Tuesday, April 6, 2010

Eggs & Ham and Earthquakes?

"When will the Easter bunny come?" "Where will our baskets be?", questions like these and many others tumbled from Lucas' mouth as I got him ready for bed Saturday night. He was truly excited. Thankfully the excitement didn't interfere with his sleep and he was soon peacefully sleeping.

"Mommy, mommy" I heard being softly called Sunday morning. I went into Lucas room to find him lying there his eyes glistening, "Did the Easter bunny come?"

"Yes, but we're not going to look for the baskets until Daddy is awake." I knew I would be spending the next little while trying to contain the kids' excitement until it was an acceptable time to wake up Eric. Finally the time had come.

Lucas, Alex and Eric waited in Alex's old room while I hid the clues and the baskets; in our home the bunny fills the baskets but mom makes the clues and hides them. Alex began her hunt first. Her first clue said "TV".... "tuh, vuh" she sounded out. "It's just TV!" Lucas jumped in trying to help. Both kids were off and running with Eric desperately trying to keep up with the video camera. Five clues later and she had successfully found her basket. "Oh wow!! I love it" she declared over and over again when she saw the baby bed, stroller and other accessories for her baby doll. "Open it! Open it!""Let's find Lucas' basket first" I prompted.

I handed Lucas his first clue and he was off. He ran throughout the house following his clues, "wait for us" I would often plead as we tried to keep up to see these joyous moments. The final clue led Lucas to the garage; he opened the door "A BUZZ LIGHTYEAR!" He squealed. "I have wanted this for so long. How did the Easter Bunny know??"

A smiled a content and happy smile, Eric's smile grew wider too as he knew that this toy would capture a certain 5-year-olds attention more than his own recently acquired iPad that had been the obsession of the previous day.

It was a good morning. We ate breakfast and then spent the day watching General Conference. Alex cared for her baby, Lucas flew Buzz around, and Eric took notes on his new iPad, all in the comfort of our pajamas on this wonderful Easter Sunday.

The day quickly passed, before I knew it, it was time to get the ham in the oven. There is just something so wonderful and comforting about the classics like ham and potatoes on Easter Sunday. I slid the ham into the oven, making sure that there was plenty of room for the potatoes that would soon need to join it. I closed the oven door.

"Did you feel that?" Eric asked.
"No." I said, realizing that once again I was not going to feel the earthquake. Since moving to California there had been several small earthquakes, none of which I felt. Growing up in Illinois, I had experienced tornadoes, floods, blizzards, but never an earthquake. Is my balance so tippy that I can't feel them for some reason I wondered?

And then I heard it, the wind chimes which hung on my kitchen cupboard, with what should be a beautiful twinkling were eerily ringing unaided by any wind. I continued to hear more creaks and groans and this low deep rumbling. Eric stood up and looked around. I glanced out the window and saw Lucas swinging back and forth on the teeter-totter seemingly unphased by the shaking ground around him. The chimes continued to ring increasing in intensity. "Go get Alex!" I cried to Eric. Eric dashed up the stairs to get her. I stood there fixated listening to those chimes, watching Lucas swing back and forth, back and forth outside. I heard Eric's hurried footsteps across the upstairs floor. And then it stopped, the chimes gave a few more simple rings and then were quiet.

Eric came back down the stairs, "that was a big one!" he said. "Alex said; 'daddy stop, your shaking the floor'", as she assumed it was Eric's quick running which made the floor bounce and sway. I hurried over to the computer, just two days previous I had signed up on the USGS to be notified of any earthquakes over 3.5, no e-mail yet. I went to their site, a 6.9 in Mexico it said (it would later be upgraded to a 7.2). I was amazed. I noticed the responses of, 'did you feel it' quickly go up in numbers, I added my own response saying we too had felt it.

I walked around, in a bit of a high, a bit shaken and just glad it wasn't anything worse. Nothing had fallen over, all of the pictures on the walls were still in their places and Lucas continued to swing back and forth, back and forth. I looked at the oven only to realize I had not set the timer! Shoot, how long had the ham been in? I tried to remember what time it was when I put it in, but my mind was a bit jumbled. I took my best guess and set the timer. As time passed I realized my legs were tense... my leg muscles and had been ready for action, ready to run and now were finally relaxing only to be left slightly sore. I tried to concentrate as I worked on the rest of dinner, the potatoes needed extra time as they weren't put in the oven when originally planned.. and the ham. Well, my estimate must have been off as it was slightly overcooked. But it was a good Easter, one filled with laughter, happiness, a General Conference filled with wonderful messages of the Savior and his love for us, oh yes and a 7.2 magnitude earthquake.

15 comments:

  1. I can't imagine what was going through your mind when that happened - and I'm glad that it wasn't worse.

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  2. I didn't feel, it but then I do live more north. Sounds like a wonderful Easter.

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  3. Oh My goodness- and on Easter, no less! I guess that was like a fire drill, good practice but ever so thankful it wasn't the real thing. I would be so weirded out by the wind chimes doing that.

    Sounds like it was a happy Easter after all :)

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  4. I think you will remember this 'shaky' Easter.

    Great photos.

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  5. Whew! I wouldn't like to think of an earthquake closer to you guys! I'm glad all is well. Sounds like the Easter bunny did good too!

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  6. Nothing says Easter like ham, potatoes and earthquakes! ;)

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  7. Yeah that was a hearty one. I am glad we didn't have to feel the full force of it. I am also glad that Lucas seemed(by your description) unaffected by it. Funny that Alex thought Eric was shaking the floor.

    All in all it turned out all right. And that is what matters most.

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  8. I was tense just reading this! Wow, that is crazy but exciting all at the same time. I don't know why things like that seem so exciting to me... while on my mission I felt two tiny tiny tremmors and it made my day both days. But I am glad it wasn't any worse, and no one was hurt there.

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  9. People here in AZ even felt it...I didnt though. My hubs was driving to CA when it happened but says he didnt feel it either. Glad your family was ok!

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  10. What a fun Easter! I totally know how you feel. When I lived in CA there was a 5. something, and it was the first one that I had been in. I panicked and woke up both of my children to make sure that they wouldn't be in the dangerous loft.

    Glad it wasn't any bigger!

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  11. You are such a fantastic mommy! Hiding clues! I just love it! Glad you had such a special day with your babies!

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  12. wow! What an exciting Easter! They said on the news that people around us had felt the earthquake but we didn't not ice anything.

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  13. It sounds like a wonderful Easter. Sorry about the earthquake...being a native CA girl...they barely faze me.

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  14. Oh my goodness! What an eventful day! I'm so unsteady on my feet normally, that I probably wouldn't have felt it either. Kinda makes me want to restock the 72 hour kits for Tornado season here.

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  15. Since I was in your neck of the woods on vacation I felt it too! It was my first earthquake and it was so freaky! I'm glad it wasn't too destructive though ... that would have turned it from "neat" to "scary."

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