The week in perspective

Wow! We just can’t seem to have a calm week around here lately.

So on Thursday night my Aunt Becky and her daughter and son, Aunt Lisa and her kids, and my uncle Jeff and my mom and dad, my sister and her family and my brother and his family (about 20 altogether) came over. My aunt was in from Texas. It was so much fun to have them all over. I don’t get to have that opportunity to have my dad’s side of the family over too often so it was just awesome to have them there.

Really the whole purpose of this get together was for my son and daughter who both have Fragile X and my cousin who has Fragile X to have a spaghetti dinner together. All three of them LOVE spaghetti. How funny is that. Now really a preference for spaghetti is not a Fragile X trait, so if your children love it, not to worry. We just thought it was so cute that they had that in common. My son had 4 plates of spaghetti! He thought the party was a great idea. I think that 2 was a little overwhelmed with the company (as usual) but it was such a great experience for all of us.

I had fun getting to know my Aunt Becky better and seeing the interaction between her and Nichole, because i couldn’t help but see myself in their shoes in about 18 years. My Uncle Jeff also shared his personality with us by keeping Avery happy with his stuffed animal technique as you will see in the pictures.






Friday the kids out of school so they were a big help for me. We spent most of the day outside playing because it was such a nice day--sunny and beautiful. Marc and I even went on a date that night. Can we all say “yay” for me finally getting out of the house! I mean really out, out to eat! It felt good to be amongst others and chit chat.

Saturday was a very interesting day. We rushed around early Saturday morning to get to my hometown Easter Egg Hunt. Or friends came with us--their kids are pictured here with 12 and 16. We were late but the kids were still able to pick prizes. They got 2 prizes each! I love small town functions! 16 even had 12 help her get in on the fun by having him grab some prizes for her. It was great because my cousins from out of town were there too and I got to see them again and Brooke too, who also came up. I also got to see some childhood friends and their family! My mom and little sis were there too and excited about it (ya think?). Then we came home, rested a bit and then went to a friend’s house and had a picnic with a bunch of friends. Then we had a huge easter egg hunt--our friends provided all the candy and eggs! How nice was that?!!






But, then after all the fun the day started going downward. Our horse, Sparks-R-Flyin’, we call him Sparks. Had been acting sick for a few weeks. First we thought it was the hay with dust then we thought maybe moldy hay. We called some friends for advice and they would say there was a virus going around that a lot of horses were getting. We treated him as suggested. Then Thursday night he started getting really bad--our uncle Jeff was worried he wouldn’t make it through the night. We put a blanket on him for the night and then Saturday morning got him some meds from the vet but, by then he wasn’t eating anything at all so we couldn’t get him to take all the meds. He was suffering and it was awful to watch. He was struggling to breathe and his legs would shake if he could stand up--which was rare. I think he had a lot of fight in him but the sickness was not letting up. Our VERY special friends, the Butlers brought over a friend who is a vet and she told us he wasn’t going to live much longer. Within in a half hour he had fallen to the ground--my poor kids thought he had died right then and the tears became more intense as they all lay around him to comfort him in his last minutes. Our friends/neighbors behind us came to give comfort. It was hard for them too--Sparks was their favorite. Our horses are like their horses too. It was a tough day for all of us. Our friend came and his family members and our brother in law to help Marc and lift an almost lifeless Sparks into the trailer. It took 7 men and one woman (thanks Amber B.) to lift him into the trailer and it was an amazing thing to witness. Then, as we tell our kids, we took him somewhere where he can run free and feel better. Goodbye Spark’s we love you. He was 5 years old this week. We got him when he was about 2. Our beautiful and gentle horse will be greatly missed. Here are some pictures of him when we first got him.








We got the kids minds off things by doing a our traditional easter egg coloring. We had a good time--really we did! We even had one explode during boiling and 16 thought it looked like Elvis. How much you think we could sell him for?!!?












Well, death, no matter who or what it involves, really puts Easter in perspective. It gets you thinking about what is truly important. I am so thankful to my Savior for all he has done for us. Easter morning was wonderful. We found our baskets and we got some really neat picture books about Christ and we read a few passages from those to put the morning in perspective. We had a our favorite breakfast, egg gravy over toast and then got ready for church. It was a good day. I was able to be back in nursery--I love those kids! Then after church we went to my sister’s for her traditional dinner and easter egg hunt. Oh, and it is funny because we told Aaron's girlfriend, Chelsea that she would be in next years pictures, but, if you look at the reflection in the window she is in this year's!!! We had so much fun!













OK, I think I will sign off for now.

Oh, and I will try to get my recipes posted for the last couple of weeks--I know some of you are waiting for the granola recipe.