Yesterday in some freak of nature, (because aparently much of SL county didn't get any snow) we ended up getting 6+ inches of snow. Mike helped Lily make a snowman, buttons and carrot nose included.

Aaron went to the neighbors to attempt some sledding on their sloped back yard.

And of course the snow plow decided that the best place to put the snow was right in front of our mail box. I had to climb on top of it in order to reach to check the mail.

Yeah, he's nine, and Aaron FINALLY lost one of his top front teeth. It's only the 5th tooth he's lost, and 3 of those he's had to have pulled. Someday soon, he may catch up to all those 6 year olds who have already lost both front teeth and had the others grow in.

We were at a family christmas dinner when it came out. Luckily it didn't bleed to badly and he was able to eat just fine.

We got a fun strategy game from the family gift exchange called Hey! That's My Fish! Dumb name, but pretty fun game. It's good to have games that we like to play that Aaron can also play.

Sunday night we had an absolutely fabulous dinner at Chez Morgan. Good food, good company, no kids--a perfect combination for a relaxed evening. We got some fun games there as well--Acquire and Race for the Galaxy. Hope everyone is ready to play games with us all Christmas Break!

I believe I have all of the holiday shopping done and am planning to avoid the mall/departments stores til the new year if possible.

I really hate it that whenever there is a political scandal of any kind, newscasters feel like they have to make up a name for it that includes -gate on the end.

Thanksgiving in Disneyland

It was great! We had so much fun. We were prepared for super long lines and I brought lots of stuff for the kids in case they got bored while waiting. The longest we waited Thursday was maybe 25 minutes on the new Toy Story shooting gallery ride in California Adventure, which is way fun, btw. Ryan and Mary Kay joined us Friday, and we did wait an hour for California Screamer, only because we already had fast passes for Tower of Terror and couldn't get more. Saturday Ryan was with us and the lines seemed shorter than Friday, but not as short as Thursday.

We had a GREAT Thanksgiving Dinner at Mimi's. YUM and a great price, and no cleanup!

I was worried about Lily, because she freaked out at Lagoon back in June. I wasn't sure if she would ride anything at all. We took her on the Finding Nemo submarine first. She climbed right in with no hesitation and loved every minute of it.

Kiersten and I got in a little trouble the first day. After Nemo, we were assigned to run over and get fast passes for Space Mountain and then meet up in Fantasy Land. Turns out there was only a 5 minute wait to go on the ride right then! How could we refuse?! We grabbed the passes, then ran into line. Dad called to tell us they were in the Peter Pan ride line. I told him we'd try to find them, but if not, we'd just wait for them at the exit (hint hint).

The hint didn't take, and after an AWESOME ride on the space rollercoaster, and a run over to Fantasy Land (where I STILL made it in line to ride Peter Pan), we eventually had to spill the beans (and face the wrath).

Lily went on the carosel next, then Kiersten took the kids on the teacups, which Lily and Aaron loved and had to go on several times. I took them a couple times, but wouldn't let Aaron spin.
Aaron loved all of the rollercoasters, especially Space Mountain and California Screamer. He even went on the Tower of Terror! Nice to have a ride buddy since Mike doesn't like rides.

Everyone loved the Muppet 3D movie in California Adventure. Lily kept putting her glasses up and down, presumibly trying to figure out how it works.

There was also a live on stage (with puppets) Playhouse Disney show which Lily adored.

Well that's enough for now. Thanks Mom and Dad for a great trip!!

Video Clip Friday--Classical music like you've never heard it before

Macro--I'm amazed this flower has survived the cold

South for the winter

We've had several of these large flocks of birds fly right over our house. Mike and I snapped some pictures the second or third time it happened.

Fun in the leaves

This was before it snowed and rained and got the leaves all soggy.

Another Pet Peeve

I hate it when the bagger at the grocery store puts ONE item in a bag. Dude, there's room for more.

The election is over! And Halloween Pics

The election has finally ended and I can honestly say I am proud to have been a part of such an historic moment in our country's history.

McCain's concession speech was very nice. If he had been that gracious throughout the campaign, I think he would have had a much better chance of winning.

Obama's acceptance speech was inspiring. Let's hope he can really unite the country and get us moving in a better direction.

And now, better late than never, our ghost and ninja. It was the warmest Halloween I can remember in a long time. And by 8 it was raining pretty good so we didn't have any late trick or treaters.

Pre-schoolers for Obama

We've had that magnet on the fridge only for 2 or 3 days. We were watching the Rachel Maddow Show and they showed a clip from an Obama rally. Lily saw the logo and excitedly said, "We have that magnet!" She ran to get it off the fridge, then held it up--"See? It's the same!"

Play-group Halloween Party

Nightmare?

I had a dream last night that Sarah Palin was president. And because of that, we were moving to Europe. No more detail than that, but still pretty scary. :)

I took the kids to a local pumpkin patch to choose some pumpkins. They had fun and Aaron loved being able to use the clippers to cut the pumpkins from the vine.

