"Then I Got Biblical With It"

Marshall had painted his room white and splashed glow in the dark paint on it. He turned the lights off to show me and it kind of looked like a crime scene that also included the phrase "To the window, to the wall." He then pointed out the paint above the doors and windows and said that he "got biblical with it" in reference to putting blood above your door to protect the first born...wonder if he realizes that he's 3rd born? Anyway, it cracked me up.

Let's cover most of my trip with bullet points shall we? (we shall)

• I had made plans with Dad two weeks prior to my arrival. When I showed up at his house for dinner he looked surprised...he totally forgot I was coming. Seriously?
• Went to la Espanol with Dad and his family. Turns out Dad is pretty weird and put honey all over his enchiladas and beans. Who does that? I tried it and it was alright, but I prefer to keep my honey on sophapillas.
• As I was sitting in the living room with Dad's family he told me that Chris (stepbrother) had some news for me. I thought he was going to announce that he'd gotten into the Navy because that was his plan at one point, so I was bracing myself to give an encouraging response...then he drops the bomb that he's going to be a dad. My response? "Ohmygawd? Ohmygawd. Ohmygawd! Ohmygawd. Ohmygawd. Congrats?" Dad: "Jes seems really shocked by this." Umm, yeah, because you totally didn't mention this when we talked on the phone.
• Spent two days baking with my gma and considered retiring so we could do that everyday. Weirdly they didn't want to pay my student loans or car payment, so that dream died fast.
• Ran a last minute 5k and got 2nd in my division. Oh, the perks of small town races. Even when you have your slowest 5k ever  (like ever ever) you might still place and feel like an undeserving champ.  The air is so cold and dry in Dalhart that I feared my insides were going to completely dry up and mummify me from the inside out (I don't think that's how mummies are made...whatevs). My insides burned and my kidneys hurt - first time for everything? I hope it was just the air, but I guess I'll test it out when I get back to Houston.
• Saw one of my best girls get married!
• And had the best date there.
• Spent some time with my Mom. And we went to DQ! Well, what else are you going to do in Sunray?
• Spent my last supper roasting hot dogs and marshmallows. perfection.

• And my grandparents made me a roasting chair - seriously, the perks of living far away.

• donuts.donuts.donuts.

Should We Be Concerned That I Book Travel For My Company?

Back in August I booked my flight for Lindsey's October wedding. I was considering flying down Wednesday night but after looking at my calendar I remembered that I would miss the last class before pole graduation. Conundrum? Not really, I just booked a flight for early Thursday morning.

Or so I thought.

October 17 comes around (Wednesday). I get up to snooze my running alarm and notice that I have a text from the airlines letting me know that my 7:10a flight is on schedule. In my sleepy confusion I first thought that it was nice that they are letting me know 24 hours in advance that my flight is on time. Then I realized how odd that was, opened up my email to check my flight details (because I didn't read the reminder I got on Monday)...yeah, totally booked my flight a day early and didn't notice. I managed to get it pushed to the afternoon flight for a fee of $75, so disaster partly diverted.

I popped out of bed and started packing while mentally making a list of everything I had to get done at work in half the time...and how to tell my boss I'm dumb.

I still don't know how I managed this. Part of my job is booking travel, so you would think that I could handle booking my own flight since I know what I want.

As we pulled into Sunray at10:30 Wednesday night, Mom told me that I got to help Marsh with his homework that night. Great! Actually I don't mind helping with math, but I was not down with the science arts and crafts situation he had going on. I don't even know what we were making exactly, just that it involved 40 circles that slightly vary in size. I got through about 30 circles, became way too frustrated with the perfection and accuracy it was lacking, and told Marsh he could finish the last 10 and make it work. He then cut the most deformed circle I've ever seen. I looked at him and asked "Seriously?" I hate that I can't always turn down my perfectionist side, especially when his level of craftsmanship was clearly below mine.

We got it done, I double checked his math (which was actually fun), and then I called it a night because it was way past my bedtime.

Happy Birthday Baby Marsh!

Today is my baby brother's 17th birthday!

