easter 2012, recapped

i spent Easter 2012 in Stillwater, Oklahoma.

Oklahoma? you ask

what could ever possibly be in Oklahoma?

The answer, my dear friends, is nothing.

Except for the loves of my lives.

Duane, Mechelle, Mechelle's in-laws.

So

NOTHING is in oklahoma

except family

and land 

and cows

and horses

and actually, all truth told,

that's exactly the way i like it.

i showed up before they did.

a night before.

but they caught up QUICKLY.

Chester, above, was flipping out over his new Oakleys. 

He wore them everywhere, even attempted wearing to Easter Mass, but Dad whacked him and told him INAPPROPRIATE and he was a little sad.

hijinxes quickly ensued

i took a picture of stephanie taking a picture of kristen taking a picture of me.

we're all posting them on Facebook to see who connects the dots.

duane and mechelle

moved into a new house

took us all to a BBQ

and basically just celebrated being in love.

the twins treated me like a queen.

as they should.

and we ran a lot of errands together 

including 

going to some hillbilly supply store

where dad bought duane a new weed eater

as a "welcome to your new house" gift.

i jumped on jared's back

and basically annoyed him but he loved it.

and tim

who, notice, has biceps the size of stephanie's head

jumped on everyone

and annoyed everyone

but we all love him anyway.

easter sunday became easter saturday for us.

and chet, aka, "the easter bunny,"

hid all our baskets

and we all found them and celebrated and had a peep war

because 

mom always insists on giving us peeps

and none of us like them even a little bit

and so we just throw them at each other.

easter chocolate is the best chocolate

so i killed my easter bunny

making him "ROAD KILL" 

easter sunday, after church.

it was awesome.

kristen and i took a little photo op

and i love that girl

and love her face.

she was a fantastic photographer all weekend.

we went to mechelle's parents house

my brother duane's in-laws

who we all love and adore

and my folks stay with them

and they stay with us

and we all have a great time together.

they have a farm

with horses

and baby horses

and baby cows (which i LOVE,)

and pigs and chickens and 160 acres of oklahoma land.

we loved it all.

we walked, rode, hiked, loved.

and i fed a baby cow, which is the only thing i want to do every day for the rest of my life.

i LOVE baby cows.

i rode the horse too.

the one that is scared of his own shadow

and chester came tralloping up to me on the horse

and the horse freaked out and started being all freaky

and i got freaked out

and calmed the horse down

and then dad grabbed the horse

and chester walked slowly away.

apparently chester also got out in the middle of a lake in a little boat

but i was already on my way to the airport

so i missed all that fun.

i LOVE my family.

the twins and i had a quick photo op together

which i love

because these are the babies i grew up with and they're amazing.

my mom has a really fantastic way of including all our family in our family photos.

for example,

when mechelle married duane

she became my sister-in-law

and rose to a status on equal par with my sisters.

I LOVE THIS.

family is a choice

and i have room and love for all the family i can stand.