Newest Utah Fire

Is hitting a little close to home :(  -well, by home I mean our home before we moved-.  My old neighbor took this pic from her house and it happens to be a direct shot of our old house.  Sad huh?  My beautiful mountains and view.  Thinking of my old friends and neighbors and wishing all these fires would stop.  

The fire seems to be going over the mountain instead of towards the neighborhood, but all it takes is a wind shift.  Towards the back of the mountain means devastation of the Alpine Loop :(  No good options, it's all just depressing.

It's supposed to rain tomorrow for the first time in over 56 days-- almost the longest on record without rain.  That sucks!  But I'm looking forward to the rain and hoping it brings some relief.  

Taken yesterday on our way to Salt Lake

Just an old picture I took a few years ago. 

 Kind of the same angle as the first picture, just no fire.

Onwards and Upwards

Elle has graduated from this:

To this:

(Man I look tired!  Perhaps I should have taken the picture at the start of the hike instead the end...) 

I borrowed this backpack from my friend (and next door neighbor and taunter-of-scary-images-at-night-when-Rob-is-out-of-town-just-to-freak-me-out) Charity. 

 I Loved it and Elle loved it and now I need to get me my own.  

I wonder if they make any of these that fit 4 year olds......  

Perhaps I'm not going to want her on my back when she is 4 though.  

Maybe I'll just need to get into better shape.

Remember this?

This was our hike up Timpanogos Cave

One of the best pictures ever.

This is what happens when we stay up too late playing Draw Something.

Any guesses?

Hint:  That is NOT a dog wearing a sombrero like I thought.

Thank You

I want to tell my daughter's crossing guard thank you.  Since September, I've seen her twice a day, said hi, shared a smile, and watched her take her job seriously.  Then, a few weeks ago, school was out and I stood across the street from the school, watching my daughter waiting at the curb with some other kids.  Scout saw me and knew I was there and couldn't wait to cross and run over to me and tell me about her day like she always does.  But she stood there, waiting for the guard to tell them it was safe to cross the street.  All the cars were stopping, and she put her sign up and started across the street.  

The car in the first lane wasn't paying a bit of attention, and I watched as that car hit my daughter's crossing guard.  I watched her hit the hood and then fly off the car and land in the street.  It was the scariest thing I have ever seen.  I knew my daughter was still waiting at the curb, but my first impulse was to run home 3 houses away to get my phone to call 911.  Rob was there with Elles and I told him what just happened and we both flew out of the house back to the school.  The crossing guard was lying on the street and had a few people around her, tending her.  Scout was in the exact same place, crying.  I ran to her and scooped her up, horrified at what had just happened, what I had just watched, what my daughter had just watched a few feet from her.  A little later came the horror of what could have happened, how bad it could have been.  

Then came the police and the ambulance.  Then came the next horror to me- I realized that the crossing guard's own children go to the school and hang out at the same corner waiting for their mom to get off work.  That's when I noticed a little boy crying, trying with all his might to unlock his mom's phone so he can call his dad.  I went over to their car and tried to comfort him and help him.  Her other children were upset, but sitting in the car.  The little boy's sister took over trying to unlock the phone.  We ended up using my phone and at this point I didn't know the status of the crossing guard, or what to say to the dad.  I walked over there and the crossing guard was conscious and they told me that he had been called by the school office.  I told her I was with her kids.  I went back and told them that their mom was ok and that their daddy was coming and relieved that I didn't have to make that phone call.

Rob took Scout home.  I had to stay because I was a first hand witness and had to sign a statement, etc.  The dad didn't show up.  I started making inquiries and found out that there was a mix up and he really hadn't been called.  I chickened out again and had the lady that worked at the school office call him from my phone.  By that time the crossing guard was being loaded onto the ambulance.  The woman that hit her never got out of her car, never talked to anyone. 

Her family lived close and the dad happen to have the day off (he is a fireman), so he arrived quickly, but wasn't able to see his wife, the ambulance was already gone.  He was then able to comfort his kids, and I wrote down everything I remembered from the accident and sped home as fast as I could.  By that time, Scout was feeling much better, she and daddy had a good talk about what happened.  What ever he said to her was the right thing.  I spent the rest of the evening restless and recovering from various degrees of shock which ended with quite a headache.  Scout spent the evening bringing up feelings and thoughts about the accident which included bouts of anger towards the person that hit her.  I tried to tell her that she didn't do it on purpose but was in big trouble for doing that.  I walked Scout to school the next day and inquired in the office how the crossing guard was doing.  I was told she hadn't broken any bones, but had a lot of soft tissue damage and will be back to work in a few weeks (if her husband lets her).

