Christmas, Birthdays, Valentine's Day, and a Woofie

Okay, I must be penitent about that little rant on the last post. Dan and I spoke in church last Sunday. Guess what topic they gave me? Lift Where You Stand...hmm.....you think this had any thing to do with my reaction to being called to nursery?

Now that I've been penitent, here's another little rant: people who build their houses on the very top of hills/mountains. Maybe this is a weird quirk in both me and Dan and this doesn't bother most people, but we often lament the many houses on the hills around our house. I don't mind building near hills, even on the way up hills (if it doesn't involve carving a big ugly gash out of an otherwise lovely mountain...I think all you folks who are familiar with St. George know what I'm talking about). I love the red hills around my house, but I am annoyed by having my view of the skyline tainted by people's huge, pretentious houses sitting right, smack on top of the hills. Sorry to anyone who has such a house. I'm sure many otherwise lovely people have houses on hilltops.

Now a little bit of what's been going on in the last two months....
Laraine turned three. She's very into "Frincesses" right now, so we had a Princess Party. She certainly is our "Fritty Frincess." I adore her. I love to hear her say "Frana" or "Franta" (Grandma, Grandpa). I love it when she runs up to hug Bennett when he gets off the bus after school and then holds his hand as they walk back to the house. I love listening to her play make believe with Bennett and hearing her say things like, "Superman, save me!" I love it when she brings me a book, often "Fancy Wancy" (Nancy). I love it when she wants to carry a purse. I love it when she introduces people to her baby brother, "Jastor." I even love her roar, to which I'm often treated when I've displeased her.
We spent a ridiculous amount of money at the Bear Mill for Laraine's birthday. Here she is with "Eunice."

This is Bennett and "Safari Sweetie."
And here's Jalen with "Pink."

Jasper turned one. I love our Doodle Bug. I love how he flaps his arms. I love his easy smile. I love it when he gets hold of a comb and tries to brush his nearly non-existent hair. I love the feathery little plume right on top of his head. I love his crazy lopsided crawl. I love his sweet, open nature and that just the sight of him makes me feel like laughing.

Here are a few images from Christmas. We had a wonderful holiday.

She did insist on wearing the princess dress from Grandma and Grandpa for probably 2 solid weeks.

Yes, we have already had to take away the sword.

Dan and I spent more than we should have to go to a Valentine's Day dinner/dance/party. But, hey, apparently it was for charity, and I had to take this opportunity to wear a fancy ball gown. There are far too few opportunities to wear fancy dresses. I dug up a dress from back in the day. We had a grand time. The food was good, the company was excellent, and we danced like imbeciles. As Dan puts it, "Poorly, but enthusiastically." I was asked if I took the precaution of wearing steel toed shoes to dance with Dan. I didn't, but I managed to get by with no major injuries. Our table was shushed by the host during the performance. (I know, can you believe that a table where Dan was sitting could have possibly been shushed? What can I say---I guess I thought the singer was sort of background music.) I noted that the experience turned out to be even more reminiscent of our high school proms than I had expected. Getting in trouble, just like old times. I believe last time it was for dancing in the fountain at the D Day dance. That was the last dance of my high school career, and I'm so glad I went with Dan then and that I'm with him forever now (poor guy).
We added a canine to the family. Meet Diamond. She is a Lab/Border Collie mix with a few more things thrown in as well, I'm sure. She's fantastic. She is sweet and obedient, and she almost never barks. Dan is loving his new running partner, but I suppose I have to accept that my house will most likely be stinkier.

I reviewed Hancock and Hellboy II on the review blog. I've written a few new reviews on Goodreads in the past two months, so I added a link to my list of reviews on Goodreads.

It's Beginning to Look a lot like Christmas

It's a rare snowy day in St. George, and Bennett's pretty thrilled. Though after playing with Dan in the snow for a few minutes, Bennett suddenly realized he was really cold and that maybe he actually is glad he doesn't live in a place where it's snowy very often.



