Homework

This is how it goes at our house. (But only when concerning Math. Dad's great at History and Economics.)

Go Cougs!

Woot! That's all I have to say about that.

Baka!

Thanks for taking the time to visit us during your quick business stop to Seattle, Grandpa!

Dad's latest marathon

Mark is pleased to report that he came in first in his division in the marathon he ran yesterday. Competition was stiff--he was the only runner. He decided that since his knee was acting up and he missed the latest Logan marathon that he would create his own. So it was called the First Annual Black Pearl Marathon. He printed up his own bib and everything. And we came up with a great medallion for him to wear afterwards. And the whole thing was run on a treadmill. And yes, he's crazy. But we love him.

Observations on answers:

Since I'm "the Mom" I am going to give my wisdom/perspective about a couple things on the recent tagging that all 3 girls responded to on their various blogs:

Question 7 (correct pronunciation of gyro): I was told by a man of Greek descent that it was pronounced heero. But before I made a fool of myself by saying that, I looked it up various places (not just one!) online and the consensus seems to be that it varies a bit according to region. But it seems to be more commonly correct to drop the "h" sound and just prounounce it yee-ro.

Question 27 (music trend you would like to eliminate): I found it interesting that Screamo was the answer given by all my children. And I'm so old I didn't even know what that was. Maybe I'll look into it so I can annoy my children further.

Question 22 (skill you'd like to master): I also found it interesting that all three of my children mentioned, in one way or another, singing as part or all of this answer. Must be genetic, given that that's the one skill above all others I now wish I had developed. (Let that be a lesson to you, my children--go learn now while you're young! Make your parents pay for the lessons, if you must.)

And thus endeth my wisdom.

Because I'm bored.

I wasn't actually tagged, but I felt like doing it anyway. What a life I have. 

1. Name three types of people who should qualify for forced labor camps
Um...well, let's go with financial lit. teachers, cause mine is bugging me now.  Juuuust kidding. 

2. What was the last thing you ate?
Pumpkin cookies. In the words of dad: I ate to many cookies :P

3. What’s a goal you have?
Publish a book,  Go to Jamaica/Singapore/Norway/just somewhere overseas. 

4. What do you think of entertainment awards shows?
Same as Bethany: I tried watching one once. "Tried" being the key word.

5. How do you want to die?
With a smile on my face. :)

6. What is your favorite vacation/get-away spot? Where will you be traveling next?
Disneyland.  Next time probably Disneyland with the Band Tour, or France/Spain/Morocco with the French club if I can convince certain parents to let me go....

7. How do you pronounce “gyro?”
Guy - row? 

8. What have you found entertaining lately?
Life. Life is pretty entertaining if you ask me. 

9. Do you follow any blogs of nondescript people who you don't know? Why do you follow those blogs?
Yes. Actually no, I just felt like saying yes. 

10. What would you use a time machine for?
Go back in time and probably....redue parts of my childhood. And maybe annoy a few of my elementary school teachers. 

11. What are your favorite restaurants?
Subway, Olive Garden, Sweet Tomatos. Woot! 

12. What actors should be barred from acting?
Kristen Stewart (Twilight), Miley Cyrus

13. What’s the last book you read?
A Great and Terrible Beauty by Libba Bray, but I'm currently reading another book. I don't remember the name of it though. Sad day. 

14. What’s the last movie you enjoyed?
Harry Potter. I'm a huge Harry Potter nerd. I love it. 

15. Reveal something that really bothers you.
I hate how horrible I am at parking. Actually, I hate yet love it at the same time. I get frustrated, but It's also easy to pick out my car when the back ends sticking out from all the others. And it makes me laugh at how bad I am. Heh. Heh. Heh. 

16. What will it say on your gravestone?
'Here lies the most awesome redhead whoever lived.'  Then it'll say the many, thousands of successful books I shall publish, plus a large statue of me pulling a sexy pose to the side of the gravestone. 

17. Put your iPod on shuffle and list the first three songs that come up, then explain yourself.
By The Sea - Um....yeah Katrina would get that. Cold as you - Taylor Swift. I didn't even know I had that song. Last: A Day in the Life - The Beatles. What's there to explain?

