Standing on the corner one more time...

(Hate pictures of myself, but needed some proof that I still exist.)

Not ready to go back to school

Even if they had to start back to school, at least the kids can come home and play in the backyard. Jeffrey is having so much fun playing catch, but after each catch he stops, holds the ball, and then does a play by play of each move and why it was great or not so great. It takes a LONG time to pass back and forth just twice. I think his favorite game of the spring is going to be pickle. During family home evening, Brandon's New Year's Resolution was to play baseball with Dad every day. Pretty good idea!

It may be the middle of winter, but the weather is beautiful! I could sit outside and take pictures of my boys all day. I wish the break could last a little longer, but there's work to do. Put your shoulder to the wheel!

Favorite new ornament

Thanks to the Ellsworth family. We think it's perfect!

How do you know your loved?

You know those chores you just hate? The ones you dread doing? For me it's folding socks and sweeping the floor. (I don't know why, I think it must be some kind of childhood trauma!)

Well, Mark was up early and while I was getting breakfast together, studying... I was trying to figure out exactly why Mark was headed back and forth from the garage. He came to the kitchen with dust all over his suit, gave me a kiss and headed out to the office. OK, so I'm a kid at heart. The oatmeal can wait. Out of the kitchen I head, and there it is. The Christmas tree. And not just the tree. The wreaths are hung on the door...and out the front door... the lights are up around the house. Now, my husband is not Scrooge. He loves Christmas and all the family traditions with one MAJOR exception. He hates (along with everyone else in the house but me) those two chores most of all. And this year, without even a hint or a prod, before it even reached my mind (It's not even December yet!), the job is done. Not because he loves it or even cares, but because I do.

And that's how I know he loves me.
______
*** Here are some of the finished decorations. I just love the soft glow from fire, tree lights, and candles!

Say Cheese!

So here are some out-takes from our attempt at a Christmas card picture.  I just grabbed a few-and not any of the incredibly awful ones with strange expressions, closed eyes...

One of these at the fountain almost made the cut, but I was outvoted.

Jessica loved this picture, because she said it described all of our personalities. I can't remember all of it, but basically-Jeffrey is the star/center of attention. She's not jealous. ha ha. She'll need to comment and remind me what everyone's expressions say about our family dynamics.

The great thing about digital photography...

...you can take 100's of shots to gaurantee at least a handful of good ones to choose from.

The downfall of digital photography...

....you take 100's of shots!

And here are the fearless photographers, Adam and Rebekah! Actually Adam, took our family piture last year, too. So nice to have them close by!

They forgot the Elephants!!!

The boys were right. We did have a great trip to the zoo, but they forgot one of the best parts-the ELEPHANTS! We didn't go up top to see them, but we still had a pretty good view from the back fences by the zoo keepers entrance.

We couldn't figure out why this elephant kept spraying dirt all over his back. He would reach down and get a huge handufl and spread it all over his back. It wasn't hot. He wasn't wet. Bored?

Another reason I was glad they weren't too close. No dirt shower for me, thanks.

I remember trips to the Hogle Zoo in Utah. Back then, you could buy peanuts to feed the elephants. It was one of my favorite stops even though it was so scary to watch that big trunk come closer and closer to your hand. I was always afraid the elephant would swallow my fingers with the nuts, but some morbid thrill seeking center always kept me coming back.

The Phoenix Zoo

My Dad, Brandon and I are looking at some turtles at the zoo. There's this big long bridge before you get to the door and way down under you is a lake. There are lots of giant fish in the lake and some ducks and lots of turtles.
Here is one of the ducks.

And this is one of the turtles. He's really big, but it's hard to tell cause there's nothing else around him. There is moss growing on his feet and his shell.

We're looking at the turtles. I was asking my Dad about them. I was glad he took us to the zoo. I like doing things with him.

My mom really likes this giant fish. Every time we go, she tries to find it. Sometimes it is really far away, but you can still see it from the bridge, because the fish is so big and the bridge is up so high.

The Orangutan Family

On our trip to the zoo, we saw a family of orangutans. Above on the left we have the mom and on the right, the baby girl named Kasih.
The baby climbed across the rocks, dropped 2 stories down a rope and used her feet to grab some blankets. She hauled them up to the top and hid under them. It was so cute, she just threw them up over her head and put herself to sleep.

