Zoo Lights at Temple Square

Last Saturday we went down to Temple Square in Salt Lake City to see the lights. Aaron kept mistakenly calling it zoo lights and for weeks I haven't been able to straighten him out. ( I guess he went to zoo lights at Point Defiance Zoo to many times growing up.) Anyway, we road the commuter train down there from his parents house and then took the light rail around downtown.
The kids love public transportation because they don't have to wear seat belts and can stand and move seats as much as they want. As you can see in the following pictures they enjoyed their freedom and variety of seating options.



Talmage sitting on Papa and Dad's shoulders.

Anya, trying out the same seat.

The kids didn't mind waiting for the train as long as they had Aunt Stephie to climb on and play with.

Talmage making faces on the train.


Anya all bundled up for the trip.

Here we all are in front of the Salt Lake Temple.

We're All Ttogether Again

We are now all together in Logan. Aaron got here about 3 weeks ago and is loving working from home. The big projects are finally done and he is working normal hours again (about 44 hrs a week) His team did great in the ICE competition. I'm don't know what ICE stand for. Innovation something, something. It was a coding competition were his team of five created something cool enough to win 2nd prize ($600) plus another $200 for participating and possibly a couple of patents. His project had something to do with being able to scan multiple checks on your home scanner to be deposited in your bank account. It may sound like he's rich now but since we are still paying for two houses, extra money is scarcer than snow in Texas. Since work slowed down Aaron has found time late at night to study for his GRE (he didn't have to take this to get into UTSA;s masters program but needs it for USU's Phd program). He'll take it this Friday. I'm sure glad it's not me. That test is a whopper!

We are still awaiting calling's in our ward. Wonder what they'll be. I helped in one of the nurseries on Sunday. It was crazy!!! 1:30 church is not good for little kids. Most of the kids in Nursery were in serious need of a nap. Some were cute and sweet but about 7 were crabby, crying or flying. I'm sore this morning from holding crying kids while trying to catch ones that were jumping off chairs to land on ones that were laying on the floor and keeping a foot in front of the little bathroom door so that one kid couldn't play in the toilet or sink in there. We had three adults subs trying our best because the real teachers didn't come. Yikes!

The kids are doing fine. Talmage loves school but is looking forward to Christmas vacation so he can have more play time. We surprised the kids on Saturday by taking them to a Voice Male concert (an a capella group). We have at least 3 of their CD's. The kids loved it. They even sang Talmage's favorite song they do, "Glory in a Glad Bag", and they sang "Angels We Have Heard on High", a long standing favorite since he was about a year old. He asks for that for his bed time song nearly every night. And to top it all off they sang the Chipmunks christmas song which Talmage has never heard but is now fascinated with. Anya enjoyed the concert and was pleased to be able to use the bathroom at the "fancy theater". She has a public bathroom fetish, has had it since I can remember. She loves seeing how the toilets flush (automatic, handle, button . . .) and then all the different sinks varieties, and various ways to dry hands. I'm not such a fan of all of this because bathrooms gross me out, but it's better than her having fear of using public toilets.

Hmm, now I have to think of something else to write so I don't end this post with the word toilets.

We're planning to go see the lights on Temple Square in Salt Lake City this Saturday. It will be a first for the kids. I think they'll like it.

Ladybug

For Halloween Anya was little Ladybug.

I took this picture with my cell phone and just now took the time to figure out how to save it on my computer. This is actually a few days before Halloween when Anya and I went to a Halloween story time at the Library. For trick or treating, Talmage dressed as a wizard with a black chop stick as a wand. It was so dark and rainy when we went out that I forgot to get a picture of him. Next year he plans on being a mad scientist because as he says, "I was born with mad scientist hair, and I LOVE chemicals!"

Here is a picture of his "mad scientist hair" when he about 5 months old.

Rhyme

Each term Talmage is required to memorize a poem. He chose Rhyme by Elizabeth Coatsworth out of the four poem options his class was given. It is only ten lines long-- a piece of cake for him. The trick for him this time is to get full credit he has to include a few actions. Here is how he plans to recite it on Monday for his class.

Hay jump

Here is Talmage and Anya doing the hay jump. It looks like something is wrong with the video setting on my camera. I was using the old camera and really missed having zoom and obviously good video. Sorry. Anya is the first video and Talmage is the second.

A Day At The Farm

Talmage had a couple days off of school so we decided to visit the American West Heritage Center just outside of town. They were having their Fall Festival. We spent all day there and the kids had so much fun.

We rode on the little train a few times. Here is a picture of the kids crammed in the caboose with a bunch of other kids.



The kids made corn darts. You draw a circle on the lawn and through them like darts.


Here they are standing outside the barn (where they got to milk a cow) with their corn husk dolls. They love these dolls!

They played with the goats for quite some time. These goats were the calmest I've ever seen.

