Happy April Fool's Day!

My otherwise saintly Mother

At breakfast this morning the conversation turned to our family's observance of April Fool's Day. Growing up Scott would pay homage to the holiday by doing things like switching the salt and sugar. A valiant effort to be sure. But it doesn't hold a candle to the things my mother and her sisters inflicted upon us kids. I say inflicted because that's exactly what it was.

Here are a few examples of my otherwise saintly mother's tricks:

Making her delicious whole-wheat pancakes for breakfast but putting cut-out circles of brown paper bag in the middle. Of course my older brother ate his usual 6 or 7 pancakes without noticing a thing. My mom never said a word but just kept dishing out the pancakes.

Waking us up at 6 am to tell us the horses were out and waiting until we were about half a mile down the road (in our pajamas no less) to yell "April Fool's!"

Putting my aunt's bicycles, lawn mower, and rototiller out by the road with a "For Sale" sign in front.

Here are some examples of what my mother's sisters have done:

Telling her kids that the near by dam had broke and then making them all sit up on their roof with their scriptures and sleeping bags for 4 hours before telling them "April Fools! Ha Ha!"

My other aunt who was the Relief Society President of her ward called all her counselors and told them that she just learned that they were now supposed to do their Visiting Teaching every week instead of every month. She didn't tell them it was a joke until that night after they had each had a nervous breakdown.

And then there's my old Stake President who would go running with his teenage daughter every morning (they ran marathons). After running for 6 0r 7 miles but still with a mile or two before reaching home, he faked a heart attack. Gasping for breath he managed to tell his daughter to run and get mom. Of course she sprinted off so fast he didn't have a chance to yell "April Fool's" until she and her mom returned with the car.

I know Eve is a little young to have tricks played on her but I'm looking forward to when our kids are a little older and then I can put paper in their pancakes. Happy April Fool's Day everyone!