This weekend we celebrated Easter.  Saturday, our little city of Santa Paula had a tiny carnival and we attended with Serra~V~.  She participated in the hunt for candy and did a few rides and made a few crafts.  It was very warm out and we all came away a little pink. 

We purchased a new chair a few weeks ago and it arrived Saturday as well.  It is a rocker-recliner, and nutmeg colored leather that makes the living room smell great.  The chair we had before (that has since been retrieved by Salvation Army) was never like the one we thought we bought at the store.  It always had a bar that hit us at our lower back.  It started getting to the point that neither of us wanted to sit in it and so we decided to replace it.  Now we have to share time in the new chair as it is very nice. 

Sunday our meetings start at 9am and Brian was off just after 7am for his regular meetings.  I came in early to go through the song I was to sing for Sacrament meeting.  I sang His Hands.  I vow to never sing it again.  It is such a moving song in the lyrics written and the music that goes along with it that it invokes too much emotion.  I knew it would be a problem weeks ago when I decided to do it so I came up with a plan.  I sang through it several times a day and if I started to get emotional I would think about coming home to our house strewn with garbage from our well behaved hound, Mo.  The visual worked well in rehearsal and I hoped it would serve me in front of the microphone as well.  Another interesting side note.  The accompaniment tracks are several steps lower than the music written.  The music written was just high enough to pose a problem in the early morning so my gifted pianist TRANSPOSED it for me.  It is beyond me how anyone can do that.  It is truly a gift.  I was able to sing it in a comfortable range and make it through the whole thing without breaking down.  (And yes, during the high point of the song, I was thinking about our naughty little dog.)  It was a great meeting all around with our speakers addressing Easter from the point of both continents we have records from. 

Directly after church we fed our missionaries.  I signed up for the day before I knew it was Easter and didn’t want to leave our Elders in the lurch for a meal.  We grilled them up some burgers and as soon as they were on their way we headed to Calabasas to celebrate with our family.  Upon arriving we learned that Serra the elder’s Justin intelligently wasted little time and popped the question to my littlest sister Saturday evening.  It is a bit bittersweet as I don’t like to see her grown up enough to make these kinds of decisions.  But, indeed she has done and I hope Justin will treat her as she deserves to be treated.  I certainly hope he recognizes what a jewel he has.  Serra has always represented what I thought of as good a pure and I knew I wanted a daughter to carry her name, that hopefully my child would emulate her namesake.  She doesn’t have a malicious bone in her body and she is quick to please others.  She has always had a special place in my heart since she was a baby.  I was given a lot of responsibility in her care and she was my personal little doll.  And she was a perfect baby.  She hasn’t changed since then with a gentle nature and a sweetness that attracts everyone to her.  I wish her all the happiness in the world.

We had dinner with Gary’s contingency and Dallas, Matt Alan and a friend, and the Calabasas ward Elders.  Afterward the kid’s took a little walk and while we did dishes the Easter Bunny showed up and hid eggs for the kids, and even color coated them so everyone got an equal share.  It was a little confusing at first for Gianna and Serra~V~ who kept picking up each others but soon they got the hang of it and everyone had a good time.  SV insisted on opening each one to see what was on the inside and in some cases eating it before moving on to the next one.  With all of her eggs open it looked like she had double the booty the others got.  Jacob of course noticed and asked why Serra got thousands and thousands. 

Brian had to pick up his car at the office and Gary and Liesl needed extra space in their van for some pungent garden additives and so I traveled with the singing band of Joseph, Katrina, and SV.  They sang the whole way home trying out rounds with different songs and shooting monsters in between.  SV was in heaven with the company.

 

 

Here is the new chair.

 

Serra was not quite sure what to make of the giant bunnies and was reluctant to take the offered candy.  But in the end did not refuse.  Serra’s basket insinuates that she was optomistic.  In reality it was the only one I had on hand. 

 

Serra showing a little leg.  It didn’t take her long to grasp that she had to act fast to get the goods.  Look at the determination on her face and the muscular definition in that leg.

  

New Easter frocks.  The dress with matching hat and a new spring frock from Grandma Anderson.

 

 

And all the cousins having fun with the hunt.

Two weekends ago we planned on going to Vegas.  The nearer the time came the more Brian realized it was going to be difficult with his school schedule.  We made it work anyway and while I enjoyed myself in a relaxing way, Brian had to spend about half the time studying.  We were glad we went though because Amy Jo was there along with Adriane.  We hung out with the family from Friday night to Monday morning and Serra enjoyed having her Grandma doing things for her. 

 

Serra learned quickly that if she runs errands with Grandma she gets stuff.  The last few times she has come back with a sizable bag of goodies.  Prizes have included Flaming Hot Cheetos (her favorite), a mommy and baby rubber duck set, (she told Grandma that Mo ate her other one: not true) a few beanie animals,  and of course Grandma all to herself.  Mom becomes completely insufficient when Grandma Anderson is around.  Grandma must do everything for her.  I think it is pretty cute.  I get the feeling Grandma likes it too.  Serra has also learned that if she holds her kisses and hugs hostage long enough she can get stuff for them.  Nuts, candy, daddy dinosaur rides, and just about anything she may want.  I don’t know if we are setting a good precedent here. 

