Squirrel Sunday

Well, Autumn & I didn’t last too long sleeping outside last night. I woke up at 2:30 and it was just too uncomfortable on those tables and I kept tossing and turning, so we came in the house and slept in the guest room. Oh, well. At least we can say we tried it and had fun doing it.

We hurried home and threw on some dresses and headed off to church. Autumn was good during sacrament and asked me draw her a big snowman and then proceeded to direct me in drawing a picture of her, Andrew, Mom & Grandma Ruth by the snowman. When I went to draw Papa she got upset and said that Papa was the snowman! Funny kid. After church we rushed home and changed and then went over to Mom & Dad’s. Dad was off, so Mom made wild rice & chicken casserole for lunch along w/ a nice salad.

When Autumn & I first got there and were getting out of the car, I heard a noise over in the garden and noticed a big squirrel was caught in the live trap. So, after we ate lunch we got in the truck and headed over to the lake to let the squirrel go.

I’m glad we take it out into the wild instead of just letting it go in someone else’s neighborhood. But, it also made me sad to think that the squirrel is now separated from his family (assuming he had one). He’ll have to forage for food and find a new place to sleep tonight. It made me kind of sad, but I’m glad that he’s not going to be eating the vegetables out of our garden or chewing holes in the eaves of the roof. We watched him run off into the horizon to find a new life w/ new friends.

We walked down to the lake and the water has really receded quite a bit. We found some rocks and threw them in the lake. We couldn’t get super close b/c it was muddy so Dad was showing Autumn how to lean back, take a big step forward, and throw the rock as she stepped.

She tried doing what he showed her and would just lift her leg up in the air and then proceed to throw the rock into the mud. I think this picture is so great b/c of Dad laughing. It’s so cute to see her try so hard even though she didn’t quite get it.

This was like a great Mr. Miyagi & Daniel San moment. The only thing that could have made it even more so, was if they were standing out on those poles in the water. Autumn was able to finally get a few rocks into the water and Dad was trying to hit the poles w/ a rock and finally did it after a dozen or so tries.

Autumn wanted to stay at the lake and keep throwing rocks, but it was too windy and too cold, so we came home. Autumn wanted to play hide & go seek w/ Dad, and it was hilarious, b/c he would hide somewhere really good and then Autumn would hide in that exact same spot. For example, he just sat on this stool and hid behind the mirror w/ a blanket over him and Autumn had the hardest time finding him. Then when she finally did, she told him to go count so she could hide there! It’s so funny that kids are so innocent and clueless and just say what they’re thinking. We got a kick out of it and laughed non-stop for about 20 minutes while they played.

After all the fun and excitement, Autumn came and sat next to me on the couch and wanted to watch Pecos Bill on my laptop (I just found it on youtube). Next thing I know, she had leaned her head on my arm and was sound asleep. Dad took her from me b/c he wanted to snuggle w/ her, plus I needed to help Mom make 60 deviled eggs for the party tonight. She’s so sweet when she’s asleep and it’s so rare now-a-days that she’ll hold still long enough for us to snuggle her. We were flipping channels and stopped on the 25th Anniversary show of Les Miserables. I absolutely adore the music b/c it is so moving and has such a good message. The talent of the people singing is just incredible. Good musicals just make me so happy.

At 7:00 we packed up the truck w/ our food and headed over to the Berrett’s for a party to celebrate Brad’s mission that he’s leaving for next week. They had a cake made to look like the Spanish flag since he will be serving for 2 years in Spain. He spoke in church last week and a few people told Mom that his talk was a partial tribute to Dad b/c Brad talked about their trip on the Inca Trail in Peru to climb Machu Pichu and compared that experience to going on a mission. I am so excited for Brad and all the great experiences he will have and how much it will change his life, just like it did to mine.

There were a lot of people there and there was a TON of food. We brought deviled eggs, Maggie’s bean dip/salsa, and lots of drinks. Berrett’s provided hot dogs and hamburgers w/ all the fixins. Other people brought veggie trays, fruit trays, chips, baked beans, etc. It was so hot inside that I made a plate of food for Autumn & myself and we went outside to eat under the gazebo. Autumn ate and then wanted to go play w/ some other little kids that were there. We went upstairs in the playroom and I stayed up there w/ Autumn & the 3 other little girls b/c there was no adult supervision. Autumn was so excited b/c they had a Pocahontas doll that she played w/ the whole time. When it was time to go, we cleaned up the playroom and then went back to Mom & Dad’s house. It was already 9:15 by this time, so I gathered up our stuff and we headed home.

I put Autumn to bed and then watched Army Wives. I cried and cried and cried b/c I was just really emotional today (I cried at the dinner table while talking about how the mascot came into our suite at the baseball game last year and how much it scared me) and it was so sad that Jeremy died. It was a wonderful weekend and now it will be back to the daily grind.