Easter and Birthdays

Let me start off with saying-

Church was a wonderful way to start the day.

Sacrament meeting was spiritual,

RS and Sunday School were both extraordinarily good.

I am truly thankful for my Savior and the sacrifice He made

for me.

Unfortunately Sunday is the only day we can get

together on my side of the family.

so..... 

 Easter Sunday was a hoot.

We celebrated not only Easter (in the heathenistic way-

eggs hunts, food, and games) we also celebrated

Mallory's 4th birthday and Mag's 3rd birthday.

(It's a good thing we had Eddie say the prayer-

he did a great job and got us thinking

of the true reason for the season.)

We played the "bean game" while we

waited for everyone to arrive.

If you've never played the bean game-

you are missing out! (it's real name is Bohnanza-

even Eddie will play. ) It's so fun.

I don't know why my boys can't look

like normal boys!

Sarai and Livvy

Brian, Jenny and Dave

Will showing his findings

 Birthday girl Mal excited to find some eggs :)

Birthday boy Mags picking out the jelly beans

(I found these later right there on the floor.

Smart boy- only going for the chocolate :)

Gracie- sporting new bangs-

showing off her haul :)

Grace and Andy looking for eggs-

Tommy, Sophie and Sierra did 

a great job hiding them all.

The kids had a blast finding them.

This is the birthday cake that Sarai made for the kids.

It was so darn cute! She even put a little skunk

hiding in the bullrushes on the back in honor of

Grandma Pugh.

Sophie reads Mal her new birthday book.

Over all it was a wonderful day, lots

of good food, good candy (Easter candy is the best!)

and good company. 

We are still finding eggs and candy hidden

in the strangest places- Eddie found one in each

of his dirty socks he left on the floor in the basement

family room :)

I have a video of the "older kids" hunting eggs

 and as soon as I can figure out how

to load it, I will :) 

xoxoxox

Word Verification

I want to know whose job it is to

make up those almost real words

 you have to type in to verify yourself

at the end of someones postings.

The words are soooo close to being

a word and yet just off a bit :)

squiffel = part squirrel / part wiffel ball?

naturear = natures hearing device?

mincesco = abbreviation for minced escargo?

crazy :) 

let's start finding a way to use

these words in our everyday vocabulary!

"My irch is tired, I'll think I'll hang out

here and take an irchrest for a bit"

Well, maybe I'll work on this some more :)

Feel free to use any of my words you'd like-

they are all 100% official 

Word Verification words :)

It's Never Too Late To Tell On Your Kids!

I think it is so much fun to read what everybody writes

about what their kids are saying! Just because my kids are old

and grown up doesn't mean I can't tell you what they did say 

when they were little! 

I know they will love that I am telling all this stuff, but some

day your kids will be mad at you too for spilling the beans!

One day when Lisa was about 7 or 8, she came downstairs 

from her bedroom quite upset because she couldn't find her

"diarrhea book". Of course she meant diary, but we had

a great laugh and she got mad at us for laughing. But come on, 

who wouldn't laugh at that? It was so cute.

Kira wanted to take a bath when she was about 6. It was

during the summer and she didn't want the water to be too hot-

she asked me if I would make the water "Jacob cool"

instead of "Luke warm". heehee.

That's cute too :)

Sierra went through a weird duck stage

where she would dress up in some dress up clothes

I made for the Strawberry Days Parade. They 

were "Aladdin" harem girl type clothes.

She would sneak around the house, crawling

in them and announce, "I'm a shy gypsy!"

what a goofy kid, but it sure made us laugh.

Kids do the darnedest things!

Good thing us adults are more mature

and in control of our vocabulary!

