I looked out the window and what did I see?......

I looked out the window and what did I see...............

(wasn't popcorn popping on the apricot tree...but it was equally as nice)

...green grass sprouting back to life~

...buds on the apple tree~

...fresh tilled dirt and a garden of spring veggies

(I didn't look at the window and see the garden...the garden Gnome forgot to visit my house, so I had to plant that myself)

.....water coming from the hose~

...fuzzy little blooms on my pussy willow tree~

... dandelions peeking out from under the tall blades of grass~

...green leafs pushing through the dirt, finding their way to the sunshine~

....and a BLUE, BLUE SKY!!!!!

SPRING has SPRUNG and is on HER way...at least thats

the way it looks as of today~

Tomorrow could be completely different and

OLD MAN winter may poke his head back in the door for another visit~

BUT today....OH TODAY, is a BEAUTIFUL SPRING kind of DAY!!!

All GoOd things must come to an EnD!

Growing up, we always had a big Easter Dinner...full of Ham, Cheesy potatoes, deviled eggs, hot rolls, pies, salads and yes, even a few veggies. Its a tradition that I have carried over into my own family. Its something that we all enjoy and look forward to every Easter. I was hoping to have all of my children home for the holiday this year, but it just didn't happen. We had everyone home except Dayna, Jack and Erik....they were missed thats for sure...but we still enjoyed some delicious food and great conversation.

Kenron playing with Aunt Kim

Fully belly's make for Goofy Grins....

Kenron enjoying his first Easter Dinner at Grandma and Grandpa's.

Next year maybe he will get to enjoy the food too~

And there you have it...the scoop on our holiday weekend. NOW its all OVER but I will have to say, I wished we had a BIG holiday every month (maybe that way I could at least get the entire family home once in awhile **wink, wink**). Its a good excuse to get out the fancy dishes, have the family over and eat some good ol' fashioned food....but life is busy, everyone has many things they are doing and it wouldn't be as much fun if we did it all of the time.

I guess we just enjoy the moments, eat while we can and play hard until its over!

It's HuNting SeaSon!

We celebrate the "Easter Bunny" part of our Easter holiday on Saturday so that Sunday can be a time when we focus all of our attention on the Savoir and the real reason that we celebrate this beautiful holiday. We've done it that way since the kids were just little, its something that most of them have done their entire lives and its been wonderful!

As the kids have gotten older...the old fashioned "hunt of the Easter Eggs and baskets" has evolved into something a little more challenging. I use to hide their baskets under their beds, in a closet or under the table, therefore making it as easy as possible for them to find their treats. The eggs were hidden in the obvious spots around the living room or dining room...simple spots such as on top of the piano, on a chair, in a cup...you get the idea! This year I decided to really make them HUNT for the "goods", after all they are OLDER NOW! I made a scavenger hunt...one for each child....but NOT just ANY scavenger hunt. They had to find the eggs that had their specific clues in them, each child having their OWN HUNT...and eventually leading them to find their much desired prize....THE EASTER BASKET full of goodies! The kids got up after much prodding from me (yes, I get a little excited about these things) and gathered their shoes and jackets, since it was feeling more like October than April...and set off with their first clue. From the looks on their faces, I am pretty sure they thought this "little scavenger hunt" was going to take 5 minutes and then they would be sitting upon their warm beds eating jelly beans and chocolate....ha ha ha ha, this Easter Bunny planned a GROWN UP EGG HUNT and had very VAGUE clues such as "Go to a scary place in the yard"....to some that might mean one place, to another- someplace else.
Kim and Halle were the first ones out in the yard looking around...they quickly discovered that this was no "Four year old's Egg HUNT"...it was going to take some thought and a lot of LOOKING, after all, the Easter Bunny hid the eggs extremely well this year!
The eggs were all color coordinated and numbered so that the kids knew which ones were theirs and didn't pick up anyone else's clues. Cameron came out about 20 minutes after the girls did. He too thought he was in for a quick chase around the yard and a bucket of treats...I GOT THE LAST laugh as he trotted around the yard looking for colored eggs that were hidden deep in bushes, in an old dryer and under wood chips.
Halle was starting to wonder if there REALLY were hidden eggs as she looked and looked and looked...EVERYWHERE except for where her eggs were nestled.
I had so much fun watching them hunt and hunt, wander and wonder and ask each other if they had seen any of their eggs. Kim and Halle were at it about 1 hour before they had gathered all their eggs and clues...and were eating chocolate eggs and sour jelly beans. Cameron was out looking for about 30 minutes...only because we got cold and tired of waiting for him as he stumbled to find his clues...so I helped him just "A BIT".

