The Witch left me with the Kids!

This weekend was the designated Andersen girls night out. A couple of months ago, Shantell invited all the girls over 18 to join her for a witch's a night out. There was a witch event in Salt Lake City that was supposed to be really fun. I took the last part of the day off of work so that I could come home and watch the kids while Amber joined the rest of the women in their adventures.

Not to be outdone by the cackling women, we had a little party here at the house in their absence. Aylee watch the kids while I ran to the store and got some candy toppings. The kids played with friends for about an hour and a half while I made dinner and sugar cookies.




After dinner, we had a sugar cookie decoration activity. The kids had a great time mixing up frosting, choosing candies, and arranging them creatively on their baked cookie. Just before we were ready to eat our newly decorated cookies, the girls called and announced that they were coming over to do a mini parade for us.




Aylee made a special sign for the women that we hung over the door. The sign said, "Welcome Witch Night Party Girls".

We frosted some cookies for the pointed hat clad women and demonstrated the our decorated cookies. They then showed us their costumes, cackled around the front yard for the neighbors to hear, and got several photo shots in our miniature Grove by the driveway.




All of the kids thought it was a neat thing to have the women, all dressed up as witches. Jace, however, was the only one with reservation. He took one look at that much estrogen dressed in black and made up with bluish purple makeup and decided he would rather be somewhere else.



After the gaggle of witches left for their special event, the kids and I snuggled down into the playroom and watched a movie. The movie was a little bit scary for the two younger girls. It was a movie made for families, what it had some jumpy scenes here and there. It ended well which made both Aliece and Alayna happy. In fact, as Alayna offered our family prayer just before bedtime, she thanked the Lord that the boy, Tom, in the movie, was able to be reunited with his family in the very end. :-)

Cheap Dinner

Tonight was night three without Amber and the younger kids. Amber had convinced the kids that we would have a daddy date every day she was gone - she did this so that they would come home with me and be willing to leave her in Idaho. Of course, this puts the pressure on me. Each day the kids ask what our activity is going to be.

For tonight's activity, I decided to take the older ones out to dinner with me instead of making it myself. Amber left me with a bunch of coupons. We drove to Del Taco first and ordered 3 kids meals (Burger, fries, pop, and a toy). I ordered a taco. After coupons, our total price was $0.00. That is right, an entire meal for four people at no cost.

We took our meal to a nearby ice cream shop that does liquid nitrogen ice cream. We sat in the shop and ate our meals and then I went up to the counter to order ice cream. The gal said that she would just give me the discount without taking the coupon because it was so difficult to process the coupons. I laughed, and said that was OK. I told her I knew the owner and he had given me a pile of these dollar off coupons. Either she was really nice, or she was impressed I knew the owner. When we went up to the counter to order, I told her that would be getting a large size and splitting it. She said, Oh, I'll just give you a bunch of the kids' sizes ($2.50 each) and charge you for a large size ($5.00).

She started to make it and then said, "hey, come behind the counter kids - why don't you help me make the ice cream." They got to choose their flavors and add-ins. They got to pour the cream, add the flavoring, and mix in the candies that they chose. She then let them go in the back area and hold their metal bowl while she injected liquid nitrogen into their mixture. They laughed and squealed as nitrogen gas vapors bubbled out of the bowl and onto their bodies.

After their servings were made, she asked me what I was having. I said I was OK, but she insisted and I ordered. She made mine for me. The ice cream was delicious! When she rang up the order, we got all four childrens' cups ($2.50 each) for $5.00 total.

The kids really enjoyed themselves, and I had a great time too. It was an adventurous night on the town feeding four people with dessert on a five dollar bill!

Mmmmm...Mutton!

Amber is staying up in Idaho Falls with Jen this week and I am playing Mr. Mom with the three oldest kids. On our way home from Idaho Falls yesterday, we stopped in Arbon. While we were there, Dad gave me some mutton to take home in Amber's absence. Amber does not like the smell of the mutton cooking in the house and this seriously limits its consumption at home.

Tonight I cooked up two packages - one of steaks and the other of chops for me and the three older kids. They loved the stuff and kept telling me how good it was. Everyone cleaned up their plate and there was no left-over meat. Ah....it was good!

An Arbon Valley Detour

We arrived at Jen and Dave's house Monday morning at 4:00 AM. We slept there until about 10AM. I left Amber, Alayna, and Jace there and went on to take the older kids home. Amber was staying to work on painting cupboards with Jen.

On our way home, we took a detour into Arbon to say Hi to Mom and Dad. The kids were grateful to get out of the car and visit with mom and dad.

Dad was out fencing, so I took the motorcycle out to the field and worked with dad for an hour or so. He mostly did the working, and I just visited. I couldn't stay too long to be helpful, but it was fun to talk.

Once Dad ran out of wire, we came back to the house. I packed the kids back up into the car and we continued our trip home.



On our way out of Arbon, we saw this beautiful, complete rainbow. It was as if Arbon was giving us a goodbye gift for the trip home. I sure love it out there. It was great to spend a little time with Mom and Dad.

A Spokane Trail Ride

While we were up in Spokane, Brett had arranged a morning for us to go up by the Liberty Lake to go on a fall mountain bike ride. Reed's inlaws lent me a bike, and I borrowed Ashlee's bike helmet for the event.

It was a beautiful ride on a nice wide trail. I have never really be mountain biking on a trail before, I have always just done road biking. The autumn surroundings were also a big plus. We spent a couple of hours on the various trails in the area. It was a lot of fun.

I could really get used to riding up in the hills if I had people to go with. I need to be a better dad and get Aylee and Johnathan doing some trail rides with me.

This weekend

This weekend was a good one, at least most of it. I had pack the mail so I couldn't spend as much time on the project as I wanted but was able to do some. Then Wednesday I was going to get a lot done when I happened to have a fire down between us and Barry's. It was a little stupidity on my part but a lot of dumb luck too. I found I had a short on the batery cable on the Versitile tractor and it started a fire. Could have been disaster but I was able to get the fire out with only a burned cable. Jake had come out to help so we went to AF and got a new cable andThursday we were up and and going. Jake helped a lot between work and we were able to get a few braces in. Firday, Jen abd Dave came and Julie and we worked and got morefence done. We even got about 1/4 mile of fence up. By Saturday, we got all the braces for the cross fences in and another 3/8 of a mile done with the added help of Janae. It was enjoyable to have all out and working together. The weather was perfect and we ended the day very tired but happy with our accomplishmeants. I really appreciate all the help. I know it was a lot to give up a nice weekend to come and help us. Thanks so much. Dad

Prayer of the Faithful

We were sitting at the table getting ready for dinner last night. Jace was screaming his head off. He was not happy, he was hungry, and he did not want to wait for the rest of us to bless the food.