18. What is the biggest mistake you have ever made?
I just ate another pumpkin cookie. Uuuugh. 

19. What kind of toppings do you generally request for your pizza?
OLIVES! BLACK OLIVES! 

20. Who/what would you love to have complete control over?
My life? Heh. Heh. Heh. I'm hilarious. Um, money! and the amount of homework teachers give out, but that wont last my whole lifetime. 

21. What does your ideal Saturday consist of?
Friends, Family, no homework, no pumpkin cookies. 

22. What is one skill you lack completely but wish you could master with the snap of your fingers?
Singing and Acting. I would love to perform in musicals but I don't have THAT good of a voice and I'm as good at acting as dad is at lying. Okay, maybe a little better than that........or professional whistling. I'm pretty good at it now, but I'd like to become even better. You know, make my living off of it. 

23. What's something you live in constant fear of?
Grades. And basilisks. I'm always checking corners to make sure I wont meet one of them...

24. What was the first album you listened to non-stop, over and over again?
Probably the Pirates soundtrack. Thats the only one I can remember. Go Pirates. 

25. Have you ever seen a live, wild rat? How about a dead one?
Probably in a pet store somewhere...

26. What thing have you most aggressively promoted?
....possums? 

27. Is there a band or musical trend you would love to see erased completely?
Screamo

28. If you had to describe yourself using 3 words, what would they be?
Procrastinating Redheaded Chick. 

29. Where is the last place that you'd see yourself living?
Mexico. Or the Republic of Congo. Or India. Pretty much anywhere that is really, really hot. 

30. What was the last video you enjoyed on the internet?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f6s6A1tsavo Yeah...just don't ask. But it makes me laugh.

31. What is your favorite smoothie combination?
I dunno. Go ask jamba juice what they put in their peach pleasure. Besides peaches. 

32. What is the worst thing that has ever happened to your car?
Someone left a note on it saying, "Nice Parking Job!" I was diagonal in the parking space because I was to lazy to fix it. But no, that's not the worst thing that has happened to my car. It's fairly new. So let's go with....its had a HUGE bid poop on the windshield for a while now. 

33. What album have you been listening to most?
Usually the radio, but during commercials I listen to Sweeney Todd. Don't. Judge. Me. 

34. What clues you into a person's idiocy?
wHeN tHeY tYpE lIkE tHiS. hehe, no not really. I just couldn't think of an answer. 

35. What is your favorite store to wander through?
Ikea. 

Mori's Halloween Costume

There are so many options.

Eh?

Well, looks like I found the most awesome website out there:
http://www.wwwdotcom.com/

It's our favorite game!

And Andrew's too:

Thanks

Thanks for this awesome picture on my camera, ladies. More fun pictures on my blog!

Love bein' a Grandma

That's all there is to it. And visiting the grandson all by myself so I didn't have to share him, while it may have been selfish, was so great. I gave him lots of hugs and kisses for the other grandma (there you go, Nicole!) and decided grandparents just really have a different role than parents, and I love it.

Coned!

Poor Mori. She had a sore that wasn't healing, so it had to get biopsied. In order to keep her from continually licking it, she got "coned." The first cone wasn't big enough to keep her long snoot from reaching the wound, so she had to get a bigger one. This one ended up being so big, it weighed her poor head down and she kept getting sort of stuck head down. But we felt so sorry for her we kept it off whenever she was around us so we could just monitor her instead. As sad as it was, we couldn't help laughing at her because she just kept banging into walls and door frames. But good news--it wasn't cancer and should clear up with antibiotics!

Gus

Had to break down and get another car. Cami's school schedule is such that I was having to drop her off at Jordan High School (oh, no! the rival school!) in the morning and then be back there at 10:15 to pick her up and transfer her to her own school. But that was only on A days. Which meant it was every other day, and not even the same days each week. It was hard for an old woman's brain to remember. So it just worked better to get another car so her young brain can keep track. She named the car Gus. (By default, we named mine Shawn--if you don't get the reference, you apparently don't watch "Psych.") But for the record, it's the family's car, not hers, and she doesn't get to drive it all the time. About half the time we swap and she has to drive boring old Mom's car. But you'll notice she wanted to pose with what she wants to consider "her car."

Dumb!