 

It took us over six hours to get back to California this time because of a Nascar race that was held if Vegas that weekend. 

 

Back to reality for Brian it was.  He has been running from work to school or school meetings, to church responsibilities at a pace that is exhausting for me to watch.  Unfortunately there is not much I can do to help.  I try to keep him supplied with food fuel, and run things to the church for Young Mens, but that is about all I can do. 

 

In the meantime, I have been sewing more clothes for Serra, canning, as you have been witness to, and now I have a new hobby.  Knitting.  I went to an Enrichment night where we leaned the basics and I was struggling.  Then I notice some people were using a round loom and whipping our all sorts of things in no time.  It was the same stitch I was trying to learn with two slippery and uncooperative needles.  I went out and picked up a set of these looms called the Knifty Knitter, and in the first few hours I popped out two hats.  I have found many patterns and stitch directions on line and I am excited to have something to keep my hands busy during the evening when we are vegging.  I can kick my feet up, watch a movie or a show with Brian and still be productive.  I am having a lot of fun with it.  I have also eliminated sugar from my diet completely including the white pastas and breads and I can’t believe the energy I have had the past two weeks since I started.  The knitting keeps my mind off snacking in the evenings too.  This has been a real positive change for me and although I intend to indulge once in a while ( like when Mom makes strawberry shortcake) for the most part I have been able to stick to it very well. 

 

This past week Serra has been in town.  With the exception of two days, SV and I  spent every day hanging with Serra and Mom.  It was a lot of fun.  Her friend Justin came for the last few days.  There were a few family dinners which are always fun.  On Tuesday Serra helped me with a photo shoot of the Tippett twins.  I will post a few of those.  Julie has trained Serra very well with the light disc and her help was greatly appreciated.   Also, all the trips to Calabasas have enabled us to see Brian nearly every day for a bit.  This is good for SV as she is usually sleeping when he leaves in the morning and sometimes at night she is already out for the count.  She has learned that at Daddy’s office the candy machines require money.  So, she sweetly tells her daddy that she needs money.  When he asks her for what she says “I want nems”  which are m&ms.  She also thinks it is necessary to try out the toilets in every motor home she sees.  I don’t give in to that one.  One of the evenings she asked Dallas to swing her.   He asked her if she had any money.  She actually did have 8 cents and she quickly went and rounded up the small offering from the pocket of her little jacket and presented it to him.  How could he then resist a swing.  Don’t worry, Dallas didn’t keep the money.

 

Friday we celebrated our 7th wedding anniversary and Brian suprised me with a beautiful boquet of yellow and orange sunflowers, similiar to the first flower he ever gave me .  We had dinner with the family.  We plan on going

Saturday, although Brian had school meeting all afternoon we managed a family outing early in the morning to the Santa Barbara zoo.  Once a year they invite members to come and see the animals being fed before the zoo opens to the general public.  It was a whole different experience to see the animals in the morning.  The lions were right up at the glass barrier pawing at the kids, and the gorillas were running and jumping and pounding with their fists against the glass making quite a racket.  We were able to see many of the animals including the white handed gibbons, much more active than they are in the afternoon when we usually go.  The only down side was it rained a bit, but we managed just fine with a few umbrellas.  We went out to breakfast afterward and then we said see ya for the rest of the day to Brian.   out next week when things are a little less hectic.  I must say that we are even happier this year then we were last year. 

 

 

Tuesday is the day that Brian presents two of the big presentations he has been working on for weeks and then things will slow down a little.  We will be glad to see him more then to say good morning and good night. 

 

I know there was more but it will have to wait for another post as I have forgotten. 

 

 

 

 

 

We went to a birthday party of a child of Brian’s friend while in Vegas.  Here is SV in her party hat.

                                  Beans, Beans, the musical fruit…

A few weeks ago I canned pinto beans.  Last week I decided to add kidney beans to the collection.  I decided on how many kidney beans to prepare based on how much the pinto beans had expanded, which was about twice as large as the dry product.  So I started with what I expected to be about 14 quarts, give or take, but they kept expanding, and expanding, and EXPANDING, until they had quadrupled in size.  I had all my pots bubbling over with the product on all four burners.  I stopped counting after 35 quarts.  Chile anyone.  If we end up dipping into our food storage on a large basis, we will definitely be the most musical family in the state.

 

A few weeks ago our video camera gave us the shaft.  So we did an little research and found a cute little Sony digital.  When we have the capability to DVD write on our computer we will be able to transfer the tapes directly to DVD.  I wanted to post a few stills I took of Serra pouting but our lovely PC refuses to recognize the existence of the camera no matter how many times I introduce the two.  So until we figure out the trouble the still camera will do. 

I think I may have fixed our internet troubles.  I may be able to post more if it keeps working as well as it is now.  The end.