New Year's Eve Shrimp

Elizabeth has never cooked Shrimp before. However, we wanted some for our New Year's Eve party and wanted to go a cheaper route than the pre-cooked stuff at the store. So Elizabeth bravely soldiered on and followed the directions on the packaging. The shrimp turned out delicious and none of us came down with food poisoning - it was a win-win for everyone involved!

Christmas Day

Merry Christmas everyone! We had a wonderful day, filled with all the excitement you expect your kids to have about finding presents left in your living room by a man that you never actually meet.

This year, on top of our traditional four-gift limit (Something you Want, Something you Need, Something Homemade, and Something to Read), we helped our kids each buy a present for each other from the Dollar Tree store.

David got Cailainn a "Nemo" fish.

Analeigh got David a harmonica.

Cailainn got Analeigh some "Rapunzel" hair.

New Pajamas

Every year the kids get to open one present on Christmas Eve - a certain gift from their grandmother. By now they've picked up on the fact that it is going to be a pair of pajamas. Nevertheless, they love them and are always excited to rip open the packaging.

Camels at Christmas?

Our city had a Christmas parade this evening featuring camels, sheep, a donkey with Mary and Joseph. Yes, you read that right, this parade actually mentioned the subject of Christ during a Christmas parade - take that New York City! After the parade, the kids got to interact with everyone at City Hall.

First off, proof of camels in Kansas in the winter.

 Next, Cailainn meeting a sheep.

 Also, proof of Mary and Joseph with "baby Jesus."

 Finally, the obligatory photos with Santa (Analeigh is sitting with her friend from school):

 As you can see, Cailainn has still not warmed up to Santa Claus.

Cousins for Thanksgiving

This year Ben's brother, Steven, came to visit us with his family. The last time we had seen them was in 2011, just after Cailainn was born. In fact, this is what Cailainn and her cousin, Charity, looked like at the time.

Now Cailainn and Charity are old enough to be giving each other hugs on their own.

And Cailainn, will all her generalized fears of any men other than her dad, warmed up to Uncle Steven rather quickly.

Temple Trip

We went to the Kansas City Temple today. It was great. The Young Women's organization offered to babysit at the church next to the temple, so we did not have to worry about finding all-day child care.

Anyway, we went to try to find a Chinese buffet to eat at afterwards. The first place we went to, China Express, only had a lunch buffet - and we arrived too late. So we explained to the waiter that we'd be leaving to find another restaurant with an all-day buffet that would allow our kids to pick food they actually would eat.

Well, the guy was super-nice about the whole thing and even gave us a take-out menu to encourage us to come back another time. The menu made good reading for David while we went off in search of another restaurant.

We Built a Boat

When I say that we built a boat, we should probably clarify some things. First, "we" means "David and Analeigh." and "a boat" means "a few benches stacked on each other with random trinkets placed in between." You know, "a boat."

Curious George Halloween

This year, Curious George came out with a new Halloween special on PBS. However, we were busy doing something else, so we missed seeing it on television. However, we live in the age of YouTube, and you can find a few different copies of it there. The kids thought it was hilarious.

If you would like to see it for yourself, here it is:

Growing Up

Well, it has been a long time in the making, but we've finally talked David into actually wanting to wear a tie on Sunday.

Just look at that handsome face. Isn't that a handsome face? And to think that he'll be ready to date in just nine years.

Halloween

This being a small town, our kids have been able to go out to get candy a few times already. First, this past Saturday, the town hosted a "Trunk-or-Treat" at the fairgrounds. Their favorite item was the glow-sticks, which they found out were best used in the coat closet (because it is dark).

Second, we went to another "Trunk-or-Treat" at our church. And third, they got more candy tonight. So, in summary, our kids have enough sugar to last them through the winter (or maybe just tonight).

First Snow

Elizabeth went on a trip with a friend from church to Time Out for Women in Denver, Colorado this weekend. Their plans were somewhat hindered by unexpected snow that fell. Ben took the following picture shortly after Elizabeth left.

Luckily, the snow never stuck to the roads - it only hindered visibility for a short period of time. Yes, they did arrive safely.

Master Chef

David has been telling us that he would like to be a chef when he grows up. He even enjoys watching cooking shows on the Create digital substation of PBS. So Elizabeth has started having him help her when she cooks. Granted, the hard hat is a bit excessive, but he does good work.

By the way, for those of you who are wondering, Analeigh would like to be a doctor. As for Cailainn, well, she's still just happy to be here.

Cailainn the Friendly Ghost

Cailainn got in to the flour bucket. The picture doesn't go justice to the mess she was. We'll be moving the flour bucket.

Repainting the Living Room

After our successful venture in painting our dining room, we decided to pursue the painting of our living room. We were never really big fans of the brown/tan walls. So we spent the weekend painting them white. Well, not "white," per se, but some random shade of "white." Elizabeth could tell you the difference, but Ben just calls it white.

Anyway, here are the before and after photos. If you're wondering about the patching job in the center of the "before" photo, that is Ben's fault. He was trying to find the wall studs (which is apparently difficult to do through plaster walls), so he drilled a few holes until he found one. Now we can securely mount our television to the wall... someday.

 

Spa Trip

The wonderful thing about having children is that a visit to the spa sometimes means you don't even have to leave the house. Our children took great care of their mother's hair today and the session ended with her looking more beautiful than ever.

Book of Mormon Reading

We've been trying to help David with his reading. As a result, we came to the conclusion that, if we want God to help us with this task, we need to have David doing his share of reading during family scripture reading. David gets to read his own verse each night. He's learning a lot of big words and the techniques for sounding them out. We highly recommend this approach.

Over The Air

First off, it should be stated that we are cheap. If we can get something for free, we'll generally try to avoid those who might try selling it to us. For example: bottled water. It's ridiculous that something that occurs naturally should have to be paid for.

