This is for Ben

Friday

Easter at the Hoffmann's begins Friday night with our creativity shining through on our eggs!
All three of Ben's girls came to dye eggs with us. My how they've all grown.
Since Ben wasn't able to be there and his computer had gotten a virus we all got to talk with him on the phone.PorSha has her dad's intensity for art, and her Hoffmann OCD for detail - she's even using a paint brush to make sure it's perfect! BayLee's only 13 but you'd never guess by how tall and grown up she is. It was so much fun to have her come, we don't get to see her often.

I even convinced Alex to get in on the fun. I promised him I'd eat his eggs :)

Alex and I both only colored 3 eggs. These are mine. My Boston "B" had a picture of two Sox on the other side. My sunflower on the end isn't quite visible through the yellow, but I loved doing them anyway.

Saturday
We don't do the "bunny" part of Easter on Sunday because we like to keep Easter Sunday focused on Christ's resurrection, so Alex and I did ours Saturday morning before he went to work and I left for my mom's house.He was definitely surprised when he came out of the bedroom and I told him he had to follow the trail of his eggs to his basket.And such a good sport to do it too.We don't have official baskets yet, so I got creative.
My family's pretty into movies, and the Easter Bunny always brought one for the family.
This one came out just in time. Alex was so excited! How did the Bunny know?As a dental hygienist, I can't really condone too much candy. So I allowed the Easter Bunny to bring a movie and cookies. Alex doesn't like eggs, so like I said, I'll be eating those.The Easter Bunny came to grandma and grandpa Hoffmann's house this year, for Ben's girls. And of COURSE he left Trix, he always does!

Lexus doesn't always eat much, but she'll always eat cereal. LOVE our LEXUS

PorSha found the "lip stick" whopper eggs. It's just not Easter without them!

Torie made sure the girls were very Easterish, matching outfits and all.
(Don't you just love Lexus' toothless smile)

It was too cold for the Easter Bunny to hide eggs outside, so they were found in the basement this year. The girls had to search high, low and everywhere underneath.

That face says it all

Lexus needed help getting her basket down, like a true Hoffmann ;)

PorSha was even daring enough to put her hand inside a crocodile's mouth just for an egg.

I LOVE these girls!!!

Since Alex had to work, I found our basket. Ok Lexus really found it first. She's really good at looking. My mom made all of us baskets when I was born and we've used them every year since. I hope to make the same baskets for my family some day.

After the girls found all the eggs down stairs it was time to use their jump ropes and bubbles, so we headed up stairs.
SURPRISE
Ben came through the front door. My mom and I just screamed and the girls ran to him, arms wide open. He'd brought them baskets all the way from Colorado, where the Easter Bunny had dropped them off, just in case they had been in Colorado ;)

The girls found all of the plastic eggs. Good thing they don't smell if you forget one....

Next it was Rachel's turn. She'd come over after to look for her basket and see the girls......Little did she know Ben was the one hiding it :)
That was AWESOME!!! And we were prepared with a camera for this surprise.

We hung out with Ben all day. The boys came home from work later that evening and headed right off to the Priesthood session while us girls just hung out.

Sunday
We watched part of conference in the morning with my parents until Ben came over. Then it was game time. Thank goodness for DVR ;)
We had a good time with Ben while he was here. I can't believe it had only been 2 weeks since he'd moved. He caught a flight back to CO Sunday night and we headed up to "THE Hoffmanns"
My grandma Hoffmann is crazy about Easter. Alex and I had to hunt for our "bowl" in her backyard. It was good to see family.
I LOVE Grma H!!!

It was such an awesome holiday and I love spending time with family.
Ben, I loved having you here - if you couldn't tell by my scream!
Our FHE this week was on Easter, traditions from the past and ones we'd like to have for the future, and our Savior Jesus Christ. Let us not forget His sacrifice and that we can all be as he is some day. No matter where you live now, we will be together forever someday.

See you soon! Rayne, Tom & Ade!!!
Josh, Brooke and BABY HOFFMANN!!!!