This paper wasps nest is in a tree at my mom's school. Its about the size of a basket ball. Now that the leaves are gone you can see it really well.
Wednesday, November 12, 2008
My own private zoo
So on Monday I walked past a window in the basement and discovered that I had been transported to my own private zoo exhibit. There was a little fat mouse scurrying around in there! Of course since our lot backs up to a field its not too big a suprise. The good news is that he was a fat little mouse with a healthy coat (like you'd see on a well groomed houstcat) so I doubt he was diseased. The better news was that when I came by a few hours later he was gone. :D
Ode to Sarah
So Sarah hasn't come home from college for weeks, mostly due to homework, and she was going to come home this last weekend, but she couldn't get a ride. And she had lots of homework. Well she has these research papers she has to start working on so I volunteered to help her out. So I googled her topics and then sorted through the results and sent her a list of websites that actually have relevant, usable information. That gives her like a 3 hour headstart on her papers. Well 'cuz I'd spent so much time thinking about her while doing that, I got all depressed that I wasn't going to see her again till Thanksgiving break so I decided I was going to drive down to Ephruim. Google maps says that should take 3 hours and 1 minutes, but that doesn't factor in rush hour traffic in Provo (where the freeway becomes a parking lot).
But I did finnaly get there and it took so long everyone called Sarah to see if I was there yet (which spoiled the surprise, but I felt loved to know they were so worried) and I got there about 20 minutes later. Her boyfriend came over and we had pizza and hung out. And after Tyson left we stayed up late being all giggly. The next morning we spent being giggly and folding laundry before breakfast.
This is Sarah being silly.
And this is us on the beanbag in the living room (it came with the apartment).
And this is Sarah doing some of that homework. While she worked I read her the Illiad outloud, she has to read it for some class she's taking and decided she could listen and do calculus at the same time. I don't think I could manage that but kudos to her.
This is her roomate's (illegal) pet mouse, it's named cow. They keep it in a cage, bathe it regularly and it rides on her shoulder in the car. Personally I think mice are mostly gross, but I've never seen a cow spotted one before.
Sarah gave me a tour of campus and the town. Campus took 5 minutes and the town took 10 because we drove from one end to the other and back. This is me in front of a neat looking building.
This is Sarah in front of the front of that building.
This is the boat in the yard near her apartment. People who've been in it say the room in the stern is full height and there's a smaller room in the bow. How cool is that!
Sarah in the Malt shop.
But I did finnaly get there and it took so long everyone called Sarah to see if I was there yet (which spoiled the surprise, but I felt loved to know they were so worried) and I got there about 20 minutes later. Her boyfriend came over and we had pizza and hung out. And after Tyson left we stayed up late being all giggly. The next morning we spent being giggly and folding laundry before breakfast.
This is Sarah being silly.
And this is us on the beanbag in the living room (it came with the apartment).
And this is Sarah doing some of that homework. While she worked I read her the Illiad outloud, she has to read it for some class she's taking and decided she could listen and do calculus at the same time. I don't think I could manage that but kudos to her.
This is her roomate's (illegal) pet mouse, it's named cow. They keep it in a cage, bathe it regularly and it rides on her shoulder in the car. Personally I think mice are mostly gross, but I've never seen a cow spotted one before.
Sarah gave me a tour of campus and the town. Campus took 5 minutes and the town took 10 because we drove from one end to the other and back. This is me in front of a neat looking building.
This is Sarah in front of the front of that building.
This is the boat in the yard near her apartment. People who've been in it say the room in the stern is full height and there's a smaller room in the bow. How cool is that!
Sarah in the Malt shop.
Me by the Malt Shop's jukebox. I took Sarah to lunch before I had to leave. And if you're ever in Ephraim this is the place to stop. The food is great and the prices are decent. And for when the weather is nice there are picnic tables and a swing set outback.
It's a cute little town with lots of historic buildings, and little shops on an old fashioned kind of main street. Snow is a nice small college too. Sarah really likes it there and I had a great time visiting her, I just wish it wasn't such a long drive. But it's a pretty drive (except for Provo traffic) and I had radio to sing along with nearly all the way there.
And I didn't miss Little John too bad even though it was my first night way from him, and boy was he happy to see me when I got back :D.
Halloween
So I know it took me a long time but here are our Halloween pics.
