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.