New Neighbors

Our new house is surrounded by fields. Ever since we moved in, James has been bringing surprises to the door... I got a knock at the window and James had found this little guy.

What is he going to find next? I can't wait!

Ssssss....

Andrew, Joey and I went to a way fun birthday party for one of my Sunbeams, Boston. They had all sorts of reptiles that we could hold and play with.And Brittney Spears was there, too!

Toothless!

Andrew lost his first tooth! All he had to do was show his wiggly little tooth to Ed and POP! It was history.

We're Sodding Fools!

Firstly, I hope the title of this post is not offensive to anyone who speaks the Queen's English. While I find American cursing vulgar and disgusting, British swear-words are adorable. Kind of like Mary Poppins cussing. I mean, really--wanker? bloody? It's so cute.
Anyway, we got our yard all ready for sod with the help of a landscaping company. The guys were great. Andrew got to drive the track-hoe while they moved rocks.Then the sod was delivered...And we got to work...It was so nice of our new neighbors to come over and help. Especially since it started to rain.Looks good!
I was going to take a great picture of us all lying in the grass when it was done, but we were trashed, wet, muddy and sore. So, you'll have to come and see the finished product for yourselves!

C'mon Baby, Light My Fire

When we moved in, I thought the one thing missing from our new house was a fireplace. We just had a big blank wall in our family room. What to do? We looked into all sorts of things, and had a bunch of guys come out to give us ideas and quotes. But the one we liked best was from our neighbor, Ryan.

The kids loved the "Jungle Gym" that he set up in our house. I tried to keep them off it for the first couple of days, but eventually gave in and let them climb around. Check it out! Isn't it fantastic!?

It's Kara-TE, Jerry.

Andrew and his buddies, Ty and Gavin are taking Aikido this winter. The class is great, but if you come early or stay after, that's when you'll see some real ninja moves. (Check out the girl in the background of this picture going all Jackie Chan on that kid) There are about 30 kids running around the rec center yelling, "Ya!, HI-YA!" Somersaulting, kicking, jumping, chopping and basically acting like Kung-fu masters. It's hilarious.

It's a pretty awesome sight. The instructor (Sensei Mike) claims that Aikido is a peaceful martial art. Yeah, right, try to explain that to a group of kindergarteners who have grown up watching Power Rangers.

JOEY!

Well, it looks like Joey decided to follow in his big brother's footsteps and give himself a new, hipper style. What do you think? I don't know what comes over these boys. They freak out if I suggest that they are going to get a haircut, but don't hesitate to take matters into their own hands.

#$%@#*!

Normally I wouldn't condone this type of obsenity on my blog, but I just cracked up when I saw the back of this car!
I waited for awhile, I was really hoping to see who the driver was, but unfortunately, I had to get going. Bummer. Well, I'm going to be on the lookout for these guys, and I bet you are, too.

Here's to you.

Some of you who don't live here in Utah may not know this, but "toasting" is totally not part of our culture. It's not just because we don't drink alcohol, we don't raise our water glasses or clink our sodas, either. For some reason, it's just not something we do here. In fact, I don't really know how to do it. There have only been a few times when I have been at an occasion fancy enough for someone to "raise a toast." And I have felt that uncomfortable heart-pounding anxiety as I tried to act like I knew what I was doing. But I didn't. Do you clink with everyone's glass? Or just the people right by you? How do you know whether to do one big clink in the center of the table or the little individual ones? What about the people that just raise up their glass and nod? Does that mean they don't want to clink? Am I supposed to actually say the word, "Cheers"? That's right, I'm not exactly Emily Post. In fact, I think that the "Cheers" that Joey always wants to do is about as sophisticated as I get.

Summoning his Eagle Powers

Last Saturday, James did his Eagle Project. Out at the Farmington Nature Center, they needed a boardwalk built so people can go out and see all the cool birds and not have to be covered with mud. Here is the "before" picture. When James and I went out there to check it out, a huge Eagle flew right over us--pretty cool, huh? Lots of scouts, friends and family turned out bright and early to help.Even Baby Bella, Mandy and Mimi braved the cold to come check it out.James was a great organizer, supervisor and worker.
Thanks for your help, everyone! Nice pictures, Janice and thanks to the Reeds for lunch!

Work it, baby...Work it...

I asked Allison to come over and take some pictures of Little Joe on his birthday--They turned out so totally adorable that I couldn't just pick one to post.

This one is my favorite!

I am so lucky to have a photographer for a sister! I love having birthday pictures! Thanks, Al. So, if you want to see more of her great pictures, visit http://www.allisonharrisphotography.com/

Happy Birthday, Joey!

Can you believe our little Joey is 3? Tonight he wants to go to Chucky-Cheese, although he's never been there. Looks like those commercials reached their target audience.I can't believe how fast 3 years can fly.

Joey is the youngest, but he still runs this house! His hobbies include barking orders, drinking chocolate milk and watching Mickey Mouse Clubhouse.
Joey's favorite color is orange.
His favorite movie is Underdog.
His favorite food is eggs.
We love having this crazy, sweet red-headed boy in our family!

Discovering the real "Pop Secret"

This year for Ben's science project, he did a popcorn taste test to determine whether people prefer buttery popcorn or lite popcorn. All the different kinds of popcorn were put into numbered bags so that people could give an un-biased opinion (Hopefully, none of them were swayed by the grease leaking out of the buttery bags) Ben is observing...Hmmm...

Calculating data...

So, what did we learn, Ben? The data shows that people preferred Buttery popcorn--with the favorite being "Orville Redenbacher Movie Theater Butter." He also found that girls preferred the lite popcorn, the favorite being "Pop Weaver Lite Butter." Very informative and valuable information, Ben!

Outwit, Outsmart, Outbunc!

Well, since I am a typical Mormom Mom in Davis County, I spend one night a month playing BUNCO! And while I would have rolled my eyes at this 15 years ago, I confess that I LOVE IT!

Ginger and Shauna are the founders of our Bunco group. I am so glad they invited me to join. It is a great way to keep in touch with people that have moved, and since I am one of those people, now, I love it even more since I get to see my buddies. This month it was my turn to host.

I told James to take some pictures while we were playing and he caught me just as I yelled BUNCO!! Here's my scorecard--I was totally ON FIRE!

Look at all of us cute girlies with our scarves. I love having a yummy dinner, treats, cokes and laughing my head off with these women. There's just nothing like girl-time.

See you next month, ladies.