I am so glad things turned out ok.  I am so relieved that it wasn't worse then it was.  I will forever play that scene in my mind, and never forget what that was like.  I've never seen a person get hit by a car before.   I've thought a lot about what happened and like Scout, I can sometimes feel anger towards the woman that hit her.  That crossing guard was doing everything right.  School had just gotten out.  There were kids everywhere.  The flashing school zone lights were flashing.  The cross walk is one of those big ones, with extra safety curbing, and green stripes.  There are reflector poles on either side.  The crossing guard had big, colored cones out in the middle of the street.  She had a orange vest on.  She had a huge stop sign in her hand.  I am angry that you can make such a grievous error such as not paying attention to all of that and hitting a crossing guard with my child (and several others) so close.  The fact that that can happen, I saw it happen, there are people out there that can cause that to happen, scares me so much. 

So I want to say again, thank you.  Even though I feel like we've gotten to know each other a bit this year by smiles and saying hi, I hadn't even learned your name.  But thank you for taking your job so seriously.  Thank you for keeping our children safe.  Thank you for following the rules and making sure those kids are safely still at the curb until you know for sure it is safe to cross.  Thank you for putting yourself on the line for our kids.  At Christmas, we gave you an inadequate gift card and some chocolates with a note that said, "thank you for keeping Scout safe".  Little did I know, just a couple weeks later, how much I would mean that.

Tell your son that I am sorry I was so shaky I had to ask him 3 times what his dad's number was.  The fact that he could tell me it correctly 3 times with all that was going on, and being so scared for his mom, is amazing to me.  What a kid.

Tell your husband I am sorry I hesitated in calling him the first time.  I was too afraid to call this complete stranger and tell him that his wife was just hit by a car and he better come down to the school to be with his kids.  I was scared I would say something stupid.  I was clear headed enough to know that in my state of shock, I might not make the best word choices, but I should have manned up and done it anyway.  I am the reason he didn't get to see his wife before you went to the hospital.

And finally, to the woman that hit her, I don't know quite what to say.  I know we all make mistakes, but I really hope that you and everyone else learned something that day.  According to some of the kids waiting to cross the street with my daughter, you had your phone in your hand.  We all get a little distracted from time to time, but we just can't let ourselves get so distracted we don't notice we are in an active school zone.  I don't know if you were dialing a number or texting, either way........ you are so, so, so lucky this didn't end up worse.  I don't think my daughter's small little body could have taken your car like the crossing guard's did.  But I just can't even think about that.  She is safe, and she is doing well and hardly brings up what she saw that day anymore.  But I don't think she will ever forget it.

If I had my life to live over...

By Erma Bombeck

If I Had My Life to Live Over...

I would have talked less and listened more.

I would have invited friends over to dinner even if the carpet was stained and the sofa faded.

I would have eaten popcorn in the good living room and worried less about dirt when someone wanted to light a fire in the fireplace.

I would have taken time to listen to my grandfather ramble on about his youth.

I would never have insisted the car windows be rolled up on a summer day because my hair had just been teased or sprayed.

I would have burned the pink candle sculpted like a rose before it melted in storage.

I would have sat on the lawn with my children and not worried about grass stains.

I would have cried and laughed - less while watching television and more while watching life.

I would have shared more of the responsibility carried by my husband.

I would have gone to bed when I was sick instead of pretending the earth would go into a holding pattern if I weren't there for the day.

I would never have bought anything just because it was practical, wouldn't show soil, or was guaranteed to last a lifetime.

When my kids kissed me impetuously, I would never had said, "later. Now go wash up for dinner."

There would have been more "I love yous"... more "I'm sorrys"... but mostly, given another shot at life, I would seize every minute... look at it and really see it... live it.... and never give it back.

This has been hanging on the side of my fridge for probably about a year following a relief society lesson. I liked it so much I hung it up, then it got covered over time by coupons, pictures Scout drew of aliens, and dentist magnets. I just removed everything from my fridge to clean and saw and read it again and loved it again.

Thought I would share.

ps, I have a leg up on Erma-- I do eat popcorn in the good living room. Well, I don't have a "good" living room, just the one.

Rant

I'm really annoyed right now, so I ask you all to indulge me while I rant.

This particular rant is about my child's elementary school parking lot. First order of business:


I have been to two events at my child's school where the parents are invited. Both times of course the place was very crowded. This over capacitated the parking lot. But no problem, there is a church with a huge parking lot RIGHT ACROSS THE STREET. So, I parked there and saw another mom I know and we walk in together to watch our children march in the Halloween parade. As I am approaching the front of the building, I notice that the entire red zone at the front of the school is totally full of parked cars. I made a joke to the other mother about how maybe blocking the entire red zone(ie- place where the fire trucks park if there is a fire), may not be the best idea at an elementary school where our children are (the other mother didn't seem to care) and then I dropped it. About a month later, one night there was an art show at the school and Rob and I and the kids went. They had a program and I think every parent and grandparent were there and you couldn't even fit into the gym. It was soooo crowded and I am sure over capacity. Again, we parked at the church across the street and as we walked in, AGAIN, the entire red zone was full of parallel parked cars. I pointed it out to Rob and this time it was just annoying to me. SERIOUSLY! What in the world makes you feel entitled to park in the red zone ANYWHERE just because the parking spots are full??? Let alone, the elementary school where hundreds of our children are? Especially when there is a perfectly fine half empty parking lot RIGHT across the street? No one is going to tow you out of an LDS church parking lot I assure you. And shame on the police department for not towing every single one of those cars parked in the red zone. I am no champion of safety here, but I know what is right and what is STUPID in certain situations.
1. You don't ever park in red zones anywhere, especially schools overflowing with children.
2. You don't speed in school zones.
3. You never ever park in handicapped spaces. Which brings us to what happened yesterday....

