Easter Egg Hunt / Good bye party

We have a tradition of a neighborhood easter egg hunt every year, and the mom who has been organizing it every year is going to be out of town for a couple weeks so we had the Chinle egg hunt this weekend. After a few days of blustery wind storms and then rain, and snow...on Saturday we weren't sure it was going to happen.  Thankfully we woke up on sunday morning to sunshine, so we went ahead with plans for the hunt and a BBQ at the park.   We combined this with a going away party for one of my good friends who is moving back to Oklahoma next week.   I spent the weekend cleaning my house for everyone to come over after the BBQ for dessert.  Funny thing, no one had any room for dessert after the BBQ so we just all (about 12 adults and a handful of kids) sat crammed in one room chatting.  At least one other room I cleaned got some good use--our 3rd bedroom had become a pile of random items in preparation for a moving yard sale so I cleared it ALL out (filled garbage bags and shoved them in the closet ha ha) except for a tv.  I bought Tangled when I was in Phoenix recently so I put that on for the older kids and all 8 of them sat intently for the whole show so the grow-ups actually had uninterrupted conversation.

Here is Rachel and her best friend

The loot.   Kids don't care whether it's easter or not--they don't need an excuse to "hunt"  for candy filled eggs.  I say "hunt" because other these weeds growing next the the fence, the field is a dirt lot--so the eggs were more scattered than "hidden", I guess now that I think about it that is the same way it was for me when I was their age.  It is once they get a little older, to keep them into it--you have to make it a little more challenging and actually hide them. 

The other thing I have been busy with was putting together a Blurb book for my friend about her 2 years in Chinle.  I did it for partly selfish reasons...but I don't think she minds :)   I knew I wanted to put together a Chinle book for myself  (similar to my Boston book), and volunteering to do it for her forced me to get it together by a deadline.  Now all I will have to do is delete some of her family pictures and add mine in, plus all the pics from being here an extra year before her, then add in the pics from the next few months --and Voila! My Chinle book will be done too.  Click on the link above to see a preview. 

Since completing this, I have been in the "moving" mindset, and I have had to keep telling myself that I don't get to move on Tuesday--only she does.  :(  I still have two months to go, I still have to go to class, and do homework, and buy groceries, etc.   Lame.  But although my mind is ready to checkout --I still need to stick it out for a while longer.    The up-side is when you are in the "moving midset" it is like you are wearing the "good-time goggles" Let me explain.  When you know you are about to move--you start reminiscing, and remembering all the good times, and forgetting most of the bad times.   Being happy about all the good friends you have, all of the fun things you have been able to do, and somehow forgetting for a little while all of the annoyances and crappy times.  So it is nice that I am in this mood a few months before I am moving while I have a chance to enjoy it...that is..if the wind ever stops.  



I say most bad times, because it is hard to forget all of the bad times while we are in the middle of the miserable dust storm season.

You see, it's not only miserable outside, but the dust is constantly making it's way inside as well.   Of course, through the front door when you have to open it, but also through all of these windows--mind you --never opened, but the dust just comes through any crack/seams.  So it collects here, but it also makes its way over to all of your picture frames, tables, tv, etc.  lame.