I asked Alayna if she would say the prayer. We all bowed our heads amidst the screams of the one year old. Alayna started praying and Jace kept up his vocal rampage. After a few sentences into the prayer, Alayna then asked, "Please bless Jace that he will stop crying right now!"

Just after she said that, Jace stopped crying. He didn't make a noise throughout the rest of the prayer.

When Alayna said, "Amen", she dug into her food as if nothing was interesting about the experience. The rest of us just stared at each other, then at Jace, and then laughed in amazement. To Alayna, her prayer was answered and she expected nothing less - she was not amazed or surprised at the sudden change in attitude as the rest of us were.

Resurrection

Amber and I were talking last night and she shared a funny comment that Aliece made after one of the sessions of General Conference last week.

She and Aliece were in the other room and Aliece told Amber, "Mom, President Hinckley hasn't spoken in this conference yet. I wonder when he will." Amber softly explained to Aliece that President Hinckley died last year.

Aliece quickly replied, "I know, Mom! But isn't he going to be resurrected?"

Amber had to explain that resurrection doesn't usually happen right after you die and that we probably wouldn't be seeing President Hinckley in any near term conference lineups.

It is funny the things you assume when you are teaching children certain doctrines or real-life scenarios that you take for granted!

One Amazing Performance

Amber and I must be getting desensitized or numb with the number of children that we have. Last night was the stake talent show. Amber was performing with her duets group at the show. So, our family planned on attending. Earlier this week, however, a couple called us to ask us if we would be able to babysit their four children that same evening. Without a worry, Amber told them that we would take care of it. Then, on Friday, the girl that has been receiving the missionary discussions at our home asked if she could attend the event with us. Amber told her that she sure could. I had also invited a young man in our neighborhood to perform with his electric violin at the stake talent show. He had agreed to sit with us also.

So, Amber and I had 10 children under the age of 12 sitting with us along with this young single adult friend that I had invited to perform. We took up two rows in front of the stage. We had a terrific time! All of the kids behaved themselves very well and everyone was entertained by the performances of the evening.

Amber and her duet group played "stars and stripes" -- is sounded amazing just as it always does. I love to go to their performances. Our friend also performed with his electric violin. We had some problems with the sound system but it still sounded incredible. We want to see if he will come and give Aylee some violin pointers since she has started to play the violin for the elementary school orchestra program.

After the event, Amber and I were fairly surprised ourselves that we were able to not only survive the evening, but really enjoy it. The kids did a really good job. But the amazing thing is that Amber and I were not even stressed to have that many children sitting with us and being under our care. I hope Amber doesn't get any ideas that we could do 10 children in our family! But I have to admit, it was a lot of fun for one evening.

Fitness Tests

Aylee and Johnathan have been participating in the presidential physical fitness testing in their school this past week. So far, they have been doing an excellent job.

Johnathan reported that he was the fastest runner in his class for the 1 mile run. Ever since our family has started to run in a variety of fun runs which typically are about 5 km Johnathan has been a fan of running. In fact, Johnathan's primary class asked parents to write down different talents of each of the children. Amber wrote down the Johnathan's talent was running. Ever since that experience a few weeks ago, Johnathan has been running the 1 mile distance to school about twice a week. He really is a terrific runner.

Aylee and one other girl in her class were the top pull-up winners for their class. They both completed nine pullups. This was more than any other boy and girl in their class. Aylee is one tough girl! I guess that chin up bar that she has installed on her bedroom door is really paying off!

I don't know how my children got to be such stars of physical fitness. They must get it all from their mom, because I sure didn't have much to provide in the area!

Aylee - Teacher's Aide

I just wanted to give a big shout out to Aylee. This week Aylee's class received a new student. Aylee was asked by her teacher to stick with the girl for a while to help her get adjusted to the new school. Aylee sits by the new girl in the classroom and lunch, and helps her with her schoolwork and is her friend.

This is not the first time that Aylee has been asked to do this sort of thing. Last year, Aylee was asked by her fourth-grade teacher on a consistent basis to befriend or tutor different kids in the class. Aylee has such a great personality that she can easily make someone feel at ease and feel wanted and loved. We always get raving reviews and sincere appreciative complements from all of her teachers.

It is nice that Aylee is smart and always gets good grades. However, the thing that impresses me the most about Aylee is the person that she is -- someone that is kind and helpful and can be relied upon to help fellow students, as well as her teachers.

Tears of Joy

This morning we were sitting at breakfast and discussing the fact that we would be going up to Spokane next week to visit the family. Amber mentioned to the kids that it will be a very special visit because Reed will be coming home from his tour with the USS Abraham Lincoln in the middle east.

The kids all expressed excitement and plans for the visit and homecoming. Aliece was so sweet when she interjected, "I am going to have tears in my eyes when he comes home, but they will be tears of joy!"

She is definitely our dramatic one!

1st place derby race

John had a scouts derby race. First try: Backwards. First try for John's best friend: Backwards. DAD WOUND THEM UP! Second try for John: WINNER!!!!(ALL THE WAY TO THE END!) Second try for John's best friend: WINNER!!!!! (ALL THE WAY TO THE END!)
DAD WOUND IT!!!!!!! The only boys to make it all the way to the end!! We think the luck is the spray we used. The directions said to use a kind of spray we don't have. But they won! After that every parent asked dad what the secret was. All the Boys wanted dad to wind they're's. GOOD JOB JOHNS!!! (3 of them.) :-) :-) :-) :-) :-)

Conference Reflections (From Mom)

I was going to blog this morning and I realized that they way the blog was put on here for us to read, it goes right to the blog to read it. Lynn has told me that there is nowhere to click on posting a blog. When I went to post one, well he is right and I can't remember the blog address so for right now, I will make a long comment instead of a blog.

You know it has just cracked me up reading about John and Jake and your close contacts this week. I believe it though with you too.

It has also been so fun hearing about your conference week-ends, Jake's was by phone but I really enjoying hearing what you have done.

That is such a fun time for me. The excitement of getting to hear from the brethren and the fun and closeness we feel with our families. I love it all so much, including the fall weather as Jen has mentioned.

But MY HEART IS ALWAYS THINKING OF MY FAMILY AT THAT TIME, WHETHER YOUR ALL HERE WITH US OR NOT.

If your at home with your own families, I feel the joy of the fun I know you are having.

If your here, It makes it all the better and I enjoy every moment of it.

I love you all so very much. Thank you for the love you show us in return.

Love ya ton's mom

The Andersen Store

Over the past little while we have been cleaning out parts of our house and taking things to DI, Freecycle, and Craigslist. I recently put the scooter up for sale and had a guy call me asking if he could come and look at it tonight.

When they arrived, Aliece was outside. She came running in the house yelling, "We have customers!"

LOL...we didn't sell the scooter yet, but as Aliece exclaimed, it sure seems like our house has become a store lately :-)

A Perfect Monday

We woke up this morning and it was a bit chilly today. Chloe ate breakfast for about an hour while I got ready. Then she took a bubble bath for at least another hour. She was in a very laid back mood today. I got her out and dried her off and wrapped her in a blanket. Then we sat in front of the heater and read a couple books. We had a real enjoyable relaxing morning.