Scout was picked up by her carpool and as they were leaving the lot they were backed up into and got in an accident. The lady that backed into them, not only was driving a giant SUV, she had a huge decal advertising her husband's dental practice in the back window (decal letters, not the wraps that you can see through). She pops out and talks to the mother driving Scout home and was like, "I don't think it was anybody's fault". What the crap? Other mother (Scout's car) was not speeding and didn't see her. The SUV lady told the cops that she even saw the other car. What the crap again? Anyway, she was cited for backing into someone and also, was cited again because she happened to be backing out of a handicapped spot for which she had no business being in. This seems like another case of total self entitlement and this all just makes my blood boil (Self entitlement and laziness! One of the many reasons Americans are getting fatter- we can't walk across the street? Or park a few spaces further away instead of taking up a spot reserved for someone that legitimately can't walk?).

Ok, rant over. I feel somewhat better. Thanks for reading.

My Ipod had a Final Destination moment yesterday....

My Ipod Shuffle (featured here), seems to be telling me that the movie Final Destination isn't that far from reality. If you haven't seen the movie, let me explain it's basic premise (I have never seen the whole thing, but caught about 45 minutes of it on cable once). Basically, before some trip, a kid has a vision of him and his friends getting in a plane crash, so he tells them not to board the plane. Surprise surprise the plane does crash and he saved all their lives (I think some didn't heed his word and died). The "universe" found a way to course correct itself and have what was to be, be. For the rest of the movie, one by one, everyone that was saved from the plane crash dies in freaky ways. I have a nagging feeling there is another movie or something that focuses on "course correction" and is the same kind of idea but for the life of me I can't think what it might be. If anyone out there knows, please let me know!
So anyway, my ipod had been missing for a whole day and I was just kind of halfheartedly searching here and there for it, knowing it would turn up somewhere (it always does). What I didn't think of, was that Scout had spilled a drink on the cookie blanket the day before, and I had scooped it up and thrown it in the washer, but not washed it. I was waiting one day for my official "laundry day", so it just sat in the machine. You may think that I saved it from the wash, but it found it's way in there again and that is my final destination story. Nope. I threw some towels on top of the blanket and started it up. While transferring the contents into the dryer, I heard a *clink* and I just knew. I looked and sure enough there was "neil", earphones and all. I put the buds in my ears and turned it on and silence. I thought, well- Rob's first shuffle survived an entire winter under an iceburg and is still (far as I know) going strong at Sue's house. So, I plugged ol' neil up to the computer and he popped up on my itunes! All the stuff still showed up on it too. I was dubious about the earphones, but after I let the ipod charge up for about 15 minutes, I plugged them in and besides being a little crackily, they worked! I rejoiced and shared the ordeal with Rob and we marveled at the endurance of Ipod shuffles and I happily enjoyed Neil as I prepared our Memorial Day hamburgers. The crackling even went away after a short amount of time.
After dinner, Scout and Lola needed a park romp- so I got out the wagon put the kids in it and got Lola leashed up and we went to the park. I ran around with Lowes (she was particularly naughty) and I had to chase her quite a bit and I SWEAR I noticed at one point that I still had Neil clipped to my shirt (this is very common- I will unhook the earphones, but the ipod stays clipped to the bottom of my shirt until I remember to remove it and put it somewhere safe. When I got back from the park, fed Elles, and had Scout in bed, I noticed Neil was gone. I looked around the couch and decided that it must be at the park, so I went back and back tracked and couldn't find it anywhere. I went back inside and Rob took Lola, and searched for me for a while (I was kind of having a bad day and he took pity on me). He looked and then I went out again and searched again. No Neil in sight. So, I had quite a roller coaster ride yesterday concerning my shuffle. I couldn't believe my luck that I didn't dry it (Rob's got dried once and that is an ipod kiss of death), also I couldn't believe it could survive an entire wash cycle! I was so happy and thankful it worked I thought about it all day! and then- bam! Cruelly lost at the park. I suppose it's fate was sealed when I woke up that morning and since it was miraculously saved from it's fate- the universe had to do something.

