First thing i did on Sunday was hit up the 8 am service. It's been awhile since i have gotten up that early but staying awake didn't seem to be a problem while sitting during the sermon. It was mostly about why there were two thieves chillin on the two crosses on either side of jesus.
After the church thing i went straight to my bed and took a two and half hour nap. i need to make sure i was rested for the Easter Egg hunt. It is pretty intense every year. Though last year i didn't do to well, i got a bunch of panera bread gift cards. i don't even know where panera bread is.
i didn't arrive at the house until 1:50pm, i was told to be there at 1:30 pm but my nap lasted longer than i meant it to. Turned out a bunch of people weren't there yet when i arrived so the food was just hanging out in the kitchen for a good 30 minutes before the rest of the guests showed up. After the early dinner everyone just hung out and talked a bit.
Brent actually stuck around a bit after the meal, which was nice because he usually peaces family gatherings as soon as possible unless he has brought a lady to the shindig. Before the egg hunt got started Brent left, he didn't want anything to do with the Egg Hunt. i tried to convince him to participate because he could find cash in the eggs that would then pay for his next beer. He then came back with that he has a 'job' and he doesn't need a few bones found in eggs because he makes 'blah blah blah' a month. Fine, more eggs for this guy!
Here is josh, he always has to say something to make fun of me. One of his comments was that Carter (JR and Megan's baby) and i do the same thing everyday...bastard. 
Austin and Rach. Austin doesn't seem to like the camera... 
Here is Winston, he's due for a bath and hair cut. Carter was not a fan of him, i thought all babies liked dogs...
i just wanted a picture of Winston, but bekah had to get in the frame and do something weird...
Sometime after 4pm the Egg Hunt finally got started. We were told there would only be candy and cash eggs and there would not be crazy slips of paper with numbers in the eggs that corresponded to bags with gift cards like there usually are. The money to be had were some ones, fives, tens, and one twenty dollar bill. i was determined to grab that egg with the Andrew Jackson inside.
There is actually a few techniques to proper egg hunting. No matter how cold it is outside, don't wear a jacket it'll just slow you down. If you get cold you're not running around fast enough. When you bend down to pick up an egg, bend at the knees and lean forward so that you can easily sprint to the next egg location. The most crucial, is to throw a hip check towards other egg hunters when snatching the egg. What also helps is to watch where the adults hide the eggs.
We were only allowed to pick up 11 eggs this year. Last year i think it was 12, and for some reason there were 8 'bonus' eggs that could be picked up after everyone has collected their 11.
i of course picked up a 12th egg before i was told everyone had collected their 11 eggs. You snooze you lose, and since i did so horribly during the egg hunt last year i thought i would just help myself to an extra one before we were allowed to.
The house soon turns into a chicken coop minus the chickens and the eggs are colored because everyone just throws their eggs once they crack open its contents. The first egg i opened had some candy and a one dollar bill...it wasn't a good start but the next egg also had another dollar bill. The next couple eggs only had candy in them. i was about to think i stuck out with no more eggs in cash in them until i opened the largest yellow egg in my bag....there was a bill in it, Andrew Jackson! i knew i was going to find him! The last couple eggs contained some more candy and one more with a dollar bill in it. My total cash winnings was 23 bones. Not too bad, good enough for a few rounds of beers.
After all the eggs were opened, Uncle Gary broke out a bag with a bunch of lame knick knacks and office supplies that companies give out at conventions or something that he went to. One of the items was a stapleless stapler that did not use staples. Can you even call it a stapler that doesn't use staples? It was a pretty crazy device. Some how it punches a hole in the paper and then tucks a flap of the paper into a hole...its hard to explain you'll just have to find one and see it for yourself. Of course it doesn't work was well as staples but it gets the job done and its environmentally friendly.
When it came to my turn to pick out one of these cheesy give aways, i picked the carabiner multi-tool in blue. It has a flashlight, bottle opener, and a clipping thing...pretty much everything you'll ever need. i guess the only thing cooler than this would be the Guppie just because it has a knife, wrench, and a couple different screws drivers. i'm still happy with my inferior multi-tool.
Here is the carabiner light in action...Austin got one too.
Apparently Josh and Abby have been playing violin together and josh thought he would share one of the few songs he has learned. It was pretty painful, at least it looks like he knows what he's doing.
Every family gathering with this family, there has to be a lame photo taken with the four sisters. Here it is with some ridiculous flowers.
Buttons...
Clarence...
The girls use to have another cat, Cindy. That was the cool cat because if you ever fell asleep in the house, you would wake up with Cindy sleeping on your chest. But Cindy ran away and is probably dead, rotting in the woods somewhere.
Everyone left around 7pm. i on the other hand thought i would overstay my welcome since i haven't seen these kids for awhile. i finally left around 8:10 to come home to find out that i had missed the Simpsons...bummer, should have left earlier.
The next thing she wanted to tell me was that when the flowers do open, to prolong the live of the flower and to delay the pedals from wilting...you need to pluck off the anthers from the filaments. She said she learned that from a guy in a flower shop a while back.