And yes, I'm pretty sure he doesn't like when I call him my baby brother or baby marsh. But I can't help it. We are 9 years apart and he is the youngest, therefor making him the baby by default.

I still remember going to see him when he was born. Andrew and I were in our Halloween costumes because we had pictures that day. I can't remember if I was thrilled to have another brother or not, but either way he has grown on me over the years.

I wish that Marshall could stay a little kid forever, but there are perks to him getting older. The main one being that he's tall and strong enough to give me piggy back rides!

I am very blessed to have a brother as smart, clever, and funny as him.

Wrong Side Of The Bed

I don't know what it is about traveling, but I often get grumpy after a few days. I think this mostly happens when I'm in a travel situation where I don't have many choices about what I will be doing or when. Having my independence smothered doesn't go over well. My family doesn't do this intentionally when I go home, it's more due to location.

I woke up a little grumpy Sunday. The only thing certain about my day was that I would fly out that evening and at some point I would see Mom since her and Sam were finally home from the hospital.

Around lunch time the grandparents took Marshall & I back to Sunray. We hung out there for a bit while I helped her set up a blog. Easy peasy. Then she was asking questions about how to blog. I am def not an expert. I mean, have you read the crap I post? Ok, it's not crap. But I just stick to what I know: my life and baking.

On our way to Amarillo Mom was talking about how we were going to my fave place for lunch - Papasito's.

At this point I did have to question if my mom even knew me. Papasito's is ok and I didn't mind eating there when we lived in Canyon because it the better of the two Mexican places we had, but my fave ever ever is Ruby Tequila's. I was appalled.

Anyway, it was nice to spend a few hours with Mom & Marsh before heading back to Houston. I do miss them a lot even though I don't visit often.

This was my third time to go home since the funeral last year, and it wasn't as bad dealing with the dead brother stuff as I thought it would be. It felt weird seeing the pictures of us on the walls at Grandma's house and seeing his bedroom was turned back into a guest room, but it didn't get an emotional response from me.

But then I went to Mom's house. She had done more decorating since my last visit and there were our old family & baby pictures in the hall. I don't know why, but that made me cry. It's weird because I don't even have memories with Andrew in that house (She had just moved into the house when she got married last year...which was also the last time I was home before the funeral).

Sunray Funday

Saturday was Sunray Funday. What exactly is Sunray Funday? I don't really know. What I do know is that they have a parade and BBQ. It reminded me of Canyon's Fair on the Square...but a lot smaller.

We left the house a little early to hit up some garage sales on the way out of town. I haven't been to garage sales with Grandma & Papa since I was a kid! At the first house I found two milk jugs that I had to have. And? A cart that reminded me of the one that A Beautiful Mess fixed up! Sweet!

We had time for one more. And I found these:

I.died. I love the nurse one. the color, the pictures! USA!USA!

We got to Sunray and found a sweet spot (literally) in Dairy Queen's parking lot. There were kids on either side of us, so I knew it would be kinda tricky to get some candy. I lucked out and got my hands on a few pieces...while Papa was picking it up and giving it to the kid by us. Uh, whose team are you on?

As the marching band approached I had my camera ready to capture Marshall. This was the first time I've seen him march. I may have shed a tear or two. He's just so grown up and I'm so proud of him. I snapped as many pictures as I could. I even considered running down the block to get more, but I didn't want to embarrass him.

We found Marsh after the parade and headed to grab some BBQ. The chopped brisket was pretty good, just a little spicy for my liking. The church had free watermelon. Marsh and I hit that booth up twice. I don't like watermelon, so the first time I got a piece for Grandma. The second time I got two slices, one for Papa and one for Marsh because that kid loves it. We had even discussed just grabbing a whole watermelon and running. But I figured it's probably not good to steal from a church.

Grandma, Marshall, & Papa

An added bonus? It was kind of hot outside, and even in direct sunlight I was barley sweating! If this had been in Houston? I would have had sweat running down my back and legs. It was nice to be in less hellish weather conditions again.

We walked around the booths, got some homemade ice cream, Marshall was called Justin Bieber 3 times, then we all went back to Dalhart.