Some of the other exciting things we did were a covered wagon ride, pony rides, corn maze, blackout maze, looking at all the historical buildings and seeing the demonstrations of things like a cider press, spinning wheel, scone making, wood working, and so much more. Anya especially loved hay jumping. She is so fearless. Talmage liked the wood shop and a nice volunteer that pulled out all his musical instruments to show Talmage because he showed so much interest in them. Talmage learned about lots of folk instruments and now wants to collect them too. It was a really fun day. The only thing we were missing was Aaron to share it all with. The kids are excited to take him there next year though. And Talmage is planning to bring his harmonica so he and the kind old volunteer can play some music together.

Logan

As many of you know the kids and I are now living in Logan, Utah. We are looking forward to Aaron joining us in the next few weeks. He is still finishing up many things in San Antonio. And we are still working on selling our house there. When Aaron gets here, he will continue to work for USAA. He'll just do it remotely from his own little office in our new rental home. He will also be applying to the Computer Science PhD program at USU. So he'll continue to be as busy as ever.

We are very excited about this move. Talmage is enjoying his new school. He is loving 2nd grade and has transitioned from home school to charter school very nicely. Anya loves having more space from him during the day and more one on one time with me. But when he gets home they definitely want to play together. We have been taking advantage of the nice weather by exploring the local parks. It has been so nice to see the trees changing color. We really missed this time of year while we were in San Antonio. Talmage is hoping for snow soon, but I hope it will hold off until after Aaron drives the big moving van up here. We should also figure out snow clothes soon.

Crazy Post

I was trying to post all of the pictures from our trip but I got side tracked and haven't gotten back to it. Even now as I'm typing Talmage is demanding attention. I think they are trying to drive me crazy! It's so hot and humid that I feel bad forcing the kids to play outside or ride bikes anytime after about 9 AM. That can make for a long day. We are wishing we were still on vacation. The weather in Utah and Idaho was great. We spent two weeks up there visiting family and friends. We particularly enjoyed taking it easy by lounging in the pool and hiking in the mountains.

Aaron has been working lots of extra hours since we got back. He had the PTO to take but that doesn't change the tight deadlines. He has also had "odd hour" phone call meetings. This week he talked to a group of developers in Japan and some in India. Because of the time difference these calls can't always happen during the normal work day. All this extra work feels like Aaron's already started back into school, but that's a month away still. I hope he gets caught up by then.

The Golden Spike Monument

We spent an afternoon visiting the Golden Spike Monument at Promontory Point Utah. This is were the railroad coming from the east coast and the railroad coming from the west met- forming the transcontinental railroad. The kids enjoyed seeing the real steam engines, watching them move, exploring the museum, and becoming junior fireman.

Here we are in front of the coal burning steam engine.

Now we're in front of the wood burning steam engine.

Here the kids are being sworn in as Junior Fireman, after they completed a work book teaching them about this event in history and some train safety.

The Park Ranger that "swore them in" as Jr. Fireman let them wear her hat for pictures. The kids tried to make serious faces.

It the end of the day and the train's headed home and so are we.

4th of July Parade

Stephanie was in the Layton parade while we were there. She is the adviser for the student body officers at the junior high she teaches at. It was a nice little parade. Talmage loved it because they had several marching bands and no clowns (he hates clowns-- he's not scared of them he just thinks they are ridiculously absurd).

Waiting for the Parade to start.

There's Stephanie!

Talmage in the Pool

Talmage loved playing in the pool. It was one of his favorite things about the trip.
Here are a few pictures of him jumping and swimming in the pool. We had videos of him being thrown, like Anya was in the next post, but somehow we lost a portion of pictures
and videos on our camera.Talmage towing Anya to the ladder of the pool.
Or is it Anya trying to sink Talmage?

Brave Anya

Anya loved having Aaron throw her around in the pool. She did cartwheels, front and back flips, twists, belly flops, face flops, crazy moves . . . She loved it and couldn't get enough. These videos were from the first day she was doing flips. They became more involved each day we played in the pool.

Sewing Party

Last Saturday about 10 ladies, in my ward, got together for a sewing party. We ordered pre-cut dresses from www.ohsosassy.etsy.com and then had fun sewing them up. Here's Anya's.

Their were a variety of fabric chosen but most everyone did the same style dress. It was fun to see the little girls in Primary the next day.

Anya's Primary teacher was at the party and made the cute hair clip for Anya from fabric scraps.

Still Loves Rocks

Anya still loves rocks. Since she was old enough to pick up and hold them, she has been carrying them around. We have been doing some work in our backyard. It is a mess and the kids love it. We dug lot of rocks out of the ground and put them in some containers so that when we get the sod pulled up for the raised garden we can put some rocks at the bottom for drainage (we have clay instead of dirt). One day Anya was outside by herself for quite some time, singing loudly to herself and telling "Mario stories". When I looked out to see what she was up to this is what I saw her doing.

She was taking rocks out of the containers, sometimes by the dress-full.

Carrying them over to the kids pool.

And dumping them in.

When she saw me with the camera she turned around so that I could take a picture of her and then started putting the rocks back were they were supposed to be. Please take note of the pink Hello Kitty boots. She loves all things Hello Kitty and stomping in mud.

The Lord Is My Light

We sang, The Lord Is My Light, is Sacrament meeting a month ago and Talmage fell in love with it. He insisted on me singing it with him over and over because he needed someone to sing the girl part. When my voice gave out I showed him the hymns on the internet. He was very excited. This video is what Aaron found him doing when he got home from his meetings.

