acte gratuit: A look at life in between naps.

Something is Falling Apart--And It's Probably Me.

2012-01-25T02:58:00.000+09:00

I couldn't fall asleep last night.
It happened the night before too.
It was late, I climbed in bed, kissed Doug three times, closed my eyes and....
nothing.

Actually, not nothing. A lot of annoying somethings. My hair was bothering my neck. The sheets were pestering my arms and legs. My body pillow was trying to melt my skin with its heat, but the room was too cold to take the comforter off.
I couldn't stop scratching. I couldn't get comfortable. Couldn't stop THINKING.
What was the problem? I was wearing my cozy socks. (check) No jammies... (check--they just get tangled up.) It was earlier than normal, but not like it was 9pm. (10:30)

Yet my bones seemed to be trying to dig through my mattress.
Doug started falling asleep but my wriggling woke him up.
Him: "Are you going to stop scratching soon?"
(Not very sympathetic to my plight.)
Me: "WHY is our bed so uncomfortable?!?!?"

This has been my complaint of late. I used to love our bed.
I used to love climbing into our bed at the end of a long day.
(I used to love rolling over and staying in my bed at the beginning of a long day.)
Now my bed is failing me! Can beds just suddenly one day in Janurary decide to STOP WORKING?

I suppose it's done all it could. It's at least 9 years old and been moved from San Francisco to Rhode Island to Japan to San Diego. Plus it was nothing special to begin with. A regular Queen size mattress from Costco. But we also added a layer of padding with a queen size memory foam topper. THAT made all the difference. Made it so the bed cradled you and rocked you to sleep every night.

But now...

It may as well be Japanese Hotel room bed: Rock hard with a 90 pound pillow lined with pinto beans.
(The only possible way to sleep in a Japanese hotel room--if you're a soft American--is to find the less beany side of the pillow and sleep flat on your back without moving. Consider it part of your Ninja training--then it's not so bad.)

So I lay in bed unhappily pondering: Is it the bed or is it me? Am I falling apart or is the bed?
Sleeping used to be championship talent! I've won Olympic medals for my ability to climb into bed and fall immediately asleep and sleep through anything. (Things I've slept through: Labor. 5 point earthquakes. Numerous episodes of screaming children drama. Alarms of all kinds. And breakfast. (Okay, and lunch).)

But then again I'M almost 34 years old! I've moved from Utah to California to Utah to California to Utah to California to Rhode Island to Japan to California! And I was nothing special to begin with... Just a regular skinny Mormon girl averse to exercise. Now after a very stressful year, I've added a layer of padding--but it hasn't increased my comfort or value.
(Please quit asking if I'm pregnant. I'M JUST GAINING WEIGHT!!!)

(Please stand-by for existential crisis:)

Wait, if I'm not skinny and I can't sleep anymore...plus, my blog hasn't even been funny lately......!!!
WHAT HAS BECOME OF ME??? WHO AM I?!?!?!?! WHAT DOES IT ALL MEAN?!?!?!?!?!?!?

(please stand-by for self-preserving narcissism:)

Neh, it can't be my fault. The weight will magically fall off and we just need a new bed! Plus, YOU'RE not funny anymore.

I feel so much better now.

See you tomorrow!

How (and Why) to Use Pinterest

2012-01-19T09:51:00.000+09:00

So I have a new hobby lately...
Pinterest.com

Of course I'd heard about pinning from a few people before I bothered to look into it and see what it was about. When I finally did, it was love at first pin.

Here's the scoop for those of you who are clueless! (No offense...)
Pinterest is an on-line bulletin board for everything you see around the web, that you want to keep track of.

See a recipe you want to try? Pin it to your "Recipes that will surely make me fat" pin board.
See a book you want to read? Pin it to you "Books I'll never get around to reading" pin board.
Holiday ideas?
Decorating?
Photos?
Crafts?

Pretty much anything with a photo or movie can be "pinned".
When you open your own account, it starts you out with a few popular "Boards", but they are easily changed/added to/deleted.

One of my personal favorite ways to use Pinterest is for pottery.

For the last few years, whenever I saw a cool pot on-line (I read a lot of pottery blogs) I would copy and paste or download the picture onto my desktop. After awhile, the desktop would get cluttered, so I'd drag them all into a "pottery ideas" file. Sometimes I'd organize the photos, sometimes not.
Occasionally, I'd go into that folder, print out the pictures, and put them in a spiral note book I keep in my pottery back pack.

Now, if I see something I like, I pin it to "Pottery Love" and call it good. I can reference it from the Internet any old time. And Doug LOVES the lack of urns on his desktop.

This also works well for holiday ideas, craft projects, or party plans.
I've seen many a young (or not so young) girl use Pinterest to plan her wedding (either real or imagined).

While I became a fan of Pinterest sheerly to control my pottery pictures, as you might imagine, that is NOT the most popular use.

A few other trends I've noticed:
Crafts Project how-to's or step-by-illustrated-step instructions.
Nails. For example, mani/pedi ideas and/or "how-to's" -- Also hairstyle and "smokey eye" tutorials.
Different Font collections and/or Subway Art
Tattoos (Filed under "If I ever have the guts!" or "Ink")
Photography
Travel Destinations
Home Decor
(I used it to pin ideas for our new office decor)

Another great thing about Pinterest is that you can search other peoples boards, collaborate on boards, "follow" others, and be followed. So if one person pins something absolutely amazingly adorable like a picture of their brand new bull dog puppy, you can re-pin it to your "Like, SO cute I'm gonna DIE" board and all your followers will see it and repin it to their boards.

My cousin recently told me Instagram was sorta like Facebook only not lame.
Pinterest is sorta like Instagram only for everyone--even non-photographers.

So now ya know!

And for those who already knew...
What are you pinning these days?
Have you found any good recipes that you've actually tried?
What's the most common "pin" you've seen lately?
Let's discuss!

HAPPY PINNING!
P.S. My pinterest name is Emily Dub and my user name is "emlovesart"--in case you're interested in finding new pottery ideas!!!
:)

Two Little Boy-related Things

2012-01-17T03:06:00.002+09:00

Item 1:
Doug: "Sam went and jumped on Max and squirted him with a juice box in bed this morning. Gotta go. Love you!"

Um, WHAT?!?

It is seven a.m.. I can barely get my eyes to open! Seven o'clock in the freakin' morning and my sons have already been making JUICE messes!?!

