Wednesday, October 31, 2007

Happy Halloween




We had fun tonight. We took the kids to Jean's house and Blake went trick-or-treating with his cousins. Of course when he got back and dumped out all the candy the first thing he chose was the yuckiest looking green sucker. Hooray, that means more good candy for me. I'm also happy to report that Blake wore the whole doggy costume without crying-unlike last year!!!

Saturday, October 27, 2007

My dream finally came true



I must preface this by saying that I did a lot of really strange things at BYU. ONe of the strangest was when we all ended up in the home improvement store and I suited up as the Tin Man. My friends used to call me the Tin Man because I was not (and continue to still not be)very coordinated. Ever since then I have wanted to be the Tin Man for Halloween. Well folks, tonight my dream came true. Mike made me my costume and I made him his Dorothy costume. How he ever agreed to do this is beyond me. Throughout the week, I had to "fit" his dress to him several times to make sure I was sewing it right and I almost died laughing each time he put it on.


We had a great time at the Halloween party and I am one happy Tin Man. Now I must be off to see the Wizard.

Isn't Jill the scariest witch ever? I could not stop staring at her.

Friday, October 26, 2007

My Knight in Shining Armor

I just have to say that I have the best husband in the whole world. One of the many reasons why I love him is that he can solve just about any problem ever. He doesn't wait around for something to just solve itself, but is proactive about getting things done. Many women I know have "honeydo" lists for their husbands which I have never really made for Mike because he fixes things before I even know there is a problem. For example, when he saw that our living room was being overrun by toys, he spent all of one Saturday transforming our little coat closet into a fabulous toy closet that hides away all of the junk. When we first became friends 7 years ago I aptly named him the "Projectizer" because he was always doing projects to help people out.
Or take today when I needed to get an appointment with a doctor PRONTO and I was getting the run around because of my insurance. Try as I might I could not resolve the problem, but enter Mike and BAM 5 minutes later he hands me a paper with the time and address of the doctor for an appointment TODAY.
It's like magic!!
I definitely scored in the husband department, and once I post pictures from the Halloween party that we will attend tonight you will really know that my husband is the greatest for going along with my crazy idea.


Monday, October 22, 2007

Here we go again.....

Sorry about the reflection of my sliding glass door, but I didn't want to open it to take the picture of our backyard.
Fire season has come again. Blood red sun, campfire smell, lots of ash in the air, and brown/gray sky. Poor Blake doesn't understand why he can't play outside. Instead we went to the free zoo today (aka the pet store). No running for me for the next few days unless I want to get lung cancer that is.


It always makes me stop and reflect how quickly our lives can change. I feel for the hundreds of people who are losing their homes today as the fire blazes all over Southern California. It also makes me really appreciate all those dedicated firefighters out there.


Tuesday, October 16, 2007

Playdough and dog food

My very mobile 8 month old consumed the above mentioned treasures during our 9 day babysitting extravaganza. At least that is what I saw her consume. Only she knows what other treats she found in the cracks and crevices of Jean's large house.
I'm happy to report that we are finally back at home for good. It's always nice coming home after we have been away. Blake didn't want to leave his cousins because he got so much attention. We had a great time with the kids. They are good kids and it was fun( apart from getting them to do chores). :)I was absolutely amazed by things such as : 1) the sheer amount of laundry that piles up after just a few days. 2) The gallons and gallons and gallons of milk which were consumed by all of us. 3) The law of entropy. See I did learn something in physical science that applies to real life. Seriously no more than 5 minutes after something in the house was cleaned or straitened, entropy was hard at work trying to undue it.

And a special thanks to Cosby (the dog) for licking up all cheerios, spilled milk, and other food treasures. It was pretty amazing that I never had to sweep under Julia's spot at the table. (but don't get any ideas, because I am not buying a dog)

Wednesday, October 10, 2007

Oh, but HE is great Mr. Hitchens

I have always felt a desire to try and understand why people think the way they do, especially people who have vastly different ideas than me. It fascinates me to see how and why people come to the conclusions they come to about things like religion, politics, and life in general. When I heard a most obnoxious man and I mean obnoxious (Mr. Hitchens) being interviewed on NPR one day about his most recent book, I knew I had to read it. And I did. It was a somewhat difficult book to read both because of his rantings and ravings about ALL religions and also for the fact that I had to use a dictionary to look up many many words that I had never heard of before.
In a nutshell I learned from Mr. Hitchens that I am a fool for being so naive to think that there is a higher being who actually cares about my life. I think he actually refers to it as being "arrogant" for believing that there is a God who does indeed care about us. His oversimplification of religion was simply astounding. Big vocabulary words Mr. Hitchens, but maybe you should study up some more.
Sorry Mr. Hitchens, but I'm not planning on converting to atheism anytime soon. I'll stick to my "arrogant" belief that there is a God who does indeed love me and wants the best for me. Oh and p.s. YOU are the one poisoning everything.

Monday, October 8, 2007

6 kids and a Dog

The past several days we have greatly expanded our little family. Due to my sister traveling to Spain, we are now the parents of 6 kids and a dog for the next little while. Most of you know that I really don't like dogs although I am trying really hard to tolerate Cosby. It is a little hard for me when I see him licking JuJu's face and JuJu squeling with glee. Don't get any ideas JuJu, we are not getting a dog...ever.

2 days worth of laundry for our family of 8. WOW Mom, how did you do it with 7 kids?

Monday, October 1, 2007

Cantaloupe Alamode

Certain food items are very good alone but are yucky together. Please see exhibit A above for one such disturbing concoction. The name of this not so tasty treasure is cantaloupe alamode and the components of it are a big slice of cantaloupe topped off with a large scoop of vanilla ice cream. This was the dessert that we were often offered as children at my home but I have never heard or seen it anywhere else. I think my siblings liked it but I never did. So my question is, have you tried cantaloupe alamode or did my mom make it up? I just don't think that cantaloupe belongs with ice cream. But then again I also don't think most fruit belongs with ice cream so I know I'm the weird one.
As for Mike, he has heard me talk about this dessert for years now so he finally decided to test it out. He thought it was good. Try it for yourself but don't blame me if you don't like it.