A friend gave me this hood, but we already had a costume for him. Its too big anyway, but he had fun wearing it around.
This is the costume I made him, he's the ace of hearts. He didn't like getting stuffed into it though.
John and I were the King and Queen of hearts. Little John's was out of fabric but it was easier to do ours out of garbage sacks using sharpies.
This is all of us. I tried to talk my brother into coming with us as the Jack, so we could be a royal flush, but he went to a Halo-ween party instead.
But this one is my masterpeice: Hogwart's portait of the Fat Lady. (Click on the picture to see it bigger) If we'd have been in Phoenix I would have worn it too the Harry Potter party. Instead my mom wore it to school and the kids loved it. It took me a couple weeks because everything has to dry before I can do the next part. I painted it on part of a giant cardboard box, because I didn't feel like getting foamcore, but foam core probably wouldn't have curled as it dried. If anyone wants more details so they can make their own just leave me a comment.
A friend gave me this hood, but we already had a costume for him. Its too big anyway, but he had fun wearing it around.
This is the costume I made him, he's the ace of hearts. He didn't like getting stuffed into it though.
This is all of us. I tried to talk my brother into coming with us as the Jack, so we could be a royal flush, but he went to a Halo-ween party instead.
But this one is my masterpeice: Hogwart's portait of the Fat Lady. (Click on the picture to see it bigger) If we'd have been in Phoenix I would have worn it too the Harry Potter party. Instead my mom wore it to school and the kids loved it. It took me a couple weeks because everything has to dry before I can do the next part. I painted it on part of a giant cardboard box, because I didn't feel like getting foamcore, but foam core probably wouldn't have curled as it dried. If anyone wants more details so they can make their own just leave me a comment.
Friday, October 24, 2008
Lagoon
OK so if I stayed up to date on blogging these wouldn't be so late or all out of order.
Anyway Saturday of UEA weekend (umm, Oct 18 I think) we were all set to have an adventure driving up to see my Aunt Debbie and then we find out that they're going to be in Twin Falls all day. So this left us adventureless and we're all geared up for some fun, so we tracked down some discount tickets and went to Frightmares at Lagoon. For those unfamiliar with Lagoon it rivals Disneyland in cost but doesn't have the characters or the seamless "magic" atmosphere. However it does have lots of roller coasters if you don't mind the lines. (Another thing they should barrow from Disney would be FastPasses) So we spent the day and in the evening they have all this haunted stuff (hence the Frightmares part). Me and Mom took Little John on his first rides while Ben and John did they're own thing. Then while the little guy and Mom had a nap I went with the guys. I love and hate thrill rides. I like the "whee" part but I hate the way the stomach-falling-out feeling gets so intense I can't feel my arms to clutch at things for dear life. And by the end of the night our feet were killing us, but it was SO worth it. We had a blast.
Everyone by a pumpkin sculpture naer the entrance.
Ben, John, and I on Rattlesnake Rapids, Its cold here so I wore a ponch because you get off the ride SOAKED.
Everyone by a pumpkin sculpture naer the entrance.
Ben, John, and I on Rattlesnake Rapids, Its cold here so I wore a ponch because you get off the ride SOAKED.
Everyone but Mom rode the log flume, I think it scared Little John but he didn't cry.
He loved the train.
He liked the boats 'cuz he loves water.
This was his first ride and he didn't know what to think.
And for Halloween they had all of these put your face through things so I made us use them.
Me and John
Me and John
Little John
And Ben, gotta love the face.
So I've been busy
I've been busy crafting. I made a dog sweater for the dog using those knifty knitter rings and right now I'm makeing a people sweater for a birthday present. Well I was between projects and me and little John were using the rings for crowns when he pulled on it and it got stuck around his neck. We had to grease his head to get it off! I kept my head however and made John take a picture real quick before we rescued him. Look at that sad face! 
This was that same day it snowed but I only now got the pictures off the camaera so here they are.
Monday, October 20, 2008
UEA adventures
So UEA hosts a teacher confrence every fall and there's lots of booths that are fun to see and lots of free pens and notepads and other small tidbits to collect. But the best part is the 4 day weekend. We went down to UEA with Mom and looked around at everything Thursday. It was fun. The not so fun part was when we stayed overnight in Salt Lake so we could get there early before the convention got crowded.
