Dear Santa,

It's Here!

Welcome Winter! We've missed you . . . somewhat.

Tyler resisting the urge to launch a snowball toward Bret's head.

Tyler with his new winter goatee.

My 30th birthday cake courtesy of Tyler.


Bret all ready to go ice-fishing.

Happy Thanksgiving!

We Love Fall

Tyler and Bret terrorizing the ducks at the park.

One of our many duck friends.

Bret still trying to catch one.

Getting ready for trick-or-treating.

If you can't tell, Tyler is a bat and Bret is a turtle.

Tyler's pumpkins.

Mmmm. Pumpkin guts.

Tyler enjoying Michigan's wildlife. When, exactly, does it become cruelty to animals?

Proud Lake Campout

Here are a few pictures from camping at Proud Lake last week. Tyler said he liked camping more than Disneyland, but I liked the bathrooms better at Disneyland. The boys loved the tent, the campfire, and fishing in the morning. Yes, I really did catch that impressive fish all by myself.

Tyler's First Day of School

It's official! Tyler is now in Kindergarten. I'm traumatized, but so far Tyler is really enjoying it-except for the bully, aka "mean girl", that pushed him down and then (after she got in trouble for pushing) slapped him in the face (for getting her in trouble). Tyler said the teacher saw a red mark on his face where he got slapped and so she put some cream on it!? Maybe I should send some mace and a first aid kit in his backpack next week.

Tyler doesn't seem to miss me while he is at school, but I really miss him. He has been my relentless little buddy for 5 years, and now I have no idea what he did from 8:52am to 3:57pm. Did he eat his lunch? Did he remember to wash his hands after he used the bathroom? Did he give "mean girl" what she deserves and punch her in the face?

I'm sure I'll get used to it-I still have my little sidekick, Bret, to keep me busy and I do know what he is doing all day. He's flushing toothbrushes down the toilet, ripping keys off the computer keyboard, or just stuffing q-tips down the air vents. He recently learned to open doors and has become particularly mischievous-I think that means he is a normal little boy.

It's a new season for our family and I am going to embrace it. Maybe I'll actually finish unpacking and get the basement organized? No, probably not.

Anyone know how to clean up this mess?

Help! A bottle of Tide leaked all over the carpet. How do I clean it up? I've soaked up as much as I can with a towel, but there is still a lot stuck in the carpet. Any ideas?

Bret's First Birthday

We had a traditional "first birthday" party by letting Bret make a mess out of a small cake-I think he knew he was getting away with something. He's a little rascal and we love him. Happy birthday Bret!

Tyler's Classic Kid Jokes

Why was 6 afraid of 7?

Because 7 8 9!

Why did the toilet paper roll down the hill?

To get to the bottom!

What did the dinosaur eat after he went to the dentist?

The dentist!

Knock, knock.

(who's there?)

Little old lady!

(Little old lady who?)

I didn't know you could yodel!

Does anyone really know why gas is so expensive?

I remember being able to fill up my car for around $20 and now, as you know, you can't even buy 5 gallons for $20. So I'm really wondering-Why? I hear explanations like short supply or increased demand, wars in oil producing countries, politics, governmental conspiracies, increased costs for drilling, and blah, blah, blah. Although I'm no economic genius, the only explanation I really believe is greed. Greed prompts people to do some pretty unthinkable things, so it's easy to believe that some really wealthy people (who happen to own oil companies) are really greedy and they want to get even wealthier, so they inflate the price of oil and we all just go along with it. It's not the end of the world, but I don't like the price of gas influencing my daily decisions. (I think my son has a broken bone-should I drive him to the ER? I have really good insurance, but no, can't afford it, the gas alone would cost more than the hospital bill. I'll just make him cast out of popsicle sticks and tape-it's better than wasting a tank of gas.)
Does anyone really know the truth? Will the prices ever come back down?