There is also a grandma. You can see just a little of her foot on the right of this picture. The Dad was waiting down below staring at a door, in the exact same position that I saw him last time we were at the zoo. (About a few months ago.) He could hear his zoo keeper inside getting everything ready for him to go in for the night. He had huge cheeks and ugly teeth.

He looked like.... hmmm.

The Land of the Dragons

There is a new exhibit at the zoo. We've been waiting and waiting for it to come. it is called The Land of the Dragons.

The Komodo Dragons weren't doing much when we saw them, but I still think they are raelly cool. There were two of them. One boy and one girl. The boy's name is Ivan and the girl is called Gaia. They are really big, but they don't live together. They live in separate cages.

It has really sharp teeth and powerful jaws. The grab on and they don't let go. If they do let go, the animal dies, because they're saliva is venomous. They are 8 feet long.

Sting Rays

My Mom and Dad took me to the zoo. Brandon came, too. One of my favorite things to see is the sting ray exhibit.

Brandon was reaching down to pet a shark. I was going to pet the shark, but I couldn't reach it. It was at the very bottom. It looks like my Dad is going to fall in the water.

The sting rays are so soft. At 10:00, you're allowed to get dead fish and feed them.

Right under that black sting ray is the shark that Brandon petted.

That little basket in the back has a baby sting ray in it. It's in a basket, because the other sting rays will eat it. They eat their babies. It was born on Veteran's Day (yesterday).
I was leaning over to pet the sting rays, when this one speed up and splashed me.

I had to use my jacket as a towel. It was funny.

It was a good thing my mouth was closed so salt water wouldn't get in my mouth.

My mom was the one taking the pictures.

Boo!

Pretty, scary-huh? It didn't last long. Turns out, my dog doesn't appreciate the whole, let's-dress-up-the-dog routine. For a dog that thinks he's a person, he sure doesn't appreciate clothes.

Amanda and Mark went shopping last minute for some costumes and trunk or treat decorations. Mark found some great mice to put all over the car. (I had camera trouble. As a result, I have only a few pictures of the costumes, no pictures of carving pumpkins, trunk or treating, or anything else Halloweenish.) Mark also found a light up mouth piece. Pretty cool and went well with his suit. :) Amanda decided last minute to go as a clown. She has some great sun glasses and other gear, but the camera died before she could get those on. Brandon (not pictured) was the fat tourist again. Fun, easy, Brandon. Taylor pulled off the Dunder Mifflin 3 hole punch -again, not pictured.

The missionaries set up a trunk or treat booth with a side walk chalk plan of salvation all laid out. It was awesome. I have some other pictures from some of the sisters at our other blog. They were pretty clever. I've heard of other missionary creativity-but no photos yet.

But if i don't have every picture, at least I have this one.  This sums up our Halloween this year. Big demands from the kids, not so much follow through from the Mom.

Here's the story behind the costume. It started mid September. Jeffrey was doodling in one of the drawing books. He came up with a picture of a demon vampire with two sets of glowing red eyes and 3 sets of hands, blood dripping all over the place. He insisted we take the sketch to Costco so they could make the costume. Again and again, I tried to explain that Costco didn't make costumes. Finally he was persuaded, but only slightly. He was determined to have that costume made. If Costco wouldn't make it, then we could bring them the photo, and they could send it to the makers and then sell it to us. All so logical to his way of thinking-I just 'didn't get it.' I finally convinced him that it was totally cool to make your own costume. That's how we always did it growing up. So we went to Target and bought several sets of gloves and some poly fiberfill. He stuffed the gloves and that's as far as I got. I don't know if it was laziness or fatigue, but we ended up at the halloween store looking for a plain black robe-we found a demon outfit with glowing red eyes (one pair-too bad, but still!) We stitched the extra hands on and my bacon was saved! He wore it to the school carnival Friday night, but was afraid his batteries would go out, so he only used them on 'special' friends.

And I love this part-creative writing at school. Maybe he'll grow up to be a writer/costume designer. Who knows. It worked for George Lucas.