So I've been out of it for awhile. Buying a house and moving in has been time consuming, though fun and exciting. We're finally settled, and I've even thrown my first party in my new house. Inspired by Stacy, I decided to try hosting a cookie exchange. Dan (A.K.A. BEST husband ever) waitered for the party. I cooked most of the food beforehand. Some of the food flopped, and Dan could have used some help, so there were some kinks, but I had a good time, I hope my guests had a good time, and I certainly got some excellent cookies out of the deal. I forgot to take a shot of the set-up before the party, but here's the aftermath.


And here's my haul. The cookies were SOOO good. Dan, the kids, and I have already polished off all seven dozen, and the party was only two days ago.
This year our family went out and chopped down our own Christmas tree. For me and the kids, it was a first, but it's the way Dan's family got a tree when he was a kid. I would say it was a success. We took Laurie and Dave along, and I think a good time was had by all.



Decorating our tree...
We had an excellent Thanksgiving. I forgot to take a picture of the lovely and delicious Thanksgiving spread, but here are Jorryn and Jasper in their Thanksgiving finery. Jasper, by the way, has finally decided that it is time to join the world of the mobile. He does a funky little drag one leg crawl now.
This picture kind of belongs on the last post, but this is Bennett's Halloween party at school. I was there as a helper, and I took Laraine and Jasper along. Laraine got to sit with the kids and enjoy the Halloween treats.
So a couple Sundays ago, Dan decided to bear his testimony, kind of introduce himself to the new ward....it may have been a nice testimony, but I don't think anyone paid much attention to it. I was sitting in the center pew, third row (our children had already been making their presence known quite heartily), attempting to hold Jasper and control Bennett and Laraine, but when Dan went up to the pulpit, Laraine ran after him. That was fine; he picked her up and went ahead with his testimony. Then Bennett decided he should go up too. Well, it would have been all right if he'd just gone up and stood next to Dan, but no, he grabbed the pulpit from the front and began jumping up and down, trying to see Dan. After a couple of minutes of this, I decided I better get him. With Jasper in one arm, I grabbed Bennett with my free hand. He refused to let go of the front of the pulpit. I got to have the supreme pleasure of struggling with him, front and center, before the entire ward. I managed to pull him off and literally dragged him (he threw himself to the floor and commenced kicking and screaming) to the pews. He grabbed the second row pew. I sat on the third row pew and hung on to his hand, while he stretched (on the ground) across the row and hung on to the second row pew. Finally, he broke free and ran up to stand next to Dan. Dan put his arm around Bennett and finished his testimony while I sat wilted and humiliated in the pew. It was lovely. If I had been a spectator, I would have loved it. The kind woman in the row behind me told me how nice it was for her to see someone's children behaving worse than hers. Anyway, we did, indeed, make our presence known.

Moving on to the rant....

I got a calling last Sunday...guess what? NURSERY! I accepted VERY ungraciously. I think Dan was about to crawl under the chair. When the 1st,2nd? Counselor gave me the news, I turned to Dan and said, "I TOLD you they'd do this to me." (Our first Sunday when I dropped Laraine off at nursery, I learned that there had only been one leader in there for awhile, and I said to Dan, "What do you bet they nail me for that one?") I then said to the Counselor, "I can't tell you I'm happy about it, but I'll do it. It sure is nice to be new in the ward and get a calling that allows me to meet people so easily..." I said some more really inappropriate stuff. Then I said some more to Dan later about my opinions on callings, particularly how it's always mothers of young children in the primary callings, when we're hanging out with young children all the time anyway, and why don't older people get these callings more? (Because old dudes REFUSE---one of my pet peeves---have you ever noticed how it's mostly older women sitting in Relief Society?) I'm pretty sure I crossed the line into sacrilege, but do I have a target on my forehead or something? I've spent maybe 5 months in callings outside of primary in all of my active adulthood. You would think after the display last Sunday, they would find me incompetent to work with small children, but I guess they figured I need more practice.

Dan wrote today's review: Australia

I have been quite occupied with moving, but I finally read a book:

Lost in a Good Book by Jasper Fforde

My review

Happy Halloween!

