Still Learning

I love that I'm still learning things everyday, but sometimes the things I learn make me feel dumb.

This week I learned that Mums (the flower) and Chrysanthemums are the same thing. Makes sense now that I think about it.

Other times I feel smart, like after I read about a character in a Little House on the Prairie type novel putting cloth out in the sun to bleach, I put one of Talmage's white polo shirts on the window sill and the sun "bleached" a stubborn watermelon stain out of it. Awesome! Who would have thought a children's novel could help me with my house work.

Anya also has been learning a lot. She is quite the animal lover and enjoys any chance we get to be near animals. She loves horses, goats, chickens, ducks . . . So she has decided on what she wants to be when she grows up. She wants to be a farmer's wife. She figures as a farmers wife she can do all the great things like feed chickens and collect their eggs (she has stock piled about 10 egg cartons now-- she has been collecting them for the last few months), milking cows, herding goats and sheep, and shoveling manure. She also wants her own horse to ride, and brush, and braid it's mane. We sure love Anya! We'll definitely take her to the county fair this summer and let her spend lots of time checking out the animals. We are in a good area of Utah for seeing livestock and smelling them too.

Not A Cute Baby

Anya loves looking at her baby pictures. I finally gave up thinking that I would put them in a cutesie scrapbook and let Anya make one of her own. She loves it. I gave her some paper, ribbon, stickers, and crayons and helped her glue the pictures on. It's in a nice binder with sheet protectors and everything. She is very happy with the results and now I don't have guilt about it. She takes her baby book out every once in a while and looks at it and shows us how cute she was. Then she usually pulls out Talmage's and Aaron's and checks those out too.

So the other night we were eating dinner and she asked me why I don't have a baby book. (I only have one picture of me as a baby and I don't think she has ever seen it. It must be in a box somewhere.) So I told her I don't really have any pictures of me as a baby. She looked at me for a minute and then said, "You must have not been a cute baby." A long discussion ensued after that about why I don't have more baby pictures of me. But in the end she still thinks it comes down to me not being a cute baby. Oh well. At least she has a baby book of her own and enough self-esteem to get her through high school-- hopefully.

Buffalo and Coy

Near the ranch were Tina keeps her horse, she has made friends with a man who owns a huge buffalo named Cheyenne and the biggest Japanese Coy I've ever heard of. Anya loves animals and has no fear of them-- even though she probably should.

Here she is petting the coy. There's no way I'd touch one of those-- yuck. Well maybe for a hundred dollars, but who'd pay someone to do that?

These fish would just come up and let her pet them, like they were dolphins at SeaWorld or something. Strange fish and strange little girl.

Here is Anya trying to make friends with Cheyenne. Big buffallo!

Anya wanted to feel how rough her tongue is but Cheyenne was in a bad mood.

So Anya tried feeding her a bottle. A bottle a day is supposed to keep her docile.

She checked out the bottle but wouldn't take it because she was in a bad mood.

So Anya contented herself with brushing her with a curry comb. She had no problem hanging out near Cheyennes back end on her side of the fence.

Talmage wanted to be part of the fun, but from the safe side of the fence.

Here Anya is having a little ride on top of Cheyenne. Even though she saw that Cheyenne was in a bad mood she still wanted to ride on her. Talmage took off for the car so he wouldn't be asked if he wanted a turn. I'm going to need to keep an eye on this girl or she'll run off and join the rodeo or the circus if they let her play with the animals.

Talmage's Dog Time

Talmage loves dogs. While in California we went to a ranch to ride Tina's horse. Talmage rode the horses, enjoyed hunting for and finding chicken eggs, he even shoveled manure, but the dogs were his favorite.

He'd love an old lazy dog (or two) to snuggle with and pet.

This is Tina's dog Chloe. He thinks she is the greatest dog ever because she is so fluffy and white. Anya liked her too but she liked the horses better.

Japan Town

Japan town was so much calmer that China town. Anya especially loved chasing the pigeons.

The kids loved running free in the square here because in China town it was so crowded that I wouldn't let go of their hands for fear they would get lost.