That afternoon I hit up the local grocery with Grandma to prep for the cookout. I had this genius plan of getting the caramel filled Ghirardelli bars for the s'mores...until I realized that we were in a small town and they don't have them. I was in shock. Gma and I searched the shelves a few times in hopes of finding them. No luck. I almost bought some when I was in Houston, but figured 1. I would eat them all before I got to Dalhart, and 2. Dalhart will have them, so it'll be fine. Yeah, bad call Jes.

Marsh, Dad, and Me.

When I got home Marsh and I headed over to Dad's house for a bit before the cookout. Dad showed me disc golf videos and techniques. Now I see where I get my obsessive side from. Marsh & Cameron (step-brother) watched Batman things. And Cam even put on his batman mask! He's leaving for college and I suggested that he have the full suit on when his roommate shows up. It's important to make a good impression.

Cam pretending to sunbath as Batman and Marshall.

That evening Joann & Jarrett came over for a cookout at Grandma's house!

I love nothing more than roasting marshmallows in grandma's cauldron. Ok, It's not really called that, but that's what it makes me think of.

We also had hot dogs so it wasn't only a sugar fest!

Andrew, Marshall, an I used to spend a lot of weekend at Grandma's house! It was the best place to be! She always made the best dinners, had our favorite snacks, had tons of great things for us to play with, and let us roast s'mores! I'm glad that's something that we can still do every now and then.

Disc Golf - Going For That Olympic Gold

My Dad's new thing is disc golf. When I was a baby he was all about Karate. Then we spent tons of hours on the tennis court. And there was a golf phase that I didn't mind too much because he let me drive the cart - I had no interest in playing. I don't even like mini golf. Then basketball (which he still hosts every Wednesday night at the middle school). But lately it's become disc golf.

Andrew loved disc golf so it was also something that they got to do together. Well, I have no interest in it. I don't like things that take patience or that are slow paced. And I'm really not even good at frisbee. Well, I called Dad up to see if he wanted to play some tennis. I haven't played in about 10 years but was really in the mood for it that day. I guess being back in Dalhart makes me want to do things from my childhood. He said he didn't even know where his rackets were but that we could play disc golf instead.  Great. Since I hadn't seen Dad in 8 months, and he did fly me here, how could I say no?

As we pulled up to the course on the lovely greens of Rita Blanca Lake (sarcasm, the lake is low, and the grass dessert like) and he grabbed the putters, he said, "The first thing you need to know about disc golf..." I cut in, "is that you don't talk about disc golf." "No, it's patience." Crap. I'm doomed. But then he told me that since I'm his daughter I should be naturally good at anything athletic. Uhhh, does he even know me? I didn't play sports growing up for a reason: I don't have good eye hand coordination. He showed me my putter options and asked which one I wanted. I chose the clear red one. He figured I'd pick that one because it was prettier than the others. Ok, so he does know me after all.

We got out to practice putting and he taught me the basic techniques of holding the disc and throwing form. I missed the first one, but then got the next 4 in a row in. Once Michelle, Chris, and Marlanie showed up it was time to get started.

I had a few decent holes. On most I was one over par, but whatever. I accidentally threw my disc over the side of a small cliff. Luckily Dad fetched it instead of making me since he had just told me he saw rattle snakes out there before.

source

We did 15 out of 18 holes because it was 8p and we were hungry! I decided that over the next four years we will strive to get disc golf into the Olympics, become a father/daughter team, and win America's hearts.

After golf we headed over to Pizza hut to get the worst service ever. At least the food was good...after the way too long wait. Overall it was a good time, and I told him I'd play again...but he has to find his rackets by my next visit.

Being around the lake brought back a lot of memories of my childhood (I lived in dalhart until 4th grade).

• I remember mom taking Andrew & I out for picnics. We would have sandwiches, sugar wafers, and wheat thins with cheese whiz. yumm! And then we'd get to play on the play ground. The biggest slide in Dalhart is there.

• There was a small man made catch and release pond (not sure if it's survived) that Papa used to take me & Andrew to. I was terrible at fishing but Andrew loved it.

