Weekend at a Random Farm

Before I talk about our weekend at the random farm...I present to you and assortment of random Easter photographs. 

This is a recreation of a photo of Chris in the same outfit with his Dad.  I need to get my hands on that photo so I can put them side by side.

 Little man on Easter in his wee little bow tie that used to be Chris's.

The Easter Eggs that Chris and I made.  Including the broken crackled number.  I spy with my little eye a Charlie Brown egg.  I also spy a lion egg.  And lastly, an I Love Jack egg.  Did you find them all?  (Insert awkward Dora pause, where I am just staring at you expectantly, everything frozen, except I am blinking.)  Hooray! You did it! You are AWESOME!  (also said in a Dora voice).

Why is Chris making such a face?

Because...I accidentally murdered his little yellow egg.  I dropped it between the chair and the table...it was a very somber occasion.  

Now onto the Random Farm.  Chris's family decided to meet halfway between Springville and Seattle (where Chris's sister Ashley lives) for General Conference Weekend.  This ended up being a small town just over the Idaho border into Oregon.  Chris's mom rented a small house on a bunch of land.  There was a barn, a corral, sheds and many a field and mountain.  

Here have a list.  Since I love lists.

Top 5 Things of note from the Farm Va-cay:

1.  We heard coyotes while we were out roasting some mallows.  They were very close and their howls were high-pitched squeals.  Creepy.

2.  We found a coyote skeleton in one of the fields.  Chris and I did a Bones like analysis of it.  "You can tell from the iliac crest that this coyote was a female...about 3 years old.  Small pelvic bones suggest she's never born a child.  Traces of calcium in the bones indicate she was raised in Holland and then later moved to Canada.  Occupational markers on her phalanges suggest she was a violinist."  

3.  The house we stayed in had the creepiest nook of a bedroom in the basement.  Complete with curtain doors, a hidden closet that housed an old cassette boom box, lavender furnishings, howling wolf posters, and a general unpleasant musk hanging in the air.  I am so glad we slept upstairs.

4.  One night we went around and talked about how we met our spouses and our first impressions of them.  We recorded it.  It was very interesting to hear everyone's stories and the different ways people remembered things.

5.  Jack spent time with his cousin Laila.  My favorite was when he would grab Laila and give her kisses.  So cute!  I'm not sure she liked it.  But, SO cute.

Cousins giving each other sort-of-hugs.

We found this little park in town that had old tractors, a log cabin, and a wagon.  I call this photo, "We done had a hard time."

This one is called, "Ma hit the bottle. Again."

All of us in the wagon. Note Jack is only wearing one sock.  He has taken to eating them off.  Oh and the braid I am wearing was unplanned, but perfect.  I unknowingly got my Laura Ingalls on.

Both of our wee families.  Melani, Chris, Jack (what is he looking at?), Laila, Ashley and Cameron. 

We spent one afternoon taking pictures in and around the barn that was on the land.

Chris and I both took the most artistic shots of the barn that we could come up with. This is Chris's.

Nice Form!

And here is mine.

Another random shot I took.

My favorite family picture we took. Don't we look lovely?! Oh what's that? You noticed something amiss?  Let's take a closer look.

Good heavens Jack! You look like a bloated raspberry!  This ladies and gentleman, is Jack's official
                                                   Pooping Face.  And it cracks me up.

This one is much more family-friendly. 

Every time we parked at the farm Chris dutifully tied our car to the hitching post.  We didn't want that scalawag to run off. 

I call this one Koala-Chris.  I looked out the window and saw Chris just standing there like this.

And lastly...here is the farm. 

It was a wonderful trip and we hope to do something similar once a year.  Next time I hope we make it to the beach!