Ah, the joys of October....
Here we are in all our glory: Tiger Lily, Captain Hook, Mr. Smee, Peter Pan, and Tinker Bell
Carving Pumpkins. Bennett carved his pumpkin COMPLETELY by himself. It's the one on the left. I think it's pretty awesome.
I had an excellent time with Poe Parties 2008. It was wonderful to start the tradition with old friends and with family in St. George. It was also a joyful thing to have another party with friends from Vegas, whom I seldom get to see. Thanks to all who attended both parties. I hope you enjoyed yourselves as much as I did!
The Spread:
More importantly, good conversation:
Here's a slew of more pictures from October:
Bennett and I decorated a gingerbread house. Here's my side:
Here's Bennett's side:
Bennett was channeling his inner Jackson Pollock. I think his has more personality. And it's definitely creepier. Quick Bennett story: Dan said, "I don't believe in military supremacy. I believe in sound defense." Bennett piped up, "I believe in Frankenstein's monster." Also, while on the subject of Bennett's obsession with Dr. Frankenstein and his monster, a bit of parental bragging: Bennett's teacher sent home a paper about "kid write"---basically, she has the kids write and draw pictures in journals, sounding out words as best they can. For example, "ghost" might be spelled "gost," "gst," or even "gt." I now quote the letter from the teacher: "As the month progressed, the kids did too. I had one of them come up with: 'Frknstin' which is amazing." Yup, Bennett.

I won this ridiculous old-fashioned outfit for Jasper at a Relief Society activity. I think it's darling on him.
All of us in St. George who have been feeling so bereft since Therese left were thrilled when she came home for a visit.
Dan, the kids, and I went hiking in Zion with Dave, Linda, Linda's daughter Stephanie and son-in-law Dan, and their children: Andrew and Nicholas. Bennett and Laraine loved spending time with their step cousins.Notice Bennett holding the map. He was utterly obsessed with it. Often, we had to stop him from running into people because he wouldn't get his nose out of the map.All in all, a lovely October. My favorite month.
Today's review: River Walk in Zion National Park
Book Review Links:
The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society by Mary Ann Shaffer

My review

The Grouchy Ladybug by Eric Carle

My review

Pictures, Of Course/I Love a Parade/Small Deluge of Somewhat Political Videos

Bennett was spotlighted at school this week, so I was going through pictures of him to make a poster about him. Here are some of my favorites of him when he was two. I think the pomegranate picture may be my favorite picture of him, but I love the little GQ model picture on the beach too.











I'm not the photographer some of you are, but I'm kinda proud of these shots of Laraine. Of course my subject matter here is gorgeous, so I can't take much credit, though this gorgeous subject matter doesn't care to hold still for poses, so I do have to catch her when I can.
































Here are a couple of recent shots of Bennett. He adores both of his younger siblings. He loves posing with Jasper. He gets angry with Laraine sometimes, but he adores her too. Yesterday she was having a fit and making things difficult when I went to pick Bennett up from school. I needed to break a $20, so I decided to stop on the way home and get cherry turnovers at Arby's. I said, "I'll get one for you, Bennett, but I don't think I can get one for Laraine because she's being so naughty." Bennett said, "Oh, please get one for my sweet little sister." So I did, and everyone was happy. The picture to the right is him in his UNbirthday crown holding his poster/card from the kids in his class. His birthday is in the summer, so he got to have an UNbirthday, which he loved.

I've got to rant a little bit now; forgive me. Last week was Dixie Round Up, so there were a couple of parades. I can't remember a single time when a parade hasn't been a disappointment to me, but I decided my kids should go to a parade, so I took them on Saturday. As I said, parades are generally a disappointment, but seriously folks, this thing was awful. Okay, there were some school marching bands and a couple of horses and the rich Dean Terry family in a stage coach (I guess they got to be in the parade because they're wealthy and have a stage coach), which were all okay and somewhat amusing. I didn't even really mind the car with some beauty queens on it, though I am opposed to beauty queens in a general sense. What I really thought was simply lousy was that other than the above mentioned, this parade was just cars advertising stuff, including a long line of new cars from Sun Painter Auto Dealers or whatever wanting to show off their wares. There were mainly cars with signs printed on them just advertising stuff. Baja Broadband just drove one of their trucks down the street. What the heck? It was like watching a long and horribly boring commercial with short moments of vague excitement when beauty queens and rich dudes in stage coaches drove by. At least most of the cars threw out some candy, so it was bearable for the children, who were otherwise bored. Still, if I wanted cheap candy, I'd go to Target and save myself the trouble of managing small children at a parade in the hot sun. Look, I figure parades are kind of funded by businesses wanting to advertise. Fine. Said businesses should at least be required to sponsor or make floats. For example, Baja Broadband could've made a computer float or something. Anyway, that's what they're calling a parade?