• On weekends with Dad we would always end up at the lake since there isn't much to do in Dalhart. It's like population 6,000. There is a road that runs right into the lake because in the 80s the water was high enough for boats. Anyway, Dad would drive down the road and as we got closer he would act like his breaks and steering wheel had stopped working so we were going to crash! I hated that. Even though he did this about every other weekend I always thought that maybe that time was the time he was telling the truth. At one point I was almost convinced that I would have to break the window to jump out (because the door & windows had conveniently jammed).

• A few times we even hiked the trails (I would never do that now that I'm aware of the rattle snakes) would skip rocks. I wasn't very good at the rock skipping thing.

BodyJam Party For One

I woke up bright and early Friday. I sat in the kitchen munching on Cap'n Crunch while waiting for the sun to come up and just enjoyed being at Grandma's. I know it's just a house, but I've been coming to this house for 26 years. I look around at the antiques and pictures and think of all the memories I've had here. All holidays with the family and the games I would play with Andrew, Marshall, Justin, and Joanna. I took a few pictures because I don't want to ever forget how everything looked.

Baby Marsh through the years.

Who ever would have thought I was an entrepreneur as a kid. 

Dinner Bell

Love the kitchen antiques.

Like A Boss

Since the weather was good (no humidity!) I decided to go for a run despite my fear of stray dogs attacking me (this happened once in Canyon. He was coming so fast for me, I screamed for help, and after a few blocks I guess he reached his limit because he stopped. I was probably running faster than SR when I was trying to get away!). I waited in the front yard for Garmin to pick up the satellites before I took off. It always takes forever when I go home, so I decided to do some BodyJam to warm up. I hope Grandma wasn't too embarrassed to have a dancing fool in her front yard.

After a mini run I stopped at the park to play on the swings for a bit. I didn't feel like I had gotten in enough of a workout, so when I got back I turned on my music and did BodyJam in the foyer. I explained to Grandma that it looks way cooler when the instructors do it.

For me, it's party time all the time! source

JoJo came by for lunch and we discussed the cookout that we would be having the following night. So excited!

The afternoon was pretty chill. I just hung out with grandma, read food magazines, drank hot chocolate, and took a nap.

When Dad got off of work I called him up and invited myself to tag along for the evening.

There's No Place Like Home

After 8 long months I finally returned home!

I have the worst habit about not packing until after midnight when I have an early flight to catch. What the heck? I finally got to bed around 1 and was up at 5:30 to get ready and head to the airport.

I was so excited that I got a little choked up when I was boarding my flight. I ended up sleeping through most of my flight. Shocking since I got a whole 4.5 hours of sleep the night before.

Everything is flat.

Home. Well...close enough. Palo Duro Canyon.

Grandma, Papa, & Marshall were waiting for me at the airport! I didn't think they'd be able to get Marshall to come, so that was a nice surprise. Marsh even offered to carry my suitcase. What a gentleman. (Turns out the grandparents instructed him on this). I was hungry because it had been hours since I had breakfast. So we headed over to my beloved Donut Stop. It was about 11a, so they weren't warm anymore, but they were still delicious! I got 2 cherry donuts and a dozen donut holes. I can tell I'm getting older because I get sick from the sweetness if I eat more than this. And yes, I'm aware of how terrible this breakfast is for me, but it's not like I eat like this all the time!

Hello, lover.

After I took my first bite, I pulled my donut near and whispered "I love you so much." Marsh heard and gave me the craziest look.

Sam, Mom's husband*, had been in the hospital all week so we headed over to see them. I didn't mind spending the afternoon at the hospital because my only plans were to hang out at grandma's house, watch Hallmark movies, and eat cheese & crackers...but I was tired. I was almost willing to check myself into the hospital so I could get a bed and some sleep!

*Just so we are clear: I call him my Mom's husband because that's what he is. They've been married over a year, and I haven't lived at home in 8, so he obviously didn't play a big role in my life. I just didn't want anyone to think it was rude that I didn't call him 'step dad' or anything.

After we got the result that Sam had survived his quick surgery Mom dismissed us. Yessss! I fly into Amarillo, but my family lives a little farther up in the panhandle, so we still had about an hour and a half (at least) before I was at Grandma & Papa's house. My mom was staying with Sam in the hospital a few more days while he recovered...that's partly how I ended up with G&P.