Yes, it turns out that when Sam asked me last night to set his alarm for midnight, it wasn't just so he could wake up at midnight. He had nefarious plans in mind.
(I should never let these things go without adequate grilling!)
Since I WOULDN'T set his alarm, he woke himself up around 6 a.m., got a juice box, drank most of it, and then went in to prank Max by squirting him with the remaining juice. The thing is, Max wasn't that mad. He was planning the same thing.
Why?
WHY would my children do this?
It came out of a book, of course!
---
Roscoe Riley Rules #1
Never Glue Your Friends to Chairs
Page 13-14

"Roscoe, is your brother up yet?" "Yep," I said. "But I had to use my Roscoe Riley Sneak Attack to wake him. Would you like to try it sometime?"
"I'm listening," Dad said.
"Well, first you knock real polite...
"Then you jump on his bed like it's a trampoline. And you scream, 'RISE AND SHINE, YOU BUM!' And if he still doesn't wake up, you squirt him with your juice box on his nose and toes."
"I see," said Dad. "Crude, but effective."
It is always nice when your dad is proud of you.

---
Hmm..."proud" wasn't exactly my reaction.

Sure, you might blame me for buying the book. But really...how was I to know? When I read about Ramona the Pest squirting a whole tube of toothpaste into the sink, I didn't go and do THAT! And I certainly never pulled any "boing boing curls" on any cute little blonde girls. (Okay, so there was a really cute little blonde girl, Ashley, in Misawa with golden locks and I pulled them just a little bit. But still...)

Item 2:
California just changed its carseat laws. It is now a requirement that kids be in a booster seat up until the age of EIGHT!!!
EIGHT!!!
This means Sam has to go back in a booster. He hasn't been in a booster for YEARS!!!
The new law is based on recommendations from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. Which would actually prefer kids stay in boosters until age TWELVE!

If you're caught without the required booster, it's a $479 ticket.
Watching the various news stories on ABC, I found this video:
"Do Kids Really Need Car Seats". The Freakonomics guys did their own testing and say seat belts are equally effective.

video platform video management video solutions video player

Another news story I watched featured "The Car-Seat Lady". She says that upwards of 90% of car seats are improperly used/installed. Another story said 85% are installed incorrectly.
So WHY are we forcing parents to continue to use/buy them, instead of changing car and seatbelt design like the Freakonomics guys suggest?!?!?

Do any of the "experts" out there drive a carpool or have more than one kid? Do they realize it's not easy--sometimes not even possible--to fit multiple car or boosters seats into your vehicle? Is there even any POINT (except to avoid tickets) if it isn't installed correctly despite our best efforts?

Yes, I know I sound like an uncaring heartless harpy who hates my children*, but I think our country likes to over regulate many things. And this is definitely one of them. If you show me empirical evidence that American kids, in their incorrectly installed car seats, are safer than kids in other countries, I'll shut up about this. (---but you can't!)
(Sometimes I really really miss Japan and their lack of litigiousness and lack of over-regulation!)

--
Okay, that's all for me. I'd write more, but I have numerous loads of laundry to wash today. Including all of Max's previously clean bedding!

Happy Monday everyone!
Don't forget to buckle up!!!

*Just for the record and before you send me hate-mail, I'd like to state that I DO believe in the efficacy of seat belts and I DO buckle my children up. Even when we were in Japan, driving off-base, and I didn't have to.

A Few Little January Things

2012-01-10T01:49:00.000+09:00

The great thing about January is...
Nothing. Nothing is great about January. (Kidding, kidding...)

No, it's that it HAS NOTHING going on. Which means there is plenty of time to blog all the fun things you did in December. Which ALWAYS has stuff going on but is too busy to be bothered with.

So I have like 50 posts to write, but they'll all be pre-dated to fall in December in chronological order. So if you're subscribed to this blog, you'll see 'em all. If not, you'll have to go back and search. There are probably a few you haven't read yet.

But here are a few totally unrelated things I have to say about things RIGHT THIS VERY MINUTE.

* It's been EXTREMELY nice weather here. This is my pay-back for living through three HORRENDOUS Misawa winters. I am now experiencing pure, weather bliss! (70 sunny degrees, blue skies, cool breeze.) We had a swim party yesterday. For realzies.

It's supposed to get colder tomorrow. (60's!!!) But I think I can handle it. I never knew January could feel so...happy!

Cut from our yard the other day.

* We're doing our first major marketing campaign starting today. We have a postcard (with coupons) going out to something like 5,000 homes. Hopefully, it brings in some new customers! At the very least, we're hoping it brings in enough new work to pay for itself.

* It should be noted (for historical purposes only) that my youngest son, my angelic Baby Gray, has pre-maturely entered the terrible twos. Yes, yes...he's still extremely angelic and adorable.

But now he shrieks at us.

A lot.

All day long. If he wants a bottle, he shrieks. If he wants attention, he shrieks. If he's just out of bed and he's cranky and you look at him and smile, he SHRIEKS! We all love it very, VERY much.

Play date at the park with neighbor friends!

* None of my kids has ever played with scissors and messed up their hair. (Little Madeleine cut her hair at my house, on my watch, at least three times. But Gabey didn't!) Anyway, that is until now. The other day Max (yes, the TEN year old) had some hair that wasn't cooperating and staying combed. So he cut it off. And he trimmed up his sideburns while he was at it. It was awesome. He spent all of Christmas vacation with chopped up hair and we just left it alone.

* Speaking of Max, how's home school going? Glad you asked!
I'll tell you later.
(We're switching to a new charter school, but haven't gotten our new books yet. I'll let you know how it goes.)

* Speaking of having four boys, in the interest of full disclosure, I'm going to let you in on a little secret:
It's loud here.
It's loud in this house pretty much every minute of every day that we're in it.
It's just obnoxiously loud.
Now you know. (Wanna come visit????)

Sunrise as seen from my bed.
On a rare occasion when I opened my eyes for 30 seconds to see it.
D snapped picture, I went back to sleep.

Last but not least, I have something I'd like to discuss:

* A question about Christmas Cards. I'm still getting a few trickling in. But there are some friends I haven't heard from yet. Some friends skip a year here or there, some went electronic years ago. Some...have just stopped sending cards. And it's been a few years. My question is, when should I stop sending cards to them? When does sending continual cards become harassment? How do I know when my cards are just annoying? How do YOU decide someone gets x-d from your list? ('Cause I would still send cards to every person I've ever met ever ever ever if I could afford it...so I'm a little clueless about this.) Please discuss!

And that's all I've got. It is only January after all!

At Least They're in the Mail...

2011-12-31T22:00:00.017+09:00

I have a few rules for our family in regards to Christmas Letters.