Jessica Rogers (I'm not sure what her married name is) was in Poky for a few days so she called and was going to be in IF today and wanted to meet for lunch. I mixed up some bread to let it rise while we were gone and went off to lunch. It was a lot of fun to see her and talk about old times. She stayed for a couple hours and then headed on her way.

Chloe took a nap, I finished the bread and then just laid back and relaxed until Chloe woke up. Then we made some delicious soup from zucchini from our garden and other vegetables and waited for Dave to come home. He was a bit late so we put dinner on hold and went out for our activity for FHE. We went out to south IF and picked potatoes from a field they had harvested. Chloe and I had gone the other day but we wanted to take Dave back to get some more. The farmers are nice to let us come get them. They said they would rather see people using them than letting them go to waste.


Chloe found a potato that she thought looked like a person and she kept saying "nose", "eye ball". I think it looked pretty distorted but she was ecstatic. She hung on to that particular tater and sang "rock a bye baby" and talked to it for a while.

After a while, she fell over and broke a limb or part off and then quickly became disinterested. We picked til it was dark and then went home for some good soup and bread by candle light. Chloe was excited about the candles. Then we finished our FHE. It truly felt like a fall day today. I love the new season.

What a perfect Monday.

Conference Weekend!

Well, conference weekend again! Dave and I decided to stay home for the first session of conference on Saturday and then head out to Arbon during the second session. Chloe slept the whole way and we enjoyed driving and listening to the speakers.

Dave went to the priesthood session with Dad. Mom, Nae, Chloe and I had a girls session at home. We painted each others finger nails, ate ice cream and enjoyed girl conversation.

On Sunday, we were pretty lazy but enjoyed conference once again. I had found a Simpson puzzle at a garage sale this summer that looked pretty fun and was excited to bring it home for conference, however, when we opened it, most of the puzzle was still put together and was very difficult to get apart. We thought it may have been glued, but came to the conclusion that when it was made, the cutter must have been a bit dull. We worked on it for a while and even used a pocket knife for a while, but it kept breaking the pieces and was just not worth the effort. So Dad went to the bedroom and came back with a 1000 piecer in the middle of the first session. We decided to tackle it but Dad got a "headache" before the boarder was even done. So Mom gave Dad a massage, then Nae gave Dad a massage . . .then Chloe even gave him one! Dave was thinking maybe he should get a headache also :) Dave and I diligently worked and by the close of the second session had still not finished. I don't how long it's been since we haven't finished a puzzle during conference. We really missed Joe and others who helped on puzzles. It was still fun and we enjoyed our time there.

Oh yeah! Dad also got his hair done. How did he make out? :)

It's about time

In another day or two, I should be able to start on the long awaited fencing project. I need to find a few more posts for the braces. We'll be setting about fifty brace posts. Once they are in the rest should be pretty easy. Hopefully I'll start drilling holes in a day or two.

Who's Older than your Daddy?

Today, when President Monson was speaking about how long he and his wife have been married, I nudged Johnathan who was sitting next to me. I said, wow, 60 years is a long time.

Johnathan then replied, "Oh, wow. So, do you mean President Monson is older than you?"

Conference Fun!

The kids have been very excited for Conference this weekend. Saturday morning Aliece woke up and the first thing she asked me was, "When does conference start?" I told her it would be a couple of hours. "Oh!", she exclaimed, "I want it to start now!"

The kids had a fun time with some conference games that Amber prepared for them. Aylee laminated some fun coloring pages and other projects that could be written on with dry erase markers and then erased with a cloth. The kids had a ball.

Johnny had a non-member friend come over to work on their space derby kits together. We ran a little long with the kits, so his friend stayed and watched the first Saturday session with us.

Amber and I also made a quick trip to the store to by a cheap vacuum cleaner - our last one really sucks...well, doesn't suck...you get the idea :-). Therefore, in between sessions we were cleaning house, moving beds, and de-junking the office, etc.

Friday Interviews

On Friday, I took the entire day and went up to the BYU campus. I had been up there a week earlier to set up a booth at the career fair. A colleague and I had setup 18 interviews for Friday. We started interviewing at 8AM and didn't finish until about 3PM. We then had a bite to eat and reviewed all the interviews to see who we would offer jobs to. It was a very tiring day. I have never done anything like that. It was fun to be back on BYU campus. I don't get there very often - maybe once a year on the average.

The amazing part of this is that when we saw Jake and Shan at the movies, Jake told me that he did some interviewing that day for a side job he wants to have done with his browser. He said that he went to the BYU Wilkinson Center to do the interview. I was amazed...I was at the Wilkinson Center for my interviews also.

We talked about where we did the interviews, and we were only about 20 yards from each other at the same time. That was so funny. Of all the times I end up at BYU and Jake was there! In addition, among all of the places on campus, we were in the same building -- only a short toss away from each other.

Cornbelly Fun with Alayna

On Thursday, Alayna had a field trip to Cornbelly's with her preschool class. Amber went along for the fun.

They had a great time playing on all of the toys, bounce houses, and photo ops. Alayna and Jace even got to buy a little pumpkin. Alayna was so excited!

Get Smart

Earlier in the week, Jake and Shan called to see if we wanted to go see "Get Smart" at the theater. We had talked about it over the weekend a bit, but hadn't really solidified anything. I forgot about it until they called and we didn't have a baby sitter, plus Amber had lined up some visiting teaching.

We had to decline the invitation. We really wanted to see the movie though, so Amber and I decided that we would do that for our Friday night date.

As we were walking to the theater, some tall guy waved at us. I thought it was weird and didn't know if I should be waving back. As we got closer, I realized it was Mark Stanger. We said "hi". He told us that he thought I was Jacob.

It turns out Jake and Shantell didn't go to the movie after all on Tuesday - they also had decided to go on Friday with Mark and Jenny. So, all six of us went into the theater together.

It was a funny experience combined with a funny movie!

Conference Kit Movie

Earlier this week the kids made a conference kit for their cousins. I wanted their cousins to receive the kit before we posted the video. They should have received it by now, so I am posting the online version.

I thought the kids did a pretty good job!

To view the video directly, go to this link.

Evening of Fellowship

This was a very crazy day for both Amber and I on Thursday. What made it even more busy was that I was in charge of a stake activity that night for all ward leaders. We were calling this our "evening of fellowship".

