Childhood memories work in such funny ways.

We went to Grandma and Grandpa Taylors house for Easter dinner. Grandma had made red finger jello for one of the dishes. Aunt Kellee was cutting easter shapes into it with cookie cutters. I saw the bunny cookie cutter. I had completely forgotten it even existed.

All these memories came back to me of those red cookie cutters. I remembered the turkey cutter quite clearly and think about it every thanksgiving when I make cookies. But I can't believe that I had forgotten about the cake and the bunny and that great flag cutter. Sugar cookies were one of the first things I learned how to make. My mom makes the best cookies and instead of frosting them we actually sugar them with colored jello so you can see the designs from the cutter on the cookie. They are so delicious.

Anyway, I got such a kick out of seeing these cookie cutters that I tried to make mom promise to leave them to me. But she wasn't committing.
I'm a girl that takes matters into my own hands so I bought my own set on e-bay. Gotta love e-bay. They were easy to find as they were made by Tupperware.
So watch for some cool flag cookies to be coming your way in July.

Saturday was kind of strange for us. We usually go to the easter egg hunt at Fremont State Park and then out to Barben's for Easter Rock.

This year the Fremont egg hunt was canceled and we decided we needed to stop crashing the Barben's party. It is their family reunion and we've sensed some resentment from some of the other family members. It is hard to let this tradition go as we have enjoyed ourselves so much in other years.

We've decided we need to come up with our own tradition. Now that Fremont won't happen anymore I'm betting we'll stay in Capitol Reef another night and have a hunt up there. Either that or try something at Monrovian park. I don't know.

So anyway, on Saturday we worked on the house and in the yard and then went to see a movie together. We saw Monsters vs. Aliens. I slept through parts of it and then was confused about what was happening. woops.

After the movie we grabbed some pizzas and ingredients for fresh strawberry shakes. It was now time for my favorite easter activity - coloring easter eggs.

I love decorating easter eggs. I always buy at least a dozen eggs for each child so they can get their fill of creativity. I figure they are cheap entertainment. I was glad that I had purchased all my eggs before we left town because there was not a 12 count carton to be found in Wal-Mart on Saturday.

I love that my mom and dad always come and participate with us. We kid each other and make silly eggs and try new techniques. I snuck an egg in with the name of the guy that E1 likes. She took the ribbing pretty good naturedly. N actually used a spoon to dip his eggs instead of his hand.... my baby boy is growing up.

Hope you all had a great Easter!

Darren and I drove up to Capitol Reef Thursday night after work in order to join up with the rest of the family. My parents had taken the kids and the trailer up on Wednesday.

Friday we spent a beautiful day hiking, reading, visiting, and eating yummy homemade pie from the park store. E2 read a lot (she is so like me). N was in cousin heaven with two little boys to play with. E3 suckered everyone she found into a game of U-NO as well as riding her bike all over the campground. E1 played frisbee and football with us and with a school-mate she found up the road.

It was a nice relaxing day - just what I needed.

Day after Interviews

Transcript #409a
Date: 09APR09 - one day post interview
Time: 9:30 a.m.
Place: Sheffer Kitchen

Darren comes up the stairs and enters the kitchen.

Darren: "WHOA!"

Sonja is sitting at counter consuming two bags of potato chips and a warm diet coke. She gives Darren a look clearly challenging him to say something.

Darren: "Nice Hair. Very Michael Jackson zombie "Thriller"ish"

Sonja eats chips and licks fingers.

Darren: "You've fallen far".

Sonja: "I'm tired of being an adult. What have I gotten out of it? Bills. Responsibility. Doing things I don't want to do."

Darren: "Four kids that you do everything for and they don't appreciate you. AT ALL."

Sonja puts head on counter.

Darren: "I think there is some Ben and Jerry's in the freezer".

Today is the big day.
Darren and I both interview at 3:00 in Cedar City.
I am so nervous I am literally just sick.
But I am also glad to have it over with. I'm tired of being depressed and crying or stressing all the time.

My dad brought Darren and I treats and balloons and caffeine yesterday to wish us good luck The card made me cry. He even remembered a lime. I love my dad.

Thanks to everyone for your kind words/emails of enouragement. They mean so much.

Okay so Adam is AMAZING.




I found this great link

http://digg.com/d1oCd7

where it shows Adam singing the song, as well as video clips from the Tears for Fears version and the Gary Jules version (very clever). I will be bookmarking this site for future weeks. The author has other performances available, too.

I also like this site: rickey.org for all the cute little contestant cartoon faces. I'm sure there is some technical term for them but I don't know what it would be. I'll have to ask E1 when she gets home.