Here is a picture of the dumbest thing I've done all year. After I finished mowing and trimming my mom's lawn, I saw one tiny little patch I'd missed next to her fence so I fired up the trimmer again just to get that one patch. I realized I could get it better if I pushed the fence (chain link) out of the way with my foot, but when I did so I forgot to keep my leg/foot far enough away from the target range. I learned first-hand (as if one needed proof) that trimmers rotate quickly. It didn't cut deep, but it cut quickly and painfully. But never fear, I worked through the pain for another moment and got that stupid patch of grass. Then I hobbled inside and took care of my injury. This picture was actually taken two days later so the cuts are blending together. It looked worse the first day. Worst part was that it was all due to my own stupidity. How embarrassing!

Wisdom

She wouldn't let me take her actual picture, so this will have to do. Camilla had her wisdom teeth taken out two days ago and still looks pretty much like this. Kind of like she did when she was a baby/toddler. (She had the fattest cheeks of any child we've ever seen, but oh-so squeezable. Wouldn't advise sqeezing them right now, however.)

Look familiar?

We found it! Matt, Drew, and I headed down to Mt. Rainier National Park today and we found the cute little "chalet" we stayed in years ago as a family. Remember this?

Oh, and here's a picture of me attempting to call you from our cool hike. The Bagoo was willing but the signal was weak.

Documentation of a Hot Flash

They don't just affect Mom....we can all feel the heat!

A bit of our trip

For Bethany: Here are a couple of pictures before I go to bed (after being up 24 straight hours by now, I believe). I'm getting a bit light-headed. This one is a view of Salzburg from the fortress overlooking the city, with The Untersberg in the background (the mountain we went up on).













And here's a couple half-way up the Swiss Alps:



And one more very special one just for Dad (because it's Father's Day). Can you guess where it was taken? (They took the street sign down--it got stolen and vandalized too often.)

Our Dancer

All of my girls had relatively short careers in the dancing field, but as part of the youth Temple Celebration for the new Draper Temple on Friday night, Camilla danced with our stake in an Asian dance. Naturally, our stake's presentation was the best. It happened to be the last of the 15 groups, too. (I think I counted 25 stakes, some of them grouped as two--ours was grouped with another one also.) Anyway, all the groups did great, and there was a choir made up of youth from all 25 stakes, too. The whole evening was delightful. Someone found this picture online and told me about it. Here's our little star! (The redhead in blue with the parasol.)

Back from Hawai'i

Yes, it was tough. Six days in paradise. Good weather. Ocean view. We suffered through it. The first question everyone asks is, "Where is your tan?" Katrina's repsonse is, "It wouldn't fit it the carry-on luggage." I wasn't clever enough to think up a snappy comeback. Had I thought, I would have said, "It didn't make it through the agricultural inspection."

Being the sunburn-proned people and one sun-allergy person that we are, we choose activities other than sun-worshipping type. So this trip we went waterfall hunting

and lighthouse viewing. (Waterfalls were on both Oahu and the Big Island. The lighthouses were just on Oahu.)

Also managed to get in a 16th birthday, a volcano, and a temple.

And now we're back, facing reality, laundry, school, work, etc. Oh, well. Paradise on this earth is only temporary, I suppose. At least there's updates on Andrew and his family, without whom the trip just wasn't the same!

Mom as Tagged by Katrina

A: Attached or Single: attached to Mark to infinity and beyond

B: Best Friend: Mark (I'd list the women folk, but they're so numerous it would take up too much space and they'd be jealous of each other--ha!)

C: Cake or Pie: Pecan pie, but only when smothered in whipped cream, and only a small sliver of a piece because it's so rich

D: Day of Choice: Saturday

E: Essential Items: Lip balm (which I refer to as Chapstick, but I don't actually like that brand)

F: Favorite Color: blue

G: Gummy Bears or Worms: Bears. Who wants to eat worms? Much prefer bear meat.

H: Home Town: Dad was in the Air Force. Moved several times. Went to high school in Elko, Nevada. Have now lived in Sandy, UT for longer than anywhere else.

I: Indulgences: Reading by the heater

J: January or July: Absolutely July. Who likes winter?

K: Kids: Yes. Three. All girls. What fun when they are/were teenagers!

