Happy Easter (and enough earthquakes already!!)
Well, we had a great Easter, despite it being the smallest family group we’ve had ever I think, and despite the huge and scary earthquake. It was a beautiful (although chilly) day; Mom and Dad baked a scrumptious ham…the best one I’ve ever had…, excellent dinner rolls, macaroni and cheese, and mashed potatoes and gravy. Grandma brought chocolate pie, coconut creme, and pumpkin pies from Coco’s, and Laura brought white chocolate and dark chocolate dipped pretzels she’d made. The only people that were able to make it this year were me, Josh, Laura, Mason, Grandma, Uncle Kelly, and of course Mom and Dad. Becky was there for a little while, but she had to work that day, and George, Deanna, Makayla, and Alyssa were visiting Deanna’s sister who was in town, and Brett had to work. đ We all missed them very much, but it was still a great day!
Josh took some beautiful photos around Mom and Dad’s yard:
I love the detail on the photo above. Look at the texture you can almost see through on the leaves! Great job, Honey!
This hummingbird was so cute…he wouldn’t leave his post on the top of this tree all day! If he left for a little bit he’d come right back!
Here are some pics of the family:
 Ok, this is a funny story: Uncle Kelly never eats dessert. We always bug him to, but he usually doesn’t. The last few holidays he’s actually given in once or twice and had something. This Easter he had a slice of pumpkin pie, so of course I had to document it and get photos. đ He didn’t remember how to work the whipped cream can, but then he figured it out and got it all over! I joked that he just needed it smeared around his face next, so he did it! LOL. That’s what the picture below is about. I started laughing because I noticed in some of my pictures Mason’s Gerber Graduates snacks were in front of Uncle Kelly; he then grabbed the baby snacks and pretended to eat them, and then grabbed Mason’s sippy cup…it was too perfect a photo op to pass up!
 
Mom and Dad always make the best food on holidays, but this was even the best ham I’ve ever tasted. It was so super moist and tender and mild-flavored. Excellent! I had two left-over ham sandwiches before I went home that day. đ
After Grandma and Uncle Kelly had gone home, Laura was sleeping on Mom and Dad’s bed downstairs and Mason was sleeping on the sofa upstairs. Mom, Dad, Josh, and I were playing Trivial Pursuit on the PS3. Mom said: “What is that?!” and we all thought it was just a large helicopter going over because we heard a rumble and felt the shaking. Then when it didn’t go away but kept getting stronger, we realized that it was a big earthquake and we all jumped up to run outside. Mom and Dad grabbed Mason and yelled down to Laura, and we all ran out into the front. Dad saw his SUV rolling back and forth! It was really really scary, and my legs were trembly and like jelly for like 15 minutes afterward!
George called Mom and Dad’s house and said their DVD player had fallen off their tv; I was getting really worried about our house and Shadow. We had JUST the day before assembled and put up a new china hutch for the dining room and I’d filled it with glass vases and plates. Talk about timing.
Some things were knocked over in Mom and Dad’s house when we went back inside. Everyone here is ok, thank God. Terribly, three people in Mexico lost their lives. đ This quake’s epicentre was near Mexicali and was a 7.2! That is larger than Haiti’s devastating quake, but the damages were much less because the building codes are better in here and in Mexico than in Haiti. Even so, there are hundreds of collapsed buildings and homes in Mexico. There are broken windows and glass in a lot of places here in San Diego, but luckily not at any of our houses. Swimming pools as far north as Los Angeles had water sloshing over the sides. We were so nervous to walk in and see the damage, but amazingly our new china hutch was all fine! As soon as I went upstairs I felt pretty eerie, though. I had a moment of “did I leave the house like this??!” which I knew I didn’t, but your brain tries to rationalize things. It looked like a burgler had been looking for something upstairs, or like a poltergeist was having fun. Some of our large heavy drawers were hanging open,
perfumes on top of the dressers were knocked over, cabinet doors were hanging open, all of our picture frames were hanging at 45 degree angles or worse; some pictures were flung off the walls and landed 6 feet from where they were on the wall, some items in our front curio cabinet and some of my ancient egyptian figurines had danced inches away from where they had been sitting originally,
framed pictures on tabletops were facing backwards toward the walls or were knocked over completely…
some books were flung off shelves…
…and it’s still not over for crying out loud! Literally as I’m typing this another earthquake (possibly still an aftershock) just rumbled my sofa and boomed in the walls. I am getting so sick of it. Every day at least once an hour and usually more we’ve been having aftershocks and other earthquakes from other faults. Some have been quite big again. It makes it very hard to sleep, and we’re actually pretty reluctant to go up to bed every night now. I sure hope it calms down soon…it’s too scary!
Anyway, I hope everyone had a great Easter!