As a neat little twist (I don't believe I shared this on my blog before) my good old original ipod I wrote an obituary for last fall, crawled back from the grave and was my companion today. Yes, he came back to life months later when Rob decided to spontaneously plug it back in, just to see. I had Neil by then, so it's sat in my "ipod accessory basket" abandoned for months. It was kind of fun to use "old trusty" again (it's new, well deserved name) but Neil has definitely spoiled me. I love Neil, I miss Neil, I want Neil back. (No Rob, I'm not hinting- I'm just saying).

I am not fully writing Neil off, as miracles do happen when it comes to my family's ipods. So stay tuned. Good grief, I need to make a label for my ipod soap operas!

What the Bip??*

Is it just me or these the most hideous things on the planet?

I can't even imagine a world where someone thinks these are cute/marketable/worth-shelling-out-twice-as-much-money-as-regular-diapers. But hey- maybe it's just me. I got an ad for them in the mail today along with some valuable coupons. On the cover of the ad was a picture of the scariest looking baby I've ever seen. I turned it over to the picture (for the first time) and had to stifle a scream.
Anyway, all in all it was a very traumatic mailer.
Except for the coupons,
I'll use those --

(for regular Winne the pooh diapers thank you).


Ok, so here is that second picture I referred to in the ad -the one that almost made me scream (old man/baby hybrid)
Are the Huggies execs that are in charge of advertising on crack?



*I realize that "What the Bip" is usually reserved for my family's weekly movie quote game posts on The Kids Were All Wright, but I thought these diapers deserved a giant WTB?
(please don't sue me TKWAW)

Meet Neil

Around 11:45 on the night before my birthday, Rob casually asked what I wanted for my birthday. I told him that a replacement ipod would be nice. At exactly midnight I laid back down from sucking snot out of my little baby's nose and landed on something hard. Thinking it was the remote, I reached to get it and instead of the remote, it was a new shiny ipod. You see, Rob has a VERY hard time waiting to give gifts. Gifts burn holes right through his pockets, so waiting until midnight was the best he could do- at least it was technically my birthday. He got me the new talking kind because he said my obituary was one huge hint. Not so! It's not my fault my old ipod died the week before my birthday, and I only mentioned the new talking kind because I went on apple.com to see how much a replacement shuffle was going to set us back and I noticed they don't even sell the old style anymore. My dad suggested I name her Neil and I thought that was a grand idea since writing an obituary for a nameless ipod was a little awkward.
Neil is pretty swanky, she (and this one is definitely a she since she talks to me) is controlled by the head phones and if I hold the play button down she tells me the name of the song and the artist, if I hold it down longer, she lists all the playlists and podcasts I have downloaded and I click again when she names one I'd like to listen to. I didn't use to keep a lot on ol greeny since I would have to wade through every song to find what I want. Now I get to keep as much as I'd like on my shuffle, it's genius. It has also prompted me to come up with some creative playlist names because I like to hear Neil say them, it makes me giggle.

Thanks babe- love you forever

A Crib Tale

We had an interesting thing happen last week I thought worthy of sharing. My family was out and about killing time in Orem/Provo, so we decided to hang out at Rob's dad's house so Rob could take a nap and I could search the basement for the last remaining baby things we have stored over there. I located and re boxed all the things we are going to need soon and went back upstairs. Rob had woken up and happen to mention the crib (which was dismantled and in the car port). I went out there to check it out and to make sure all the parts were there and ready for Ells. What I didn't find was all the hardware. We have had to dismantle and move the crib 3 times since Scout was born and I always scooped up all the hardware after Rob took it apart and put it in a baggie, and taped it to some part of the crib. Somehow this step got skipped the last time and I was quite upset. I gave ourselves a lecture on how we need to be more responsible with our stuff (I was thinking about how I had been through every baby stuff box we have and hadn't seen all the bolts, etc.) Anyway, Rob kept swearing he'd seen it somewhere, but I was having none of that, and in all my nesting glory, went down to the computer because I must have this little problem resolved NOW. Well first I went back out to the crib and secured the model number and brand, then googled hardware for it to see about replacing it. What popped up was all this info about how our crib had gotten recalled last summer! Apparently, the wood slats are prone to breaking and 42 children have met injury since it's release (no deaths at present, thank goodness). I find out that you need to take the model stickers off the crib, some crib bumper things, and the hardware, send it to Jardine, and they will send you a voucher for any crib you want at Babies R Us for the highest price your crib was ever sold for.

I went upstairs to share this interesting tidbit of news with Rob, with the nag of the thought that one thing they needed was the stupid hardware. He was surprised by the news and funny enough, was digging through a junk drawer of Dale's and found the hardware right then.

Well, we peeled off the stickers, unscrewed the bumpers they told us to, added the hardware, printed our FedEx labels they sent us, signed a little statement stating that we would never try to use that crib or sell it to anyone ever, and shipped it all off to Jardine. Today I got my voucher, and nows, I gets to go crib shopping for a brand new crib.

