A Boy & His Dog Reunited: The Rest of the Visit

First Post of the Day

Tammo was so happy to have Kyle back in his orbit again. He followed Kyle around the house, had some extended playtimes, and got many extra long walks while his boy was with us.

I think Kyle was just as over the moon to be with his dog again. (Oh, and he was glad to see us, too. LOL)

Playing keep away with  one of Tammo's favorite toys, Mr. Fox.

Although we'd already had one Easter celebration with extended local family members, we had another with Lisa, Kyle, Curt, Vanessa, and their children on Easter itself.

I used paper plates rather than Easter baskets - good way to use up the leftover Thanksgiving plates, right? And everyone got a maple cake along with the traditional Reeses Peanut Butter Egg.

Kyle taught Lukie how to make the cooking food heat faster by using the mind method. Not sure that worked, but the food did eventually get to the table!

There were only nine of us so we were all able to fit around the dining room table together.

Why yes, Lukie is wearing a Christmas sweater to Easter dinner. Kind of goes with those Thanksgiving plates we are using.

Vanessa loves to experiment with fruit drinks and made us a refreshing pitcher of strawberry lemonade.

I have mentioned before how gentle Craig is with the dogs. Look who thinks he is an easy target has gravitated to him during dinner.

A Thanksgiving Easter food coma afterward for Ian. (Notice how Nashie is sitting on the end. He usually sits right where Ian is and is hoping that Ian will move over and let him up!)

We enjoyed almost a whole week of having Kyle with us, even more so because he was with us when we lost Molly and he provided extra support for Lisa and the rest us us as we worked through our grief.

The night before he left, he surprised me with an early Mother's Day gift. 

Thanks, Kyle. I appreciate the gift and the sentiment behind it.

All too soon, Kyle had to leave. We are already looking forward to the next time a boy and his dog are reunited.

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A Boy & His Dog Reunited

Second Post of the Day

Kyle flew in to spend a few days at Easter with us. It's always good to see him, and the bonus is seeing Tammo's excitement at reuniting with his boy. He recognized Kyle immediately, and went into "transports of joy."

Oh, how our dogs love us.

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Happy Easter! Christos Anesti!

 Second Post of the Day

Happy Easter!

Christos Anesti!

An Isenbarger Family Easter Celebration

A fairly new tradition for our family, and a VERY popular one, is to head up to Leslie and Rick's farm in Brookston for Easter dinner and an Easter egg hunt.

All the local family comes and brings a dish to share, while Rick and Leslie cook a ham or turkey and hide 100+ Easter eggs. (After stuffing each one chock full of candy.)

Steve, Eric, Cindie, Vanessa, Curt, Lukie, Ian, Lisa, Mila, me, Rick, Jenny, and Craig. A very happy Eddie sits in front.

Leslie and Rick convert their cheesemaking room into a dining hall where we all gather together for dinner.  

Jenny, Leslie, and Ian all have birthdays in April so we also celebrate their birthdays on Easter. 

Gathering in the kitchen before the buffet opens. Lisa, Jenny, Curt, Vanessa, Ian, and Leslie.

The meats are being cooked out in the shop and aren't on the serving table yet. (Where are we going to put them??) Craig, Cindie, Eric, Lisa, Jenny, Curt, and Vanessa.

Steve and me. He's a good big brother. (Although I still haven't forgiven him for the Creepy Crawler spiders he made and put in my bed when we were kids...  Traumatized for life!! LOL)

Next up after dinner was the annual family Easter egg hunt. There are two divisions: adults and kids. (Craig asked if he could have a senior citizen division; nice try, honey!)

This year's prizes for the winners was gourmet carmel corn from local candy shop, Wolf's.

Needless to say, everyone was all in for those two prizes!

Jenny especially hoped to win, so she lined up in a starter's position next to Ian, ready to beat him to the hidden eggs. (She does have long legs and is pretty fast...)

"C'mon! Call 'go'! My knees are starting to hurt!" (But those knees! Ouch!)

Three acres of the farm are fenced off from the horse pasture, and that is where all the eggs are hidden. Everyone spreads out as they take off.

It takes a while but eventually we find most of them. (Although Les and Rick will find more that were missed in the coming weeks.)

Methinks Curt is eying his kids' bags of eggs and hoping for a handout...

Once all of us are up by the house again, we count our eggs and determine the winners - whoever has found the most gets the prize. Lisa and Mila were this year's winners.

And then, since we are all starved (::cough cough::) we open some of the eggs and eat what we like or trade for something we'd prefer.

Lukie was pretty happy with his haul!

"You beat me?? I still have my Creepy Crawler machine, Lynn..."

Despite having had dinner and then copious amounts of candy, there is yet another round of food to come - dessert. (Yeah. I know.)

