Happy Thanksgiving

Since it's almost December.... I guess I should put up a blog for November! We had a wonderful thanksgiving break at our parent's houses. We spent half the time in Saratoga Springs and the other half in Orem. Ian loves his grandparents but was disappointed that he didn't have any cousins to play with during the vacation. Hopefully he will see some over Christmas unless the Jarvis's come down with any other contagious diseases. He even sat at the kids table by himself but Great Grandma Stubbs was nice enough to visit him there.

Happy Halloween

Here is the the cute little bat costume I made for Ian to wear for Halloween this year. It's turned inside out because he likes the red lining best! It took a whole lot of Hershey kisses to bribe him to dress up for ISU's halloween party Saturday night. I never thought we'd get it on him but the chocolate finally persuaded him. I'm not sure if it will work a second time for the actual Halloween night!

Craters of the Moon

Mike invited me and Ian on a journey this past Saturday to Craters of the Moon National Park. We had lots of fun hiking around, peeking in caves and looking at lots and lots of lava rock.














We brought our lunch to eat and ate dinner in Arco, Idaho at a interesting diner called "Pickles Place." Ian had tons of fun, he loves rocks and loves hiking and looking at things. But he was exhausted by they time we got home and threw a screaming fit until we got him in bed.

Number 2

Here is the first photo of our latest kid. Isn't he/she cute?

Eastern Idaho State Fair

This is Mike & Ian next to my quilt that I entered in the Eastern Idaho State Fair. Mike & Ian were very supportive as I worked to finish it earlier this year. It won "first premium" for it's catagory! There weren't too many in the hand quilted category but I am still excited I won a ribbon!

Fun with Playdoh

So I bought Ian a little Playdoh fun factory to help cultivate his creative genius. He really likes it but it makes a bit of a mess. I found the instructions to the fun factory quite humorous. In fact I laughed for 10 minutes straight. If you can't read them, here they are.....

1) Fill with compound.....
2) Press down.....
3) Extrude!

I've never heard the word extrude used unless it's describing some sort of open wound. But now it can be used to describe playdoh as well. And now Mike & I take the opportunity to use the word "extrude" whenever possible.

Mmmm Garden

So I guess it's about time for a new blog. And since my favorite hubby is now home for at least one day I actually get some time to myself. It's amazing how nice it is to have some alone time. The garden we planted has been growing wonderfully in his absence and with my sparse care. I finally got out there today to weed it and replant our pumpkin seed because the first round didn't come up. Our potatoes ( the flowering plants in the back) should be ready to harvest, they definately thrive in this Idaho soil. And our tomato plants have little green tomatoes. Everything else has been something of a struggle but I was able to make two extremely small salads from the spinach leaves we grew. And we have enjoyed about 4 strawberries so far. I have high hopes that the squash and zucchini will continue to grow but I am nervous because they are in the pots off to the side of the garden. I'm not sure if they have enough room in there. I'm still a little nervous about what the head housing people are going to say when we eventually move out, since we (Mike) dug up this patch of lawn in front of the apartment but it looks so nice. And tasty. I hope you all are having success with your gardens this summer.

City of Rocks

Here's some of my favorite people on our last camp out, near Almo Idaho. It was beautiful on the day shown here but by the next morning all these rocks were covered with 6 inches of snow.

Ian disguised as a Mango

He likes the peel even more than the fruit.

Alias

So apparently there is a TV show called Alias. I have never seen it and I don't know what it's about. But I really like the title, "Alias." I recently read a book called Alias Grace, another cool title. An old roommate told me once that if you want to know what your "soap opera" name is, you take your middle name and combine it with the name of the street you grew up on. So I would be Lara Chris. Not bad. Mike would be Eugene Sawtooth. Even better. I wish I grew up on a street named Stoneyfield, then I could be Lara Stoneyfield.

In a recent church meeting I was asked to give the opening prayer. But when they announced the prayer, they announced that Jackie Tillman would be saying it. So when it was time, I stayed in my seat and waited for "Jackie" to get up. But then I noticed someone looking at me and motioning me to get up. So I said the prayer. Luckily someone else explained to the lady who asked me that I was in fact Wendy, not Jackie Tillman.

Mike is always coming up with a new alias for himself. His old alias is Jimmy Blitzen, and he still gets lots of emails for Jimmy Blitzen. I probably shouldn't tell what his new alias is. For me, I decided that my new alias is Tina Sparkle.

Granted

So a request has been made to describe Ian. I am glad to because he's such a fun kid. I love to talk/brag about him. If I had to describe him in 7 words or less, I would say he is a ..... smiling, teasing, running, talking, smart little stinker.

Yesterday he noticed his nose was running and pointed to it and said questioningly "No? No?" and then ran over and wiped it on the living room pillow. I think Mike probably taught him that. Mike also taught him to spit, climb, say vrooooom, lick his fingers and many other wonderful things. I taught him to like ranch dressing.

We are glad for the time change so now Ian is waking up at 6 am instead of 5 am! Our favorite things to do during the lonnnnng days when Mike is at school are to go to the library, play outside, go to Fred Meyers, take naps, listen to Little House on the Praire CD's, and go on many many walks. He only plays with crayons or play dough about 2 minutes before he tries to eat them, so we aren't really at the craft making stage yet. Anybody have any other suggestions?

Ho Hum

I have found that I don't have much to say on this little blog. But it's kind of fun to have anyways.

The most wonderful time .... of the year

so this is the life of wendy and her monkey gang.

welcome

welcome, welcome... to the blogger!