A Crazy Red Head

Celebrating Dad's Birthday

Saturday, April 30, 2011

For the past number of years I have struggled to find something that Dad would have appreciated for his birthday. I was so glad when someone decided to give service, especially the service he would usually give around the house, for Mom. Last year we started painting some of the rooms and hallways and switching out her old brass knobs and fixtures for a new pewter look. This year the boys (Our Family Electrician ~ Kendall) added the canned lights to the kitchen. My poor mother hasn't had any lighting above her for a year!!! It looks so great:

The last two bedrooms upstairs were prepped and painted:

Dan and Jeff trimmed back or cut down moms willow tree/bush and the girls all made crowns:

My mom knows how much I hate yard work so she had me program her new set of cordless phones that she bought. Hopefully now she will be able to find her handsets and hear us!!!

After dinner we made a very familiar ride to the cemetery. Grandpa's headstone is in place, next to Dayna. There will be just enough room for Dan and I in between... Mom wasn't sure that she liked having her name and birth date carved in stone just yet... A few of us girls kin of felt the same way.

Dan picked out some lilies for both graves. I don't know if he knows how much they mean to me. Whenever I got to got to sacrament programs with Josh's Special Needs Mutual, Remember the Lillie's was usually sang. I will always remember these two sweet lilies.

Art Show

Wednesday, April 27, 2011

Easter Sunday

Sunday, April 24, 2011

I think that because Dad's first birthday since he passed away is only six days away, this Easter Sunday was extra emotional for me. We had some great speakers during Sacrament Meeting. I was team teaching with SheRie and she asked everyone to share an experience about a time they received a Priesthood Blessing. Each one of the kids shared a great experience that I too had shared with my dad, I was bawling and tried to get out that I was too emotional to share, through the blubbering ~ quite embarrassing in front of 11 year olds... We drove up to Garland to celebrate Easter and FHE with Jeanette and Brad. They borrowed this little bunny for some great pictures, and it only hopped out of someones arms once or twice.

I love Springtime and watching so many things around us coming to life after a long dormant winter.

The pink and white popcorn blossoms on the trees, the green grass, the daffodils, the tulips, the yellow forsythia bushes.

The baby chicks, goats, sheep, cows and horses.

The entire season is a rebirth of everything around us

I am so grateful to know that when we die, we will all have the same opportunity to be reborn like Spring, to be resurrected and live with our Savior again, to live with our Heavenly Father again, and to live with our Earthly Family again. I'm not asking for it to come any time soon, but I can't wait to be reunited with Grandpa Thomson and Grandpa and Grandma Mac, to hug my sweet cousin Allison, to be with my Dad and Dayna again.

Chloe listened to the lesson in primary today and asked me why they were so mean to Jesus, why didn't they know who he was? Every time I hear the story of the last days of Christ, I feel like a little girl. It makes me cry to think of him beaten and betrayed and knowing what he must do, for us, because he loves us. I hate that they put a wreath of thorns upon his head, that they whipped him and spit at him. I worry about how much blood he had to shed in Gethsemane for me.

I am so grateful for these Spring-y reminders all around me, especially for the sunshine (hoping for more), It really lifts my spirits!!!

Thanks to Jeanette, Brad & Family for the great lesson about Easter and Testimonies.

The Coloring of the Easter Eggs

Yesterday we colored these beauties. Dan was being an Egg Nazi and insisted we didn't boil any more than two dozen. Not two dozen each, two dozen total!!! And he wanted to do some himself, crazy dictator! Chloe and Seth each colored 8, I did 5 and Dan got 2 ~ 1 broke. Definitely not enough to satisfy any of our egg coloring needs. Growing up at Dan's house, the easter bunny hid all of the colored eggs in the house. So that's what the easter bunny does at our house, too. This is Chloe and Seth trying to figure out how many more eggs they need to find.

The easter bunny worked really hard to make things

difficult and the daddy had to give some clues:

Still on a budget, the kids got some candy (most of it free or close to it)

and a few toys that were left overs from last year (they didn't know/care).

I did ask Dan what he used to get as a child and he remembered new sand toys and buckets, water guns, and water/pool toys. I will have to keep an eye out for those things for next year! He did say that celebrating the easter egg hunt was nothing like Christmas morning when he was a little boy. But our kids decided to wake him up at 2 AM to see if the easter bunny had come ~ go figure! Today I feel bad for primary teachers and leaders all over the world!!!

Look What Dan Caught:

Saturday, April 23, 2011

We've been making drawing and plans for finishing off our yard. With both of our birthdays right now, we thought we would purchase some trees, shrubs and flowers. Dan was finishing up with the initial mowing of THE LAWN and came inside for the kids. They all got their gloves on and took turns holding our new pet snake!