I'm sure my kids will have a few stories to tell

on their vocab-challenged mom!

xoxoxo

  I had a crazy dream - not last night but the night before :) But the aftermath of the dream has just stayed with me like a weird aftertaste. It's a long story and if you don't stay with me until the end, I'll understand. I'm pretty much writing this for myself and so hopefully I can move on :)
   I used to have a reoccurring dream when I was a kid - about the ages 11 through 15 I'd say. It was the creepiest dream ever, and I totally forgot about this dream until two nights ago when for some reason, I had it again. Boy did it drag up some old memories I hoped were gone forever. I don't know if you remember the house I spent most of my growing up years in (say 11 to 15) - We tore that sucker down to build the house I live in now. It could be the creepiest house ever- they say the original owner- the Mill owner - hung himself in that house. I don't know if that's true or not, but when I was that age, I believed it. It was the oldest house in Fort Pleasant Grove- we had to get permission from the historical society to tear it down, which after lots of picture taking and noticing it was not made of soft volcanic rock, we got permission to do. Anywho- creepy house, hard life experiences there and some things that nobody should ever endure happened there to me (some most of you know, some I've never spoken about, ever, to anybody and I don't know that I shall) add all those things up and it equals bad dreams. 
   So two nights ago- in a bad Stephen King way- I find myself reliving a dream I totally forgot about. (but like childbirth - as soon as I realize what was happening- all those feelings and memories came flying back)
   As Tevye would say- "this was my dream"- In my mom's old house was a creepy little hall that led to the "toilet room". At one end was a solitary toilet and the other end was a furnace closet. In my dream if you went into the furnace closet there was a hidden concrete staircase that led to a unknown basement. It was dark and smelly. The walls had this nasty wallpaper that was grey with a circus theme print- clowns and elephants that were balancing balls on their upturned trunks while standing on a little stripped balancing platform. In my dream, I would be drawn to walk down those stairs while shaking the whole time. At the bottom of the stairs I found a fabric doll of mine that was soiled looking, it was crumpled up like it had been thrown away. I also found bones of I don't know what, that had been gnawed on. I remember it smelled awful and I just wanted to get out of there. I don't know if I ever saw what lived down there, but I remember knowing it was someone I knew who had turned into part human/ part animal.  I don't think I ever figured out "who" it was, just that I had some attachment to them and they wanted to hurt me. Sometimes I would dream that my mom wanted me to clean the stairs and down there, but luckily I never made it past that doll. I had this dream a lot. It sure made walking down that hallway a bugger.
   So two nights ago- I am the old house walking towards the furnace room, reliving my worst nightmare. It was awful. Even though I was asleep, I knew this was a dream I didn't want to have. But something was a bit different this time. I had my kids with me in this dream and Eddie. They went down the stairs with me past the hideous wallpaper and the sad, dirty doll was still there, and the bones, but you could tell, they hadn't been touched for a while. We walk past them into a huge room that reminded me of Harry Potter's "leave it and lose it" room ( I know it has a name- I don't remember it:) Inside this big room are old matchbox cars, rollerskates, books galore, huge pieces of furniture- some that I remember, some totally new to me. One big old 70's style couch was in there- it was blue and my cousin was sitting on it. This was interesting to me- through out the room were the cousins of my youth who I hung out with so much - they were hanging out down there with my "stuff" . I have no fear of my relatives :) These were the kids who helped me get through so much crap I had as a kid. I love them. So with my cousins, my kids and Eddie we looked through the stuff which was stored in this room. Things from my past. Good things and not so good stuff. It was all covered in dust, but looked in pristine condition. BUT I was not afraid anymore.I felt safe with them by me. It hit me when I woke up- that house is gone. We tore that house down and there wasn't a basement there. I think that deep down all those years I really thought there was one under it. There is no more scary guy with sharp teeth waiting to devour me. It is over. I have so many emotions running through me. I can finally move on. I can forgive. I can cry tears of sadness for a sad little girl who thought she was alone in the world.
    Thank you to my family and Eddie for being my strength. I feel reborn in a way and sad in a way. 
Sorry you all got to read this, but it has been bouncing around in me for 2 days now. I had to purge. Please don't speak of this with my mom. She has her own problems. Just know that I am a survivor of sorts and glad this dream had a happy ending. xoxoxox