Here is a flower with the anthers removed...i personally think it looks cooler with the anthers, if i cared about flowers of course. After she shared her flower caring secrets with me she only removed the anthers from one flower. She must not care about the other flowers. Bummer..
Well there's your fun flower caring secret for the day...the more you know.
Brent never called me back so i decided to eat a steak and run in the mean time. Finally called brent and made plans to meet up at Mariano's Tavern at 9:30. That would give us a half-hour before the karaoke goes down so we would be able to get a place to sit.
Seeing brent made it tempting to get something for myself but i told myself i would fight the temptation and not order any food, because i'm fat and if i really need something to eat i can wait until i get back home to raid the refrigerator. To help fight the temptation i ordered a coors light.
Besides a couple bartenders at Mariano's, there is this one guy that is always at the bar. Not sure what his name is but we're going to call him Bob. If you looked up 'regular' in the dictionary it would have a picture of Bob next to the definition. To top if off, you're guaranteed to hear him sing while you're sipping on a drink of your choice. He's also tone deaf but he has a lot of soul...so it balances out.
Brent still owes me like to karaoke songs as i have done a couple songs in the past but he's just too chicken to do it. One of these days i'll get him so intoxicated he'll think he's a super star and i'll have to drag him away from the mic. Brent and i thought maybe we could could adrianne to sing a song, but she doesn't even talk and getting her to do a song was pretty much impossible. Since i have never seen a picture of brent and adrianne together i thought i'd take a nice picture of them. Of course when i take a picture brent isn't smiling and adrianne looks away...oh well, maybe next time. At least brent looks 'normal' without his nasty dreads.
i can't stand cleaning everything, i wish i could just befriend someone that just likes to clean and invite them over when i need the wine junx cleaned. Alas, i haven't found anyone yet...Oh well, now just another 11 days until the clearing chemicals are put in. Woot.
Here is josh, he always has to say something to make fun of me. One of his comments was that Carter (JR and Megan's baby) and i do the same thing everyday...bastard. 
Austin and Rach. Austin doesn't seem to like the camera...
Here is Winston, he's due for a bath and hair cut. Carter was not a fan of him, i thought all babies liked dogs...
i just wanted a picture of Winston, but bekah had to get in the frame and do something weird...
Sometime after 4pm the Egg Hunt finally got started. We were told there would only be candy and cash eggs and there would not be crazy slips of paper with numbers in the eggs that corresponded to bags with gift cards like there usually are. The money to be had were some ones, fives, tens, and one twenty dollar bill. i was determined to grab that egg with the Andrew Jackson inside.
i of course picked up a 12th egg before i was told everyone had collected their 11 eggs. You snooze you lose, and since i did so horribly during the egg hunt last year i thought i would just help myself to an extra one before we were allowed to.
The house soon turns into a chicken coop minus the chickens and the eggs are colored because everyone just throws their eggs once they crack open its contents. The first egg i opened had some candy and a one dollar bill...it wasn't a good start but the next egg also had another dollar bill. The next couple eggs only had candy in them. i was about to think i stuck out with no more eggs in cash in them until i opened the largest yellow egg in my bag....there was a bill in it, Andrew Jackson! i knew i was going to find him! The last couple eggs contained some more candy and one more with a dollar bill in it. My total cash winnings was 23 bones. Not too bad, good enough for a few rounds of beers.
Apparently Josh and Abby have been playing violin together and josh thought he would share one of the few songs he has learned. It was pretty painful, at least it looks like he knows what he's doing.
Every family gathering with this family, there has to be a lame photo taken with the four sisters. Here it is with some ridiculous flowers.
Buttons...
Clarence...
The girls use to have another cat, Cindy. That was the cool cat because if you ever fell asleep in the house, you would wake up with Cindy sleeping on your chest. But Cindy ran away and is probably dead, rotting in the woods somewhere.
Sorry for the blurry picture, i'm no professional photographer. Brent arrived at the diner a little bit before me. We walked in and ask for non-smoking. The guy asked if a table was okay rather than a booth, and before i could answer brent said a table would be fine. While i was thinking, "no! if i got to a place that has booths, i want a booth!". Its pretty much the rule when going to a diner with a small party, you have to sit at a booth. Oh well, i guess i'll live. We sat down and our waitress was kind of rude, and she didn't refill my glass of water. i wasn't going to order anything but while looking at the very extensive menu i saw something that caught my eye, the Greek Gyro. Not quite sure what other kind of gyros there but i had to have one. Its the closest thing to a shawarma i can get, and boy do i enjoy my shawarmas.
This has got to be one of the scariest ceramic objects in our house. Of course my mom thinks its cute but it has to be the scariest pig ever. It looks like a pig that died, got buried, dug himself out, killed a chef at a french restaurant, and jacked his clothes.
My mom cooked up a storm. On the table there was egg rolls, salad, ham, corn, sweet potatoes, green bean casserole, and fried rice. 
i wasn't really feeling the picture moment so i went head and started helping myself to the ham. i thought brent was going to eat a lot but he didn't to my disappointment. Turned out he had just woken up a little before dinner and this was really his lunch and it wouldn't be long until he got his second dinner.
