tops, mirror, fixtures.

Bathroom window trim

Door on left goes through laundry room to kitchen. Door in right is closet.

Living room towards kitchen

New fireplace

Laundry

Kitchen looking into living room

Brand new kitchen

Bedroom~used to be 2 rooms but is now one with a closet. Door on right leads through to bathroom.

Bedroom

New concrete pad, back door into kitchen

South side

Beautiful new deck!

North side

From the road

Meeting Rylen!

Mackenzie and I went on a little trip in the middle of March to go and meet my new niece Rylen. Byron would like to have come but he was hard at work~more about that in the next post. So Mackenzie and I hopped a plane to Fargo, ND and then Mark (brother-in-law) and my dad came and picked us up for the 4 hour drive (blah!) to Crystal City, Manitoba. We had a fun time with Richelle, Mark, Mom and Dad.

Mackenzie was thrilled to meet her new cousin and was always in the middle of things so she could "help". She will be a great big sister when the time comes!

Helping Auntie "Shell" feed Rylen.

Making sure Uncle Mark is doing things right...

Got to make sure the "Pinkie" is in place!

Very proud cousin

And, of course, a very proud Auntie!

Grandpa and Grandma Thalgott with the grandkids. Boy, that sounds weird!! :)

Isn't she beautiful?

At the airport in Fargo for our trip back home.

Flooding

On our way back to Fargo to the airport, I had to take some pictures of the incredible amount of water that was everywhere. It was pretty crazy. They even had a lane of the highway closed because of the water on the road. They had it sandbagged to keep the road open but it was water as far as you could see.

Too funny for words.