Instead of having our traditional stake meetings that evening, we invited all the ward leaders to meet with us and go canvass the stake doing visits to nonmembers, less active members, etc. I like the idea of this activity because it reminds me of the true ministry of Jesus Christ. You do not read often of Jesus sitting in meetings talking about things that we should do. His life was a ministry because most of his time was dealt in actually doing what he taught rather than sitting, coordinating, or planning. I really feel that that is the way we should be in his Gospel. We should spend more time doing rather than planning. 
Earlier in the day I had purchased some cookies, crackers, and cheese along with some drinks. When the meeting started, I looked around the chapel and saw that it was nearly full of people! I started to worry about the amount of food that I had brought. We have invited all bishopric members, elders quorum presidencies, high Priest group leaderships, ward missionaries, and relief Society Presidents. We had probably 80 to 100 people there. It was a very exciting sight to see.

Our stake president welcomed everyone and gave a few words about using our faith to actually do the work. I then got up and explained how the evening would work. I had arranged a couple of tables full of materials that people could use if they wanted. These materials included pass along cards, free English class courses that we teach, special Ensign magazines of the Savior in both English and Spanish, an invitation to our upcoming stake talent night, our stake mission plan, and a letter from our stake presidency regarding missionary work.

The wards had selected a number of families and set up appointments for them. They also were asked to provide a backup list of people that they could does it should their appointments fall through, or should they have extra time on their hands.

It took about 15 minutes to arrange some companionships throughout all the wards and send them on their way. We had several stake members that I coordinated with the wards to help boost their numbers so that they could make more visits. By the time I was done arranging all the companionships, I was an odd duck and was not needed for any more companionships. I was on my own!

I was worried because I was afraid that I might not get to do any visits. Here I was, the one planning the evening, and I myself did not get to go out. Finally, I decided I would just walk around the neighborhood without any appointments or without a companion and knock on some doors to visit people. On my way out, I met to stake clerks that were on their way back in. All of their visits ended a being very short and they were down for the evening.

One of the stake clerks talk to me and I told him what I was doing. He said that there was a neighbor that he used to have that was a very nice Spanish-speaking family that happened to be in our ward. I asked if I could go with them and go visit that family. We went together and met the family. The husband was getting ready to go to work as he works swing shifts. They have four daughters all under the age of 10. They were a very nice family. By the time we left, I knew that I needed to talk to Amber to find some friends of the daughters may have that could invite them to activity days and other events that pertain to the daughters of that age.

Once we got back to the stake Center, I took the other clerk and we drove around our neighborhood. I thought it would be a good idea to stop by one of the young adults that used to be one of my young man when I was young men's president eight years ago. He is actually one of the boys that came up to Arbon one year to go branding with us. He has not been active in the church for the past four years and it has been probably two years since I have seen him. We stopped and knocked on their door. One of the girls answered the door and we talked to her for just a minute. As we were talking with her, this young adult came walking outside of the house with headphones on ready to go somewhere. We stopped and visited with him and found out that he was going to a haunted house in Salt Lake. He was going with some friends, but they had not arrived yet. He invited us into the house and we had a great visit. He has started to play the electric violin. I have never heard anyone play of electric violin, so I asked if he would give us an example of the music. He plugged in his MP3 player which had a recording of his songs. He played a few for us. It was awesome music! He has always been so talented. We talked about the upcoming stake talent show and invited him to participate in the talent show. He agreed to do it, and so we gave him a flyer and I'm going to contact him later to arrange the details. I am really excited to hear him play in person. After about 10 or 15 minutes, his friends arrived and he had his leave. I sure loved those 10 minutes of visiting. It has taken me two years to go see a friend. I've missed him, and the visit with him made my evening!

We all got back together for some light snacks after our visits. Amber and our neighbor came over to the church to prepare and serve the refreshments. It was fun to have Amber there. She and Debbie made the desserts last throughout the refreshment period - even with the full-time missionaries taking five or six big cookies each :)

One set of Spanish speaking ward missionaries went to the family of the boy that Johnathan has been working with on missionary work. It turns out that the family are actually members of the church. However, they so less active that I doubt any of the kids are members. We are pretty sure Johnathan's friend has never been baptized. We don't think his older brother has been either. They are such a neat family. The ward missionaries are going to start working with getting them activated and going to the Spanish branch.

It was fun to walk around and hear the experiences that people had. It sounds like it was a success. I had several people suggest that we do this more often. The Stake President told me afterward that he wants this to be a scheduled event for every year, or twice a year. It was one of those evenings that you come away walking on a cloud.

Green Screen Fun!

As part of our Sunday activities yesterday, the kids and I decided that we would make some videos regarding General conference and church that we would send out to their little cousins.

I remembered that when we bought our latest video editing software, a green fabric screen came along in the package. We had never tried it out, and since we had plenty of time yesterday we dug it out of the closet and set it up.

We made some movies of the kids talking and/or singing to their cousins. The software made it easy to replace the green background with a picture of our choice.

Aylee made a microphone out of a toilet paper tube and tin foil.

The cousins will be getting their movies in the mail this week. However, I thought I would post one extra video that we did not record onto the CDs. This one is a little song that Aliece made up. It features her in front of the Delta Center in Salt Lake City. There are a lots of concerts at the Delta Center, so that is why we chose out as the background.

So, sit back and enjoy the movie!

For those that cannot see the movie below, visit the following link: Aliece Jamming.

The BIG Time

I have recently been getting the high-definition/LCD television fever. I have usually been able to keep this at bay so that no money is spent. However, a recent sale on the Internet caught my eye, and got me to seriously think about a new TV.

With a lot of counsel from Jake and Joe, I bounce back and forth between Internet websites, Internet classified ads, and the various electronics stores in Provo.

On Saturday, Amber and I finally made the plunge. We bought a 42 inch LCD TV and a new entertainment center to place it on. Of course, after purchasing the TV, we can only afford a cheaper Wal-Mart entertainment stand rather than a more elegant one at furniture stores that we had checked out. But, hopefully it shall serve its purpose for many years to come.

Amber and I joked that we were really buying the TV for the children. General conference is next week, and we wanted the children to feel like they are right in the conference center. With the new high-definition screens, we want them to experience General conference! :-)

It was about 10:00 p.m. before we got the project totally completed. Amber had to go to their general relief Society broadcast during part of that time, which required that I feed the children and get them showered and in to bed.

We have included some before and after pictures for your enjoyment.





Although it was already 10pm when we finished, we had to try it out. So, as our first real movie, we watched an episode of "the pretender".

It is kind of nice because I really don't have to wear glasses now that the screen is so big. I jokingly told Amber that we will rename the playroom to be the "theater room".

Well, I am probably the last tech geek at work to buy an LCD TV. But I have finally arrived. I hope it was worth all of the eager anticipation and wait!

Clone Troops & Hanna Montana Winners

We had a very busy Saturday today. One part of our fun and hectic day was our kid dates. It was my turn to have a daddy date with Aylee. She wanted to go see "Star Wars: clone wars". However, Johnathan also wanted to see that really bad. Aylee wanted to see it with Johnathan, so she invited him to come along.

