HAARP?

I merely saw some cool cloud formation in the sky last night and took some photos of it. Along with about half a million other Austinites. The next day clients were asking if I saw it, talking about HAARP, or aliens, or whatever. Well, I'm pretty sure HAARP is in Alaska if you can believe anything on their homemade looking web site, and Texas is literally as far the other way as one can get in the US if that pesky Florida were out of the picture. But who knows, maybe they'll get their hands on a photo like this to study and be cool like me. Or maybe Cumulo-Fracto-Nimbus escaped from Xanth for a visit, even though, as previously stated, we're no where near Florida.

Easter Sunday

 

 

 

 

Our old Idaho college buddy Sammie, (with whom I was friends with first while dating Troy, he then became Troy's best buddy after we became engaged), just happens to have grown up in Houston and moved to Austin with his wife Melissa several years ago (Sammie's real name is Ben, not to be confused with my brother Ben and his wife Melissa who were married around the same time). A few days ago Sammie emailed to invite us to Easter dinner at their house. We only see them once a year or so because they live so very very far away (35 minute drive ;), so Troy replied, "You do remember that we have 5 kids, right?" I told him to ask if they had tornado-proofed their house.
Apparently they had, so we all trotted up there (after skipping church) for prime rib roast. We ate the entire thing if you include their baby surreptitiously feeding his portions to the dog. I brought up our hard-boiled and plastic eggs (because with all the skipping church we certainly had no time to color them before dinner), and the kids had a hunt in their back yard. I wish I could claim the immaculate lawn as our own, but sadly we have no grass this year, only an awesome garden. I bought an extra chocolate bunny for Troy and I to share, and I said, "I will eat the..." and while pondering which body part I would choose, Troy added, "the chocolate part. I'll end up with the box." He has obviously realized he's married to a woman!
This is the day we reflect upon how grateful we are that Christ gave his life to save us from our sins, and since I stubbornly harbor so many sins, doubts, and lack of will to much change that, I am especially grateful to have a Savior who loves me in spite of it all. Happy Easter to you, and may God have mercy on our souls!

Idyllic Garden

 

Don't these photos just make you want to punch me in the face? My idyllic little life with the spring garden and toddlers joyously learning about the miracle of life with scratching chickens hinted at in the background; it's enough to make you think my life really is just this perfect. That's what blogs are supposed to do. Take photos of the best times and make all the readers feel inadequate. Just remember, that while life is certainly almost this awesome, that this entire episode only took about 5 minutes after trying to get the kids out during perfect sunset light for at least 5 days, and that the chickens took twice as long to lure to that spot with poultry treats. All of it fits nicely between whining and too much TV, but since most of you just look at the photos and don't read those of you who made it this far know me the best now.

Easter Egg Hunt

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Easter just wouldn't be the same without picking up tiny plastic colored eggs off a lawn...er, I mean wouldn't be the same without Jesus. Franklin Family Ranch off Middlecreek Rd in Johnson City held its annual Easter Festival sponsored by a local church. I very much appreciated that all my kids said Jesus is what Easter is all about even before we got there to experience a religious bent on a secular celebration. They had a praise band, a sermon, and a scavenger hunt with Bible clues in addition to free food, candy, and giant blow up jumpy things as far as the eye could see! You can see how sad they were when they were deflated at the end of the craziness.
I can't believe we've lived here so many years and never heard of this party, but we'll be making it an annual event! Next year I'm going to do my best to not get sunburned again, nor add stress by rushing out for having too many photo shoots scheduled afterward. I'll just bring a lounge chair, sunscreen, and chill out all afternoon while my kids wear themselves out.

Barton Springs Dog Pool

The kids wanted to go swimming, they've been bugging me for days. I may have mentioned the worst spring ever in my whining, complainy voice in previous posts. The cold winter wind turned into hot summer stagnation literally overnight. But it's Austin, so we're sure to get another cold snap or ice storm soon before the real dog days set in, right? Please? They predict a scorcher, which means even worse than the usual habitat of demons we typically suffer from June-August. After the bugs, the snow photos, and now this, I'm sure no one will ever pay us a visit again.

But I think this is the part I'm supposed to talk about the photos themselves. Barton Springs Pool is a natural spring-fed pool in downtown Austin, free all winter for polar bear swimmers. But they're charging again now, so the disappointed kids opted to wade in the creek at the end of the pool: free and therefore full of dogs despite the No Swimming and Pets on Leash signs posted all over. You'd think Christmas came in April they were so excited! I am a hero for the day!

I apologize no dogs made an appearance in the wide photo; they're never around when actually wanted. And yes, spell checker did catch the word complainy, yet I chose to leave it in there.

Park Day

 

Our longtime friend Brittany is having her third baby girl, and we spent the afternoon celebrating with a baby shower at Johnson City Park. Fun party, good food, great friends and conversation, and the kids got to check out a new place that was worth the 40-minute one-way trip despite all the pinching, poking, and yelling during the trip. Zoey would only play on the purple dinosaur because it matched her outfit. The heat wiped them out, and most of them were asleep on the way home. Someone find out where spring went and how we possibly went from winter straight into summer? Worst springtime ever thanks to La Nina. Texas, gotta love it.