1. We send them.

2. We send a family picture. (Adults included. Your old college friends want to know if you've let yourself go.)

3. We take the picture on Thanksgiving day, order the prints from Costco the next day, and send them on the 1st of December. (Okay, so that hasn't happened in like 5 years and 2 kids.)

4. Last and most important, the letter has to be funny.

This year, I got way behind. My famous cousin Wendy of Blue Lily Photography offered to take our photos, but couldn't do it until until the second week of December. (She's a busy lady!) No problem. She's worth the wait.

(See below.)

But then, I waited to start the letter too. Didn't get around to it. And when I DID sit down to write it, it wasn't easy.

I didn't have any great ideas for a "theme".

Nothing clever came to mind.

So I just started writing and ended up with two (TWO) long, depressing, single spaced pages.

Woah.

NOT acceptable.

I started editing and revising.

Finally, I just started over from the beginning.

About three times.

It was a painful process. (It was a painful year.)

I ended up with what you see below. And although it's not my best work, it got the job done. And I got to say "hell" in a Christmas letter.

Needless to say, last year's letter was a whole lot more fun to write. But then, 2010 was a lot more fun.

(I wont even mention the trauma I had using Mac's Address Book and trying to find a way to change the font...)

SO, there ya go. At least I did it.

Here's to a boring 2012! (Makes the letter writing so much easier.)

Trip to Utah!

2011-12-26T22:00:00.004+09:00

Twelve hours, and a few pears to get to...

Grandma Fae and John's house!

FINALLY! Play-doh time with Grandma Fae.

Being popular is exhausting

Bowling at Doug's Alma Mater: BYU.

Doug rockin' Ms. Pac-Man.

Then heading farther North to see the W's.

Angry Birds

Snuggle and bottle with Aunt Beth and Spence

Snuggle and bottle with Grandma W.

Just as long as I have a bottle, I'm good.

Grandma Fae met us at Temple Square in S.L.C. to see the lights.

The boys were impressed.

The lights were lovely as usual.

Mother and Son(s)

Pretty.

New Year's Eve Fondue Party at Aunt Lisa's. Yum!

Gray was into it.

Monster Tree

Puppy Love (ick!)

Happy New Year!!!

Christmas Day

2011-12-25T22:38:00.001+09:00

Everyone goes down together, youngest to oldest.

Strange how our lack of money affects Santa too!

Don't feel bad, they had presents under the tree too...!

Merry Christmas!

Christmas Eve

2011-12-24T22:00:00.002+09:00

Christmas Eve - Congregating at Moonlight Beach headed for...

Super low tide at Swami's.

Gabey and best-buddy David...

Searching the tide pools...

...and stomping on nature...

with family and friends.

Finding a "Brittle Star"

and sharing it.

Happy as long as he's getting dirty. In a hole.

Then home for dinner.

Cousins waiting patiently.

Traditional Mexican feast including enchiladas, tamales, Mexican hot chocolate, and guac.

The after dinner entertainment begins.

Poor Mary...heavy with child...

...and what a child!!!

Angel Gabriel watches over all.

4 beautiful girls and 4 handsome boys...all cousins...

in their new jammies...

ready for Christmas.

Final Farewell for Tami and Wes

2011-12-20T22:00:00.040+09:00

The TamiWes family are headed for their next assignment in Argentina. (I don't use last names on my blog. So should I call them Tes? Or Wami?) Wes is going to be a foreign exchange student at an Argentinian Officer Training School. (This is NOT official terminology...I'm sure there are like 20 acronyms to describe what he's actually doing.)

(Have I mentioned before that Wes's job is cooler than YOUR job? Well, it is. Sorry. Doug feels your pain.) (And yes, I have mentioned it, but I like to brag because I'm friends with a fighter pilot. Sue me.)

On their way out of town, they stopped at our house for a few-night breather.

And some pacific ocean and beach time. (Even though it was a little chilly.)

It was, as per usual, very very fun to be with them.

Love this shot...!

But also sad.

Wes got to play with the kids while Tami and I chatted.

This time when we said good bye, we couldn't say "We'll see you again SOON!".

Although we hope and plan to visit them in Argentina, well...we have to hurry up and actually make some money first.

Lots of Read-a-Thon's!

There are some aspects of military life that really s~~uck~~tink. And here we are out of the military and they're still stinky!!!

Saying good-bye to friends who are going far far away for a long long time is one of those things.

Good bye Tami, Wes, Camille, Madeleine, Cameron and Baby (Emily, perhaps?)!
We'll miss you!
HOPE to see you SOON!!!

It's Always Fun When Grandpa Comes!

2011-12-16T09:56:00.001+09:00

...Even if he falls asleep under the Christmas Tree!

How to Throw a Pot/The Zen of Pottery

2011-12-13T06:30:00.001+09:00

Step 1: Slap the clay onto your batt or wheel head as near to center as possible.

From my very first pottery class - age 17
Used to be a set of four.
These are old, chipped, and headed for the trash.

Last week I happily sat down at my pottery wheel with a full ware-board. The previous week had been unusually productive. I had a large bowl (one of the biggest I've ever made), a small berry bowl, (holes already punched) and a garlic pot and lid.
This class, I would trim and finish the bottoms then put them on the shelf to be fired.

A new girl sat across from me. She said it was her first time using the electric wheel. She couldn't figure out how to turn it on. I offered to help and jumped up. I noticed the powerstrip was turned off.
I flipped the switch. My wheel, of all the electric wheels, just happened to have been left turned on--with the foot pedal pushed to full speed.

Step 2: Center the clay. Root your left hand firmly and use both hands to bring the clay into a cone shape. Not too skinny!

Hand-built spoon rest. I actually like this piece.

My ware board went flying.

Fragile greenware pots went crashing to the floor like Oaxacan fritter plates*. Only the small berry bowl survived and I was lucky to keep that one.

When I taught in Misawa, I told my students time and time again to make SURE their wheel was turned OFF before turning the power source ON.

After screaming like a little school girl, I shook my head, swept up the pieces, and started over.

(The girl across from me--appalled--kept apologizing and looked like she was going to cry.)

Step 3: With your left hand firmly rooted to the left side of your clay, use your right hand to form a truncated cone.

One of my favorites despite the pin-holing.

This is where I keep the Dove chocolates

Why do I like pottery? I have no idea. It is such a volatile, unpredictable process.
Even experienced, full time potters will tell you never to get too attached to an unfinished piece. There is just too much that can go wrong.

If you're having an "on" night, and your throwing is flawless, you still have many more chances to lose your "perfect pot". Which, by-the-way, there is no such thing.

Step 4: Repeat previous two steps until clay is centered

A gift for a friend. I HATE how this glaze turned out...

