Easter Shudder Shakedown

Well here I am, jumping on the blogging bandwagon, years behind. Typical me.

Let’s do this.

Easter/General Conference weekend found me making the annual pilgrimage to Yuma for a fun filled weekend with the family. There is no better feeling than returning home to a house full of chaos. Being single in a big city can get lonely rather quickly. There isn’t anyone waiting anxiously for you to return from a long day of….whatever… and ask for the details of said day. So, needless to say, whenever my bank account allows, I quickly jump at the opportunity to return to my wonderful family. Plus, it’s always nice to eat real food again.

Shortly after the conclusion of conference this year, we received an added surprise. All the gals migrated to the kitchen to start the heavy duty cleanup that comes with a house bursting at the seams with occupants. (Since moving out, I’ve found a hidden love for cleaning. I have a theory that because I now have my own space to clean, it’s more enjoyable and brings a bigger sense of accomplishment. Weird?) Soon after, everything began to sway, ever so slightly. The slow trembling quickly turned so severe that we had to resort to huddling under the kitchen table while the 7.2 magnitude earthquake violently shook the house around us. In retrospect, getting out of the house would have been the wiser of the two options, but I don’t think any of us were expecting the severity and seemingly endlessness of the quake. Yuma is directly over a huge fault line, so it’s not uncommon to get small and frequent quakes, but this was without a doubt the worst one any of us had experienced. Thank goodness, everyone was fine, just a bit…shall I say, shaken?

As soon as everyone got over the after shock, (sorry, that's the last one, promise) Isreal and Shelly brought the kids over for some good ol' Easter egg huntin'. Sometime during the festivities, Isreal commandeered a chicken from its coop, and brought it out for the kids to see. Ethan had no fear. However, Eric and Claire both had some reservations, which is, quite honestly, completely understandable. Chickens are evil.

All weekend, Mom had been planning Easter themed games for Sunday night. A few of these games revolved around raw eggs disguised as “hard boiled eggs”. Games such as balance the “hard boiled egg” on a spoon relay race, or see how far you can throw your “hard boiled egg” to your partner before dropping it. Mom’s sneaky that way. In need of an accomplice, she roped me into the hush, hush conspiracy. I love being in cahoots. But, to my horror, when game time came around, Mom threw me into the line of fire. Wait a second! I thought I was on her side…the safe side! Now I was included as a helpless participant, not so ignorant to the fact that we were dealing with live ammo. Did I have time to warn the others? No, now I had to focus on self-preservation.

Like I said, Mom’s sneaky like that.