Happy Thanksgiving!

A darn good day

First off, it's Jimmy's 19th birthday. Happy Birthday James.

Second, Derek and I finally got to do a session at the Newport Beach Temple. It's one of the small temples and it was our first time there. It was VERY beautiful (as could be expected) and it was a long overdue excursion for us. Our kids didn't even terrorize the sitters! It was pretty funny when we got home because Katie was so giddy to see us. I've never seen her grin from ear to ear like that. It was nice to leave and have her so happy for us to be home.

Lastly, and most importantly, we found out that Derek R. Bayles, Esq. has officially passed the California BAR exam! He deserves to be congratulated because that was one horrific test folks! Glad to have it behind us, and I'm really proud of him. We dragged the kids out for ice cream to celebrate even though it was 9:30 and Ryan was telling me that he was really tired. Oh well, sleep can wait while we celebrate!

Final House Tour

Gina made a request for more house pictures so here is pretty much the rest of it. I'm not posting pictures of my bedroom because it seems to always be too messy to photograph. Go figure. Anyway, we haven't decorated any walls yet, but I have a pile of pictures that are "to be hung" when I can finally decide where I want them. Oh well, I can't wait forever to blog this so I figured I'd just get it over with. Descriptions precede the pictures.

This is a shot from my living room toward the dining room and kitchen. The door on the left is the front door, door on the right is the garage entrance. (That reminds me, I never took a picture of the garage. Well, if you're interested I might do that later.) In between the doors is the step where Ryan bashed his head open.

This shot is standing on the step looking left at the bookcase. We bought this thing from Sams Club and brought it home. After Derek assembled it I noticed that it had like 38 puncture holes in it all over the place and quite a few scratches. It looked like someone took a nail and just hammered in a cluster on 3 or 4 sides of the thing. SO, I called the customer service to complain and she told me that it was "a distressed finish they gave to it." You mean, they did this on purpose?? Whatever. Instead of saying that it had a distressed finish, the box should've said, "We beat the crap out of this bookshelf for you." Heck, if I wanted it to look trashed I could've let Ryan loose on the thing. Oh well, we cut our losses since it was a relatively inexpensive bookshelf to begin with. I should hang a picture or two - this looks so boring!


Here is the dining room table and roll top desk. We do not eat here (do you notice the carpet?) but Ryan and I will color and sew and that sort of thing. I just attempt to keep it somewhat uncluttered.

This is standing in the doorway to the kitchen. I don't have many complaints about this place, but the kitchen floor has GOT to go. Ryan spilled flour all over it Sunday and it got in all the cracks between the wood slats. *sigh* It really is nightmarish to clean. That hanging lamp is pretty ugly too.

Standing in the porch doorway you get this view to the left.

And to the right. (New dishwasher, old fridge)

Out toward the dining room again.

Sink and oven and such. Please don't say anything about my window box set up. I DID take out the divider and got another little Amarylis plant. I have all of these bananas and pears that need to ripen so I have them in my window to keep Ryan away from them (my sisters understand). It doesn't look great - really cluttered and not even semi-symetrical, but your suggestions didn't fall on deaf ears.


I guess all that's left is my bedroom, garage, and the porch.

Blender Recommendations

Okay folks, my Bosch blender has officially gone kaput - there's no fixing this one, and I'm not up to spending $300 to replace it. So... I'm looking for some good blender recommendations. I got a suggestion from Gina already but I just want to check out my options before running out to get a brand new one. I want something that ACTUALLY blends things into liquids, is sturdy and long lasting, and is under $100. If you own something that qualifies, let me know asap! I can't live long without one.

oh, and I DO have a new post coming soon. You don't all have to stop checking my blog.

Ryan and the Tractor

I don't have a story to tell, but he LOVES tractors and tells me how much he wants to drive one. We saw some tractors on the side of the road walking home from the creek one day, and I just couldn't resist taking his picture by one. It seemed harmless for him to sit on it and I knew it would make his day, so I helped him up and he was thrilled.

I told him not to touch anything and I think I made him a little nervous. He was really good though and sat there nice and still for the picture.

Happy Halloween

My kids wore the same costumes trick or treating so I didn't take any more pictures of them dressed up. This is when we got home and Ryan started checking out his candy situation. I told him to eat whatever he wanted because in the morning I was going to throw it all away. He picked a Scooby Doo sucker first. Here is how he started out. Notice the Halloween shirt (from Jana's boys) and that he has 3 open suckers that he is working on at the same time.

Now he has 5 that he's eating all at the same time.

By the end of the night, he had 11 suckers all opened and licked, but none even close to finished. Actually, I think he finished one of them. I think the only other candy he ate was a small box of nerds and m&m's. I may be wrong.

Katie tried to get in on the action, but to no avail. Her efforts were thwarted by myself.

Trunk or Treat

There isn't much to say except that Ryan's costume got many comments and Katie fell asleep pretty soon after we got there. I put her down for 12 seconds to take her picture and she got instantly filthy as you can see. Oh well. And she's supposed to be Pegasus (thank you freecycle). It's the frilliest, foo foo costume, but it fit.

F.H.E. at the Pumpkin Patch (a.k.a. parking lot covered in hay and pumkins)

This pumpkin patch was pretty fun because they had plenty of things that entertained Ryan without costing anything. They had face painting, a little pumpkin graveyard, a blow-up bouncing machine, tons of little quarter rides, a petting farm, pony rides (those cost money), a hay tunnel, and of course, pumpkins. We originally went planning on buying one to carve, but when we realized that the one that Ryan is holding in the above picture would have cost us about $13, we decided to get a similar one at the grocery store for $4.

Ryan spent a large amout of time just loading these pumpkins up and pulling them around in the wagon.

Katie slept the whole time except woke up at the end just in time for a picture with the pumpkins. As you can tell, this was an unplanned thing since she is wearing Ryan's old sweats in the picture. If I had planned it she would've been wearing something a little more picture-worthy.

We've gone back once since, and may stop there again this weekend because the kids seem to really enjoy it.

Tonight is our stake "trunk-or-treat". I've got no idea what to decorate our car with, but at least my kids have costumes.

A little feedback please

The question is whether the window box looks better with or without the divider. Please do not focus on small details like the cleanliness of the window or surrounding areas, but you are invited to comment and give suggestions on what should actually be in the window. If you don't like the jars with colored water in them, or think the yellow just looks like urine, or feel like I need something in the glass bowls, or should get rid of them altogether and just add more plants, etc. That is the sort of feedback I would appreciate here.

"Dinosaurs in the Mist" or "Dinosaur From the Black Lagoon"
(Play scary music here)

Lurking outside our small and presumably safe dwelling was this fierce and elusive beast. We were fortunate enough to capture a few pictures as we are sure that only a minute number of people are ever able to catch a glimpse of this magnificent creature - much less get proof of it's existence. You are about to see actual, unadulterated, original photos of (gasp) the Wuerhosaurus! (woo-er-a-Sore-us) Don't worry, he's a plant eater.

Even though he is no carnivore, he is still wild and dangerous - see this terrifying ROAR!

(These pictures may not be copied or sold to any tabloid - we get first dibs on the big money they offer.)