For Emery

I know he loves to watch em. This one is kind of old but it gives me a chance to test out the superior video quality that youtube provides. C'mon google, you own both blogger and YouTube, what gives?

Halloween

From experience I know that praying for the mailman to come at 4:30 on October 31 and hoping that in his possession might be a Princess Leah costume is not much fun. Since procrastination was a factor last year, I acted early and secured Alex's costume weeks in advance. (thank you) I even had corresponding costumes for Lance and I. Alex was to be Dorothy, I was going to be the wicked (yea right) witch, and Lance was supposed to go as my winged monkey. Family fun. However, Lance, blinded by the awesome power of the iphone, decided that wearing butterfly wings, a vest and silly hat, with a feather boa for a tail was beneath him, and set out to create an abomination. You may well wonder how the iphone could possibly further infiltrate our lives, the answer is simple, include it as part of your Holiday celebrations as well. Introducing the 6'10" robot.

This living nightmare utilizes two iphones, a stereo, and spray paint. Lance did work very hard on this costume, receiving many cuts and scraps in the process, and to each he exclaimed "Worth It". Indeed, the end result was worth it and succeeded in terrifying the majority of our neighborhood. Okay, my idea was bested again, but it really was cool and Lance was so happy. To which I say "Worth It."



Here is the pumpkin I carved all by myself a half hour before the trick-or -treaters started showing up (so the procrastination still made a slight appearance - baby steps)



Here is the cutest Dorothy ever. She is Halloween's newest and I suppose biggest fan. She would have been happy just to help the kids at the door, and would often wait there with the door closed in anxious anticipation. The night got even better when we got to go out and when she realized that the people at the doors were giving her chocolate, she was nearly beside herself with delight. Completely fearless she tried to run up and touch every scary household decoration including her terrifying father and the flaming pumpkins down the street. She couldn't have been happier.

Alex and daddy/robot


Waiting for more kids


Still waiting for those kids


This is Alex after we got home. You will notice that she is fairly protective of her stash. You can never be too careful.

Then we played cards and watched "Clue" (which is about my limit when it comes to scary Halloween movies) with Corbin and his new girlfriend. Good times were had by all.

Happy Halloween.

Stuff I forgot

Here are some things which by themselves do not warrant a blog post, yet when they combine forces they become somewhat noteworthy. Enjoy some random moments, coupled with equally random thoughts, from our lives.



Dave and Becky's birthday. They're twins, and no they are not identical. Here's to good friends and horrible presents.



Dave's talent



Home Alone?! No, this is just Alex's version of peek-a-boo. A bit of a control freak, she doesn't actually like to cover her eyes in case something unexpected should happen.



Lance shamelessly impeding on Brian's head tickles.



Alex all pimped out



Alex all dressed up



A bit of de ja vu



Documentation that only in Utah can you save seats with diapers



Sixteen or seventeen trees multiplied by 3.2 billion leaves who have succumbed to gravity equals one big mess. Alex can't get enough. Lance cries when he looks outside.


Enough said.

My Spoon is too Big

Recently one of my favorite You Tube videos made a connection into my real life. Don't try to make much sense of the video. It is meant to be stupid. Just enjoy.

My spoon is too Big video

The Deed is Done

The iphone game is done so the hair came off. After over six months of construction, for both the hair and the game, Invisible Links was finally submitted to the App Store in hopes of becoming wildly successful and making us 18 million dollars and allowing Lance to retire.

In the mean time we settled for cutting his hair, which extensive growth served as motivation for the games completion. And thus marked the end of an era. And so with trepidation, I began the 45 minute long process of removing Lance's "Best Hair", because let's be honest he really does have the best hair.

Here are some beginning shots, which you may notice makes he and Alex look even more similar. And we did confirm that his hair was in fact long enough to fit into a pony tail. Extraordinary.

And of course we had to stop halfway through when Lance had a mullet for some mugshots. We plan on using this picture to teach Alex what the dangerous men we want her to stay away from look like. Terrifying.

The end result, Lance is ready to enter the army. While slightly traumatic, it did serve as a nice ending to our Invisible Links kick off party, although later this act caused me to be unfairly referred to as Delilah, the seductress who cut of Samson's hair. Ryan and I are no longer friends. Family dinners are now a bit awkward.

I think he looks great. Go buy Invisible Links.

Downs Walk

While unfortunately we missed the actual walking, we still made it in time to enjoy the wonderful lunch of unattended hot dogs left to bask in the sun, the complimentary chips, and all you could drink soda. To be fair, they couldn't be expected to serve lunch all day, so due to our tardiness I suppose we deserved to be left to our own devises.

There was a band to attract the attention of passers by, which ironically also served as somewhat of a distraction for those already participating, large blow up toys, games, and entertainment. What more could you ask for? Nothing.