I'd now like to point out all the serendipitous things that occurred in my story:

1.) Of greatest importance, Scout didn't meet any sort of demise in her almost two years of sleeping and mistreating the crib.

2.) If I had taped the hardware to the crib like I always did, we would have put it back together none the wiser, and Elinor would be sleeping in that death trap in a few months.

3.) If I wasn't in full nesting mode, I probably would have put off my need to look up ordering new hardware, and Rob would have found it a few minutes later and then see the last part of #2.

4.) If the crib wasn't recalled, I would have Ells in a bit beat up and cherry wood crib (I am not so fond of cherry wood anymore -so 4 years ago-) instead of a cute brand new crib, the color of my choosing.

Ok, the 4th thing is not the biggest deal, but still! Crazy story eh? Kind of makes you want to check some of your baby things and make sure they aren't death traps, because you don't just get this information automatically and that's kind of scary. If any of you have a Jardine crib especially, I would go here, because many models were included in this recall.

Now, we really must say good bye to Scout's crib with some fond memories:

Good bye ol' pal, thanks for not killing Scout.

The Cousin Snails

As some of you may know, we have had a very snail filled summer so far. It started with my interest in the fact that snails have ravaged the little flower border I planted along my porch. This interested Scout and she eventually found a few on the porch and played with them and wanted them inside. We put them in a little box for a few hours and it was enough time for her to form a strong bond with these nasty gooey insect things. When I told her it was time to take them back outside, she didn't really protest, but sat on the porch with them for 15 minutes talking to them in a sad little voice about how much she was going to miss them and on and on and on. Long story short, they now reside in a jar in our house with some holes poked in the top, every other day, cleaned out by me (yes, snails do poo) and are given a fresh leaf of lettuce from our fridge. They are referred to as the mommy, daddy and baby snail.

So the other day, I see some snails resting happy as clams in the shade under our front plants while turning the hose on. I told Scout we were going on a snail hunt (I have a garden you know and don't want snails. I HATE snails! They are vile and ugly and most of all, eat my plants). I figured the best way to get rid of them is to pluck them from where they sleep and discard them. Scout was only too eager to help me out, which is good, because I am a bit squeemish and don't relish touching them if I ever can help it. We got a zip loc bag and started going to town. We explored in all our bushes and pluck pluck plucked resting snails from every cranny we could find. This is the result:

I honestly don't know what I was planning to do with them when I was done. I am not above smashing a single snail if noticed on the street or somewhere, but that much snail carnage at one time makes me a little uneasy. Yes, there is a soft spot with me even for snails. I suppose I could have lied to Scout and at some point closed up the bag, tossed them in the trash and forgotten about them and fed her a story (I think that would have disturbed me a little, for a while anyway). While I was pondering what to do, Scout wanted to go upstairs to the office and show daddy our haul. He thought they were really cool and thought maybe we could take them to a new home down by the river. Scout was opposed at first until I reminded her that there was no way we were keeping a hundred snails. They were almost immediately named "the cousin snails" (side note: I should mention that inbetween the jarred snails and the great snail hunt, Scout found another snail and wanted to add it to the jar. I told her no, she may not bring any more snails in the jar, she may only have the 3 she already had. She said, "but this is the cousin snail". Daddy wisely pointed out that cousins live in other houses, so it was set back outside and for a while (a few days) she would periodically open the front door and yell out, "Hi Amy snail!" --for those of you that don't know, Amy is my sister and mother to 5 of Scout's cousins in Wyoming. For the record, all of Scout's beloved relatives are dubbed "cousins". Aunts, Uncles, grandma, grandpa they are all just referred to collectively as the cousins.--) Anyway, we finally got her on board with the new snail home which outlines the golf course by our house and is perhaps a 2 minute drive from our house, but there is a substantual cliff seperating us, so they shall never find their way back to my tomatoes or beans. This was a satisfying option for me too, so we took that picture on the stairs, Scout's snail family wanted to come along for the ride, and we all piled into the car to make our drop. We got there and walked around until we found a nice little grassy area next to a bush and the water (and a substantial amount of circling birds -do birds eat snails? If so, they were eating good that night!) We dropped off the cousin snails and took a picture:
So that's our snail tale. My favorite part about the story (besides the fact that all those pictured snails used to reside in my front yard, are now far far away) came a day or two ago. Rob has taken to going to the golf course on nights I work and he and Scout go play 9 holes together. This is Scout's biggest thrill to go in the golf cart with daddy. The Cedar Hills Course is very very hilly and has long cart rides that include a tunnel, so this is as you can imagine a very exciting thing to go do with daddy while mommy is away. She is so good and well behaved and does exactly what he tells her to do while out there (she must have an internal knowledge of golf etiquette in there somewhere). Anyway, I just think that is so cute they go do that. While on the first or second hole you are at the top and can happen to see the snail drop off zone and the other day Scout looks, recognizes it and goes, "dad! Look, it's snail Wyoming!"

