Free Time at Mom's House

So I got bonus time this week. I was supposed to be driving from Utah to Virginia but decided to stay and see my daughter into college. This gave me a few days with no schedule, no kids, and plenty of time. Mom pointed me in the direction of the boxes of photos that she has been sorting and I did some scanning. Here are a few shots of the family over the years.

1978

1981

1984

1986

1989

Easter Bunny

A long tucked away memory was my Dad dressing up as the Easter bunny and taking jelly beans around to people he knew and his office workers. He had a pink bunny costume with a fluffy white tail. Tall ears that were wired and stood straight up off his head except that over time the wires had bent into crooked shapes. The costume was completed by a funny pair of oversized wire "glasses" wrapped in pink tape, and he drew on a button nose and whiskers with makeup.

I remember people looking startled when he approached and then laughing when they realized who was behind the funny glasses. Dad can be a ham, and so he would play up his role, taking hops and shaking his fluffy tail. He left people giggling as he hopped away.

He only did this a few times but I was reminded of it when Lauren was asked to play the Easter bunny for our community egg hunt. She sat in a cute white gazebo and posed with kids on her lap for parents to get a picture. I loved the connection to her grandpa.

Here is Lauren as the Easter bunny with Geral on her lap. A bag of jelly beans to the first person to send me a picture of Dad dressed as the Easter bunny!

Update: Mom came through and found pictures of Dad as the Easter bunny too! Here he is with four adorable children who were undoubtably happy to see him. The date on the photo is 1971 for those who are curious. 

This one is undated but I believe it was a few years later. 

Peanut Butter and Chocolate with Cheerios

For Family Home Evening treat one night, Dad made a creation. It was a Cheerio cereal base with toppings of peanut butter and melted chocolate. It was terrible, and has gone down in our families history as one of the worst of "treats".

So imagine my surprise as I walk down the aisle at the grocery store to find both Chocolate Cheerios and Peanut Butter Cheerios. All I can say is that Dad was a man of ideas, ahead of his time.

Moose tracks

    Barb Newell and Onalee enjoyed doing work together on our adjoining properties. We were both strong, vigorous, and focused workers, so we called each other Moose 1 and Moose 2.  Although, sometimes we had to wait for our husbands to come home to finish moving the really heavy stuff. 
   I still love finding "moose" items to share with  Barb - even after we moved away. Think about "Moose Track" ice cream as one delicious find. Wyoming gas stops have lots of moose theme gifts.
   Stacy reminded me that  Barb was helping us sort and pack when we moved out 1981. She was working so long and hard that when we were packing up the basement, I even gave her permission to have a smoke in the basement while we worked.  I certainly needed her loving help. We frequently stop and visit her and Tom in Pennington on our travels. Sad to realize we're moving so far away this time.
   I can remember being in our garage attic with Barb, sorting out the boxes of clothes and fabrics and toys stored up there. We opened a window and took the boxes of discards and tossed them out the window - easier than carrying them down the narrow retractable attic staircase. A few years later, Stacy found the word "defenestrate", which means the act of throwing it out the window. We've enjoyed connecting that to Barb + Onalee defenestrating the garage stuff efficiently.