L: Life is incomplete without: Those three girls. And the grandson. And husband. And son-in-law. And sons-in-law and grandchildren to come.

M: Marriage Date: July 8, 1981

N: Number of Siblings: Three. All boys. What fun when they were teenagers!

O: Oranges or Apples: How can you compare?

P: Phobias: Driving next to water

Q: Quote: "Return with honor"

R: Reasons to smile: Family and trips with said family members.

S: Season: Spring or summer or maybe fall (except that it means winter is coming). Keep winter to yourself.

T: Tag: Cami

U: Unknown fact about me: The unknown fact is that I talk so much there are no unknown facts left.

V: Vegetarian or Meat Eater: Meat, I suppose, although I don't eat so much red meat anymore.

W: Worst Habit: Too many to list, I think. Probably the aforementioned talking too much.

X: X-rays: Yes, I believe in them, but I don't worship them.

Y: Yummy favorite food: Varies, depending on the mood. My tastes have changed since having my gall bladder out, apparently. Nothing appeals to me that greatly any more. But I still like my Frosted Mini-Wheats (only the big ones) in the morning.

Z: Zodiac sign: Even this varies, depending on the chart you're looking at because I'm on the border. Sometimes Leo, more often Virgo. But who wants to be known as a Virgo? Although Mark is, so I guess we can be Virgins together. (That's enough to make my children gag, I can just tell! TMI, TMI!!)

My fav:

He's pretty much my favorite. 

Ever. 

What?

I was on imdb.com the other day, and ran across this:

When did this happen? They're ruining the classics, man.... 

:)

Now what?

My Sunday nights seem so empty. Not sure what to do with my time now. One would think I should be glad for the extra time, but I really do miss singing with the choir. Choirs are always nice, but it's extra nice when all the choir members are extra motivated and show up every week and everyone can actually sing the parts. Oh, well. Back to quiet Sunday evenings, I guess.

My Coolness

Did anyone notice how cool it is that you can click on my picture to the right to get to my blog?
Yep, it's just that cool.
Also, I miss my Andy.
A lot.
I may or may not be watching the posted videos of him over and over....

Cool Me

Cute Andy

Dedication

The Temple dedication itself turned out to be even a greater experience than I could have expected. All four of us (Mark, Camilla, and Katrina first, and then my turn a few minutes later) got to see Matt's mom, who was ushering. She took a picture of the other three outside the temple. She gave me a hug (we were inside at that point so a picture wouldn't have been good!). One of the other choir members pointed out that I was the only one of the choir who got a hug from the usher. Jealous. Then Mark, Cam, and Trini got to sit in probably one of the best seats in the house--an endowment room (happened to be the aspen-mural one) so they got padded seats and a big screen to watch the proceedings on. (I, on the other hand, had a hard folding chair and a small monitor where I was. I did, however, get that other benefit of getting to actually go into the Celestial room for parts of it.)

The dedication was great. The first speaker, particularly, kept making me think of Mark because he talked about being the first member in his family and doing a lot of temple work for his family and ancestors. I had lots of thoughts of family because another speaker talked about going through the open house with his 7-year-old grandson whose favorite part, he said afterwards, was "being in the Temple with you, Grandpa." We were sitting in kind of an open area right next to a main set of stairs and had to wait in our seats afterwards just a few minutes while other people exited before we could exit, and while I was waiting I got to see my family pass by. Because I was on the end of the row, I got to reach out and give them each a squeeze of the hand (although they were all expecting "bone" and I disappointed at least one of them in that respect). That was an unexpected pleasure--to see them right there by me.

We hadn't known ahead of time which General Authorities would be there, so when we saw President Monson, President Uchtdorf, and Elder Perry walk in and take their seats, those of us on that side realized we would be standing right behind them. (Fortunately I was kind of between President Uchtdorf and Elder Perry so it wasn't so quite so scary.) But in spite of all the numerous warnings (and there were many!) as we came in the second time, I accidentally bumped Elder Perry's chair. Well, more like brushed it. It was as I turned around to get into position. It rattled me so badly I really struggled through that next song. But after we got back to our seats, the lady next to me said she bumped a chair, too, so I felt better. Mark can't believe I let it bug me so much, but he doesn't realize how much they drilled it into us not to do that and how careful I had been up to that point. And I made sure I didn't do it again!