Merry Chrimas Ebah!

We had a joy filled Christmas.

There is nothing like a child just figuring out Christmas and all it's glories to put some life into it. As parents we got to experience the bribery of the phrase, "Santa's watching you" and we will miss that tremendously. Last year that phrase just struck terror on her face (she wasn't thrilled with the idea of this big bearded fat man watching her and going into her living room).

This year, we even left him a cookie under the tree.

We had Grandpa Pugh, Uncle Nathan, and Aunt Christie even joined us from Scranton, Penn. They spent Christmas Eve with us, we had a nice dinner, then they left that night and we got some annual Christmas Eve dunglees and put Scout to bed. She was very excited about Santa coming and what he might leave. She came into our room at about 7:30 asking for some breakfast. I was kind of like, uh- wouldn't you like to see if Santa came? She retorted with one of the answers I had been giving her, "Santa is going to come to our house and bring presents". I was like, "I think he might have already came". She processed that for a few, and then her eyes lit up and she said, "let's go see what we got!!" She totally forgot! Then, as she saw the spread, she noticed the cookie was gone and she kept discussing that and ignoring the toys, I love Scout. The rest is history.

As you can probably guess from these examples, we COULD NOT get a normal picture of the bean. Chalk it up to Christmas Eve excitement.

We also forgot to have someone take a family picture before everyone took off, so this was the best we could do.

Scout made out like a bandit with a My Little Pony carnival, a robotic tiger cub (the hit of Christmas, his name is Wowee), a couple games, new crayons, etc. Mom and dad got a new flat screen (courtesy of Rob painting some dude's basement) a dvd player, dad got a new game and mom got a new rice cooker (my old one is acting weird. It's probably Mose, so the problem most likely will continue, since it has worked fine for years until we moved here.) My dad got me a set of folding chopsticks complete with a little pouch that can be put on your belt. He's funny. We spent the rest of the morning at Grandpa's opening more presents together. I got a book telling the story of a woman survivor of the Rwanda Holocaust (a little light reading). We also got a new motherboard hurray! We think it is getting installed tomorrow. Later that day, we tried to beat the storm (with success) and went to Sampan for some traditional Christmas day Chinese food. Sadly, I forgot my chopsticks.

I have to spend a minute telling you about Wowee. For weeks, Scout was a little tiger cub named Wowee and I just thought it was a name she came up with, and she was trying to say, "roaree". One day I happened upon a commercial for a little robot cub that meowed and purred and slept and growled by a company called "Wowee", and thus discovered what Scout had been obsessed with for weeks. I figured that would be an excellent gift from Santa. I benefited from the bad economy/waiting until the week of Christmas with a Target sale, selling them for half off. I got her the white tiger cub and boy that thing hasn't left her sight all week. It totally creeps Rob out, but I have to admit, it totally brings out my mothering instincts! It blinks it's eyes and purrs if you pet it's head or back. If you leave it alone for 5 minutes it goes to sleep and snores for a few minutes then, just keeps it's little eyes closed until you wake it up. I go into her room after she is asleep, and Wowee is tucked in next to her, both of them sound asleep and I have to give him a little love too, they are so cute sleeping together! I also can be seen giving it a little squeeze when she drops him in my lap to take care of him for a minute, while she does whatever she needs both hands to do. This morning they came into bed with me after Rob left and Scout became a Wowee lion cub and I got to be it's proud owner. She would fall asleep and prompt me to press her ear to wake her up. It was cute (and classic Scout).

Since we won't buy Scout a real animal, I told Rob that this is the least we can do, and he has to get over his fear of Wowee sneaking up to his bed at night and attacking him (his eyes make a little mechanical noise when they blink and that is mostly what haunts him).

Anyway, we had a very Merry Christmas and hope you all did too!

The Haunted House

We finally finished the haunted house. Yay! I actually finished it on Sunday and then took pictures on Monday and in the process of doing that, I squished my Ipod to death. It was in my front pocket and I went to lie on the floor and my girth was enough to kill it dead. It froze and then gave me a frowny face. A friend at work told me his does that and he shakes it and it works fine, so I shook it last night and it told me to plug it in, then it started doing stuff and froze again. So maybe there is hope, maybe not. ANYWAY, that distracted me to the point of not posting until today, plus I worked last night and this morning. I still greive for my ipod, but I still have my shuffle, which is great in it's own right, but it isn't a replacment. Ok, this post is about the haunted house.

Here is a closeup of the front stoop. If you open the door, there is a ghost inside. You will hear about those skeletons that mark the entrance in a moment.

