Sharen Beard

My mom is my best friend.
She passed away on April 23, 2010.
It was the darkest day I have ever experienced.
It was unexpected and sudden.
We didn't know that she had acute leukemia, she didn't know.
Just within a matter of hours, my life changed, my family's life changed.
A piece of my heart is gone. The part that remains hurts.
I had no idea the kind of pain that comes with losing someone you love so hard, someone you want to be just like, someone who is the best example of what a mother is.
Mommy, I miss you so much. I feel lost. I need you here and I hate that you aren't.
I love you so much, and am so grateful for the amazing woman that you are.
I believe in the plan of salvation and know I will see you again;
I just wish I didn't have to wait so long to hug you.
Just know that you are everything.
Good bye Mommy.

Went down to Eugenie

I am just now catching up.
The kids and I went down to Eugene 2 weeks ago.
Woo to the hoo!!
It was so much fun.
We love visiting the fam.
The kids always have such a good time and I get a little mini vacay from cooking and laundry.
Plus I just love to have girlie time with my sister and mom.
I miss them all the time. They are my besties.
We had lots of yummy food, did a craft (it's not quite done), went to the movies, cut and colored hair, played games and saw my brothers.
It was so fun and relaxing (imagine that line in a sing-song voice).

All the kids in their cute Easter clothes, made by my amazing momma. They were actually very cooperative for their 'shoot.'

They also enjoyed a second easter egg hunt in matching jammies (also made by my mom ...thank you so much).

All ready for church. I look monstrously tall. Perhaps my heels created this illusion. We captured everyone but my Scotty who was back home working hard at school :(

Thanks for having us family, we love you and had a great time!!!

Easter Eve

We started our Easter festivities today.
We opted for the usual ... egg dying and egg hunt shebang.
I am not too creative when it comes to holiday activities.
I have every intention of preparing a bunch of fun crafts and food,
I look at blog after blog of go-getter moms that decorate and celebrate for weeks before,
but ultimately we just do the traditional thang.
But the kids loved it and so did we.
We started with the egg dying:

As you can see here, our colored dyes ready to go. Scott mixed these concoctions, so I am not really sure what the color in the middle is? Gross.

This is what Ezra was doing during the egg decorating. Oh well.

Ryan had a blast. She dyed and decorated most of the eggs with Lightening McQueen stickers.

A family pic missing my little Fezzy wig.

Yeesh. Scott and his alien egg.

Then we headed outside in the blistering cold and whipping winds to hunt for eggs.
We combined forces with our good friends the Nelsons, Baileys and Garliks.
This was definitely good news for the kids because is resulted in a 170+ egg hunt for 6 1/2 kids.
I overheard one dad excitedly tell his 2-year-old that the Easter bunny came and pooped all the eggs out on the lawn for them to find!
I didn't realize this is how the Easter bunny operated.
Anyway, it was definitely a hit.
Ryan found a lot of eggs (it helped that the Easter bunny pooped most of them in plain sight) and Ezra actually got into it as well.
They both came home with a pretty good haul.

Here she is preparing for the hunt. It was seriously cold and actually started to rain.


Ezra tripped over these roots several times but wouldn't give up until he had every egg by this tree.

At the end of the 4 minute hunt. I thought what with the enormous amount of eggs it would have lasted longer, but apparently I underestimated the speed at which little children can spot and retrieve candy. (From left: Jenna, Reagan, Hannah, Ryan, and Cade.)

Tomorrow we will focus on the spiritual (and more important) aspect of Easter: the Savior and His sacrifice for us all. Happy Easter all!