Monday, April 13, 2009

Prehistoric Peas and Shot Guns

Every year for Easter Sunday my family goes to the Lakefront Gun Club. By every year, I mean every year since my grandmother was a little girl. It's fun to go see everyone, but I wish we'd do it at a park or something. You see, when you read Gun Club, you're probably thinking of a nice building with a target range and lots of nice couches in a comfortable posh looking atmosphere. No. This is the view from the car:And another one of the clubhouse up close:There is an outhouse that hasn't been moved in a while, so thank heavens Kaity didn't need to pee while we were there (although there was a scramble for the bathrooms when we got back to my parents house). Why do we keep going out there, do you ask? Because it's important to Grandma and it's fun to spend time talking with family members. Dad & Jared like shooting ( I also have a shotgun that my grandpa gave me, but he says that I can't shoot with the baby because it's not good for her). I thought that was cute. I didn't want to shoot, though. My gun is a 14 gage and very old, it belonged to my great-grandfather. This means that the kick is quite something and I don't have very good balance right now. I shoot a 14 instead of a 12 because my arms aren't long enough to support the barrel of a 12 and aim properly. Anyway here are the boys:And here's the girls in front of the clubhouse talking. Aunt Linda is either trying not to be in the picture or her granddaughter just told her that she has to go potty again - Lex had to go 5 times! Sean dislocated his shoulder a few months ago and didn't want to re-dislocate it shooting, so he hung out with us. I suppose I shouldn't call it the girls out front then. Oh well.
So, when we returned from the gun club, we had a birthday dinner of pork roast, mashed potatoes, and creamed peas and onions. My other grandma (my mom's mom) turns 85 tomorrow and we had a little birthday party for her. She was very out of it, we think she had another small stroke Saturday night (she has 2-3 a month), but she appreciated having her family around. Anyway, my mom HATES peas. Flat out doesn't like them. Consequently, Jennie and I aren't too fond of them either, mainly because we never ate them growing up. My grandmother, however, likes peas and pearl onions in a creamy cheese sauce. So, my mom made them and Jared and Sean both said they were pretty good. Well, we asked my grandma how they were and she said that the peas were old and didn't taste good. Not sure what old peas means, but we all had a good laugh and teased Mom. Luckily, Mom thought it was funny, too. We told Grandma that when our neighbor Scott's peas come up in his garden we'd go get some from him and make her peas again. She can't think they're old if we pulled them off the vine the same day we made them, can she? After dinner we asked her if we could name Kaitlyn after her, and she seemed pleased (still a little out of it, we'll ask her again on a better day). My grandma's name is Vera Lenore, by the way, so Kaitlyn Elenore is now official. Dad, Jared and Sean gave her a blessing that she would regain some strength and enjoy her family and be able to accomplish the things she has left in this world. I am so grateful for the wonderful presence of the priesthood in our lives and the calming, peaceful effect of blessings. It was a great Easter Sunday. (We did go to church in the morning, by the way, but nothing really amazing happened there except that the first speaker spoke for 45 minutes and we were sitting by this guy who hadn't showered in three days and tried to cover it up with cologne. Needless to say, we weren't paying too much attention)

2 comments:

Jennie said...

I love this post! Pre-historic peas are amazing things, I tried em and they weren't that bad. Thanks for clarifying that Sean isn't one of the girls;-)

Tammy said...

But you have to love the Gun club for what it is, I am not sure how many more years we will go out there but for now it is tradition!