Eventually the "goods" were found and they all enjoyed a handful of candy (or two) before the "Easter Bunny" made breakfast. They are great sports and I'm so glad that they allow me to still have fun and do crazy things with them even though they are growing up. We all laughed and had a spectacular time as the kids tromped around the yard hunting for colored eggs on a cold and blustery day. I hope that its a day they will remember forever, I know I will!

The Reason for the SeaSon~

EASTER EGGS gaLoRe!!

I am happy to say, traditions don't end in my house just because the kids grow up. I will always be a kid at heart and will eventually be dying Easter eggs all alone as a wrinkled up old lady sitting in my bathrobe all day!

We got a new "Egg Dying" kit this year....one that I WILL NEVER USE again. It was supposed to make the eggs look "marbled", which it did...but the dye never really dried and ended up being really sticky, which made it extremely challenging to peel the eggs the next day when we were trying to make deviled eggs. I think I will bag the entire idea of dying "different" eggs every year and just stick to the "old fashioned" PAAS egg dying kit with the clear crayon, thats the one that I love the most anyway.

As you know, we always pick out a few of our favorites

after we are done...its TRAdiTION~

This one is my #1 pick, Kim's infamous "flower egg"

My #2 pick...mainly because of the color, this one is one

of the ones we tried to give the marbled look to....you be the judge~

...and of course my polka dot egg, which I do every year.

It was just Kim and I that dyed the eggs this year. Cam didn't want to (teenage party pooper) and Halle wasn't able to help out this year. It was later in the evening and my creative juices

weren't running very fast, but we had a great time anyway.

I love Easter time and the fun traditions we have in our family

But mostly~

I am grateful for my Savior Jesus Christ, for His Resurrection and atoning sacrifice.

After all, thats the reason for the season!

Now if SPRING would just come!

The making of a "Redneck Campfire"~

Thunderstorms are one of my least favorite things at night (I don't mind a quick one every now and again during the day...just not after dark). I don't know what scares me worse, the lightening crackling and lighting up the darkness of the night or the sound of the thunder rumbling across the sky. Either way...I'm not a fan!

A few nights ago as I was enjoying a nice visit with Kim in our living room, we hear the sudden onset of a rainstorm. Through our closed curtains we could see the lightening brightening up the darkened skies and every now and again I could hear the rumble of the rolling thunder. It wasn't long after that when I heard the pounding of the rain on the windows and doors...I was sure that we would probably float away because is sounded as though it was coming down fast and hard. Then BANG...a load noise and it was pitch black in our house...the power was out!!! LOVELY!!!! NOW to stumble around and find the flashlights. I knew where they were, but figured it would take a minute to get my "night eyes" working so I could get to where they were. Kim came to my rescue with her cell phone as she flipped it open and lighted my way! (what did we ever do without these handy little phones of ours? They are so good for so many things!) Upon finding the flashlights, it was discovered that ONLY one of them had batteries that worked, UHG! So I pulled out the candles and lit them. THEN I came up with a brilliant idea~ to roast MARSHMALLOWS over the candles.
I had some wooden skewers (not the best choice for roasting...but its all I had) and some miniture marshmallows...the candles weren't scented, so we didn't have to worry about having our marshmallows tasting like "white tea and lilacs"...we giggled a little bit at our creativity as well as our GENIUS idea, but in spite of our laughing, we had a blast!! We sat in the kitchen and carried on our visit, roasting marshmallows and lighting the candles over and over again (thats what you get when you buy the cheap ones that don't stay lit when the wick gets covered in melted wax!) until the power came back on.

Cameron and Halle came home from their church activity and thought we were pretty crazy as we sat there with sticks and roasted our tiny tidbit marshmallows,but they joined right in on the fun! Who would have thought that our little "redneck campfire" could bring the family together and would make us all forget about the rain, the thunder and the lightening...but it did!

Welcome home!!!

I have several bird feeders out my back window. A few days ago I loaded them all up with black sunflower seeds and then sat and waited for my long lost feathered friends to come back home. I didn't know how long it would take them to come fluttering by my abode and spot the feeders, but I was hoping it would be soon. After waiting for about 48 hours, I awoke to the sound of MANY "peeps" and "chirps". I have to say, I was a tad bit excited that my little friends had found their way back to my tree and brought along with them, a passel of pals. Waking up to the sound of birds is one of my favorite parts about the Spring and Summer. Have you ever noticed how insanely quiet it is during the winter? Its because ALL of the birds have flown south (to where its green, warm and beautiful)...NOW they've found their way back and I'm thrilled to have them residing in my yard once again.