The most memorable thing for one of the members of the choir, unfortunately, was my all-time greatest fear: she passed out during the final song. She had started feeling sick maybe 15 minutes before that, went into the restroom to "toss her cookies," felt better and thought she'd be okay. But just a little ways into the song she started teetering so the people on either side of her grabbed her arms and let her down gently to the floor while we all kept singing and the poor director looked so confused and distressed. Apparently the camera had been on her just before the teetering moment (when her eyes started fluttering, unnoticed by my family, but some who knew her saw it) but the camera stayed off of the scene while the rest of this took place. Anyway, a couple men from the congregation came up, we made room for them (all the while singing away like nothing was happening at our feet), they got her up (she started to come to right away) and once she could figure out what was going on, they helped her out.

When the final song was done, we stood waiting during the closing prayer and then were supposed to wait a moment while the General authorities exited. President Uchtdorf and President Monson turned around and told us we did a beautiful job. In fact, President Uchtdorf first directed his comments to me! (He was speaking about the choir, not about me, but he looked right at me when he spoke--Mark could see it on the camera.) And President Monson expressed his concern for the lady who had passed out. Hey--that's something for her to feel good about! So that was one benefit of standing right behind them. We did get to be spoken to by them. (And I guess it's okay that we said thank you in response.) Elder Perry didn't yell at me about the chair-bumping incident.

But my best thing of all (well, non-spiritually speaking) was that our group got vindicated. They told us during our warm-up time that the other choirs had been taking longer than expected to get in place, so not to run but to move as quickly as we possibly could into position. The whole group practically erupted into cheers, saying they were going to get back to that 27 seconds, possibly shave it down to 25 seconds, etc. My friend even told me to go for it because she knows how fast I can walk. We weren't told how fast we did it this time, but I did my part to move us in quickly. We had been warned before the dress rehearsal that people tend to slow down when they hit the doorway of the Celestial room because they become overwhelmed. I can promise I didn't do that. I am one focused, obedient woman. You tell me to look straight ahead and get into position as quickly as possible, that's what I'm going to do. I also did not look around the room (as instructed). I looked only at the speaker or at our director (like we were told!). So I didn't even realize there were people in there that I knew until somebody told me afterwards.

(p.s. I know nobody reads this except my family and they've all heard these stories, but I'm putting them on here so I have a record. Thanks for your patience.)

Got Myself in Trouble

Katrina feels validated. I just felt stupid. For the Temple Dedication Choir (session #3) that I'm singing in, I'm on the end of one of the rows--started out on the second row but got bumped to the front row because I couldn't see, much to my dismay (being bumped to the first row--I didn't care that I couldn't see). Anyway, walking into the Celestial room to sing (we don't stay in there the whole time, just come in to sing and then leave again), I have to lead our row in at the same time as the second row. They stressed over and over how we had to hurry, had to do the whole thing in no more than 35 seconds because that's how long it took each of the first two choirs to get into position, etc. So not even thinking about my walking speed except to realize that at the time I was wearing my silly skirt that won't let me take big steps so it was slowing me down, I walked as quickly as possible as I led the group in and into position. Well, we were thrilled when we heard we had shaved 8 seconds off the record and did it in a mere 27 seconds! And then the guy said, "Um, you looked hurried." We said, "But you told us to hurry." And then he said, "I hate to say this, but you went too fast." Couldn't even believe it. I kind of quietly said, "If you don't want to go fast, then don't put me in the front of the line." It honestly didn't occur to me that I shouldn't walk my normal fast pace--I forget that I have an abnormal walking speed. Guess the family is right. But we probably beat all the other groups!! Eight seconds!!!! Take that you other choirs!!

Aunt Eva

Since I went to her graveside service yesterday, I decided to list my favorite memories of Aunt Eva. Mostly I think I loved her chuckle--that deep, rumbling chuckle which she used so frequently. At her funeral, they mentioned how she loved people, which was obvious in how she acted towards us every time we visited. There was mention of the murals on her walls, and I know we always looked for the flagpole out front. (There was a flagpole out front of every place they lived in.) Nobody loved food and chocolates the way she did. Our St. George visits just won't be the same. As her children and grandchildren talked about her I kept thinking how funny it was they were talking about our Eva like she was theirs, when she was really ours!