Day visiting with my Grandparents

My grandparents were up from Arizona last weekend. We got to spend one day with them, but then Lily got sick! I was hoping to get some better pictures of all of us(Lily decided to lay on the floor rather than sit for the picture), but I'm stuck with only these. And Grandpa played Wii with Aaron. :)

Photo

This is technically probably considered a close-up and not a macro. I like the beaded up water.

As always, click for a larger image.

Fun games

You probably know that I love me a good casual game. One of my all time favorites is Desktop Tower Defense.

Anyway, found a good one yesterday. Same concept as the Rush Hour puzzle game. It's called Wooden Path. Don't waste too much time!

Felix Campout

This past weekend we went to Heber with Mike's family. Yes, it snowed. It was cold, but we had a couple of space heaters in the cabin which made it bearable. But I don't think I took off my coat except at bedtime. And then I wished I still had it on.

It was great seeing everyone (except Dan and Courtney and Chris and Randi) and was really fun to watch all the cousins have so much fun playing together. Of course the older boys loved the fire. We had to convince them not to poke sticks in and out of it and to leave the hatchet alone.

Once the kids were all in bed, we all huddled around the campfire playing silly games until we got too cold.

The next morning started out okay (despite a restless nights sleep), but ended up snowing. Lily and Ellie seemed to especially love the snow. At one point Ellie thought Lily was going in and she grabbed her arm and said "NO!" It only snowed an inch or two. It started to let up so we decided the roads wouldn't be too bad and decided to stay (as planned) until after lunch.

We finally got the kids inside to do a craft, so a bunch of us were able to play a game called Werewolves (which is similar to Mafia if you've ever played that). Once we got the rules down it was quite fun.

Finally we squeezed everything back into our car and headed down the mountain. And cranked the heater way up when we got home. :)

Hmm, for some reason I can't get the slideshow to embed. So you'll just have to click here to see all of the pictures.

Macro--leaf

Click to see the large image

Sometimes lifeseems like the Truman Show

I drive Lily to preschool Wednesdays and Fridays.

We got in the car, then Lily made me turn on the TMBG NO! cd. Which normally would be fine. It's probably my favorite kids album we have. If you are a They Might Be Giants fan, I highly recommend it. But anything gets old if you've been listening to it for a week straight every time you get in the car.

We drive down the street and here's what I see every time I drive her to school. Oh, there are the kids waiting for the school bus. Turn the corner and there's my two neighbors out for their morning walk. Out of the neighborhood, there's the woman walking her two ginormous dogs. Further down, the other woman who walks down this street even though it doesn't have a sidewalk the whole way.

It just struck me when I was driving that I could be like Truman in the scene where he points out that he knows exactly when a yellow car is going to drive by. "My neighbors are going to walk around that corner, right....now!"




Still haven't heard about the job. I don't know if I should call or just wait.

Tagged again--8 things

My cousin Ellen tagged me with this. I don't think I'll tag anyone in return this time, but if you feel like doing it on your own blog, feel free!

**8 TV Shows I like to watch...**
1. Battlestar Galactica
2. How I Met Your Mother
3. Eureka
4. Flight of the Conchords
5. Dexter
6. What Not to Wear
7. Lost
8. Heroes

**8 Favorite Restaurants...**
1. Cabo Grill
2. Cafe Rio
3. Settebello Pizzeria Napoletana‎
4. Blue Iguana
5. Macaroni Grill
6. Sizzler
7. Sweet Tomatoes
8. Anywhere as long as friends are along, cuz it's all about the company

**8 Things that happened yesterday...**
1. Play group
2. Helped Aaron finish his book report
3. Did the dishes
4. Grilled chicken
5. Weeded
6. Watched TV
7. Surfed the web
8. Enjoyed the sunshine

**8 Things I'm looking forward to...**
1. Disneyland in November
2. Finding a job
3. Celebrating a friend's birthday this weekend
4. Lotro expansion release
5. Holiday season (minus the snow, I never look forward to snow)
6. Beautiful fall weather
7. Camping with the extended fam
8. Halloween party

**8 Things on my Wish List...**
1. Travel to Europe
2. Going on a cruise with friends
3. A slightly larger house
4. Hybrid car
5. Live closer to SLC
6. Actually travel anywhere I've never been
7. Guitar Hero 4
8. Another long weekend without the kids. :)

Circus

We took the kids to the circus yesterday. I haven't been since I was a kid. It was actually quite enjoyable.

The kids liked it too. Well, the first half was very LOUD with lots of singing and pounding music and Lily didn't like it that much. But she loved the second half with the elephants and tigers and trapeze artists. Aaron's favorite was the motorcycle riders. They ended up with 7 guys on bikes riding around in a little sphere cage. I thought they were gonna die. One wrong move and they would've been in a steaming heap of bikes and people at the bottom of the sphere.

One has to wonder, however, how one gets into the business of being in a circus. Do they hold auditions? Do little kids think "I wanna be a clown/ringmaster/animal trainer in the circus one day? Perhaps the one who trains goats to ride ponies.


PS I can't tell you how much I am loving this fall (85 degree high) weather. Stay away cold!