...So I'm making something to replace it.
We'll see if I screw this one up too.

{Handmade pottery is never perfect. Even when thrown on the wheel a "perfect pot" will probably be a tiny bit uneven, a tiny bit off-center, or have a tiny flaw in it somewhere. The key is to not look too close.}

But let's just say you do throw a perfect pot. What next?
The next step is to let it dry a little.
But not too much.

You want it to be leather hard. Hard enough to hold it's shape and withstand medium pressure, soft enough that the clay you trim off will fall in perfect little curls. Definitely not bone dry.

You cover it with plastic and put it in a "damp cupboard" for a few days. How quickly it gets to "leather hard" depends on the humidity and how well it's covered.

Try not to bump it when you put it in the cupboard and be careful not to squish it with the plastic.

Step 5: Drop the hole and compress the bottom.

Two little pencil jars with underglaze.
I like the one on the left. I keep the one on the right out of pity.

When it's leather hard, you can trim it. This is the part where you fix the bottom. The goal here is to get rid of excess clay, refine the shape, and add a "foot" for a finished look and so it will sit flat.

Obviously, this step leaves lots of room for ruining your pot. Leave too much clay on the bottom, your small mug weighs five pounds. Take too much off, you can cut through and end up with a planter or a bottom that's too thin. Trimming is a delicate, sometimes vexing, art.

Step 6: Pull your walls. You're aiming for a consistent 1/4 inch thickness all the way up.

A Raku piece with glaze applied too thinly.
Needed more flash on the outside too.

The inside crackled really nicely though...

But you've done it! Your pot has been trimmed and can now be fired! But wait...not too soon. If it goes into the kiln even the tiniest bit damp, the trapped moisture will turn to steam, force it's way out, and in the process...BOOM! No more pot.
And no more neighboring pots.
And the owners of those pot causalities will NOT be happy.
This has happened to me.
...and I was not happy.

But say your pot makes it out alive. Now it is considered Bisc or Biscuit ware. It's still breakable, but MUCH stronger.

Now you get to GLAZE it!

Step 7: Refine the shape and lastly, trim the top.

Before leaving Japan, I gathered up all the pottery in my house.
A few things I kept, many I tossed.

The rest I pawned off on anyone who happened to stop by...

Meet my arch nemesis: Glazing.

It seems so easy! Dip the pot in glaze, fire it and VOILA! Perfect pot completed!!!

Step 8: Carefully remove from wheel. You've thrown your first pot!

Including our Mamasan. She said she'd use the green bowl for her rice.
We miss you Eiko-san!!!

Except...

You can't put glaze on too thin.
No lustre.

You can't put it on too thick.
It'll run and puddle at the bottom.

You have to get the glaze recipe and kiln temperature just right or the glazes will be under developed.
Or over developed!
Or you might get
pinholes/
crazing/
shivering/
crawling/
creeping/
blisters/
or settling-out!!!
(No, I'm not making this up.)

And if you want to put multiple glazes on the same pot, well, you're taking all sorts of chances.

Glazing is the step where I lose most of my pots...to ugliness.

Some pots turn out "okay". But almost every single pot I've ever made has had SOMETHING I'd want to fix or change if I could.

None are perfect.

And yet, there is something therapeutic and, dare I say zen, about the whole frustrating process. Something about combining creativity with messy earthiness with control and lack of control and spontaneity and luck and chance. And the possibility that the NEXT pot you pull out of the kiln will be your best pot ever.

Hasn't happened to me yet.
But I have a good feeling about my next piece...!

Class meets Thursday night! Care to join me?

Hope you're enjoying this one Liz Brazeau!

*I put some effort into this completely random and obscure simile! (Max and I just learned about adding simile to our writing.) But this is what I thought of when I looked down at all of my precious pots in pieces littered at my feet: When I was very small, (6 or 7) my family took a trip to Mexico over Christmas. One vivid memory (of many from that trip) was of ordering a yummy crispy cinnamon dessert. When we were done eating it, we took the clay serving dishes outside and threw them against the brick wall along with everyone else. I had to try a few Google searches to find evidence of my fuzzy memory, but found it here six paragraphs down.
I love Mexican Christmas traditions! This is one reason we have Mexican food every year for Christmas Eve!

Max is 10!

2011-12-10T22:00:00.049+09:00

Max turned 10 at the beginning of the month and since it's an even-age year, he got to have a friend party. He invited his friends from church and school and we had a big crowd.

(Somehow I had convinced myself that sending out invites sorta late and it being a busy Dec. weekend would equal low turn-out. I was wrong.)

We repeated a party used when he was 5. (before we had four kids and firmly declared the "only every other year" friend party rule.)

We ~~made~~ decorated Gingerbread houses.

Obviously, anything involving multiple bowls of candy and kids is going to be a big success.

It was popular with the five year olds, and it was popular with the ten year olds.

I imagine it would be popular at 12 and 14 too.

(Though at 16 you may have to add Spin-the-Candy-Cane to make it a real crowd pleaser.)

When the houses were done and hot chocolate with copious amounts of mini-marshmallows consumed, things started getting a little out of hand.

Noise and energy levels were reaching critically high levels.

So Doug was brought in to conduct the games.

We played "Fruit Basket"

and "On the Blanket, Off the Blanket"

Controlled chaos is much better than regular chaos. But no quieter.

Last we opened presents.

A real crowd pleaser was the 2-liter of Diet Coke, Mentos, and handy Geyser Tube. We went outside exploded it immediately. (See YouTube for more Coke/Mentos action!)

Party tip: Making things explode is always a big hit.

Lastly, we came in and watched a YouTube video of a Mentos and Coke propelled car.

At the end of the party, everyone got to take their decorated house home as their party favor.
I heard a few "BEST PARTY EVER"s so I think everyone had a good time.

Now if only I could motivate myself and Max to write the thank-you notes...!

Happy Birthday Max!
Here are 10 things I love about you:
10. You have super cute dimples.
9. You sing when you eat.
8. You're extremely nice to little kids.
7. You're very helpful to your Mommy.
6. You love to learn new things
5. You're creative
4. You love to read! (This makes me so happy...!)
3. You're a great big brother and (usually) a good example to your little brothers!
2. You've inherited your parents sarcastic sense of humor. (Wait, do I love this???)
1. You're just a darn good kid!

A Christmas Poem

2011-12-09T01:49:00.000+09:00

by Sammy

I am waiting for...

Jesus to light the menorah
milk and cookies for Santa
red and green colors
Rudolph's red nose

Then I'll know Christmas is here!

We might have to discuss the first item on the list. Curious about how that works.

