Easter and Mellow Days

This was our second Easter in Utah.  Our second Easter together as well.  This year we didn't do much.  We dyed eggs and got to hang out with both sides of Dennis' family.  Which is awesome.  I was originally uncertain how I felt about living so close to family.  We lived in Virginia our first few months of marriage where the only person we knew was his sister. Before that we had both of our immediate families and it was a little stressful at times.  So I was nervous about all the family we have out here. We really like it. Not only do we have both sides of Dennis' family, we have my dad's side up here as well.  We get to see all of them on a regular basis.  It's fun. We spent Easter morning with his aunt and all his cousins and their babies.  That evening we spent with his grandpa and all sorts of related or somewhat related cousins.

We tried the whipped cream dying method for some of our eggs and it was super fun!  They looked like chalk or water color eggs. It was neat. I was really proud of my bunny.  I drew him all by myself. 
Dennis has been playing a lot of soccer lately.  Mostly indoor but he has recently joined an outdoor team.  Or maybe two... I'm not entirely sure.  I just go when I'm told there's a game.
Oh!  The other night we came home kind of late.  I was really tired. I am still waking up with the sun (around 7:40 now). Dennis got out of the car before me and then disappeared. I opened my door to find him pointing to two kittens.  I have a really bad weakness for babies and things that are alone. So of course I needed to take care of them. I sat in the dirt at 1 am in the morning holding tiny kittens. Then I realized one was missing a leg.  First they were babies then alone and now one was hurt.  All things I can't handle put together. I was so sad. Our neighbors took the cats in the morning since we couldn't have them but all night I was heartbroken because I didn't think they would survive.
So that is my sad story for the week. 

Where were you when...

So lately I've been thinking.  Which is a dangerous thing to do. (-- Gaston song). Anyway.  I have been sort of doing a time line comparason between family and friends about where we were or what we were doing or had done by a certain age.  It's interesting to think about. Dennis and I have both had birthdays in the last month, so we were comparing mostly to our age. 

My grandpa: Was serving in the Navy.  Had not yet met my grandma.  Was not yet a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints.  May have started college. Had lived through 3 wars by that point. 

My grandma: Was attending college to become a teacher.  It was terribly important to her parents for her to do so.  She may have met my grandpa by this point and he may have been seeing the missionaries.
 
His grandma: Had married her childhood sweetheart two years earlier. She had just had her first baby.  They hadn't been sealed as a family yet. 

His grandpa (paternal): he had eloped with his high school sweetheart years before and kept it a secret and still continued to live with their families to maintain the secret.  By this point they had told everyone and were living together.


My parents: Had been married about a year.  They were attending college together.  My dad had been home from his mission for almost two years. My mom was graduating college and working as a chemist.

His parents: They'd been married over a year about and had just had their first baby.   His dad had been playing baseball at college and had been training with the Red Sox. He had blown out both his knees already. 

Something that is even crazier to do is to think about where we were at younger people's ages.  My brother is getting ready to leave on his mission.  His sister wants to get married.  It's crazy to think either how different or how similar our lives were then compared to theirs now.

Birthday Everything

Yesterday it was Dennis' birthday.  We both had work, so we didn't have any birthday adventures.  Yet.  We may still have one or two on Saturday in honor of his birthday.  So yesterday I made him a lemon meringue pie from scratch.  It is one of the few things I make that I don't worry constantly that someone will hate.  I only worry most of the time. Just not constantly. Anyway he really likes lemon meringue pie and he really likes when I make it.  He thinks I do amazingly.  He's so sweet. We went to Apollo burger again for his birthday dinner and he got a bunch of super awesome birthday presents.  He is one lucky dude.  New beats boombox, indoor soccer cleats, new shirts, paints... and hopefully more to come in the mail. Even though it was his birthday, I got a surprise package in the mail.  He bought me earrings.  He is so sweet.  He makes my heart melt. 

He also got punched in the face at a soccer game the night before his birthday. So he still has a fat lip.  His team is the new team of the league so they are the underdogs.  But look how adorable he is.