These pictures don't do these adorable little yellow birds any justice. My photo's make them look dull and plain, when in reality they are bright and beautiful! I'm so glad that I once again get to wake up to their happy, cheerful chirping!

I hear that the "Early Bird gets the WoRm"...

Its 4 AM but I've actually been up since 3 AM. I woke up, having nightmares, three different times during the night. Finally with the last one I just decided to crawl out of bed and get my mind busy doing something else besides DREAMING HORRIBLE dreams... so I ate a few things to get my body moving, like eating these YUMMY treats (which I am totally in love with)!!......

...and I made bread, which will be 100% cooked and done by 7:00AM!

...and I completed a load of laundry and cleaned the kitchen!

Growing up I was plagued with nightmares, frequently waking up screaming or in tears with my heart pounding. They weren't ever the same dream...just awful, scary things that my mind would play out like an awful horror film, while I slept. I always thought that "when I grew up" I would outgrow the terrible curse of "nightmares"....BUT alas, I am here to tell you that I didn't...they still haunt my sleep from time to time, causing me to awake suddenly in tears, sweating and even screaming. I have to be careful about what I think, read or watch on television before I go to bed- because so often it's played out in a "horrific way" while I try to sleep. Some might say..."Gosh, I wished I had that problem, I could get so much done if I got up that early", but honestly...I would much rather be sleeping, enjoying a night of slumber, like the rest of the world. BUT for today....I will march on, accomplishing the tasks at hand, trying to wear myself out so that when I hit the pillow my body will be so exhausted that I can just fall fast asleep and enjoy some much needed rest...UNTIL then, I will just keep on moving-like the "Energizer Bunny".....Because THIS EARLY BIRD needs to get the worm!

WhY?

Have you ever wondered WHY....WHY people enjoy ice fishing? After all they sit on a chair, in the cold, bundled up like an eskimo waiting for a fish to bite... that more often than not when the fish does bite, they through back into the fishing hole anyway?

Have you ever wondered WHY...WHY do we have to have wrinkles and grey hair? Really, what is the purpose? Is it so people can tell who is old and who is young? Is is to give us all one more thing to dread and worry about when thinking about aging? Grey hair is NOT my thing and I refuse to let nature take that course...I plan on dying my hair FOREVER...as for the wrinkles, I am fighting those off as well. I just don't understand what purpose these "2" things play in the course of living.

Have you ever wondered WHY...WHY do we have to have ear wigs and WHY do they have those ugly pinchers on the end of their bodies? They are such a disgusting little creature and cause me to be quite squimish and jumpy when digging in the dirt. They serve NO purpose in my life and I would rather they be extinct!

Have you ever wondered WHY...WHY most men can lose weight quicker and without much effort, than women? Its NOT fair that men can eat double what a woman does and still lose weight! Its not fair that women have to work out double the amount of time than a man, yet the man still loses more weight than the woman!

Have you ever wondered WHY...WHY some people are blessed with tiny bodies by nature, eat everything they want and still don't gain weight? Why some of us are required to limit the "yummy" food we partake of and then have to sweat blood and tears for countless hours a week just to keep from piling on the pounds?....just doesn't seem right!

Have you ever wondered WHY...WHY some people have the "golden touch"? Seems as though everything they touch turns to gold. They seem to have countless streaks of "good fortune"...call it luck, call it a blessing, call it crazy...I don't understand it and it completely boggles my mind!

Have you ever wondered WHY...WHY some days the "time" seems to DRAG on forever? I have days like that, it seems that no matter what I do the day goes by so slowly and never seems to end.

Have you ever wondered WHY...WHY the only thing thats on television on a Saturday morning are CARTOONS? If you have cable, thats probably NOT the case. BUT for those of us that just have the "over the air" channels, there isn't a darn thing for adults to watch on Saturday morning...I don't know if thats because the networks assume we adults will be sleeping in or if we are supposed to be the only ones doing Saturday Chores...either way, its not happening in my house. I don't sleep in and I'm not going to be the only one working on Saturday Chores...but I would enjoy a bit of NEWS to start my day.

Have you ever wondered WHY...WHY some people

wonder and have so many questions?

JUST thought you might want to know the little things that I can't wrap my mind around and that no matter what the "LOGICAL answer" to my many questions might be, I still won't understand WHY!!!