The one funny thing about yesterday was when I mentioned to Uncle Juel's daughter-in-law that Uncle Juel had performed Dad's and my marriage. Her face was so priceless--such a look of utter shock and disbelief. She said all their daughters had wanted him to perform their marriage but he just wouldn't. He wouldn't ever get special permission to perform it at another temple. Her husband mentioned the same thing. He said his dad just really didn't like performing the marriages and that we must have been married at the temple where he was assigned as a sealer. I explained to both of them that we did get married at the Provo Temple where he was a sealer and that we did it soon after he became a sealer. After thinking about it for a while, I wondered if perhaps he learned from our wedding that live weddings of relatives were too stressful for him. (He mentioned later to my mother or someone that he was more nervous at our wedding than any others he had done.) I felt a bit guilty that we got something his own grandchildren didn't, but as Katrina* pointed out, I am the daughter of the Palsy-Walsy which is probably even more important!

This picture was the best I could do. It's from the day of our wedding, out in front of the temple. See how young we looked! And how young Beverly and Joyce (on either side of us) looked! That's Aunt Eva and Uncle Juel next to Joyce. Then Carlene, Dave, and my Grandma Hardy. Time flies too, too fast. And next thing you know, there's a cute little grandson walking around.

*I originally credited the Palsy-Walsy reference to Mark, but Katrina had really pointed it out to me. Sorry, Katrina!

Quote

I was bored and was looking up quotes. I ended up running across this a few funny ones:

Whoever said, 'Anything is possible,' obviously never tried slamming a revolving door.

 It's true that we don't know what we've got until we lose it, but it's also true that we don't know what we've been missing until it arrives. 

Never take life seriously. Nobody gets out alive anyway.

A husband was complaining about how women talk so much. His wife replied, "Well that's just because women always have to repeat what they say for the men." The husband replied, "What?"

When I die, I want to go peacefully like my Grandfather did, in his sleep -- not screaming, like the passengers in his car.

Whatever women do they must do twice as well as men to be thought half as good. Luckily, this is not difficult.

A computer once beat me at chess, but it was no match for me at kick boxing.

There is a fine line between fishing and just standing on the shore like an idiot

The road to success is always under construction

Our New Sofa (Settee)

Here's a picture of our new sofa (technically called a settee, whatever that means!). Since we ordered it by a picture, without ever having sat on a sample of one, we had no idea what it would feel like and went on faith that it would be okay comfort-wise speaking. Didn't count on the height being ill-fitting for the vertically-challenged member of the family.

Not sure you can tell from this video, but Katrina can't touch the ground. Actually, I can barely touch the ground, but we think it will settle when it gets worn in a little. As soon as I sat on it the first time, I just laughed, thinking of how it was going to be for Katrina--so before I let her sit down when she came home the first time, I ran for the camera. Poor girl! We love our short one. It fits Camilla just fine, though. (Some people remembered to grow their legs.)

I'm What?

I forgot to post my funny story from last week. I am the chorister for the ward, so I generally don't really look at the program-- since I know what songs they are anyway (I choose them). So I got to church last week and sat down, chatting with my roommates, when Heather leaned over and said, "You're speaking today?"
"I'm...what?"
Never heard from any member of the bishopric about this, and I hadn't even been there in weeks, since I had been on Christmas break, then a farewell, then Seattle. Welcome back, I guess. So before the service started, I went up to the front and brought it up. The one announcing said, "Yeah, you're right, you're not speaking," and corrected it. The bishop just laughed about it, and the other counselor said, "What do you mean you're not? We had you planned for 20 minutes!" I told him I could do a tap number, but I wasn't very prepared for that.
Anyway, I just thought it was funny. "Bishop? I was never informed that I was supposed to speak today..."

Three of the Hardest Things

I've decided that three of the things I find hardest about raising children are teething, toilet training, and teaching them to drive. I'm completely done with the first two jobs, and we are now in the midst of the third task with the last child. By mutual agreement, she is spending as much of that training with her dad as possible because they do better together. I'm too uptight. But in my defense, I spent more time with the teething babies and did the majority of the toilet training with all three. I also put in my fair share of the driver's training with the other two. This is fair. I'm old and worn out.