Side view. I tried to make it rickety and precarious looking. If you open any shutters, you will find a surprise, and I fixed it up so they glow if we put a pumpkin light in there. I tried to fashion the roof after the Psycho house. The fence I made out of skeleton parts maybe turned out a little morbid, but eh. Nothing that bothers me much, nor Scout, but she is a skeleton freak. Anyway, it's kind of fun and should be around for many Halloweens to come.

Some haunted house making shenanagans:

These were Scout's favorite toy for about 4 days. She called them "the giraffes". There were better pics of her holding them, but her face in this one made me laugh so much, I had to use it, so I included a better pic of them below:
Anyway, the giraffes were so funny. They had many adventures, she made them little beds on the roof of the house and they slept there. They talked to all the little creatures in the house, the bats, cats and pumpkins in the windows and called them collectively "spooky things". When she addressed them she would say, "spooky things? Do you want some candy?" Then she would pass out candy corns to everyone (put them outside their windows), and frequently make sure they were all having a good time. The giraffes even got treated to a hippo ride:

She is a hoot.
I had to glue them to the house late at night after she was in bed, because they were always with her otherwise. I don't think she has noticed they are on the house yet.

The Cow That Won't Die

This is a toy cow of Scout's purchased this last spring at the $1 area of target. It was a toy she earned for completing a line of stickers on her potty chart. See that little orange thing on it's belly? If you press it, the cow "moos". Cute huh? Well, something is wrong with this cow.
It all started when it was only about a month old. The cow became a member of the animal brigade that spent a lot of time out on the front porch in mommy's blueberry planter this summer. Scout would put the hose up on top and the animals would swim and frolic in the water and waterfall. I reminded her many times that this cow should not get wet or it won't moo anymore. Somehow it sneaked into that menagerie and not only got wet, it sat immersed in a bowl of water outside for AT LEAST 2 weeks, probably 3, with a few fellow animals.
I shrugged my shoulders at that point and figured, well, she will learn a little lesson about how right mommy is when the cow doesn't moo anymore, and it was only a dollar anyway. What I thought was the end of the moos was really only the beginning.
After weeks of silence, right after we moved into our new house, we started hearing mooing. Scout found the cow in a box and played with it in the living room. That night from upstairs in our bedroom, we could hear the cow going nuts downstairs. Moo moo moo all night. It kept waking me up. Finally, I slept all night and thought no more of the cow. That next day, I was outside and I found the cow out on the front lawn. I laughed and deduced (my deductions were later found to be correct) that Rob must have grown tired of it during the night and tossed it out the front door. I brought the now silent cow inside thinking to ask Rob about it later. I forgot, and a few days later heard mooing again. Then no mooing. I finally remembered to ask Rob about it and he admitted to throwing it outside and then told me that he has since wrapped it up in something and stuffed it somewhere and he doesn't remember where. All we knew is, the mooing was gone and there was peace.
Well, we have some boxes in the basement that I am sorry to say, have not been unpacked since Shadowridge (over two years ago) it is random stuff (papers, books, old mail, movies, candles, etc.) that have been riffled through, but pretty much just moved from place to place with us. I would like to think a lot of people have such boxes and we are not the horrible people I think we are. Anyway, I have attacked these boxes with gusto this week. Organizing the stuff in them and throwing stuff away and also putting some of it away. (I need bookshelves!!!) Guess what I found wrapped in some of Scout's old clothing? Yeppers, I found the cow. Scout played with it while we were down there, along with some other toys she has outgrown. We went upstairs and went about our business. Business that became peppered with sad little moos from downstairs. I can only conclude from this that for 0ver 2 months this cow has been muffly mooing in it's box prison in the basement. Since freeing it, I bet we get a good ten moos a day. It has slowed down from about 40 a day. But we still get moos during dinner, moos at night. We have come to giving each other a little smile when we hear it.
I think at this point, we are more curious then anything about this cow. How can we throw it away? At what point is it going to moo it' s final moo? What kind of powers are at work with this cow? Should we send it into Motorolla or Apple so they can see how this is accomplished since $200 phones and Ipods seem to die if they just look at water. While writing this blog when I downloaded the picture, I did two of them to see which looked better on the blog and when I made my choice, I tried to delete the picture and it would not delete or cut. I tried everything and finally had to go into edit Html and manually erase the code to the pic. Seriously, there is something wrong with this cow...........