We have birthday cakes and Hershey Pie to nosh on. (Hershey Pie is such a big tradition in our family, I found out later that evening that all six of our kids had made it for their own Easter celebrations! Here's the recipe.)

We also had another old family favorite - Whipped Cream Stack Ups. (Recipe: whip cream until very firm, sandwich between vanilla wafers, refrigerate, eat. Easy peasy. Stacks of 3-4 vanilla wafers work best, but have at it if you wish!)

After the birthday celebrations, we are all stuffed and sleepy. 

Lukie had cuddled up against me and was nodding off, but he awoke just as our picture was taken.

Eddie opened his eyes and sat up in time for one last picture and then we all packed up and left for home.

He was fast asleep almost immediately.

It was such a fun day. And even better, guess who has a piece of Hershey Pie in the fridge? 

It's what breakfast is all about! 

Gethsemane & Happy Easter

The Easter video Cambria and Titan made dropped Thursday but I've saved it for today. That wasn't my original intent. I'd planned to share it, point out clips of the two of them caught on camera, and more.

Not anymore. 

This video isn't about my grands or the balance of the adults, children, and orchestra. It's one of those rare times when all things come together and you have something extraordinary.

Enjoy, and Happy Easter.

Easter Music Preview

Easter is almost here and Mountain Mama Jessica has sent me the date when the video that her kids filmed with The Tabernacle Choir and The Orchestra at Temple Square (back in January) will drop. It's tomorrow!

As of this writing, I haven't seen it yet, but here are some pictures from the rehearsals.

The kids are in the front row (blue circle) and sandwiched between the Choir (top, in white and black) and the Orchestra (bottom, in black.) You can just barely see conductor Ryan Murphy standing a little to the right and down from Cambria and Titan.

When Jessica was attending BYU, he directed a choir that she sang in.

It was just last October when the kids sang in the Conference Center that he and Jessica reconnected for the first time in years. (Ryan is now one of the directors of The Tabernacle Choir.)

Cambria in rehearsal at top left and wearing glasses.

Another rehearsal shot showing part of the orchestra.

A group photo of the Tabernacle Choir, the Children's Choir, and the Orchestra at Temple Square. The kids have had to spill out on both sides.

While the Conference Center is massive, it's not big enough for this group of musicians. 

Having said that, I am grateful that they squeezed all the musicians in and that I will soon be able to watch Cambria and Titan sing.

This time it's me who is staying 'tooned!

Last day for the Second April Give Away! Just whose nose is it that is poking through the rails of the overlook?? One guess per blog post Monday through today at 11:59 PM EDT but you can guess different dogs!

Music, Matching, & Mutts

The past week or so has been busy musically for Cambria and Titan.

They wrapped up their final performance in Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat.

Cambria taking a photo of some of the kids in the children's chorus. That's Titan in red.

Two days later Titan was back in the studio recording tracks for another song and video for composer Angie Killian.

Next up on their schedules was a rehearsal for a song and video that both Cambria and Titan are recording for Easter with The Tabernacle Choir and the Orchestra at Temple Square. 

Mountain Mama Jessica sent me this picture of them rehearsing but I have no idea where Cambria and Titan are.

Jessica used to sing in an ensemble that was conducted by Ryan Murphy, the same man who is conducting this production. After the rehearsal, they got to chat and he took a photo with Titan and Cambria.

This past Sunday morning the Tabernacle Choir, Orchestra at Temple Square, and the children's choir recorded the song all together. I can't wait to see it! (It's for Easter so I doubt it will be released before April.) I will post a link here when I get it.

I've gotten two more trade shirts completed for Kalamazoo. 

This is a 2XL with horn buttons. I like the geometric pattern that is interspersed throughout the print.

This is a Medium. I don't do checks very often even though they are correct for the time period. It can be is a real bear to get the checks all matched at the seams before you cut the pieces out. 

An example of checks (in this case, plaid) that do not match.

It is a sign of quality workmanship when plaids, checks, and stripes match - the next time you are looking at clothing with checks, plaids, or stripes take a closer look. If they match, then it is a better quality piece of clothing.

In the "Nash, you are SUCH a goofball" department, I was startled to see this when he visited the other day:

(Judging by the toys scattered around, clearly he had been playing hard.)

Nash had flopped down on his belly and was leaning against the back of the couch. His back legs were extended just a bit past the edge. I didn't know he was there and so I was pretty taken aback when I came around the corner and saw them sticking out!

Another picture of a hard-playing and tired Nashie, this time up on the couch. No one can flop like Nash does! 

Breyer has already announced two more BreyerFest Limited Editions this week and said that they will announce something "cute" later today. My guess? The plushie.

Stay 'tooned!