The highlight of the day aside from the delightful smile of Jonah himself (see above) were the Downs Dancers. They literally stole the show with their sparkling red sequins. Fantastic.

The day's events also provided Alex with the opportunity to discover that Cheetos are delicious.

And facilitated the discovery of the Stake Center/House (see Lance's post below)

What a great day. Goooo Jonah's Brothers!!

Pace yourself

Wow! Even after over a month with no posts, you still haven't given up on us. Thanks for that and for the comments that show that you are checking to make sure we are still alive. I have just updated a considerable amount of information on our blog. Don't feel like you need to read it all at once or ever for that matter. I will, however, try to update on a more even basis in the future for your reading pleasure.

1st birthday

Most of you who will read this were probably at the party, so I will spare you the details and let the pictures do the talking. We had all the birthday essentials: a cake, homemade ice cream, b-bque, presents, family, and a giant slip 'n' slide. Thanks everyone for the presents. She loves them all!


Enjoy.










She didn't much enjoy eating her cake. She is apparently much to dainty.



This is our rockin slip'n'slide with the added help of two man power.








It was a great day.

Squatters

Turns out having baby birds living in your back yard can be hazardous. These three adorable baby robins live in one of our trees out back. Under that same tree was also a broken sprinkler head. Throw in a fiesty mommy robin and you have got the perfect storm. After multiple attempts at venturing near the tree to fix the sprinkler and equally as many dashes back inside the house, Lance sheepishly asked if I would come with him outside and protect him from a bird. (you can giggle if you like - I know I did - that is until I got outside)

Armed with a broom we made our way toward the base of the tree amidst the terrible screeching of this hysterical mommy bird. We hadn't even made it to the tree when I realized why Lance had been dashing into the house and was now requesting protection. The mommy robin was dive bombing us, and she was a side-winder. With moves like a linebacker, she would zig and zag through the air as she zoomed toward my head. It was terifying. No really, I thought that the Alfred Hitchcock movie "Birds" was a bit hokie, but after this experience I think he was really onto something.

This mommy robin drove us back indoors at least 3 more times, each time we collected more protective equipment and made more advanced battle plans complete with hand signals and defense strategies. I will boast that I successfully defended my husband's safety for a solid five minute stretch with at least 15 dive bomb attempts from the enemy and endured endless torrents of what I assume to be the foulest bird profanity.

At long last, the sprinkler was functioning and we were safely back indoors content to let the mommy robin reclaim her nest that had never really been in harms way. I do have to respect her efforts for single handedly taking on two grown adults in full battle attire with such relentlessness. Although it was my head she was aiming at, I do respect her motivation. Go mommy bird!

I guess having birds in the yard is not all it's "cracked" up to be.

Tree House Museum

The Tree House Museum, whose name is misleading at best, features almost everything but trees. With the one exception of a giant tree house that doubles as a staircase set in the middle of the building there is almost no other reference to plant life at all. I felt very foolish (much like I did when I saw Fiddler On The Roof expecting a comedy and sat wondering at intermission when it was going to get funny) as I was expecting to become educated on the many different kinds of trees and which ones were best for building tree houses in. However, this was a more welcome turn of events than the previous mentioned mis-understanding as this meant that it would be MORE fun.

There were many different rooms, each with a different theme and complete with dress ups for young and old alike. Here are some pictures of said rooms.

What's this? The Oval Office complete with life size cardboard cut out of President Obama? Why not.

And here is the Presidential wall, recently updated with our new President's picture and the potential for one more. Who will it be? You decide. That's why they leave the question mark, so that you can decide.

The giant chess room

Turns out that Alex is only 4 inches tall, which I believe makes her a fairy rather than above averaged height human being.

Creepiest room after dark.

The royal court

The court jester (the man behind the curtain -lance - not Alex - although she seemed pretty tickled about it too)

And what would be stored in a little house with giant chicken feet sticking out the bottom? Russian dolls. Of course.

No caption, the picture really is enough.

Dress ups intended for children with Rob's best wolf face.

But everyone's favorite room was the music room. It really was fantastic and you couldn't help but want to make reckless irrational noise as seen here.

Well, that is the tree house museum, once again, not about trees. Go and have fun.

Oh and we found a turtle in the middle of the road on the way home. We rescued it from certain death and it shared a brief stay with us during which time it peed on Lance (ungrateful), scratched him to pieces, and rejected the veggies and temporary home it was provided while we searched the surrounding neighborhood for owners of a missing pet turtle, found on the internet that this turtle could be native to Utah (What? Who ever heard of flocks of wild turtles running around Utah?), and returning it again to the precise location in which we found it (off the road of course) where she was more than likely headed to lay her eggs. We also learned that turtles can also carry many types of disease. Hooray for good deeds and hand sanitizer.