i've seen it written "jesus is risen" quite a few times before.  is that correct english?  shouldn't it be jesus has risen?  jesus rose?  jesus walked his happy ass out the cave?  dude totally rose from the dead, yo?  ZOMBIE!!!?  okay, maybe not... but this is what was stuck in my brain as i drove to my uncle's for the family easter party in godfrey, illinois.

heard at the family easter party:

me: what happens at 5 o'clock?

my cousin deanne:  i turn into a bitch?

me:  was that 5 o'clock this morning?

i love my family so much.  it's always a good time when we get together.  i have a VERY big family (my mom's the middle child of 11, i have over 30 first cousins...) so, of course, there are a few folks who don't get along all the time.  but, all in all, we are a close group and are always there for each other. 

my aunt dee has a farm with a lake where we go camping every summer.  i'm really jonesin' for some camping already.  the first big weekend that a bunch of us go will be memorial day weekend.  this will also be the weekend that the hard top comes off the jeep (if i can stand my jealousy of the soft-top folks that long) because my wonderful aunt dee lets me store the top in her barn.  she rocks my socks off... and she makes the best biscuits & gravy on planet earth. 

my uncle bernie (at who's house the easter party was) has the single sweetest dog ever (since my childhood dog buttons is the single GREATEST at everything ever in the history of time, he is exempt here).  ginger is lazy beyond lazy.  i can walk across the yard, sweetly sing-songing "giiinngggerrr" and she barely lifts her head to acknowledge it.  she's old & fat so it's understandable.  i mean, when i'm old & fat, i ain't comin' when my name is called either.  pet ginger once & boy, it is on!  you have her undivided attention & she will NOT let you stop.  of course, when she looks up at you with her big brown eyes, how could you?  here's a pic of her leaning her full weight against my cousin jake's daughter kayla, in an effort to keep the petting going.