Fire still burning near Aaron's hometown

People have been asking me if Aaron's family has been affected by the fires, and yes, they have been evacuated. Aaron's hometown of Paradise, CA has been hit hard by the CA fires. The last I heard 49,000 acres have burned. The first big fire didn't burn near his parent's home, but at least 70 homes were destroyed. Unfortunately, the latest fire is right behind their house. It has burned to the bottom of the canyon in their backyard, but hasn't crossed the river (more like a stream) yet. It is doubtful that firefighters will be able to save their home if the fire crosses the river and heads up the canyon as there are plenty of trees and brush to fuel the fire. We are praying that it does not cross the river as many other families will also lose their homes. Aaron's parents were able to remove many items (photos, albums, etc.) from their home before the mandatory evacuation and are staying with relatives for now. Hopefully the fire will burn itself out before any more families lose their homes.

Tyler turns FIVE!

We love our Tyler. He is a good big brother for Bret, a great helper for Mom and Dad, and a very happy, smart, handsome, and kind boy. We are so grateful to have him in our family!

Tyler decided on the morning of his birthday party that he wanted a transformers cake. I made Aaron make it because he has all the artistic skills in our family.

I thought it looked pretty good, and more importantly, Tyler thought it was really cool (if you don't know your transformers, this is "Bumblebee"-he transforms from a robot into a Camaro)!

Tyler with his new hotwheels track-he couldn't stop jumping up and down when he opened it. He loves speedracer even though he has never seen the movie-you just can't go wrong with race cars.

Tyler waiting for us to hurry up and take a picture so he can blow out his candle and eat Aaron's masterpiece.

Tyler trying to bust open the pinata (unfortunately I could not find a transformers pinata, but I did learn that a "party store" in MI is actually what I call a "liquor store"-not a place to buy balloons or pinatas).

Adjusting

Today I finally feel like I am making progress around the house, so I feel like I can take a few minutes to post something. I have no idea where the camera is or if it survived the move, so I guess I'll just write a novel and post pictures another time (maybe the camera is in the box with my cookbooks?-can't find those either). The basement is still an unexplored abyss of boxes waiting to be unpacked that I am pretending don't exist-ignorance is bliss, right?
So, it's no secret that I came here kicking and screaming, but I have decided that living in Michigan probably won't kill me. I'm not singing "I think I'm gonna like it here" yet or anything, but I am starting to find things that I like. For example, I've only turned on the air conditioning a couple of times since we've been here. That's a welcomed change. We met some really nice neighbors (-it is true that people are more friendly here) that have a girl Tyler's age and a boy a couple years older. Their backyard is in back of our yard so they just run back and forth. They have invited us over for ''beers" but we've been too busy. :)
It's also true that everyone in Southeastern Michigan drives a Ford. If you don't, you better at least drive an American car. We visited the F-150 factory but they weren't making any trucks that day because sales are down. The economy is pretty bad here and a lot of people in the auto industry are worried about their jobs. It's kind of depressing.
We have really enjoyed living closer to Aaron's sister and her family. They live in Ann Arbor (about 30 minutes away) and have two kids. Tyler loves playing with his cousins and I am thrilled that we are within driving distance of a family member. We are planning on going camping with them this weekend-weather permitting (it rains here-a lot).
I registered Tyler for Kindergarten last week and was surprised to find out that Farmington now has ALL DAY Kindergarten. Yikes! I'm not sure that's a good idea, but apparently I don't have a choice, so Tyler (and I) will have to adjust. They only have one recess at lunch time and they don't get out until 3:57 pm. I hope they're paying those teachers well.
Our Ward covers a pretty large area-it includes three area codes. The bishop said they have been praying for more families to move into the ward (I guess he prayed harder than I did-because I was not praying to move here). I was really excited to find out that they have a play group on Thursdays at 10:00 am and there are four other boys in Tyler's primary class. There are even a couple of other residents in the Ward.
The house we are renting has turned out to be really nice. The yard needs some work because no one has lived here for a couple years, but the inside is in really good condition. I love having a basement-it's kind of scary and smelly but it's great to have a designated "toy area", a laundry room, a storage area, and a place throw stuff (or kids) when I don't know what to do with it.
The neighborhood is beautiful. Trees! There are real trees here! And it's green-with grass, flowers, and everything. You can even water your lawn and no one will get mad at you, but it rains so much you don't even need to. No more rocks and cacti for us! :)
I miss all of you! Thanks for all your love and support. Keep on Blogging!

