Wednesday, July 8, 2009

Summer Ketchup

Ev thought that when I said, "Mommy's playing catch-up on her blog," that I said, "Mommy's playing ketchup on her blog".

Catchy title, I thought. Perhaps enough to get people to look at boring family photos. Plus, if I started with "summer: part 1" like everyone else, I may soon
find myself with "summer: part 263"

So here's a brief photo hi
story of the start of our summer - in May.
(You did catch that I was behind, right?)


Well, courtesy of the grandparen
ts, we took a vacation to southern California.

We went to the largest hu
man-trap ever set by a mouse. It was great and Ev loved it there.
What am I saying? I loved it there! (Yeah, kind of a freak for that place......but I get it from my mom).


We had lots of fun and Ev was able to go on almost everything. He says that he loved the Matterhorn the best, but I think Splash Mountain was a close second considering how many times we went on it.

Here we are the first time we went on it (with my brother-in-law and his daughter in front). (If you can see it very well).
And here is how soaking wet we were after riding it more than a few times right before closing. Ev was cold and became a miniature dark sith lord in my hooded black jacket. "Your [Disneyland] training is now complete."
We also visited California Adventure.
Everett rode some bugs,

watched some bugs,

and found Wall-E.











And here is Universal Studios.





Here is Ev's "red carpet" pose.















And here are the boys "monkey-ing" around.

The favorite place there was Curious George's ballroom where there is a continuous ball fight taking place. I only have videos of that place, but they are choosing to be uncooperative.




Another one of our stops was to Seaworld, but I guess big fish aren't exciting enough to warrant pictures...at least that's what my camera seems to think cause I know I took some there.
Oh well, I'm sure y'all are pictured out anyhow.

Maybe I'll be good and go another three months before posting more of them.

Maybe.


Saturday, May 16, 2009

Baby Oil

Today my husband tried a well-known joke on our 4 year-old.

Daniel: If vegetable oil comes from vegetables, and corn oil comes from corn, where does baby oil come from?

Ev: Mommy and Daddy oil?

Monday, April 20, 2009

To Some Politicians: A Kind Request...



"Be open-minded, but not so open-minded that your brains fall out".

-Stephen A. Kallis, JR.


(I hope Mr. Kallis doesn't mind me using his quote, but I couldn't have said it better)

Saturday, February 14, 2009

An Ode to Conversation Hearts

I remember the conversation hearts when we were young, with messages of "Be Mine", "Cutie", and "Kiss Me".

Those were the good ones....


Then came the "Fax Me" and "Email Me" ones.
(Because that's SO romantic...almost up there with "Be My Icon").

I haven't had conversation hearts for a few years, but I wonder...
....do they have "Text Me" yet?

Anyhoo, in celebration of Valentine's Day (or Singles Awareness Day, if you prefer) I thought I'd pay tribute to the little candies (especially the yummy banana-flavored ones) that have been a part of the February love fest since the 1860's.

Conversation Hearts

In February, bring them home,
pink, yellow, lavender
and lime pastels
BE MINE .... I'M YOURS
to be read by the tongue
that licks the chalk
and tastes what it spells.

I'll give you a boxful,
tasting of daphne, lupin,
mint, and columbine;
a mouthful of secrets,
lovelier than whispers,
dear ones, friends
I'M YOURS.... BE MINE

-Nina Payne

Sunday, February 8, 2009

No, I didn't miss your class...

Today at church, the bishop in class asked, "Are there any visitors or new people here today? There's one brother in the back I think I've seen before, but I don't know who he is".
Then gesturing at my husband, "Would you stand and introduce yourself?"

My husband stands and says, "Hi. I'm Daniel... We've actually been around a while, but you haven't see us cause.... we're ninjas....."

Sunday, December 21, 2008

So...The other night my husband and I were driving in the car and listening to Christmas music on the radio. A commercial came on for a grocery store and the announcer said, "Be sure to stock up on our gourmet cheeses for the holiday season".

"What?!" My husband exclaimed. "Gourmet Jesus?"



So, yes - - here's wishing you all a healthy helping of (gourmet) Jesus this holiday season.

Wednesday, December 10, 2008

Seeing is Belize-ing!

So many of you know that we recently took a cruise vacation to the Caribbean - Mexico, Belize, Honduras, and Bahamas - - all amidst the hub-a-bub of buying a house and preparing for Thanksgiving and Christmas. I suppose, then, it was what you would call a much needed vacation. (Though, we did take all the kids with us).


My son was mo
st excited about riding on an airplane....










...though he was pretty excited about the big boat...


and his bunk bed he got to sleep on...

Our first stop was Cozumel, Mexico, but we hopped on a ferry and went ov
er to Playa del Carmen, followed by a long bus ride to the ruins at Tulum. The ruins were cool there.......and excitement abounded.....

Okay, it was a long day for the kids with a lot of transfers and travel. But if we could get through that, I think we could probably get through anything with them..

Our second stop was in Belize, which, agreeing with our native tour guide, was un"belize"able.
After a tour of the city it was off into the interior for a spicy native lunch followed by a speed boat ride up a crocodile-infested river to Lamanai.

We hiked through the rainforest, climbed Mayan ruins, and saw a toucan and howler monkeys in the wild. Here we say, "Don't eat yellow snow", but there they should say, "Don't drink yellow rain". (Monkeys mark their territories). The jungle was awesome and the climb up the temple is not for those with vertigo or a fear of heights.











(Can you see the little people way below in the photo on the right? I wasn't e
ven at the top when I took it.)





Our third stop was in Hondorus where we went down zip-lines in the jungle. (Our kids went to feed and pet Iguanas with the Grandparents).


video
Afterwards, we met up with the rest of the family at a beach and observed some of the local animal life....jellyfish, hermit crabs, stray cat and dogs, and biting bugs that left tons of big red spots all over us.

After another day at sea, our last stop was in the Bahamas. There we got some fresh pina coladas and hit the sunny white-sand beach.










It was a great way to cap off a vacation.