We were kind of late due to other shopping and adventures of the day. So we were racing down the freeway in the pickup truck. The only theater in Utah County that was playing the movie was in Spanish Fork. We got off of the Spanish Fork exit only to find out that the theater was not where I thought it was. We drove up and down the road a bit before I started to get nervous. The movie was supposed to start any minute now, and the kids were getting restless. Aylee and Johnathan were both getting a little nervous and kept asking where the theater was.

We finally had to call Amber to see if she remembered where the theater was. She gave us an idea for she thought it was located, and so we took off once again for that area of town. We were in luck, the theater was at the location she expected it to be. We got in just as the movie was starting.

I was not expecting much from the movie as I have had lots of friends go to see it. However, they said that it is made for kids and that the kids would like it. They were right. Aylee and Johnathan both seemed to enjoy the movie a lot.

While we were at the movie, Amber took the other kids to Pioneer Park. Shantell was doing a booth at the Farmer's market there. They went to say hi to Shantell. While they were there, they noticed that the park was also hosting a Boys and Girls Club event that was open to the public. They had tons of bounce houses and activities that were all free of charge.

One of the booths at the fair was a Wal-Mart vision Center booth. At that booth, they had a drawing for a plastic milkshake cup with a pair of sunglasses wrapped around it accompanied by a Hanna Montana case for the Hanna Montana sunglasses. It was all decorated with a fancy bow and shiny tassels. Aliece was ecstatic. She really wanted to win that price. Amber said that she was so dramatic about it that the people in the booth were laughing their heads off. Aliece quickly wrote down her name on the slip of paper and our home phone number was recorded.

When Amber got home, there was a message on the phone saying that Aliece had won the beautiful and grand prize that she had so coveted.

Amber was already home with the children, and she didn't want to go back to the park. So, she called me and asked me to go pick it up on our way home from the theater.

When I picked it up, they were clearing out the booths. I mentioned the name of Aliece and this gal excitedly said Aliece had won the prize! I told her that I would take it home to her and that she would be very excited. I mentioned that this was the perfect prize for her. The gal asked if Aliece was not there at the park. I explained to her that Aliece had gone home with Amber and the other kids. She was a little disappointed as she was really excited to see Aliece's reaction. They definitely remembered our child. Her enthusiasm is always so contagious, that they really hoped that they could see the delivery of the prize.



It is funny how Aliece always tends to win those types of things. I don't know if it is her happy, positive karma, sheer dumb luck, or if people see her excitement and rig the system because they want her to win so badly. Given Aliece's performance at the booth originally, and the attendants' rapt enjoyment of Aliece's enthusiasm, Amber does wonder if the system was rigged a little bit in Aliece's behalf.

Whatever cosmic forces were in place, it still amazes me that her excitement and enthusiasm always tends to draw the winning results!

Underwear Idea

Today we had a contest to see who had the most underwear in there pile won, and you would get ten cents per underwear.
Results:

Aylee: 5
Aliece: 5
Alayna: 4
John: 1
Got to admit, gross John.


Love ya all!!!
A's

Gross

Amber did four days worth of laundry today. Alayna just finished folding all of the laundry. Amber told all the kids to come over to their pile of laundry. She said she would pay each kid 10 cents for every pair of underwear that was in their pile (hence, having been washed).

Aylee got 50 cents - she had an extra pair in there....Aliece and Alayna got 40 cents a piece...

Johnathan got 10 cents.

Hmm...someone apparently has a hygiene issue - Gross!

Scary Situation

On Tuesday, Amber was dropping Aliece off at her Dance lessons on Center Street in Provo. They had both been there before, so Amber knew that Aliece would not be nervous about going it.

Amber was going to just let Aliece hop out of the van and run into the dance studio. Amber would then leave to go home. She had Jace in the car and so it would have just been easier to do that then get Jace out and walk into the studio with Aliece and then say goodbye and get back into the van.

However, as Aliece was getting out, Amber changed her mind and got out with Aliece.

When they got to the door that they thought as the Dance studio, Amber realized that they were at the wrong place. They were a block away from the Dance studio. This entrance led to a vacant part of the commercial mini-shop building on the block. They had to get back into the van and drive to the real location.

Amber was sick inside thinking about dropping Aliece off at that wrong location and leaving her for that hour - all on Center Street in Provo. It makes one shudder to even ponder the scenario!

I sure am glad Amber listened to her feelings and hopped out with Aliece.

Witches' Night Out!

Hello Andersen Ladies!!!

I am so excited for Witches' Night Out! This is going to be so fun.

Don't forget to be looking for a witch costume. The good things always seem to go so fast. I know a lot of people really deck themselves out. If you just want to keep it simple and wear a witch hat that will be fun too.

I don't have school on Friday 24th so everyone come over as early as you can so we can play. :) We can eat some dinner, dress up and help each other do witchy hair and makeup. We can can do all sorts of things. Let me know if there is something that you want to do specifically. We can go shopping, paint our nails, make yummy treats, make a crafty thing, watch chick flicks, and of course talk our heads off. These are some ideas. Let me know what you think.

Cute Memory

The other night Amber was playing the piano while the kids were all in bed. One of the songs Amber played was "Come thou fount of Every Blessing".

While she was playing the song, Alayna came down the stairs and listened. When Amber stopped playing, Alayna said, "Mom, when I heard you play that song, it reminded me of President Hinckley."

What a sweetie!

The Fearless Missionary

Aylee has been doing a very good job fellowshipping and preparing her friend Karina for baptism. The focus of our family with missionary work has been around Karina lately.

Johnathan decided to take matters into his own hands the other day. We were kneeling down for prayers last night and Johnathan exclaimed, "oh! Johnathan will be coming to church with us tomorrow." (John's best friend is called Johnathan.)

Amber asked him to please explain why he thought his friend was going to be coming to church with us on Sunday. Johnathan explained that at school he was talking to his friend and asked him, "so, when can I invite you to come to church with me?" His friend replied that he could try this Sunday.

We suggested to John that he called his friend and remind him about church since it is so early in the morning. It was nearly 9:00 p.m., but Johnathan rang his friend's house anyway. He asked his friend if you still planning on coming. His friend said that he was. John then told him that he would pick him up at 8:45 a.m. The deal was set.

John's friend came to church today and stayed all three hours. It is not surprising that the eight-year-old thought that church was pretty long, it being three hours and all. But he did remarkably well.

I was pretty proud of Johnathan that he would be willing to talk to his friend without us coaching him through it all. Both he and Aylee have been very good at practicing at being missionaries at this time in their life. I wish I had been so talented and excited to share the Gospel when I was their age.

A Swich in Places

You guessed it we switched places today and boy was it okward. It was pretty funny though. Love ya all! John (A's)

Preparing for the Storm

The other day, daily showed me that someone in the family had used a red pen and to draw all over the monitor screen of the computer that is in the playroom. Given the stage of each of our children, I pretty much knew who the culprit was.

