Mark Wilde Invitational Golf Tournament

We are celebrating Dad's birthday this year with the 1st annual Mark Wilde Invitational Golf Tournament. Dad loved to golf. And we gained such a great appreciation for hospice that we are raising money for this non-profit organization. If you cannot attend the event we appreciate any and all donations, no matter how small.

Came across this article that explains what hospice is, and how helpful and comforting it can be. Most people are scared of the word HOSPICE, but it provided the best imaginable circumstances for Dad's passing.

This is only the beginning. We hope to include the Blood Bank at some future date. And also have a 5K/10K walk and or cycling event.

Thank you!

Easter EGG-stravaganza

As a little girl, my mom always wanted to find one of these fluffy chicks in her Easter basket, but the Easter Bunny never brought one. Since I wasn't able to make Valentines for my family I decided that I would do a little something for Easter.

It all started with these bunnies. I had the polymer clay already and just needed the eye pins.

 

I opted to forgo the glitter. And while they are supposed to be egg shaped, mine turned out looking more like torpedoes. Her tutorial is really great! And at the bottom is a link to these carrots:

 

SUPER cute! Right? I had to make these too. And since I had already purchased the eye pins for hanging all I needed to complete the carrots was the florist tape used to make the leaves.

 

Again, I chose not to mess with the glitter.

 

All these Easter things needed something to go in. So I researched and found a tutorial for weaving your very own baskets out of brown paper grocery sacks. The instructions are easy to follow. How hard could it be? The first basket took me over 2 hours to weave. By the time I got to the last basket I had cut my time to just over an hour.

 

A tiny bunny and a little carrot were not enough to fill these baskets so my next brilliant idea was to hollow out egg shells and decorate them.

 

Let me just say that chalkboard painting delicate egg shells is a lot harder than you would think it would be. But I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE how they turned out. (So did the recipients).

 Next I tried Mod Podge. Also extremely challenging and MESSY.

 

Painting was the easiest, except for the baseball pattern I attempted.

You would think that I had done enough by this point, but I still felt like the baskets needed something else.

 

I picked out some fabrics that coordinated with the items I'd already made and sketched out a simple bunny silhouette. Snip snip with the pinking shears and instant bunny plush!

 

Here are the assembled baskets before I wrapped them in cellophane. One for my mom, my sister, my brother, and my grandma. I don't think my brother was exactly thrilled with all the handmade cuteness, but he got EXTRA Reece's Peanut Butter Eggs in his basket to compensate. 

These turned out to be a much bigger project than I originally envisioned, but the work spread out over 3 weeks made it not too bad. And the reactions made the effort all worthwhile. 

 

I hope everyone had a happy Easter. Ours was a little bittersweet. I have never been more grateful to my Savior for the gift of the Atonement and Resurrection than I am this year. It was wonderful to be surrounded by loving family.

I didn't end up baking any eggs to color. I made breakfast eggs and blueberry muffins instead. Nothing better than a weekend full of good food and love!

BAKED not Boiled

Last year I read somewhere (a blog? twitter? pinterest?) about baked eggs being the BEST way ever to cook eggs. No cracking. And they REALLY do appear to taste creamier.

Ready for the directions? Bake at 350 for 30 minutes. That's it. You can place them right on the oven rack. The first time I tried it I put a layer of foil down (as seen in the pic) because I didn't know if the eggs would fall through. They won't. I have also since seen that some people bake their eggs in muffin tins to keep the eggs from rolling around.

When you take the eggs out of the oven they might have brown spots on the shell---this washes off with cold water.

NOW you're ready to color them! Hopefully in your house you have help and don't have to be solely responsible for all the Easter egg fun. Like me. EVERY year.

Happy baking!

p.s. I might have shared this last year? I don't remember. Sorry if it's a repeat.

Mark S. Wilde

 

Mark S. Wilde

April 22, 1952-February 8, 2013

4 weeks ago my life changed. Not a day has passed that I haven't thought about my dad. He taught me so much. He was such a shining example to me. He touched so many lives in his quiet way. He will be missed in more ways than I can even comprehend. 

His physical suffering is finally over. Last October the doctors informed us that there was nothing more they could do, after a year and a half of treatments for stage IV bladder cancer. They gave us 9-12 months. He was gone in 4. So much faster than we expected. Hospice was such a blessing.

I wanted more than anything to pay tribute to my dad at his funeral. I have been blessed with an overwhelming peace and comfort. With my emotions mostly in check, I was able to share the memories I treasure. So many friends and family traveled to be there for dad's service. Their love and support has been amazing. While the it was a little on the long side, almost everybody in attendance told us that it was the best funeral they had ever been to. People said they could have sat there all day listening to and learning more about dad.

While there is joy that dad is no longer suffering, the grief in the separation can be a heavy burden. I am so grateful to have the close family that I do. I have the greatest mom, sister and brother a girl could ask for. I know that we are an eternal family and that we will be together again.

There will be so many things to come, so many times dad will be missed. I'm sure there will be future blog posts about the grieving process and posts about happy remembrances.  My dad is my hero and I am grateful to have had the time I had with him.

--Natalie