On our way to Dalhart we stopped in Sunray to drop off Marsh & get him food before marching band practice. He's our little drummer boy! It was 5p, so I was starting to get hungry so Grandma called La Espanol to see if they had tamales that day. They did, so we went straight there! This was always one of my fave places to eat growing up. I honestly don't know if everything is good here because all I ever get are the tamales. Even though I always come to Dalhart, it had been years since I'd gone to La Espanol. So, if you ever find yourself in Dalhart, Texas, you must eat here! They were better than I had remembered. It felt so good to be home. One thing I love about small towns is that my grandparents know everyone. They literally ended up talking to everyone at the tables on our side of the room. But don't get it twisted - I'm not trading in the city for the country anytime soon.

When we got to Grandma's house I promptly found the King Sized Reese's that's now meant for Marshall. I was about to tear into it when Grandma told me to look in the bottom draw of the fridge. OMG! Secret Reese's stash!

*Side story: growing up I loved Reese's. Every Tuesday after Papa picked me up from piano lessons he would make me chocolate milk & give me a Reese's. What a charmed life I once had. But then Marshall came along and kind of jacked it from me. I love him anyway.

I had planned on calling up Dad to hang out, but instead passed out on the couch from 6-9. I sure know how to get crazy on vacation! When I woke up I joined G&P downstairs for some Hallmark movies. I think I feel asleep again within the hour. I wish I could blame it on jet lag...but I was in the same time zone.

I found my room upstairs and called it a night.

Can I Make A Birthday Request?

When I moved to Houston my plan was to go home at least twice a year: Christmas, and sometime in the summer. I figured seeing my family twice a year would be adequate, and the costs of flights have really gone up. Just 3 years ago I could fly from Lubbock to Houston for $200...now I can't manage to get anything under $350. WTF? Seriously, I'm only flying across Texas. And two of my New York flights have been less than that! Yeah, so I'm stubborn and try to avoid spending that much when going into the land of almost non-existent small towns. Come on, there's not really even anything cool there! Well, aside from my family and Donut Stop.

This year I decided to skip my summer trip and just go home at Christmas. I know it's terrible, but since Andrew died I don't like going back. And since never going back clearly isn't an option, I was just going to stick with the major holiday.

Great plan in theory....until I learned that it's time to go home when some or all of the following things are happening:

• I am watching New Moon once a week if not more.
• I start only listening to that soundtrack or other debbie downer songs.
• I call my mom crying at least once every day for more than a week (Thanks for still answering and calling me back!)
• I don't want to leave my apartment/bedroom ever. (But force myself to the gym in hopes of releasing some endorphins).

So since I'm a little broken hearted and homesick, I figured it was time to raise the white flag. In the past when I got homesick I wouldn't go because I fear that I'll get there and never want to leave. And as much fun as I really would have retiring and living with my grandma baking, cooking, and making s'mores...I feel that's not a good plan in the long run. But since this was more about matters of the heart, I figured I wouldn't be at too much of a risk of staying forever.

So I called up my Dad and made a bday request. It went something like this:

Me: My dearest Daddy, how have you been?
Father: Good my sweet darling Jes.
Me: I'm ever so pleased to hear. I miss you oh so much and would love if you would be so generous as to give me a birthday gift of coming home.
Father: Why of course my sweet girl.

Ok, we don't really talk like that. But basically I called up Dad and requested that my bday present be a flight home, he said the only stipulation is that I see him when I'm there. Duh, Dad. Duh. Done deal!

How could he say no? Especially after he gave me this picture and frame for Christmas. He knows what's up.

There are perks to not going home but once a year: your family seems to love you even more and wants to do whatever you want when you get there.

For example: I called Grandma to make sure her and Papa could pick me up from the airport since Mom will already be back at school. Once she agreed I asked if we could then immediately hit up donut stop so I can eat my weight in donut hole and cherry donut goodness! She said that's fine, but that Papa might not want to do that. She was kidding because Papa loves donuts, but just for good measure I told her that she might have to leave him behind.