I never did approach Alayna about the monitor until I had a good opportunity yesterday. I was sitting at the computer Sunday helping Alayna do something that she was working on. As I was showing her on the computer I pointed at the red marks on the screen and exclaimed, "oh no! Someone drew all over the computer screen! That is not going to come off. I wonder who would do that!"

I looked at Alayna and asked her, "do you know who did this?"

Just then, Alayna's face got very sad and her eyes looked very guilty indeed. She stuck out her bottom lip in a sad little frown. She then took my right arm in her hand and lifted it up above her head and placed it on her shoulders. With her other hand, she grabbed my right hand and pulled it closer to my chest so that in essence I was hugging her close to me affectionately.

She then looked up at me with those wide and tear filled eyes and said, "I did it."

I then gave her a true hug with my arm that had been placed so carefully around her and told her thank you for telling me the truth and committed her to refrain from doing it again.

She has quite the technique, if I do say so myself! She is such a little cutie!

Birthday Take #2

In an effort to repent and do Jace's first birthday right, Aylee took the initiative and whipped up some yummy chocolate cupcakes to celebrate, once again, Jace's birthday.



After dinner, we quickly frosted Aylee's cupcakes with green and pink frosting. We put in a candle and sang happy birthday to Jace. After the singing, the kids were delighted that we gave Jace his very own cupcake. He spent the next 10 minutes devouring the cupcake. He pretty much ate the whole thing.

Thanks to Aylee, Jace had his first birthday done right! Way to go Aylee!

Hay and Peaches

Chloe and I went to Arbon on Wednesday and helped Dad haul the rest of the hay. It was fun to be out working in the fields with Dad. I always enjoy it. On Thursday, we relaxed for the first part of the day and then Mom and I stared canning her peaches. We got done about 10 pm and then got up on Friday and stared again. We ended up canning about 58 jars! It's so fun to look at all the jars of food we processed. I was hoping to get a picture of us and our work but it didn't ever happen.

Anyway, we had a fun few days on the farm with Dad and Mom.

Rocket Science

We woke up early on Saturday morning so that we could get the kids ready to go to the west desert to watch my friend, Matt Peterson, launch his largest rocket.

There is a rocket launching Association that meets once a month in the summer out in the west desert. Everyone that wants to, can bring their rockets that are set on pads and launched in an orderly fashion. They have an announcer that explains a little bit about each rocket and tells you which one is about to launch. The kids had a great time watching all of the rockets to both small and large go up in the air.

Because it was in the west desert, and because it was September, it was the perfect place for the kids. They all had a great time running around stirring up dust. Occasionally there would be a wind storm that would kick up even more dust. We were all pretty dusty by the end of the event.




We got there at 10:00 a.m. to watch the rockets. When we got there my friend Matt was already working on his rocket. His rocket was the largest one there. It took him just over an hour to assemble the rocket and prepare it for launch there at the site. There was a great deal of work that he had put into it and it was fun to watch him put it together. He was very patient with all the little kids that would gather around his card table at the back of his van and watch him assemble expensive pieces together in the intricate manner that was necessary for a successful launch. The kids asked him many questions and he politely answered every one of them. I could have never done that! If I talk and do something at the same time either I sound ridiculous or what I am working on gets really messed up.

The rocket itself stood over 6 feet tall. The fuel and motor that were required for this one launch cost $400 alone. Matt had installed a sensor device that would tell us how far in the air the rocket would travel. He also manned the rocket with two different parachutes to help it land gently enough so that it wouldn't be damaged.



When he had his rocket ready he took it up to the front announcer area. They sent him out to the farthest launch pad. It took him about 10 minutes to get it all set up and ready to go on the pad. When he came back, the announcer asked everyone to stand up and be on their feet due to the size of this rocket everyone had to be out of their cars and alert and watching the trajectory of the device once it launched.

After the five second countdown we watched eagerly but the rocket did not launch. Matt went out there again to check on things to determine why it wouldn't launch. Upon returning we eagerly counted down once again. However, for a second time, the rocket failed to ignite. We all had knots in our stomachs for Matt. There are a lot of things that go into a rocket and a lot of things he had to make sure were just right. Everyone was hoping that he'd be able to get it up today.



On his third trip out to the launch pad site he tried some different igniters that someone lent to him. I got out my camera for the third countdown just as I had for the other two. However the batteries on my camera were dead. I couldn't believe it! It had worked fine all up until that final launch. As we all counted down to zero from five, we waited eagerly for some sort of combustion that would propel the rocket up into the air.

At the zero count a bright purple flame ignited and shot from the bottom of the rocket and it quickly made its ascent up into the sky. The sound that it made as it ignited and flew was awesome! Everyone was in awe to see the big device rocketed up into the atmosphere. We watched as the rocket made its ultimate peak. By that time, the device that was larger than me was not visible to my eyes. The parachutes deployed properly and very soon we were able to spot the two parachutes as they helped the unmanned rocket float slowly back to Earth. It landed quite a ways away and Matt had to get into his van and go chase it down in order to return it.

After the successful flight of the rocket, we gathered around to listen to his device to tell us how high the rocket got. If I recall correctly, the altimeter said that it went 7650 some feet. I guess that makes it just over 1.2 miles. It was quite a sight to see!

The Peterson family was able to get a video of the rocket launching. If I can get my hands on it I will try to post to the blog.

New House

I thought that I would post a couple of pictures of my house. It is in a very pretty, established area of Modesto. There are so many beautiful older homes in this neighborhood. I am loving it here. I like to get up in the morning (or when I get home from work if it happens to be in the morning or evening) and sit in front of my big living room window and drink my V8 or carrot juice or tea. It is a nice way to wind down and relax.

I have been working the night shift the past few weeks, but now I will be working swing shift 2:00 to 10:00 pm for the next several weeks.

Things are starting to slow down at work as the peach season winds down. Soon, I might start getting 1 day off a week instead of 1 day off a month. Well, I can't wait to have some of you visit me here in Modesto.

5 out of 7

Well today dad woke me up for school and when I got dressed and came downstairs and asked dad, "Why aren't we doing scripures?" Well, dad told me that Mom and Aliece had throughn up and he wasen't feeling well. After I ate breakfast I was feeling prity horible. Dad had made me stay home from school. John's sickness went away a couple of days ago. That makes 5 out of 7, And on Jace's Birthday too!

Lots of love, A's

Jace's First Birthday

You would think that everyone was so excited to celebrate Jace's birthday in that the majority of us got up shortly after midnight. However, it was not to eat ice cream and cake. Amber was the first to wake up when she ran to the bathroom to vomit in the toilet. Aliece was not far behind. I was up throughout the night helping the two of them, but then I started to feel sick also.

When I woke Aylee and Johnathan up for school, Aylee ate her breakfast and then started complaining of a tummy ache. So, I sent her to bed. Johnathan was the only one able to go to school that day.