Gotta love kids!

December in San Diego

2011-12-07T08:54:00.001+09:00

This is what we pay the big bucks for....

Christmas trees for sale in hot air balloon weather.

Totally worth it.

One More Preparedness Post...

2011-12-01T09:00:00.002+09:00

I mentioned how cool I thought Sam and Adrienne's wood burning stove was, right?

Sam cooking up some delicious Lemon Chicken

Well, it got me even more motivated to get my emergency "stuff" in order. I'm using the closet under the stairs as my food storage/72-hour-kit storage. (We have very little closet/storage space here.) At the moment, everything is just shoved back there and it's all pretty inaccessible. But at least I have most of the stuff I need.
For example, I bought 6 of these backpacks:

One for each member of our family. I want to transfer all our 72-hour stuff into these. Some of our stuff is already in backpacks, but not rolling ones. And some is in boxes. I want everything uniform and clearly marked. Also, these should give us more than enough room for everything including one backpack full of spare outfits. (Should be pretty light--Gray can pull that one!)

I looked at quite a few different options before buying these ones. They're not the highest quality, but that meant they weren't as expensive and they still got good reviews.

They're also not the cheapest option, but if I'm fleeing somewhere and my kids are schlepping along behind me dragging their 72 hour kit, I don't want anyone's handle to break in half or wheel to pop off.
(Once they're all packed and ready, I'll print and laminate some cards for each one with emergency contact info, etc.)

I bought a few more of these so we now have one for each boy:

(If the power is out, they can wear it around their neck to be hands-free, and also, it's harder to shine directly into my eyeballs.) These come with new batteries in the plastic shell packaging, but we also have plenty of spare AA's. (I think these take 3 AA's, but it might be AAA.) Last time the power went out here, I found two water bottle lanyards for Max and Sam and hung them from those.

When I get it organized and cleaned up, I'll post some pictures.

I've also started buying #10 cans of grain, and we got our first water barrel!

Not this exact one, but same thing:

Adrienne had about 10 under her house. But hey, baby steps to preparedness, right?!?
(Note: My sister Laura told us not to put this directly on cement or concrete, but up on wood. So I bought a 2x4, had it cut into thirds at Home Depot, and we put our barrel on top of the wood on the side of our house...and then filled it with the hose. We did not treat the water with bleach because it's clean enough coming from the hose already. And this isn't water for drinking. We have bulk water bottles for that.)

Oh, and one of the reasons I'm writing this post: To pass on this brilliant tip:
Tami read somewhere the other day that a family who lost power, took their solar garden lights from their yard, and used them to light their house.

I think this is a brilliant idea because;
1. No fuel or batteries needed.
2. No fire hazard from candles tipping over. (A real concern when you're being rocked by multiple aftershocks after an earthquake.)
3. They're being continually charged--and stored--right in your yard, ready to go!

And from the looks of it, you can buy a ten-pack for around 40 bucks. Not too shabby. (Plus, you'll have cool little lights in your yard!)

I thought that was two smart not to pass on to you. Because even if I had these in my yard, I probably wouldn't have thought to bring them in if the power went off!

Now what about you? What have you done to prepare for an emergency lately? Any more brilliant tips for me?

Thanksgiving Recap - Part 2

2011-12-01T07:13:00.000+09:00

Day 4/Friday: Check out day.

Got off to a slightly tense start when Tami had a pregnancy scare. (Which started the night before)

No, not the kind where you’re scared you’re pregnant. The kind where you’re pregnant and scared that something is wrong with the pregnancy. Wes took her to Urgent Care and everything is okay for the time being. The high altitude, dehydration and probably stress and overwork were causing some issues. But there were some fervent prayers, a Priesthood blessing, and tears and the baby is okay and staying put. Okay, now I’m crying again. Moving on.

This changed the plans a little and instead of going straight to Monterey, we went to Sam and Ad’s house for a driving break. They have a super cool house on a beautiful piece of land in Nor Cal. Plus, they’re into preparedness so it was cool to see their awesome crawl space filled with food and water and talk to Adrienne about how she has prepared her family for just about anything. For one thing, they have a huge garden bursting with fresh food. They also have this super cool wood burning stove. It heats most of their downstairs PLUS you can COOK on it. Tami and I were both staring at it enviously and thinking how much different life could have been after the earthquake if we’d had a wood burning stove for warmth and cooking purposes.

It's definitely going on my "dream house ideas" pin board.

After spending the afternoon and evening at Sam's, we hopped back in the car and headed to Monterey.

Wes just finished "school" in Monterey. He learned Spanish at the Defense Language Institute to prepare him for his next assignment in Argentina. They leave in January and we're a little (a lot) bit heart-broken that they wont be just up the (relative) street from us anymore.

We're hoping to go visit them there next year though, so that is a small consolation. We also get to see them one more time on their way out of town so we're not too filled with despair.

Day 5/Saturday: We took our time getting up and ready and headed to Monterey Bay Aquarium. I've been here a few times before and have great memories of my visits. I hope my kids will now too.

Camille trying out Max's wheel chair

Waiting for the shark show to start

Coincidently, I also ran into Claudia, my dad's wife, with a few of her kids and grandkids! They live in Clovis but were in town to visit the aquarium too.

The new Sea Horse exhibit was amazing!

The Jelly Fish exhibit is always a crowd pleaser...

And now the boy/girl thing has official become "awkward".

I love Sea Turtles...

Baby Gray checking out the baby grays.

Gabe stayed in this position for quite awhile...

It was SUPER crowded, but we managed to have a great time regardless. We put Tami in a wheel chair, Max in a wheel chair, (he twisted his ankle the night before and REALLY wanted a wheel chair--whether or not he needed it is debatable.) and Gray in a stroller and stormed our way through the whole place.

It was a fun day and we were glad we braved the crowds. (I don't know if Wes and Tami were since they have season passes and can go when it's not crowded...)

Day 6/Sunday: Time for our fun to come to an end. We had to drive home. We ditched out on church so we could get on the road and drove all day getting home after 9p.m.

It was a great trip and we're so glad we did it!
Thank you Tami and Wes (and Sam and Adrienne) for your generosity in sharing your Timeshare/Holiday/Family Time/and Home.
You guys are the best! We love you!!!

This year, I'm thankful for UBER FAMILY!!!

Thanksgiving Recap - Part 1

2011-12-01T06:50:00.002+09:00

Happy Thanksgiving everyone! We just returned from a great week with the Wes and Tami family. (You know the guy who has a job much cooler than your job? That's Wes. See the above link.)