Then she said that we should have a cookout and roast hot dogs, marshmallows, make s'mores, and would I like some homemade ice cream?

Why yes, yes I would.

I think my Grandma's plan to get me to stay forever is to 1. Make me so fat that I can't move, or 2.Hypnotize me with my fave treats.

I can't wait to go home to see my family and Donut Stop.

Feels Like Home

I texted Brittany to see if I could join in on the family activities for the rest of Saturday, and of course she said I was welcome.

I forgot to tell her I was on my way when I responded to her last text. I showed up, knocked twice, and let myself in. The house was quiet and the lights were off. I double checked that both cars were in the driveway and just figured that they were taking a nap because she had said that Emma was. My plan was to just chill on the couch until they got up. About a min after I got inside she texted asking when I was going to be there and if an early dinner was ok. haha. I responded to let her know that 5p freebirds sounded great...and that I was actually on their couch. I'm a creeper.

Once Emma woke up we headed to the mall to look at running shoes for Cole. I ended up finding tons of great things: Nike workout tops, two bracelets, some casual tees, and a black maxi skirt! Brittany and Cole ended up leaving empty handed. How did this happen?

Emma was getting fussy, but a Freebirds taco seemed to be just want she needed. Cole treated us to snow cones on the way home. Oh the perks of living in the burbs.

Emma & Cole

Brittany & Emma

We spent the evening playing with Emma until her bedtime. Then we busted out a few rounds of Skip-Bo. Skip-Bo and HP Scene It? are the most played games when I'm there. I love them both.

We also got Brit signed up for The Color Run! Now that she's started running again I'm going to start bringing my running shoes with me so we can log some laps at the track together! I'm really excited about that!

We ended the evening watching SNL and YouTube videos. And they let me stay the night in my old room.

I had a really great time, as always. I love being over there because it feels like a second home. The circumstances that had me move in were not ideal, but because of that it makes their home feel like a safe haven. I remember those days when I felt like I couldn't breathe, but then I'd get home and just being around Brittany made me feel a little bit better again. So now when I go to visit, it has the same effect. It makes it feel like nothing else that's going on matters...much like when I go to my family home to visit. I am so thankful that Cole & Brittany took me in and still let me hang out pretty regularly.

9 months

I can't believe so much time has passed. It feels like you are still here even though I know you aren't. I miss you so much. It's getting better. Well, better probably isn't the right word, but you know. Sometimes I can go a few weeks before I get really down about it, so that's progress, right?

I haven't been home since Christmas because I know there isn't even a possibility of me seeing you, which makes it all the more real. I don't want to see your picture hanging on the wall that we used in the obituary, and I don't want to know that I'm in such close proximity to your grave.

Usually when I dream about you they are nightmares of me trying to save you from who you had become. But lately they have been better - you've been trying to save me. It's weird being in dreamland and trying to sort out the reality of what's happening. Luckily I can usually remember that it's all fake and that you are gone, but sometimes I wake up thinking about what you are doing...then reality sets in.

Last night I had a dream that Marshall and I were at some family reunion with family that we didn't really know. One of our cousins (I suppose) started kind of taunting Marsh about how he didn't have a brother anymore. (In dream world Marshall is usually much younger and comes up to my shoulder). I went over to her, said some choice words, and punched her right in her face. Mom was mortified, but I think you would have been proud of my right hook.

I still talk about you often...after all I do have 20 years worth of memories. I don't always use the correct tense and people don't notice when I do because it's such a small word (like/liked, has/had, etc) to catch. The other day someone was asking about my brothers, so I told them. I prefaced it with "I did have two brothers; it's complicated. I'm about to tell you something and I don't want you to feel awkward about it." Yeah, they still felt awkward about it.

I still miss you dearly, but I guess I always will.

Marshall's Law

Let me take this back a sec before I explain this law.

I have a massive sweet tooth and I'm sure I've mentioned it on here before. I bake almost every week for crying out loud! Sometimes my sugar cravings are outta control, but they were pretty normal and I have been a functioning member of society for a few months now.

Until this happened:

Girl Scout Cookies. Why must you jack with my life?

