Family Night Hike

We went on a hike for family night tonight. We drove up into the hills and then just wandered around on some trails for 45 minutes. The older kids wanted to keep going but the two little girls had already turned around on their own and started down. I caught up and held Rosalie's hand so that she wouldn't fall and re-injure her forehead. (The first injury was caused by a four-year-old. In the living room. With a cement hearth.)
She was moving pretty quickly but at one point she dropped the acorn that Lissa had given her, and when I bent over to retrieve it I could hear her panting heavily. (She's only 16 months old.) When I bent over her, she must have remembered that I could carry her, as I did on the way up (when her dad wasn't carrying her.) So she did that thing she's been doing lately when I'm about to pick her up; she grabs onto my arm and swings her feet off the ground and I barely manage to get my hands under her in time. Touching faith, really.
Anika gathered up some of the local ground cover to make a rainbow leaf bouquet. I don't know what these are, but they are pretty.


Casey is doing an autopsy on the camera. I wish I could take a picture of the hundred little parts he's got spread out on his desk. Though obviously. . .
How many guys are brave enough to do that?

C.H.A.O.S.

So, just like my house, my blog has C.H.A.O.S. That's "Can't Have Anyone Over Syndrome." And the whyfore is that our camera is dead. It was slain. By a four-year-old. In the kitchen. With a tile floor.
I realized that I don't just want to tell you, I want to show you. It just makes it so much more interesting when you can look at pictures. Sigh. I'm not even good at finding pictures on the internet that don't have someone's watermark on them. If I were, I'd show you some gorgeous pictures of Autumn Leaves. It's my favorite season, no contest. I can't even drive straight in the autumn, the colors are so distracting.
So, I hope all of you who live in places where there is an annual color change are out there appreciating it. Don't waste it, it only happens once a year.

Fearsome Flowers

In years to come this will be known as Anderson's Monster Flower Period. To distinguish from his Alien Monster Period and his just Monster Period.


This is his first one: Spiny Thistle Shooter Flower. Next is the flower with "tentacles. Tentacles of Goo. Tentacles of Black Goo with rainbow stem. It is Evil. And also Goodness and Beautiful."

This one he drew in church. It is just a flower with leaf things. And another flower. With Snappers.

This one is Poison Spray Flower. And that is a fly, about to die. And finally, because Anderson is a perfectionist, a redrawing of Spiny Thistle Shooter Flower.
He assures me that he will be making a book of these and will be working on them for a month.

For Nie Nie

The last few days I have been learning all about Christian and Stephanie Nielson and the horrific plane crash that left both of them badly burned and their pilot friend dead. I actually learned about them a day or two before my sister clued me in to the connection: My cousin Darin is married to Peter Nielson, Christian's brother. Their kids make me think of my own--brunette and redhead oldest girls, mid-brown and blond kids following. Cute, slobbery, mess-making urchins full of creativity and love.
It's been a wake up call to me to read through some of her old blogs on nieniedialogues.blogspot.com. She's one of those people who seem to have an infectious joy in living. She reminds me how good I have it, how grateful I should be. And especially how I should be enjoying my life right now. You never know how things will change.

So, like so many others, I am posting some links on my page for anyone who would like to know more or do more for the Nielson family. Click here for the story:



To donate directly, click the donate button.

To bid on an auction check the LIVE auctions at http://www.designmom.com/2008/08/nie-nie-day-is-here.html

Keep scrolling down, there are lots!

My Tiny Star Stuff

My friend Star is a fabulous creator of all kinds of art. A while ago I splurged on an original Lucy painting from her etsy shop. Shown here is the painting and the matching Lucy doll that she designed, sewed, and painted. She really is amazing! I already covet several more of her prints and "softies" (original stuffed animals). Ooh, and also her beautiful vintage-style cone puppets. I want, I want!

Anika's Birthday

On August 23rd Anika turned eleven years old! Wow, that decade just blew by.
We decided to go to a book signing for her birthday since Rapunzel's Revenge, illustrated by our very own cousin Nate Hale (and written by Shannon and Dean Hale) was being featured at the Salt Lake Library. The authors did a little reader's theater scene from the book. Here is Shannon Hale sporting braids knitted by Nate Hale's talented wife Mindy.

And here is Anika getting our newly purchased copy of Rapunzel's Revenge signed by Nate.
If you have any boys in your family that you want to encourage to read, buy this book!

We also helped my sister Victoria clean house for my brother Jon's family to return to from Australia, went to a pastry shop, watched WALL-E, and had pizza for lunch and dinner. It was a very full day, so we saved the cake and ice cream for today.

When I downloaded these pictures I realized that some little fingers must have smeared the camera lens some time ago. Nice soft focus, eh?

Happy Birthday, Anika!

My Daughter is Not a Vampire

When I was little we had a series of dramatized fairy tales called "Let's Pretend" on vinyl records. We listened to them over and over again. One of the stories was "The Frog Prince" and his princess was named Rosalie. That was my first exposure to the name. Over the years I continued to run across the name, though rarely, and I always liked it. And when, finally, I was in labor with my last daughter (all of whom were born past their due dates,) my husband and I decided we really had to pick a name. And Rosalie was the one we most liked together. So.

Now, you'd probably have to have your head in a bucket (in which case you probably aren't reading blogs online) not to have heard of Stephenie Meyer's Twilight series, which is about vampires. One of the vampires, a golden haired beauty, is also named Rosalie. Rosalie Hale, no less, which makes it even closer to home, as Hale is my maiden name. The series is wildly popular and I am glad for the author--we Mormons like to see other Mormons excel. But it still bothers me that people will assume that I named her after the book, simply because they never heard the name anywhere else. (I'll probably have to privatize my blog after this; this entry has too many googleable references.) Ah, well.

So that's my disclaimer. But here is the funny part. All of my other babies have grown their teeth in upper-middle and lower-middle pairs--like a beaver. But not Rosalie. In fact, she's got me a little worried.