We stayed at a nice hotel at a good rate because they were doing a dicsount if you were with UEA. So since there were 4 of us and the baby- Mom booked a 2 room suite. Well it turns out to be just one room with a king size bed. However, do not despair! Despite my love of adventure and "winging it" when we couldn't verify via room description if the couch was a pullout bed we brought the air matress and some sleeping bags. And of course thr porta-crib.
As a perk the room had a jacuzi tub, which Little John and I enjoyed since the pool was freezing and the hot tub was out of the question for him. He loved the jets. Alas the jacuzi tub is not in the bathroom, it ocupies a coner of the main space. For those of you who have not attempted to sleep 2 people on an air mattress, you spend all night rolling into each other because it dips into the center. So we got a roll-away bed from the front desk. But because of the jacuzi tub there is barely room to walk and no room for the porta-crib. So it ends up like this: John, Little John and I in the king size bed, Mom on the queen size air mattress, and Ben my 6 foot plus tall brother on the roll-away bed.
I don't think anyone got any sleep. Little John had an ear infection from his cold and had just started antiboitics that day. He was up 3 times that night and even when sleeping took up a lot of the bed squirming. Ben might as well have been sleeping on rocks there were so many springs in his mattress. John and I where hot. Mom and Ben were cold.
So after the provided breakfast which was actually really good, we check out. And Mom explains about expecting 2 rooms and only getting 1 and they finally determine that a jacuzi suite and a 2 room suite are the same price and the recently hired employee who handled the reservation booked it on price not description. So thanks to the mixup no charge for the roll-away bed.
A few few days latter and after some decent sleep we think this was quite a funny thing. But we definately learned a few things. 1 travelling with sick children is a dumb idea. 2 double check all reservations before you leave. 3 if there is a reservation problem fix it before bedtime or right at check in if possible. and we relearned the importance of this last one 4 if you can't fix it, laugh and enjoy it or you only make yourself more miserable.
But we didn't let lack of sleep keep us from having a good time at UEA the next day. And The Mayan (areaaly cool theamed resturant that can be seen in the movie The RM) was across from the convention center so we had lunch there. All the boys LOVED it.
We stayed at a nice hotel at a good rate because they were doing a dicsount if you were with UEA. So since there were 4 of us and the baby- Mom booked a 2 room suite. Well it turns out to be just one room with a king size bed. However, do not despair! Despite my love of adventure and "winging it" when we couldn't verify via room description if the couch was a pullout bed we brought the air matress and some sleeping bags. And of course thr porta-crib.
As a perk the room had a jacuzi tub, which Little John and I enjoyed since the pool was freezing and the hot tub was out of the question for him. He loved the jets. Alas the jacuzi tub is not in the bathroom, it ocupies a coner of the main space. For those of you who have not attempted to sleep 2 people on an air mattress, you spend all night rolling into each other because it dips into the center. So we got a roll-away bed from the front desk. But because of the jacuzi tub there is barely room to walk and no room for the porta-crib. So it ends up like this: John, Little John and I in the king size bed, Mom on the queen size air mattress, and Ben my 6 foot plus tall brother on the roll-away bed.
I don't think anyone got any sleep. Little John had an ear infection from his cold and had just started antiboitics that day. He was up 3 times that night and even when sleeping took up a lot of the bed squirming. Ben might as well have been sleeping on rocks there were so many springs in his mattress. John and I where hot. Mom and Ben were cold.
So after the provided breakfast which was actually really good, we check out. And Mom explains about expecting 2 rooms and only getting 1 and they finally determine that a jacuzi suite and a 2 room suite are the same price and the recently hired employee who handled the reservation booked it on price not description. So thanks to the mixup no charge for the roll-away bed.
A few few days latter and after some decent sleep we think this was quite a funny thing. But we definately learned a few things. 1 travelling with sick children is a dumb idea. 2 double check all reservations before you leave. 3 if there is a reservation problem fix it before bedtime or right at check in if possible. and we relearned the importance of this last one 4 if you can't fix it, laugh and enjoy it or you only make yourself more miserable.
But we didn't let lack of sleep keep us from having a good time at UEA the next day. And The Mayan (areaaly cool theamed resturant that can be seen in the movie The RM) was across from the convention center so we had lunch there. All the boys LOVED it.
Loading the car
This is where a picture of the over stuffed hotel room should go but I was to frustrated to take a pic at the time.
In front of the Mayan
In the lobby
By our table
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