You may recall that they are the friends who stayed with us after the earthquake. They used some Timeshare points to get condos in Lake Tahoe and asked us --while we were still in Japan-- if we wanted to join them for Thanksgiving.

We considered the fall-out if we chose to spend our first major holiday in the states with friends instead of family...

Then we realized that they ARE our family: Uber Family. Earthquake Family. Japan Family. Just family. And hey, they asked us first. So we said YES!

(Plus, we're also FUTURE family since we're planning for our kids to inter-marry--just to make things more official.)

We are SO glad we went. We had a blast. Here's a quick(longish) re-cap:

Thanksgiving Tahoe Vacation

Day 1/Tuesday: Leave at 6:30 a.m. Drive a new way up the 395. Drive drive, drive drive drive,

Breakfast at Denny’s, drive on windy road, stop for Sam to puke, drive drive drive.

Really pretty scenery, stop for ice ball fight,

drive drive drive, 12 different pee breaks, drive, drive, drive, stop at an antique store, drive drive drive.

Arrive in Tahoe. Papa Murphy’s for dinner. Meet up with Tami and Wes, check in to our BEAUTIFUL condo. {This is the second time Doug and I have stayed in a time share condo in Tahoe and, again, it was awesome.} We had a two room suite, Tami and Wes had a two room suite, and Wes’ brother Sam, wife Adrienne, and their eight kids had a three room suite. If we ever buy a time share, it will be in Tahoe. It was awesome.

(We met Sam and Adrienne when we went to Monterey for Camille’s baptism a few months ago and our kids were excited to see each other again.)

Day 2/Wednesday: We visited the lake (right across the street from our condo)

It was a little chilly, but super-duper beautiful!

And only one kid (Sammy) fell in the frozen lake.

relaxed, hung out, made pies, watched HGTV and YouTube videos,

Doug and Wes are such a cute couple!

went in the hot tub,

and went shopping for groceries and supplies. (I made two America’s Test Kitchen Chocolate Cream Pies. No Peanut Butter pie this year…I thought it would be too hard in a condo kitchen. I’ll make it for Christmas!)

Day 3/Thursday: Tami made stuffing and we got it in the Turkey and in the oven early. (I was in charge of the turkey, which is the easiest thing ever) and Adrienne did potatoes. Tami made apple pies the day before and the rolls were from Costco this year. Oh, and Doug made Raspberry Jello which is always a crowd pleaser...

Wes, Doug and Sam (Sam is Wes' older brother)

Lunch/dinner was at 2 and a huge success. Everything tasted fabulous and there were plenty of left-overs.

Lots of kids having lots of fun!

Tami, Me, Adrienne

Mini Wes and Mini Doug (Sam Jr. and Max)

To top off a perfect day, Guillotine and Rummikub were both played multiple times.

With one major exception, it was a fabulous day!

And that exception is...a story for tomorrow!

To Be Continued...

Day at the Beach--Oregon Style

2011-11-22T01:00:00.001+09:00

San Diego Temple view coming home from the airport.

My awesome cousin Kimmy, her husband and baby all came to visit us from Utah last weekend and we had a blast.

Kim, Coleman, and Cliff (the goof-ball!)
On the Oceanside Pier.

Kim wanted to take her baby to the beach despite it being rainy and cold. Our friends from church had the same idea: go to beach despite rain. Since I'm super tough and impervious to cold, I said "HECK YEAH!!!" So last Saturday we loaded up all the beach crap that's been un-used for the last two months, grabbed some kites, and went to the beach in the rain. In NOVEMBER.

Kim introducing Coleman to jumping over incoming surf.

This cute little guy LOVED staying at our house due to our overabundance of TRAINS!
And okay, he liked the beach too...

Turns out going to the beach when it's rainy and cold is sorta rainy and cold. But the kids didn't seem to notice.

Until their limbs starting turning blue and dropping off and random.

But before that, a frisbee was lost, kites were flown, clothes drenched, Smash Ball played, holes were dug, castles built, and sand consumed (by Gray). In other words, it was a perfect day at the beach.

Ruth/Scott Family watching some kite action

Of course, this (cold) little adventure necessitated a follow-up Hot Chocolate party at my house.

Oh, to have some of Tommy's energy!

On our way inside, one of the kids stepped in the overflowing gutter and I overheard Ruth say "Oh, you're fine! Gutters are natures bathtub!"

Classic. Definitely my favorite quote of the day.

I'm not gonna lie. It never would have occurred to me to choose the beach as a rainy day activity. But it was a LOT of fun. And darn pretty to boot!

A good time was had by all!

Monday Home School Report - Weekend Edition

2011-11-19T01:29:00.000+09:00

In other news H.S. news this week...
Wednesday:
I finally made it to our new charter school (30 minutes away) and met my "Educational Specialist" (E.S.) and picked up a bunch of curriculum. I'm excited, but also terrified.

And back to having hourly panic attacks and asking myself alternately;

"WHAT was I thinking?"

"WHAT HAVE I GOTTEN MYSELF INTO???"

and

"What would they do if I just took him back to school and dropped him off tomorrow...?!?"

The reason for my panic is that our "E.S." told us to expect to work for a normal full school day. Six hours. I don't think we (ANY of us) can handle that!

BUT I'm not totally hopeless.
I want to try it and see what happens.

---

This comes on the heels of Monday.

We had a great day of "unschooling" on Monday. We went to the beach with my cousin and uncle and family (who's visit I still need to blog) and talked about:

Starting a business, patents, monopolies, competition, price fixing, price gouging, marketing, advertising, overhead, profit margins, supply and demand, etc.

AND (during lunch at Ruby's on the Pier)

Customer Service, (good vs. bad) tipping, and work ethic.

AND (walking across the Pier)

A bunch of engineering stuff about how you support a Pier and get it to stand up. (Okay, that part came from cousin Cliff. Not me.)
AND saw a sea star, some live (caught) fish, and two pelicans,
AND played in the sand,
AND even looked up some stuff on the Internet about the Pier that night.

Anyway, it was an awesome day of learning and playing without many books. (Though we still worked on math and the above writing.)

It's hard to want to trade that in for a very structured and full day.

I'm torn.

But like I said...I still need to try the Charter method and see how it goes.

----
Thursday:
Okay, yesterday I sat down with Max and cracked the books we got from the charter school.
It was INCREDIBLY overwhelming. Then, late last night after coming home from a church activity, I started trying to tell Doug about the Charter school and their expectations and pretty much had a full blown panic attack.
If I do what the C.S. wants, I'll be completely overwhelmed. If I don't, I'll feel guilty that he's getting behind in other core subjects like science and history. (Since our focus has been on Math and Writing.)