Jace has not been feeling well all week long. We think he has the same thing. He was doing okay today, however, but he was still not his happy-go-lucky self.

We were glad that Jace doesn't really understand birthdays yet. We all would lay around the floor holding our throw up bowls while we would toss a present over to Jace to peer into and play with. He still had a good time, however, we will all were just lucky to be there.



I hope that the poor boy doesn't feel slighted when he grows up. His birthday cake and happy birthday song portion of the celebration for the day constituted a pancake at dinner with a candle stuck in the middle. Just before we all dug in to our own pancakes halfheartedly as we wondered what our stomachs would do, we snapped this picture of Jace while we sang happy birthday.

Amber and I joked around saying "well you can tell he is a fifth child". But, that is really not the truth. We would have really had a big celebration have we all been well. It is true that he is the fifth child and so all of this is not so new to us. However, his siblings are at the age where all of this is so exciting and important to them. There is no other way we could have gotten around with this light of a celebration had they not all been sick on the very same day.

34 Years Old!

I had a very good day on my birthday this Monday. I had to work, however, because we have some people from Toronto visiting our office. So, I spent most of my birthday in a series of meetings. Amber, Alayna, and Jace met me at Ruby River for lunch. We had a great time together, except for when Jace choked on a crouton and vomited all over the restaurant table. It took about six nice cloth napkins to get it all cleaned up and wrapped up in a way that the waitress could take it without getting her hands dirty.



Once I got home from work, Amber prepared a nice dinner of ribs and mashed potatoes. That is one of my most favorite meals. We then held family home evening for Aylee taught a very nice lesson about latter-day prophets. For the activity, Aliece chose that we dance to some music and an open some of my presents.

Amber made a cake with some pour on frosting. So we had that for dessert. The cake looked pretty with the pour on frosting over it, however, it was a little done so the frosting was really hard. It looked really cool and made it fun to eat.

Thanks to everyone for their birthday greetings this week and for keeping me in their thoughts. 34 is an interesting age for me. It no longer feels like I am in my early 30s when I say that I am 34. I now have to say that I'm in my mid-30s! Old age really creeps up on you!

Picture of Raddish :)

Garden

We planted a garden before we moved into our house so we would hopefully be able to get a bit of a crop. It has been a lot of fun. It's not a very big garden and we have plans for a bigger one next year! However, our garden has done really well and this is a picture of one of our raddishes we forgot to pull earlier. We did cut it up and ate most of it but it was really hot!

Idaho State Fair

Last week we met up with Dad and Mom for an evening at the Idaho State Fair. We enjoyed the petting zoo but Chloe thoroughly enjoyed it. She saw horses, an emu (sp?), pigs, goats and dogs. They let you walk around in the pen with all the little goats and the emu. Chloe loved the animals. It sure does make us want to have some land so we can have a few animals for Chloe to enjoy. She was in heaven. Here's a little video showing a bit of her excitement.

Dad, Mom and I went to a booth and danced to a song that showed our heads on different bodies. Then they gave us a copy of the DVD. They were showing it on a big screen and Chloe wasn't too sure about seeing us all that way.

We enjoyed taking in all the sites and smells of the fair and grabbed an ice cream cone on our way out. Another fun year at the fair!

Work Crew

I took the day off of work on Friday so that Amber and I could spend the entire day working on the front yard. We kept very busy and planted 33 plants, bushes, and shrubs. We redid some edging and created a flower bed around the flagpole. One thing that we did not get completed was putting bark in all of the newly planted beds.

On Saturday, Amber had an all day relief society retreat. She left at 6:30 a.m. I was left at home to watch all of the kids.

My goal was to get all of the bark spread out in all the beds by the time that Amber had gotten home. I enlisted each one of the kids in the process.



Aylee was my spreader. I would dump the bark in a pile and she would spread it out in the bed being careful not to cover up the plants that we had just planted yesterday.



Aliece and Johnathan and Alayna worked in the pickup truck. Their job was to push the bark to the rear of the truck so that I could easily put into the wheelbarrow. They were very efficient and did a terrific job.



Jace crawled around and played in the dirt. He occasionally sampled different varieties of dirt and rocks. He kept very busy and was extremely tired by the time we got done -- which was about 1 p.m.

I was really proud with the attitude that the kids had with being put to work all morning long. We had a good time working together -- it was just a lot of fun.

Once we got done with the yard, the kids started to clean their rooms. Jace was really tired so I put him to bed. While they were cleaning their rooms, I left them to go to the store to pick up Aylee's bike from the shop. I was so proud of the kids with their hard work that I stopped by the grocery store and bought lots of chocolates and candies and a half a gallon of ice cream.



Once they had finished their rooms, I brought them downstairs and we had an ice cream bar party. They loved it! About the time we were finishing up our ice cream party, Amber showed up and caught us in the act.

I was really surprised that everybody had a good attitude and a happy disposition throughout the day. They all had late nights -- Aylee had a sleepover, and Johnathan had a late birthday party for a friend. Despite their lack of sleep they were all able to enjoy the day together.

It was one of those perfect days.

Alayna's Letter

On Friday, while we were all working/playing in the yard, the mailman came and delivered our mail. Alayna ran to him to get the mail from him.

She was really excited to see that one of the letters had her name on it. Grandma Dorma had written her a very nice letter as a followup to her recent interview! Alayna sure was happy to get her very own letter.

How many people does it take to plant a tree?

The other day we got a free tree from Provo city. Ellen Kosmicki picked it up for us because Johnathan and Jace were both sick. Yesterday, as we were working in the yard Alayna pointed to the tree and said, "daddy, you and I need to plant that tree just like we planted it last year with Grandpa Andersen."

I told her that we would need to do that. Then she said, "Is Grandpa Andersen going to come down and help us?"

I guess since dad helped Alayna and I plant a tree last year that it is now his job to come and help us plant every tree that we get!

The Grandma Dorma Report

Alayna was given a report template wherein she was supposed to interview a grandparent. She was supposed to have a parent fill out the responses on this piece of paper. They would then review and talk about the grandparent at their next preschool class day.

Amber asked Alayna who she would like to interview. She said you have Grandma Reed or Grandma Andersen. Alayna was adamant, "I want to call Grandma Dorma".

We had called to explain to Grandma Dorma what would be happening. We told her that Alayna would be calling her but Amber would be on the phone to help.

When the time came to call Grandma, Alayna was having a very hard morning. She didn't want to go to preschool and she didn't want to make the phone call. She was being shy and grumpy. Amber ended up having to ask most of the questions.

After Alayna delivered her report preschool, however, she was all excited about the report and about preschool.

We sure thought it was funny that out of her grandmas that she sees quite often, she was so sure she wanted to interview Grandma Dorma. We enjoy our visits with Grandma, however, they are not as often as our visits with her other grandmas.

Here is a copy of that report from the interview that Alayna made to Grandma Dorma.