Here's a video from The Onion that had me in tears with laughter. You've got to cry about it, but at least we can try to find the humor (also, looks like a decent razor):
Bush Tours America To Survey Damage Caused By His Disastrous Presidency

Here's another one my brother-in-law, Jonathan, found on YouTube; he edited it a bit for language. Anyway, I'm afraid it ain't funny. Let's hope we elect someone who is less trigger happy this time.

Like this guy...



Moving on...Today's review is "Firefly"/Serenity. I've decided to post my book reviews on Goodreads, so there are some links to my latest book reviews below:

My review

My review

Rain, Solid Food, Kindergarten

Like most children of the desert, I love rain. Last Monday we had a beautiful rainy day. Dan and the kids had fun getting wet, and that was basically our family home evening.














I've been making a couple of small efforts to get Jasper interested in solid food, but he hasn't yet caught the vision. As far as the sweet potatoes went, he did at least go from a look of utter horror and disgust to sort of nonchalance. He's also getting better at sitting, though he still topples.




















A long time ago I got tagged, so I'm finally answering that. I got the answers for this from Bennett, who is now officially in kindergarten! Here he is standing in front of his classroom.
1. Q: What does Mom always say to you?
A: Don't get into stuff.
(I had hoped for "I love you" or something, but there you go.)
2. Q: What makes Mom happy?
A: When I give her hugs.
3. Q: What makes Mom sad?
A: When I get into things that I shouldn't.
4. Q: How does Mom make you laugh?
A: When she does this. (He wiggled his fingers, stuck out his tongue, and said, "Blublubluh"---I wasn't aware that I did much of that, but I suppose I should because, apparently, it makes Bennett laugh.)
5. Q: How old is Mom?
A: I don't know. Give me a clue.
6. Q: How tall is Mom?
A: Seventy-six. (Feet, inches, or centimeters---he's off.)
7. Q: What does Mom like to do?
A: Have fun with me.
8. Q: What is Mom's job?
A: To take care of me.
9. Q: What is Mom's favorite food?
A: Broccoli. (You can guess that I've tried to get him to eat broccoli on occasion.)
10. Q: How do you know Mom loves you?
A: She gives me cereal straws. (This is why you only let your kids watch PBS---no commercials. He saw a commercial for cereal straws, and now he's obsessed with them.)
I'm gonna do kind of a cop-out and just tag anyone who wants to do this.
Okay, another Bennettism:
"Mommy, Daddy has a step-mom, but she's not evil, so he's not a princess."
And here are a couple of things he learned at school today:
"Mommy, we all have buckets full of good feelings, but we can't see them because they're invisible, and when someone's mean, it makes you spill your good feelings."
"If you get four checks by your name, you have to go to the principal." Thankfully, he hasn't yet had the experience for himself.

And here's a Laraine-ism:
Dan was throwing Laraine in the air. He told her, "One more time."
She answered, "Okay, one more time first. Then I say, 'More!'"

You know I have to do it---today's review is Breaking Dawn. Just so it's clear what kind of a review this will be, I should say that Stephenie Meyer deserves every penny I've spent on her mediocre literature, because I haven't had so much fun ripping on something since Star Wars Episode One:The Phantom Menace. That being said, if you love these Twilight books with your whole soul and will take personal offense at a negative review, don't read mine. I know some mindless escapist reading can be fun, and I can't claim to have found no enjoyment in reading Breaking Dawn.