Talmage's top three favorite songs, all tied for first are... Angel's We Have Heard on High (discovered when he was 2), O, My Father (discovered at age 5), and, The Lord Is My Light (age 6).

A Tux

A year and a half ago we bought Talmage a suit for Christmas. Just before he grew out of it I found a good deal on the same suit just a size bigger, so I bought that. Like the short legged Kay boy he is, he was able to keep wearing the pants from the old suit, with the hem I put in taken out, and the new jacket. He's started taking the suit for granted though. He wears it every Sunday and loves it but the clip on ties were wearing on his nerves. They are so not real. So for this Easter I found an amazing sale on real boy's ties. He got a blue one to match Anya's dress (that's still important some Sundays). He was so excited about the tie that he spent the Saturday morning session of conference figuring out how to tie it. This was an excellent quiet activity for him. He then periodically practiced perfecting his tie tying skills through out the remaining sessions. Now he can tie it quick and accurately with the tales just the right length on the first try. That's more than Aaron can claim. Pretty good for a six year old.

Now the only problem is he's asking for a tuxedo-- not a tux-- a tuxedo. I told him that he can wear one when Aunt Stephie get's married. He thought that sounded like a good deal, until the Stake Roadshow this weekend.

At the roadshow we were sitting next to the 1st counselor in our stake presidency who is also the husband of Talmage's piano teacher. He noticed Talmage's hair was styled different and told Talmage, " I like your hair parted that way. I can just imaging you in a tux playing the piano, looking like a maestro." Talmage glowed with the thought and I wanted to stuff a sock in the poor man's mouth. So now Talmage is dreaming of tuxedo's again.

I asked Talmage what he'd do with a tuxedo and he responded, "wear it."

He's Reading What?

Talmage has always loved books. He's been attempting to read them since he was a baby. Now he reads nearly everything he can get his eyes on. He is currently reading The Hobbit by J.R.R. Tolkien to himself and sometimes to Anya if she asks politely.

Here is a few videos of Talmage "reading" just after his first birthday.




We bought him a "reading" light to have beside his bed and he loves using it to read at night before bed and sometimes in the mornings when the LEGOS aren't beckoning him too loudly.

This is how I found him one Saturday morning. He was excited to find a book on the shelf written by James E. Talmage. He read a few pages before breakfast. I was nervous he might read past where I have read-- that would be embarrassing.

Wildseed Farm

After picking strawberries today, we headed over to a wildflower farm.

This field of red corn poppies was so pretty I wanted to get a nice picture of the kids in front of it.

After several attempts Anya couldn't stand the wind blowing her hair or dust into her face. I don't blame her. So I gave up on the cute picture.

The farm had mowed paths in fields of wildflowers. The kids liked following the paths. They weren't so excited about sitting for a picture. But I made them do it anyway.

Anya did like the bench out in the middle of the field. You can see it by the smile on her face.

Talmage thought the bench was a great idea.

These pictures were only a very small part of this "Farm". It also had a high end nursery, restaurant, brew house, gift shop, butterfly house, and lots more stuff we didn't even get a chance to see.
I bought some Strawberry Jalapeno jelly that is amazingly good. And Talmage, who dislikes ice cream, had an ice cream sandwich that he really enjoyed because "ice cream sandwiches are not as cold as ice cream".

Strawberry Picking

Today the kids and I went with a friend and her kids to Marburger Orchard to pick strawberries. This has been a great year for berries because we had such a wet winter.

There were tons of berries. We picked a little over 10lbs in a very short amount of time.

It was a cool 60 degrees or so in the morning so Anya wore her jacket. You can see by her grass stained knee that she already found a green spot to fall on. She sometimes practices her falls on purpose.

The kids, a friend, and I didn't even pick one full row in one of the strawberry fields.

Talmage was very pleased with his picking skills. Maybe he'll grow up to be a migrant worker. He liked finding the dark red, perfectly shaped ones.


Here are the kids at the end of the hour or so we spent picking.

Natural Bridge Caverns

For Aaron's birthday this year we went up to Natural Bridge Caverns. We had a lot of fun on the tours we took. The kids weren't afraid of any of it. They even thought the "total darkness" experience was cool. We learned all about stalactites, stalagmites, soda straws, ribbons, curtains . . . It was fun and educational.

These statues are out in the parking lot area. I'm not sure what they have to do with the caverns but they were fun for the kids.

We took lots of pictures inside both caverns.
These first few are from the Illuminations Tour. They used special lighting to show off the amazing and intricate formations. It was very humid in the caverns because they keep the entrance and exit closed with series of doors. This allows the formations to continue growing.

The following pictures are from the Discovery Tour. The formations in this cavern are huge. We also got to see the tiny crack/tunnel the original explorers went through when they discovered these caverns. It was amazing that anyone fit though there and to see what they found. I would have been way to scared. I liked all the safety lighting-- it would have been creepy to feel the huge dark expanse and only be able to illuminate a small part of it with an old 1960's head lamp.