We Made It!

We made it safely to our new home in Michigan! The house is great, just really empty because our stuff isn't here yet. The nights are no fun because we don't have beds or a crib and the time change (3 hours) makes it impossible for the kids to fall asleep at bedtime-so we are all exhausted. Otherwise, all is well. Tyler's favorite thing about our new house is the laundry chute. He loves to sit in the basement and watch the dirty laundry fall from the ceiling-it's becoming a popular game. "Mom, will you play laundry chute with me?" Now if only we had our washer and dryer. . .

Halfway There

We made it to Nebraska without any major mishaps.

Only 1000 miles to go!

Road Trip Ammo

I'm preparing to drive over 2000 miles with my boys and I'm searching for some ammo to fight backseat boredom. So far all I have is a portable DVD player, Leapster, and a travel "Trouble" game. Anyone have any other good ideas or family road trip wisdom to share?

Disappointment

I'm not a David Cook hater, but I was still disappointed when he won. He's musically talented, but can't sing half as well as David Archuleta-and David A. is way cuter too. At the beginning of the season I thought David C. had a chromosome 21 issue (although I admit he looks way better now). America got it wrong. My theory is that Simon's comments energized the David Cook fans, encouraging them to vote because they feared David A. would win, while on the other hand, placating David Archuleta's fans-convincing them David A. had it in the bag, thus skewing the votes in David Cook's favor. That's my two bits on American Idol Season 7. Good luck David Archuleta-I think you'll be just fine.

We Did It!

Miss Marsha's Mini School Program

Congratulations to Tyler on a great Preschool Program this week at the Whitney Library. The theme was "Silly Alphabet Soup" and the crowd loved it! We are proud of him and all the progress he has made at school this year. Good job Tyler!

The Davids are in the Finale. . . I hope!

I just spent over 30 minutes voting for David Archuleta-and I may vote some more later! I got goosebumps tonight when I listened to his performance of Billy Joel's "And so it goes". The other two songs were good too-as expected. I think he could have done a little better on the Chris Brown song if someone had worked on the style with him, but I still liked it. Yes, he could sing the phonebook and I'd love it!

Syesha's performances weren't that great. The judges liked the first song, but I thought it was boring. She can sing okay, but doesn't have that WOW factor. She's going home. It's time.

David Cook was a little off tonight, but I think he deserves to be in the final two. I thought his performance of the Diane Warren/Aerosmith's "I Don't Want to Miss a Thing" was a mess-he was all over the place, and I was shocked when Paula and Simon both loved it.

It makes me suspicious when the producers choose an awesome song for David Cook, an okay song for Syesha, and then a kind of lame song for David Archuleta. Hmmmmm. What's up with that?

Next week is the finale-vote for David Archuleta!

A Farewell to Harold

As we are preparing to move 2000 miles away, Aaron decided that now was the time to part with his 16-year-old Colombian Red-Tail Boa. She was adopted by the owner of Sin City Snakes and will get to live with a lot of other very nice snakes in a snake-friendly home. We will miss Harold, but we are happy she found a good home. Goodbye Harold!

9 Years Ago Today. . .

. . . I tricked Aaron into marrying me. Today Aaron and I are celebrating our 9th Anniversary. I was inspired by my friend, Natalie, when she shared her wedding photos on her anniversary, so I dug around the closet until I found our wedding album. I had a good laugh at myself. We were so clueless and so young (I know-I look like I'm 12), but we made the best decision of our lives and I'd do it all over again!

Bret and the Weekend Road Trip

Here's Bret enjoying the pit-stops on our weekend road trip. He tasted his first smoothie and learned to drive.

Idol Thoughts

David Cook: First song was decent, but nothing special. Second song was pretty good. I expected something amazing from him this week, but. . .
Syesha: Annoying. Her dancing was freaky. Still not a fan, but I think she's sticking around for another week.
Jason: What a goof ball! He's off in his own little world and doesn't seem to take the competition seriously. I think he's going home tomorrow.
David Archuleta: I love him. He out sang everyone. Can't wait to hear him again next week.