Stupid Poems

In my English class, I have to recite a 2 minute poem by memory. When I first started, I checked on line, and came across some pretty stupid ones such as:

Nuffin rhymes with Muffin
Nuffin nuffin nuffin
Rhymes with muffin
But nuffin nuffin nuffin
Rhymes with 'orange'
Could it be
That a cup of tea
Is not as good with an orange
As a muffin?

Birds
by: Lucas
A bird soaring high and high in the sky
As soon as i i look in the sky
it craps in my eye……
(I just thought that was funny)

Ode to Spider
Once upon a moonlit night there was a little spider,
Who sadly came across a girl who’s name was Molly Snyder.
Poor little guy stood no chance against her platform shoes,
She screamed and smacked and reduced dear spider to ooze.

A little poem of sortsRoses are red
Roses are red

Violets are blue

Most poems rhyme

But this one doesn't.

Clownfish

This really is not appropriate.

I don't find this funny.


You can't just walk in here,

You and your "jokes"


You only come to mock me.

Shame on you.


Knocking on someone's door is funny?

I don't see the joke


That's disturbing the peace

And annoying people.


Why does that poor man have to go to the doctor?

What? That's a joke?


You can't make fun of other people's

Unfortunate illnesses


If the man thinks he's a pair of curtains

Then he really should pull himself together.


This really is not appropriate.

Funny I don't find this.


Funny.

Not.

Big Deal Around Here

So the new Draper Temple has been occupying a bit of our time lately. We were complaining (and yes, we knew how ridiculous it was) that it would be taking maybe five or ten minutes longer to get to our new temple than our old one. But now that we've seen the inside of the new one, I think we'll stop complaining. Mark and I had the opportunity of ushering one day, after which we got a quick, self-guided tour of the temple. Then we got to help serve food another day for some VIP tours, during which time Camilla got to sneak through with a couple of families in the ward. Our family will tour soon; I will have another ushering assignment in the next couple weeks; and then Mark and I will get an opportunity one morning in March to spend a few hours in a sealing room, taking a few moments to explain the purpose of those rooms to the visitors. I'm also spending every Sunday evening at choir practice for a dedication session choir. (We get dedication session #3.) It's a beautiful temple (as are they all), but I think the font area is the most beautiful one I remember seeing.

Meanwhile, I keep going to the Jordan River temple. I'll miss it, but I think I'll keep going there sometimes for the convenience and familiarity, and probably just out of loyalty. It will be hard to make the shift--like losing an old friend. This is the one where I started attending weekly at the suggestion of my friend and now more than weekly because of the production of my husband and his family history work. (So many DeGrandgagnage's, so little time!)

A visit from the sisters!

My beautiful sisters came to visit me this weekend! Okay, they mostly came to see this cute fellow. . .

. . . but they were nice and pretended to be equally as excited to see me and Matt.

On Saturday we took them on a tour of downtown Seattle. Matt showed them his office, the library, and the apartment where he lived over the summer. After that, we visited the troll under the Aurora Bridge. Unfortunately, Matt stepped in some sort of animal feces on the way back to the car. We dubbed it "troll poop" and had an interesting time trying to get rid of the smell from our car.

Next came a visit to the famous Seattle Space Needle, complete with strange poses behind these bamboo-like structures.

Andrew was pretty tired by this point, but he agreed to show off his model pose for the girls:

Next on our tour was the Seattle Aquarium.

These are my strange, yet lovable, sisters:

And these are some of the cool things we saw: a puffer fish, a Finding Nemo tank (See? It's Nemo and Marlin and Dory!) and some silly eels that bury themselves in the sand and watch for food to go by.

Andrew really liked the fish and was excited to bang on every tank we passed. He even banged his head into a few glass walls while trying to get the fish.

Finally, Andrew zonked out while we toured Pike's Place Market.

We got some authentic Seattle sushi at the Japanese Gourmet Restaurant at Pike's Place Market, then headed home.

It was so fun having the girls here with us this weekend! Andrew was especially excited to wake them up in the morning and play with them all day long. He even showed off his rockin' swinging skills at the park.

Thanks for coming to visit! We miss you already!