America's History

Aylee was playing with Audacity, free recording software that I have used in the past. I was exercising for an hour and by the time I was done she had combined this five-part rendition of a song that she learned from school.

I was pretty amazed that she could learn how to do and combine all those parts so quickly.

She wanted to blog it, but I had to upload it to one of my web servers in order for it to get to the blog. You can access it by clicking on this link:


http://www.wishtips.com/temp/america_history.mp3

Knock, Knock

Another confession from already identified neglectful parents...

Yesterday, we were busy getting ready for dinner. Jace was crawling around the kitchen and we all were trying not to step on him.

After a while, Amber and I looked at each other at the same time as we both subconsciously realized that we hadn't seen Jace for quite a while.

Both of us asked the kids, 'where is Jace?'

We started to look around the kitchen. Before long we heard this very soft knocking noise at the kitchen door going into the garage. We opened it up and sure enough, somehow Jace had gotten into the garage unnoticed and was playing in there by himself. However, he was grateful to be let back ing the house!

Should I Laugh or Cry?!?!

In our house we have a snitch. Actually, we have 3. They range in age from 8-4, and they are continually snitching items from the pantry. Thus, I am continually on the lookout for signs of the snitchers. I look for wrappers, sticky fingers, messy faces and chewing mouths. When confronted with these pieces of evidence, the guilty usually cast their eyes down and admit their offense. Well, today I came downstairs and saw my 4-year chewing vigorously. I thought to myself, "Yes! Evidence!" I sweetly asked, "Layna, what's in your mouth?" To my suprise, she didn't look a bit guilty or "caught in the act." She looked up confidently, smiled as she shrugged her shoulders and said, "Just boogers!"

Should I Laugh or Cry?!?!

In our house we have a snitch. Actually, we have 3. They range in age from 8-4, and they are continually snitching items from the pantry. Thus, I am continually on the lookout for signs of the snitchers. I look for wrappers, sticky fingers, messy faces and chewing mouths. When confronted with these pieces of evidence, the guilty usually cast their eyes down and admit their offense. Well, today I came downstairs and saw my 4-year chewing vigorously. I thought to myself, "Yes! Evidence!" I sweetly asked, "Layna, what's in your mouth?" To my suprise, she didn't look a bit guilty or "caught in the act." She looked up confidently, smiled as she shrugged her shoulders and said, "Just boogers!"

Ribbon Cutting Ceremony

This afternoon was the ribbon cutting ceremony for the new elementary school that our children attend. Since our neighborhood worked very hard to lobby for this school, we felt like we needed to show up to celebrate. There was a huge crowd, many were from our neighborhood.

All of the fifth-graders formed a choir for the ceremony. Aylee was on the front row of the choir at the very end of her row. After their song, we said the Pledge of Allegiance and then they cut the ribbon. Following the ceremony, we all went to the playground area and had hot dogs and chips as a big community picnic.

It was fun to sit and visit with all of our neighbors and friends. The kids had a great time visiting and play on the playground also.

The following is a small video clip of Aylee with the fifth grade choir.

The Enviro Genius

I don't want to talk trash all night, but I had something else that I wanted to share with you that I forgot to talk about in the last blog post. I am such a freaking genius that I have a hard time keeping it to myself. The light bulb over my head this time is shining a bright "green" as my thought is environmentally conscious and could save Provo taxpayers thousands of dollars. (Well, maybe not each taxpayer but the tax paying populace as a whole).

As I was outside looking over my recyclables that weren't really my recyclables, I saw the garbage truck coming up our street. I walked into the house without thinking about the whole garbage truck thing. However, when I was getting on my motorcycle to go to work, I saw the same garbage truck coming back on her street as it picked up the trash cans on the other side of the street.

This is where my inspiration struck me. I thought to myself, our city garbage men could save half the gas that they consume weekly if they were to instruct all Provo residents to place their garbage cans on only one side of the street. This would prevent garbage trucks from having to drive up a street and then back down.

Gas consumption would decrease, city fuel bills would drop in half -- almost, and there would be that much less gas fumes destroying our fragile ecosystem.

I'm thinking of sending a letter to the city!

Rogue Recycler

Just before bed last night, I took the garbage can and the recycle bin out to the street. Usually our cans are emptied the early in the morning. I got up this morning before the garbage truck had come, and made breakfast for the kids. There were some items from the breakfast that could be recycled so I took them out to the recycle bin.

When I got the recycle bin it was somewhat overflowing. I looked inside and found that someone had put a bunch of their recyclable items in our recycle bin. I wasn't sure what to think of that. I'm glad that they felt like they could recycle some items. However, it just seems weird to put stuff in other people's recycle bins.

So, the mystery begins. If this happens on a regular basis my curiosity is going to get the best of me and I'm going to have to hold a stakeout! I'll let you know what I find!

Me!!!!!

Hope you enjoy!!



A's

Game Boy Advanced

Today we went to a yard sale and each kid got to come out at least one time and see if they would like to buy something. Well dad came in and told me and John that there were two Game Boy's. Of corse we asked how much and dad said $15 for the chepest one John only had a few $'s so I hopped out and we went to see them, one was chargable but was $25 and the other one was only $15, but it took batteries and each one comes with one game. I bought the $25 one and bought the other game for $5 but just to tell you, Game Boy Advanced games are going on to my wish list.

"For now from me Natasha, Bye Bye!!!!"
(A's)

Our Bobcat

Tonight, during pack meeting, Johnathan received his Bobcat award in Cub Scouts. He actually would have received it last month, but Amber chose to postpone it since I was in India. Johnathan had the honor of pinning the Bobcat pin on Amber during the meeting.



Before the pack meeting, I snapped a picture of Aylee and Johnathan. As you can tell from the picture, Aylee really wishes that Boy Scouts included girls. She wore her neckerchief and other ornaments to the pack meeting.

As if to make this pack meeting official, and as my entrance into true Cub Scout-iness we purchased our first space Derby kit. It sounds like the next pack meeting or so will be the space Derby. I need to become a true Cub Scout father and do whatever it takes to make sure Johnathan's rocket wins the event -- no matter what!

First Day of Preschool

Alayna started preschool today. She has been waiting for this day for many weeks. As you can tell from the picture she was very excited to go. She had an enthusiastic report to give to us during dinner tonight. She is so excited to be a schoolgirl now.

This means that Amber and Jace have the house to themselves a couple times a week. While! That is kind of weird. Before we know it, Amber will find herself all alone. That sure is a weird thing to think of.

Male Bonding

It sure was a lot of fun to go to the State fair on Monday. I can't remember the last time I have been. It was great to be with dad and the boys. Thanks dad for being such a good sport and doing the weather for us. I should have taken your DVD and posted it on youtube! You did a mighty fine job.



It was great to see Joe again. Joe I wish you the best down there in California. It sounds like you have been busy. Let's just make sure that you end up here for Thanksgiving.

Thanks everyone for making it a fun weekend.