Aaron's Hidden Pasttime

Here's something you probably don't know about Aaron: he LOVES storms! He bought the instrument pictured below so he could monitor our recent cold/snowy/windy/rainy weather systems. He kept calling out numbers and percentages--how many inches of rain or snow had accumulated in the past hour, what the wind chill was, how strong that last gust of wind was, etc. Before one of the wind storms he got everything ready for a possible power outage: generator, flashlights, weather radios, extension cords, heaters, etc. etc. I was almost disappointed when we didn't lose power because of all the effort he put into it. When he was on his mission in Southern Mexico he was hoping he'd be there for a big hurricane...lightning and thunder bring a smile of glee to his face. You get the picture. Maybe his interest comes from living in the mid-West with all of its rain and tornadoes...I just don't know. When I was 12 or 13 a freak tornado hit the city where I lived (Albuquerque, NM). It only touched down in a few places, including our house. When I looked out the window and saw debris flying around in the sky and then saw one of our big trees start to come down, let's just say that I wasn't all giddy the way Aaron would've been. "It's the end of the world as we know it" was going through my mind! :)

Da Boyz....and the girl :)

Christmas Day 2008

Twilight Mania

Okay, so here's my contribution to the recent Twilight mania--the guy in this video is my sister Lisa's friend (he's an ex-BYU Young Ambassador)... maybe I'll actually read the series some day so I can be in the "in" crowd! ;)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y0fVb0SA0qs

Can I Please Get Just One?!

Can I please get just one picture with all of the kids looking and smiling at the camera at THE SAME TIME?!




I didn't think so....

The Start of Basketball Season

The new basketball season for Jordan and Maya just started a few weeks ago. They've had two practices so far and the games will begin some time in January. This is Jordan's second year with the program so he's old school now. :) This is Maya's first year and she was pretty nervous to go to her first practice. Fortunately, Aaron took her to it and stayed with her the whole time psyching her up about it....she hasn't seemed nervous since.

Wish List

So every year Aaron buys the big daddy newspaper with all of the store ads that come out right before Black Friday. The kids go through the ads and circle toys and things that appeal to them. There are a LOT of circles on the pages by the time they're done!

Christmas Tree 2008

So the kids decorated the tree this year, which is already dead, by the way. ("And Charlie....light a match!") I decided to let go of the control of having a nicely decorated tree--I'll have plenty of nicely-coordinated/decorated trees some day when the kids are older.

Cheese

I have to write this down before I forget it. The other day Maya grabbed something away from Ryan and then I kept hearing him whine to her, "Give me back my cheese." After listening to this for a minute or so I went to stop their little altercation. What Maya had REALLY taken away from him was her little play Barbie camera. You see, whenever Ryan sees one of us holding a camera he really wants his picture taken and he sports this huge fake grin and says, "CHEESE!" Hence, she had taken away his "cheese".

My sweet little pumpkin seed butter ball chunkerooni

Busy busy busy!!!

Yes, that's a handful of a fresh-baked chocolate chip cookie:


Ryan LOVES to play with the water in the kitchen sink:


Look at how cute and innocent I am....NOT! :)

Jordan's Baptism and Eric's Baby Blessing

Jordan was baptized by Aaron on November 8th. Eric had his baby blessing the next day. We were fortunate to have many family members in attendance: Bamma and Papa, Grandma and Grandpa, Uncle Josh and Aunt Kiera, Aunt Lisa, and Aunt Tori. Thanks to them for making it an extra special weekend! We are so pleased with Jordan for making this important decision. Below are photos taken during the family visit:

Maya's 1st Tooth Loss & Skin Ailments

Maya lost her first tooth about a month ago. We had caramel apples for our FHE treat and it came right out...sorry for the gory picture. Also, she's had eczema or some kind of skin problem on a spot on the right side of her mouth as well as her eyelids (as seen in photo below), for months and months. After two regular doctor visits and creams that didn't work, we finally got her into a dermatologist who prescribed other creams. They've helped a lot, though I wonder how long she'll have to use them.



I jokingly said that maybe we should bandage her problematic/itchy skin patches so she wouldn't touch or scratch them...had no idea she'd actually do it:

Halloween 2008

This year the kids got another ton of candy. First they went trick-or-treating at our ward's trunk-or-treat. Then they went trick-or-treating at Microsoft, and later that same night they went trick-or-treating in our neighborhood. Needless to say I threw a bunch of it out, especially since Jordan is allergic to peanuts. Maya dressed up as a southern belle, but a few people thought she was Little Bo Peep without her shepherd's cane. Jordan was a jedi, a costume I cut out of some fabric like 10 minutes before Jordan's first Cub Scout Pack meeting when I found out he was supposed to dress up for a skit that night. He liked the costume so much that he decided to use it instead of the Batman one I had bought him. Don't you remember when our parents didn't used to buy us costumes? We had to rummage through our closets and invent costumes...when I was a kid we had to trick-or-treat uphill both ways through the snow in our bare feet! :)

The Mighty Moles

Here are some photos from Jordan's most recent season of baseball:

Lisa's Haydn Opera

So here are a few pictures and video clips of Lisa from her opera:

Opera: Haydn’s "il mondo della luna"

My baby sister is one of the leads in the University of Washington's fall opera, which has performances on Wednesday November 12th, Friday November 14th, and Sunday November 16th. I'm very excited to go watch her perform (I'm stoked it's a humorous opera--I NEED to laugh and Lisa is great at making you laugh, hence the picture I posted of her above) and would love to form a group to go with me (a girls' night). Let me know if you're interested....

Fall Opera: Haydn’s "il mondo della luna" DATE
$25 general admission, $15 students/seniors. Not a Notecard event. Reserved seating. Cash/check/credit card at the door, or in advance at 206-543-4880 or online at www.meany.org Haydn’s little-known farcical drama, penned in 1777, was one of the first operas to feature lunar travel. In this tangled tale of love and deceit, a controlling father is tricked into believing he’s on the moon and is ultimately convinced to allow his daughters to marry the husbands of their own choosing. Noel Koran directs. Meena Hwang conducts.