Bloggy Blog Blog

So, I have had a brainstorm. Well, perhaps the credit shouldn't be mine, since the idea was born of cruising through my friend Ami's many many blogs she contributes to. She has her hand in several blogs that her family (Hart Family) post on and this all gave me an idea. How's about our family makes a community blog where in we might all pitch in. I was thinking it could be a place where we can review, discuss, and announce the books, movies, TV Shows we have seen, loved and hated. Say, I just read a fantastic book, I could give it a little review and let you all know. Mom and dad saw a great movie last night? Let us know about it. This would also be a fantastic place to compile the eagerly awaited "Wright Family Book List".
We have a growing number of us making their own blogs (I've heard things about Amy starting one?), so the ones that have not done that only need to set up a free google account, it is quick and easy and you can ask any number of us how to do this if you are afraid/ignorant. I would be willing to get the thing started, and I am not sure how to do this, but add anyone who is interested to be a contributor (that is, someone that can post blogs on the blog). I'm a quick learner, it should be cake.
I think it would be fun! Any interest?
I have come up with a few name ideas too to get you all excited:

Wright Choices (Too cheesy? I also realize few of us are "Wrights" but we are all of the Wright seed one way or another).

My Fair Lady to Dirty Rotten Scoundrels

I Like Me Some Books! (and Movies)

Help me out here. Sue, I know you are good for some gems...

The Jell-O Salad

So, our little cousin lily got blessed this Sunday and there was a family get together afterwards. I got a food assignment and guess what it was? Yep, Jell-O salad.
Let me explain something right here.

I don't like Jell-O salad.
I don't eat Jell-O salad.
I certainly have never made Jell-O salad.
Jell-O salad scares me.

I realize that yes I am Mormon and yes, I live in Utah. Two factors that should guarantee a person who is all about the Jell-O salad. Well, there are exceptions to every rule, and Rob and I are definitely that.
Rob called me and told me the bad news and then started researching on the internet how to make it and what is in it. He came to no conclusions, but bookmarked a few for me. He told me there was one from Martha Stewart that looked good. I went to that page and it was a recipe for Jell-O shooters. I should have known.
I toyed with the possibility of making the grossest, Mormon-y concoction I could think of, just for fun (think shredded carrots, coconut, lime flavored Jell-O, red hots.) Some of those ideas came from the Jell-O we were presented with at our last ward Christmas party. It, and I swear I am not making this up, was a square of lime Jell-O mixed with something creamy, resting on a bed of lettuce (yes, it was served as our salad course!) and as a festive coup de grace, topped with red hots. We took a picture of it and it is saved on my phone, if anyone wants a copy, let me know, I will send it to you. It is one of my treasured cell phone pics. (I don't know how to upload pics from my phone or I would) It was reminiscent of Jell-O served at our Aunt's house every Christmas Eve, if any of you have some good memories of Aunt Bev's creativity, please post them in the comments.
Anyway, I decided to go with traditional. Therefore it was to include: canned fruit, cool whip, and mini marshmallows. I made it orange in flavor and included tapioca and mandarin oranges. Mary (Rob's Aunt) kind of hinted that it would be for a lot of people, so i decided to double the recipe, since it stated that it served 8. While mixing, Rob was watching with amusement and i told him that I doubled it and why and he looked at my giant bowl of stuff and said with incredulity, "for 8 what???" We don't know the answer to that question, but whatever they are, they are large and they like their Jell-O salad.
At the get together, we noticed that my dish had rivals. Two to be exact. One was red and the other was green. I was sorry to see that my orange was not disappearing as fast as the other two. Who knew that orange was not the most popular of the Jell-O salads?
I told Mary that she was in trouble for giving me Jell-O salad. Before she asked why, she told me that I am in trouble that trumps anything else, as I allowed Rob to have a red U of U painted along with our house numbers on the curb. Mary is the Aunt that owns the house we are leasing and eventually buying (if we like it, and we do so far). Mary is also a big BYU fan. Rob's reason for doing that were two-fold. He wanted our new Utah Valley neighbors to know how we stand around here right away, and also to ensure that Mary never wants her house back.
She told me that I may just have Jell-O salad as my assignment for the rest of my life for that.

*shudder*






Scout liked it, at any rate

Confessions of a blog slacker

That's about it. That's my confession.

Cheers
Emily

Make Scout famous!

Yeah, I'm a proud mom. I submitted these photos of Scout to Jones Soda to try to get her on a bottle of soda. They are doing a 10,000th photo contest and Matt saw a picture of Scout (neither of these) and said it was "Jones worthy" and it reminded me of these. I submitted them a year or two ago, but didn't have them in the proper pixels (or something) to be considered, so they didn't have a chance. I got my computer savvy brother in law Nathan, to help me this time, so we are go!
I will try the goat-feeding-Scout picture next time Matt! Her hands ARE great in that picture, it always makes me smile.
I added a link on the main blog page where you can click and it will take you to the voting page, if you are so inclined, go ahead and vote! As long as you vote = 10 ha ha!

Yes, this is shameless propaganda.

Problem Solved

So if I end up not being able to have any more children, it won't be so tragic. I'll just have these two.

Jumping on the bandwagon

Well, it was time. I knew it would happen eventually. I STINK at journal writing (by stink I mean it's been about 8 years since I wrote anything down in a journal), I do like to write though- so like I said. It was time. Get ready for some unimportant events in the lives of some very important people (to me).