This morning...I don't know what I'll do. And my E.S. is gone for vacation so I can't get any more information about what is actually required and what is suggested. All I know is, they expect me to work with him for 6 hours a day and gave me enough to do with him for 10.

So here's my question: Do I take Max back to school NOW, or wait until after Thanksgiving...?
HELP!

Overheard in Pottery Class...

2011-11-18T17:25:00.001+09:00

Woman wearing flourescent orange full body jump suit over her clothes: "I don't have a wire tool, but I have this half eaten dog biscuit..." (long pause while she considers her next statement...) "they're actually pretty good! It's hard to find really crunchy snacks without too much sugar!"

Teacher: "If I win the lottery, I'd love to buy a restored '66 VW bus! ...I actually spent a year and a half living in one!" (Confirmed my suspicion that all pottery teachers are ex-hippies.)

Woman 1: "So how was the date otherwise...?"
Woman 2: "You mean besides his age and his body?"
(Neither were up to her standard. Evidently women are allowed to lie about their age on on-line dating services, but men are NOT.)
Woman 2: "He did have horses..."

Me: "This is way more interesting than the audio book I was going to listen to...!"

Teacher: "Everyone needs to get out of here! I have a cold Stella waiting for me in the car and a woman in a teddy waiting for me at home!"

I love taking pottery!!!

Monday Home Schooling Report

2011-11-17T17:49:00.001+09:00

Okay, since it's Wednesday night at 11:49 p.m., maybe I should give up on the idea of a Monday Home Schooling Report. Clearly, I'm not totally on top of my blogging game these days.

But there are a few things I want to jot down so here we go:

The other day Max said: "I want to do creative writing!" I said "Awesome! Okay!" And then went back to making quesadillas and cleaning up spilled soy milk.
Then later that day, I was cleaning up the family room and picked up a piece of orange construction paper. It had a single sentence written across the top.

Something like; "Boom boom boom tweet tweet tweet smoke filled the air."
I told him it was the best thing I'd ever read (sorry Brandon Sanderson) and that I wanted him to write more. I told him he had to fill a whole page.

He did, and it was awesome!

So the next day, I told him I wanted MORE! Who is this guy Bob and where did he come from? We talked about characterization. I asked him a bunch of questions about his character and had him write another whole page to preceed the first one he wrote.

I was so impressed, I told him I was going to blog it.
He forbade me.
Too bad he's not the boss of me!
(I'll apologize when he finds out when he's older....)

Here is what he wrote without any correction from me. (Except I'm fixing the spelling for you. You're welcome.)

(2nd Day Characterization)
Ricky was a strong muscular man who had stunning gold eyes and blond hair. He had a dog named Sushi who loved sushi. He just came to a deserted island where it was lined with volcanos. He had just building a very nice log cabin and a very nice dog house. He was taking his dog on a walk on a very ___ day and the birds were singing.

(1st Day Story)
Tweet tweet tweet tweet tweet tweet. Boom! Boom! (He knew he had to fill the page, so he was generous with the tweets.)
Bombs started falling every where! But Bob (got changed to Ricky on day two.) was still alive! He ran for cover as soon as the first boom sound filled the air. He ran into a cave. But it started to collapse. The entrance was blocked! Then he saw light at the back of the cave. He quickly ran over to it. There was a fire burning, but nobody was there to make it...

-------
Are you dying to know who made the fire? And who dropped the bomb? Me too.

Sure, his handwriting and spelling are absolutely horrendous, but for someone who's never ever ever ever voluntarily written anything creative (that I remember) I think it's pretty darn good! He could start writing with Clive Cussler!

Anyway, much more to discuss this week!

This post to be continued tomorrow...

Yep, I'm a Fan-Girl with Post Edit

2011-11-15T17:36:00.003+09:00

So the other night Doug arranged to take me on a surprise date. He got a babysitter and everything.

It was a Wednesday night.

I was sure he was taking me dancing or to a dance class.

I'd used various deductive reasoning techniques to come up with this theory and I was very sure of myself.

I told at least two people we were going dancing.

I put on a swingy dress and my new red heels.

I applied full make-up AND even a tiny bit of perfume.

We got in the car and Doug said, "We are NOT going dancing!"
I said "Yes we are! ...Aren't we?"
No. We weren't.

We went into San Diego to "The Mysterious Galaxy Bookstore" for a book signing by
Brandon Sanderson.

And it was AWE.SOME.

Even better than dancing! The rest of this post will now be addressed to someone else:

Dear Brandon Sanderson,
First, I'd like to start by saying, I'm sorry we walked in to your reading late. If I had known we were NOT going to a Swing dance class but instead going to hang out with a bunch of fantasy readers, I would have held off on the make-up and heels and we would have been on time. My bad. (But also Doug's bad for not telling me sooner.)

However, how AWESOME was it that there were two empty seats for us on the front row? (Totally awesome.) I could NOT believe my luck! And hearing you read Legion was really cool. (BTW, is that title a Biblical reference?) I wont lie, I recorded your whole reading on my phone. But I wont post it unless you say it's okay. (But I might send it to my nephew in Utah even without permission 'cause he's a huge fan.)

Anyway, mostly just wanted to let you know it was a great night. My husband and I are huge fans! (And so are our boys because they've been listening to the Audible version of Alcatraz and the Evil Librarian. So stinkin' funny!)

Also, I'd like to tell you a little about myself: I am an avid reader. I have been since first grade when I got hooked on Boxcar Children. I'm pretty much always reading at least one novel. At the moment, I'm reading three different books. (One in the bathroom, one in the car, one by my bed...you get the idea.) My point is, I read a lot.
And here's the thing: I think you are HANDS DOWN one of the (if not THE) BEST AUTHOR I've ever read.
Your intelligence is astounding. Your imagination is awe-inspiring. Your worlds are incredibly cohesive and believable and awesome and deeply-developed-without-being-overwhelming and awesome...

But of most importance to me, your books have something I learned about in college: they have Artistic Unity. In your words, (heard on a pod cast Doug found--if I'm remembering correctly...) "no unkept promises". (or was it unanswered?) Anyway...

Every tiny detail in your books is in your books for a reason. When I finished the Mistborn series, I was sad that it was over, but HAPPY because you had answered all my questions and resolved every introduced issue. What a freakin' awesome series!

{I'm SO glad you've chosen to continue it in a different time period. I would be reading my signed copy of The Alloy of Law right now if it weren't for those other three books and the fact that Doug got to it first.}

(An aside: Once I read "The Historian" and it sucked. Not because it was about vampires. Because it lacked cohesion and left MANY questions unanswered. I'm still bitter I wasted so much time on that book! Just like stupid Lost!!! I'm still mad at you and your lack of ARTISTIC UNITY Lost!)

