Graci's Birthday (and parental guilt)

We learned a valuable lesson this year in scheduling and parenting.  The end of April is packed with all the activities people try to get out of the way in order to free up the month of May, the month of end-of-the-school-year madness.  First, Mommy scheduled the Let's Play Music recital for Saturday, the 27th, the day after Graci's birthday.  No big deal, I thought.  I can still have her party on Friday, her actual birthday.  Or if I have to, during the day on Saturday.  Come to find out Peter had a merit badge clinic all day Saturday.  The tradition has become to have a scout camp-out at our house the night before so Peter has more control over getting the boys there on time.  We missed some communication on this and the fact that it was going to be Graci's birthday.  Being the super-genius that I am I came up with an alternate plan:  A camp-out birthday!  I would be great, we would roast s'mores and the girls could sleep in the camper.  So what if there were a couple of boy scouts there to celebrate along with us?
Thankfully Graci's friend Conrad could attend and we were able to create a delicious s'more cake.  Unfortunately because I ended up not having time for a big party (I was kind of relieved until Graci started to realize her birthday was not as exciting as last year, mainly because of the severe reduction in gifts) I felt like I was constantly attempting to make her party sound even better than it was, which made me just feel plain guilty for having put her special day lower on the priority list.  Add to this a last-minute conference Peter attended and my stress level combined with the guilt was enough to cure me of any future birthday mishaps--I hope.  To make matters worse, it was drizzly, so the campfire had to be under the barn and everyone was decked out in their sweaters trying not to catch a cold.  It was really fun to see the girls chasing the scouts around the yard, though.

 Conrad, a family buddy.

 Yeah, that cake was gooood.  Sea Salt fudge, 

fresh roasted marshmallows, oh boy!

 Amy and Margie.

Happy 4 years, Graci!!

Easter

We had another nice quiet Easter at home, though we were really missing Gage.  We prayed he was enjoying his Easter wherever he may be.  He especially loved the eggs with scriptures and artifacts related to Christ's Atonement and Resurrection.
It was weird buying eggs from the store, something we haven't done for a while.  We had a nice lesson about the primary colors while we did the dying.  The eggs didn't last long, though, everyone in the house loves hard-boiled eggs (though they would have gone faster if mommy could eat them--poor sensitive Margie).
We realized when we were eating our Easter dinner that last Easter we used up the last of our sweet potato crop and the same was true this year!  We also ate the first fish caught this year: trout from the river pond in Manhattan.  It was a wonderful dinner, prepared by Daddy, our weekend cook!

Dudes with Foods

The Elder's Quorum was looking to hold a Wild Game Cook-Off, which I felt I appropriately titled, "Dudes with Foods" at our house.  We told them sure, why not?  Though, we did make sure it was clear that our property is a wind-magnet and I was not exactly up to cleaning the house, or hosting anything in our pigeon-infested barn.  Thankfully, the weather cooperated and Dudes with Foods was a huge success.  Since is was at our house, I had no problem whatsoever partaking of the delicious dishes the men prepared.  Actually, I think it was the best food I have ever had at a church function to-date.  I attributed this to two factors:  1.  Men are innately competitive, thus put their best efforts into their dishes.  2.  At "normal" church functions the women usually bring the food.  It's their night off from cooking, so they tend to bring the easy, kiddie-crack, crowd pleasers (i.e. hot dogs, Velveeta  smothered anything, thrown together msg laden casseroles, etc.)

The evening began with partaking of the food, of course.  I don't mean to rant about church functions, but there is nothing more irritating than getting there (usually at a time well past dinner time for kids), having to listen to some type of devotional while everyone is misbehaved because they are so ravenous, and then finally serve up the food (in which the first partakers tend to be those that were late and missed the spiritual point of the whole meeting altogether).  This function was appropriately executed in that regard.  Anyway, following the food the men shared hunting tips (Peter was one male asked to speak on the subject, go, honey!)  Lastly, the men swapped stories and shot clay pigeons.  I've never shot a gun, so I took the opportunity to have seconds of some desserts and get to know some visitors that came along.

 Brother Crouch spoke about processing the meat.  

He can really tell a story, if you can imagine.

 Brother Greene insisted on holding Margie.  

She took it pretty well for about ten seconds. 

 Peter lookin' good if I do say so myself!

 Campfire+food+ exaggerated stories=success.

Peter educating the girls on antlers.