I bought all of those, preceded to eat a whole box of tag-a-longs/peanut butter patties/whatever they are being called this year within that day. OMG. I had about two cookies from the other boxes, didn't love em (except for the thin mints, duh!) so I shared them with the co-workers. They are soooo welcome.

The second box of tag-a-longs? Yep, ate that the next day. It's like a drug to me. It's the Bella to my Edward.

This basically kicked off a frenzy. Before I knew it I was craving sweets every moment of every day! I also noticed that when I eat vinaigrette dressing it makes me want something sweet. Does that happen to anyone else, or is it just me?

Oh, what happened to the Thin Mints? I ate half and was going to take the other half to work, but B said she wanted it so I stuck it in the freezer. A few days went by and she didn't touch it. Naturally I started to want it. So I had a few. Everyday after that for about a week and a half I had a few more until they were gone.

A few days later she asked me if I had eaten the cookies. I told her yes and asked her if I had told her about Marshall's Law.

Basically it goes back to growing up and Easter candy:

The Easter Bunny would always leave us baskets of candy: Peeps, Cadbury Cream Eggs, and the Reese's Bunny are my fave. One year I ate all of that stuff from my basket on Easter (well, that part happens most every year). I had my eye on Marshall's candy (that he left on the counter, which basically makes it community) because he wasn't even eating it. I decided that if he hadn't even opened it in 24hrs that I was going to have some of it. To keep this short - I ate it. He got mad. Probably cried (he was really little then) and has never forgotten.

What kind of monster would steal this cute kids candy? Oh wait...

Flash forward to sibling weekend in college: Mom brought Marshall to Lubbock and gave us each a package of peeps. They joked about me not eating Marshall's. I ate them the next day when he was sleeping. (I obviously have a peeps problem). But I took him to Walmart the same day to restock...and made him pay. Kidding! I footed the peeps bill.

OK so the law is this: If you have something that I want (and I gave it to you, otherwise I'm not going to just jack your stuff unless you are my brother) and you don't touch it within 24 hours, then it's up for grabs.

Is that super jacked up? Probably yes. Whatever. I always replace the stuff of Marshall's that I eat. I would have replaced the cookies that I gave B then took back, but honestly? She would probably leave them and I would eat them again. Vicious.Cycle.


Back to the sugar addiction...

A few weeks later I ran into the Girl Scouts again and bought two more boxes of my faves...those lasted 3 days. After about a month of these cravings, I feel like my thirst (if you will) has gone down a lot. Not quite regular level, but I don't feel like I'm going to stab someone for a cookie. BUT I might stab someone for a Peep!

Easter

Growing up we always did the traditional egg dying and egg hunts. I loved it!

I remember being really little, back when we lived in Dalhart, and I swear Mom had someone dressed as a bunny come to the house to deliver me something...probably candy.

We would always have an easter egg hunt just me, Andrew, and Marshall. Then we would have one for all the grandkids after Easter dinner at Grandma's. That's when things really got good!

They would usually set either a limit on eggs or color code them because Marshall was so much younger than the rest of us that it wasn't really fair to do a free for all. Oh, and JoJo just sucked at finding eggs. Haha.

One year (I think 2007) it was so cold that we had to take the egg hunt inside. The adults split up the eggs and hid them all around the second story. I think this year it was a free for all. We lined up Marshall, Joanna, Me, Andrew, and Justin. When they gave us the 'go,' Andrew grabbed my leg so I ate the stairs as the boys went over me I think it turned into a mini wrestling match. Of course they won.

Then it got intense when we finally made it to the egg hunt. I think it may have gotten physical, especially between me and Andrew. We are both really competitive, so I'm not about to let him beat me just because he was 4.5 years younger. (Marshall, on the other hand, I would because he's wayyyy younger than me.) I remember at one point he poped the bottom of my basket so my eggs went flying so he could steal them. I was so mad!

The Goods.

Mom and Dad are so lucky to have me!

Impatient waiting for it to start. Glad Marsh has my back.

Let the games begin

Pretty sure this is when Andrew tried to steal my eggs.

In the end I'm pretty sure I ended up with the most. duh.


What's your favorite Easter memory?