Here's Anya trying on a silly frog hat at one of the dollar fifty stores in Japan town.

We had a blast shopping for stuff Aaron has been pining for since his mission. He has missed the dollar store goodies you can only find in Japan. So when we found the $1.50 stores he was ok spending the extra fifty cents to get the stuff he can't find here. We bought ties, ear pickers (way better than Q-tips), Calpis (a non carbonated soft drink), Japanese pens and pencil case (Talmage is an office supply addict), origami paper, candies, little folding chairs for the kids, and lots more I can't remember. It was very entertaining and slightly educational!

Our Own Tour

Forget the tour boats. We took our own pictures of the Golden Gate bridge and Alcatraz from the sail boat. We even sailed into Pier 1 to dock, then took a taxi down to Pier 39.


The sea lions at Pier 39 were oh so entertaining. They mostly just slept and pushed each other off their little sun bathing docks but we stood there for a long time making up stories about what they were thinking. Maybe we're just easily entertained.

Alcatraz from the sail boat. Doesn't look so bad-- but I still wouldn't want to live there.

The Golden Gate bridge from the sail boat. We sailed under it and then back into the harbor. They don't paint under the bridge like they do the top.

Sailing in San Fransisco Bay

While in California we went sailing in San Fransisco Bay. My dad is a member of a sailing club so we took one of their boats out and had a blast. It started out super calm with no wind, not good for sailing. When we came back a storm was coming in and we had lots of gusty wind and large swells, also not good for sailing. Somewhere in the middle we did some real sailing and had lots of fun. No one got sea sick and Aaron and Talmage (my super nervous in deep water boys) were brave and both think they'd like to try it again someday.

Talmage loved driving and was the first to try it. He made very large, cautious circles when he was assured it was fine to do so. He watched out for other boats, even when they were way way off and he wasn't driving. He was just fine motoring around when we couldn't catch a breeze. It was the calm life for him. This is Grandma Tina standing by Talmage. We had a blast with her. Life is an adventure when she's around.

Anya also liked driving the boat and had no problem doing tight circles when ever the mood struck her, which was about anytime she was driving. We have a few pictures of her driving with Grandpa making this "whoa" face-- the other time she got behind a wheel was a little golf cart. Watch out for Anya, she drives like Cruela Devil!

She looks sweet an innocent but don't believe it!

Aaron, oh so cautious, loved learning all about sailing. He just absorbed everything my dad taught him. Soon after this we could see the Golden Gate Bridge and my dad asked if we wanted to go out on the bow to get a picture. Aaron was not ok with that but I started climbing out on the bow and he (ever the competitive one) couldn't let me out brave him. So he climbed out with me. Don't you just love the stupid orange life vest!

Here we are out on the front. The sails are still down because we don't have enough wind but
Aaron has a death grip on my arm and the mast behind us, as well a good grip on the ropes in front of us. You can see the Golden Gate behind us.


We were laughing so hard because Aaron was so scared and I am trying to pull rope out of my face and he thinks I'm trying to tease him and pull the rope away. He did get more comfortable on the boat and later after Anya announced that "Grandpa is way braver than Dad" (Grandpa was climbing all over the bow getting the sails set) Aaron went out on the bow to help with stuff.

The kids enjoying the leisurely ride out under the bridge before we turned around and headed toward the city.

Here you can see the underside of the bridge. No pretty red paint here. (Gotta love the bright orange vests)

After a big lunch and some sightseeing at Pier 39 we headed back to the other side of the bay to the marina we started at. Finally the wind picked up and we really started to sail. That's when I drove and Aaron hung on too the kids and the boat so we wouldn't lose anyone. In fact after this picture we don't have anymore of this adventure because things got too crazy. We had the sails up and were trying to catch the wind when it really started coming in a we caught too much of it. It's a good thing sail boats can't tip all the way over, because I would have done it. The swells were huge and the wind was blasting. Aaron now knows were Anya gets her crazy driving from. All the boys were safe driver but Tina, Anya, and I had to much fun making a roller coaster out of it. We survived though so it makes it a great adventure.