Anyway again, just wanted to let you know I'm a big fan.

Also, I know when you travel, Tor probably puts you up in some fancy-shmancy hotel. BUT, if you ever crave more homey accommodations in the San Diego area (that include yummy healthy homemade dinners with unhealthy desserts), know that you and your family are more than welcome in our home. You mentioned you have two boys. We have four, therefore; plenty of boy toys. (Not "Boy-Toys" per se....oh, I know you know what I mean 'cause you're a freakin' genius.) I'm just saying you're welcome to stay with us. And I promise not to be too weird and fan-ish.

(Okay well, I'll ask for another picture because the one where we're posing with you turned out super blurry... :(

But after that I'll be normal. I swear.)

So to sum up, you're the best writer ever and it would be super rad if you wanted to bring your family and sleep in our guest room.

Sincerely,
Emily W.

P.S. My baby's middle name is Brandon. Not after you, but still...!

P.P.S. This is my first fan letter. Did I come on too strong? Sound too stalker-like? Dangerous? Sorry. I swear I'm normal(ish).

POST EDIT: My blog posts are automatically e-mailed to my mom so her comments come to my e-mail in-box. This was her response to this post:

Dear Emily, Great fan letter! I'll have you know that I borrowed and read (my brother) Brandons copies of Mistborn! They were OK. What shall I try next that's not so far out into ugly and violent cretins? I didn't like all the good guys expiring.

(Not ALL the good guys expire...!!)

But I love you and Brandon, and I trust your judgement normally.

Love, Mom xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxo

I had to laugh. Clearly, Epic Fantasy is NOT for everyone! :) Always good to have differing opinions!

(I told her to try Gail Tsukiyama--an author I read and liked in Japan.)

Japan Rememberances

2011-11-10T06:47:00.000+09:00

Cleaning out the office today, I found a random index card with notes scribbled all over it. On the back, I had written;
"Things I don't want to forget: Restaur. have kid stuff, poles have pics, happy construc signs."

Good thing I found this, because I already don't remember what "poles have pics" means.
BUT, I do remember items 1 and 3.

1. When we ate out, 97.3% of the time the servers/owners/chefs brought out special
dishes, cups and occasionally silverware for the boys. Usually kid sized melamine stuff.
Winnie the Pooh was a favorite theme. Also, Anpanman--a Japanese character. Most places were very sweet and accommodating to the boys. I just loved it that they kept separate cute dishes around for kids.

3. Never before have I seen such happy construction signs. They want you to know they are working on the road, but they're very sorry for the inconvenience it may cause and just want you to know they are happily and efficiently carrying on with their work.
I may be reading in to things a bit, but that's what I got! I remember always being astounded to pass road workers. Not only did they ALWAYS bow at passing cars, but they also always had a man with a straw broom trailing along behind them cleaning up the mess. Unbelievably awesome.

{When Doug and I were driving home from Utah a few weeks ago, we went through some construction. As we passed a large man holding a flag, we both automatically bowed to him.
He did not bow back.}

HEY, I just remembered what 2 means!
2. Poles have pics. As you drive along the road, the guard rails/fence posts, are painted so that as you drive by you see a picture. Does that make any sense? Individually, each post doesn't look like anything, but as you drive by, they form a large picture collectively. Birds in flight or something. Just another example of how the Japanese try to make every day things (even ugly utilitarian things) better and more beautiful.

Japan, you're so kawaii!!!!

Monday Home Schooling Post--Right on Time

2011-11-09T01:17:00.000+09:00

Okay, actually a day late. I told you I wasn't very good at formal schedules, right?

So yesterday marked our one-week anniversary of Home Schooling. And yes, I'm still getting minor panic attacks when I think of what I've done.

But then I think, hey, Max has now mastered his 7 times table and almost has his 8's taken care of. Something we couldn't manage all of last year. So we're doing pretty good.

And that sums up most of what we did during the last week: We worked on multiplication. I made flash cards, we watched a lot of School House Rock, played "Timez Attack", (which is awesome, btw) and took tests using "Mad Minutes".

For writing, we worked on writing letters to friends in Korea and Germany. We worked on penmanship, spelling, sentence structure, grammar, and letter etiquette.

Last night Max asked me if we could work on "Creative Writing".

Uh, yeah.

I think I can help with that.

Better get to it!

P.S. For those of you worried about his socialization: He hasn't turned weird yet. I'll keep you posted.

Halloween Served Cool

2011-11-01T08:58:00.001+09:00

On Monday, October 31st, driving to school to pick up Sammy, I happened to note the temperature on the car thermometer. It was 72 degrees. (fahrenheit)

View of the sunrise from my bed.

Yes folks, 72 glorious degrees with sparkling clear blue skies...

on HALLOWEEN!!!

No worries about bundling up and figuring out how to show off a costume buried in coats and scarves...

...no coats were necessary!

And happily, no trick-or-treating in the snow. (Something I did more than once growing up in Utah.)

He looks like a marathoner in this one!

(Frankly, Gray could have used a long sleeved shirt and possibly SHOES, but I was in a hurry to get to the dang ward Trunk-or-Treat*.)

It has been getting chilly when the sun sets, and Halloween night was no exception. But that just made it all the more perfect. That meant we were completely justified in making a fire and having Hot Chocolate that night. (Because everyone needs more sugar after a church party and trick-or-treating.)

And THAT is why we chose to live here over any other place in America or abroad! And why YOU should come visit!

Happy Halloween!

P.S. I realized when I downloaded the pictures that we didn't get any of the other boys in their costumes. Maybe because they were sorta lack-luster repeats from last year. Max was Darth Vader--again--but didn't want to wear the mask, (because the foam fell off so it isn't comfortable) Sam was Obi Wan Kenobi--again--with no light saber, (because he couldn't find any of the 38,000 light sabers we own) and Gabe was Transformer Bumble Bee. (New this year from Costco. He actually was super excited about his costume, but still managed to avoid being photographed. Mom fail.)

And of course, Gray was a little tube of tooth paste! Costume made by me many years ago for Max in San Francisco. I didn't even have a sewing machine back then so I put it together with "Stitch Witchery"--the tape that melts when you iron it. The hat was a made with a lamp shade from Target.

Yes, I know I'm awesome and I should start a craft blog. Sorry--I'm too busy being awesome at other stuff. Super important stuff you wouldn't understand.

*which was very fun, but made the evening very rushed and hectic!