Thus, we've never had cable or satellite television in our home. We've been operating with a old fashioned set of "rabbit ears" as our television antenna. In Great Bend that was fine, since we lived just down the road from an NBC-affiliate broadcast tower. Thus, we had a trustworthy news source for finding out when tornadoes were in the area.

Alas, in Ellsworth, we are too far from the towers to get anything other than PBS with any consistency. Sadly, they don't have a news team that reports on severe weather. So we decided to invest in a better antenna. We wanted something strong enough to reach a major station while being small enough to be placed inside (since neither of us know enough to be able to properly ground a roof-mounted antenna against lightning strikes).

We came up with the Antennas Direct C2-V-CJM ClearStream 2-V Long Range UHF/VHF Indoor/Outdoor DTV Antenna with 20-Inch Mount (at least, that is what Amazon calls it). We ended up mounting it in the garage, running a cable through the crawl space beneath the house (which was a bit of an adventure), then up through the living room floor and straight on to the television.

Not only did we get NBC and PBS, we also added a CBS station that we did not expect (since the antenna is pointed in the wrong direction to be pulling that in). Not only that, but when the atmosphere is doing a little something called Tropospheric Propagation (which basically extends the distance a signal can travel), we can pull in FOX, CW, and some other random station called MyNetworkTV. There is even a "Tropospheric Ducting Forecast" to let you know when your area has the best chance of getting stronger signals. You can check out the forecast for Western North America and Eastern North America.

Well, we hope you enjoyed the little science lesson at the end here as much as Ben did. Some day he may even try to persuade Elizabeth to let him buy another, slightly stronger Antennas Direct antenna to point in the direction of CBS to see if there are other channels that can be pulled in more consistently (without the help of any tropospheric ducting/propagation stuff).

Two to Tango

As the saying goes, it does indeed take two to tango. Sadly, Ben does not really know anything about how to tango... other than sticking your front arm out straight and keeping the side of your face close to your dance partner. Luckily, Cailainn knows even less, so she loves it when her dad dances the tango with her.

Ballet

Analeigh started ballet class today. She's in the beginner's class, but she loves knowing that there are other people who love dancing as much as she does.

Setting the Table

Cailainn has learned how to set the table from watching everyone around her do it. She does a pretty good job, though she would probably struggle if we went too formal and gave her multiple forks to work with for each setting.

Happy 10th Anniversary

It is hard to believe that 10 years ago today we got married in the Detroit Michigan Temple. There was a power outage across the whole northeast part of the United States and some of Canada. We weren't even sure the temple would open for us (though it did - just for us, then it closed), so we had to book a wedding session in Logan, Utah as a back-up plan (which we forgot to cancel - that was a slightly awkward phone call to receive when we were told they'd been waiting for us to show up for quite some time).

Now we have three kids and live in Kansas. We expected the kids to happen, but not the living in Kansas part.

Anyway, we still love each other and look forward to the remainder of eternity together.

Here is a close-up picture of the cake we ate today. It had blueberries in it and was delicious!

Book of Mormon Angry Birds

Last night Ben led the Young Men and Young Women at church in a game of "Book of Mormon Angry Birds" for mutual. He bought a number of angry birds/pigs plush toys on sale cheap at Big Lots. Then we made a giant three-person sling shot. The youth at the church had a lot of fun.

Anyway, our kids wanted to play with the toys too. So we set them up in the yard taking turns shooting off birds and pigs, then running to catch them.

First Day of School

Today was David and Analeigh's first day back at school. So naturally we took their pictures to commemorate the day.

Then, after we were about ready to go, a couple of stray kittens crawled out from under our porch to bid the children good luck.

Back to School Night

The kids went to their "Back to School Night" this evening. David and Analeigh got to meet their teachers and see where they would be sitting in their respective classrooms. Then they got to eat dinner in the cafeteria.

Hot Dogs

Cailainn was demanding that she be served hot dogs today. In fact she started having a tantrum. She won.

Cousins

The kids' cousins came to visit us this weekend from Virginia. David, Analeigh, and Cailainn loved it.

David had fun doing manly things with Parker.

 Analeigh enjoyed doing girly things with Makenna.

And Cailainn enjoyed tackling someone smaller than her for a change. She kept on saying "hug baby, hug baby." Gratefully Corbin was willing to receive her affections.

How to Garden in a Drought

It is a tad difficult to maintain a garden during a drought. Since the city will not allow us to run water outside, we have to horde any rain that comes. Fortunately, we've come across a solution. We have a couple of rain barrels lined up under a gutter drain spout. Additionally, on our porch, our gutter dips a little bit, allowing us to place buckets underneath to catch rain during storms.

Then, during sunny days, we have our cute children take turns running water from the buckets over to our plants.

Overall, it seems to be working rather well.

Repainting the Dining Room

You may have noticed in some of our blog posts that the paint color in our dining room is a very dark blue. That's not to say it isn't a nice color; it is.  However, it is neither bright nor cheerful. And our family is nothing if not bright and cheerful. So we've been painting it a lighter shade of blue and have finally finished the project.

As a point of comparison, check out how dark the wall is behind Cailainn in the first picture of this post.

Leaves

When the weather is nice, we like to go on Sunday evening walks. Analeigh's goal during today's walk was to gather as many different types of large leaves as her father was willing to pluck for her. Behold her collection:

Dressing Barbie

As you may know, some Barbie dolls lack a certain level of modesty. Analeigh has resolved that issue by being willing to make clothes for Barbie out of nearly anything.

Happy Independence Day

Rather than stay up late to watch neighbors shoot off any fireworks, we partied on our porch with boxes of sparklers. As always, it was a blast.