Sunday, December 4, 2011
Saturday, July 30, 2011
Face Paint
A couple weeks ago Brad took the girls to a Family Fun Night while I went out with some friends.
It looks like the face painter sure had fun!
Alexa was soooo sad to have to wash her face.
It looks like the face painter sure had fun!
Alexa was soooo sad to have to wash her face.
Monday, July 4, 2011
A Pirate's Life
I've laughed every time I've looked at these pictures. I just wanted to share the joy. Alexa came home from church yesterday with a sack full of pirate stuff: a compass, a spyglass, and this beautiful patch. I'm not sure what type of object lesson these would be a part of. Any ideas?
The pirate's apprentice below is all sorts of terrible. Captain Jack, Blackbeard, or even the Somali pirates would shudder in fear. Avast ye lubbers!!
Saturday, June 4, 2011
Teach your kids to read
Brad here. I just got the urge to blog. I was getting my Daily Fix (by my SIL, Michelle) and catching up on some friends’ blogs and I had this thought that I should blog about the books I’ve read recently. Besides, I said to myself, our blog could use a break from all the awesome things our kids are doing.
About a year ago, my cousin Dave conducted a survey for a statistics project he did for his masters. He asked only two questions: how many books I read/yr and my level of education. I answered 5 books, but I could only really remember reading 3 (I counted reading the scriptures as one, and figured I must have read one other book). It made me realize that since law school and the bar exam I hadn’t done much reading for pleasure. It wasn’t that I was burned out of reading, it’s just that I kind of forgot what reading for pleasure was like. So, I set a loose goal to read more.
I discovered how cool the public library is here on base. They’ve got all kinds of books there! I started with a couple selections from the CSAF’s reading list, mostly geared toward leadership and military history (here’s CSAF’s current reading list if you care). Good stuff.
Then Uncle Aaron (Cassi’s brother) gave me The Rainmaker (later, for Christmas, he gave me a Volcom hoodie along with a book on coaching little league football (?), How to be Christian Without Being Religious (??) and a pretty cool book/cd set on the 100 greatest sports moments). Uncle Aaron was working part time for an online bookseller sorting books and filling orders. He turned into a pretty sweet hookup because before we knew it, Uncle Aaron filled our bookcase (see for yourself in the photo below). I asked him if he knew what embezzlement was (aka “cookin’ the books”) and if he knew it was illegal, and he assured me, just like Nixon, that he’s not a crook. So we owe Uncle Aaron a big thanks for supplying our year’s supply of reading material. (P.S. Uncle Aaron got married last month, and not to the girl who wrote this song about him).
My brother Victor aka Kyle got me back into philosophy recently. He took a philosophy course in his last semester at BYU-I and he realized how cool philosophy is. Actually, I think the course made him really glad he majored in Biology. But, his questions about the material he was covering in his class prompted me to acquire the textbook he was studying and follow along in his reading. I got to read passages of Kant, Hume, Locke, Ghandi, Dr. King (among others) that I hadn’t touched since I earned my undergrad. Working with Kyle made me realize that Philosophy is not something you should ever study by yourself. (I highly recommend “the buddy system” with philosophy.) Far more interesting to read a little and discuss a little. That’s why I haven’t touched the stuff since undergrad, because there’s no one with whom I can share my witty philosophical insights. Cassi’d rather eat mushrooms or turkey (these are a few of her (least) favorite things) than listen to me talk about the merits of the categorical imperative.
So, my philosophical revival led me to pick up The Four Loves by Clive Staples Lewis. I got this book from my friend Brooke about 6 yrs ago. Many people are surprised to learn that Lewis was a philosopher long before he created Narnia (by “many people” I mean “one person that I know of”). But it’s true, he's a philosopher (you heard it here first). This book explores the nature of love and what it means to love. He explores the four loves: affection, friendship, eros, and charity. It’s interesting, but mostly in an academic sense. I don’t refer to it in my daily experience.
Let’s Roll is a book by Lisa Beamer, the widow of one of the individuals who died trying to wrest control of United Flight 93 from terrorists. I bought this book about 3 years ago at the Mesa Library (Dobson Road Branch) for like $5. It caught my eye because my Grandma liked it so much she did a book report on it for our family. It was a good book. I thought it would be more about kicking hijacking terrorists in the teeth, but it focused on dealing with adversity and cultivating in yourself the kind of character that stands up to hijacking terrorists. I was in Chile when 9/11 happened, so it was cool to read about how the terrorists didn’t completely win that day.
Reading’s fun. I highly encourage you to take it up if you haven’t. Or if you’ve recently finished law school, don’t forget about reading for pleasure.
About a year ago, my cousin Dave conducted a survey for a statistics project he did for his masters. He asked only two questions: how many books I read/yr and my level of education. I answered 5 books, but I could only really remember reading 3 (I counted reading the scriptures as one, and figured I must have read one other book). It made me realize that since law school and the bar exam I hadn’t done much reading for pleasure. It wasn’t that I was burned out of reading, it’s just that I kind of forgot what reading for pleasure was like. So, I set a loose goal to read more.
I discovered how cool the public library is here on base. They’ve got all kinds of books there! I started with a couple selections from the CSAF’s reading list, mostly geared toward leadership and military history (here’s CSAF’s current reading list if you care). Good stuff.
Then Uncle Aaron (Cassi’s brother) gave me The Rainmaker (later, for Christmas, he gave me a Volcom hoodie along with a book on coaching little league football (?), How to be Christian Without Being Religious (??) and a pretty cool book/cd set on the 100 greatest sports moments). Uncle Aaron was working part time for an online bookseller sorting books and filling orders. He turned into a pretty sweet hookup because before we knew it, Uncle Aaron filled our bookcase (see for yourself in the photo below). I asked him if he knew what embezzlement was (aka “cookin’ the books”) and if he knew it was illegal, and he assured me, just like Nixon, that he’s not a crook. So we owe Uncle Aaron a big thanks for supplying our year’s supply of reading material. (P.S. Uncle Aaron got married last month, and not to the girl who wrote this song about him).
Here are the many books we've got from Uncle Aaron. He gave us
the stack of books on the floor and most of the children's books on the shelf.
the stack of books on the floor and most of the children's books on the shelf.
So, so far this calendar year, I’ve completed seven books and I'm working on two others, not counting the scriptures. 2 by Grisham, 2 from CSAF’s reading list, Let’s Roll and 2 philosophical works. The Grisham novels are great. I feel a little sheepish to admit that I loved these books. I am, after all, a lawyer; should I love novels about lawyers? (Do wizards like Harry Potter? Do vampires dig the Twilight Series?) How do I get past the gratuitous ex parte communications and over-simplification of the legal process? I don’t, really. I roll my eyes at those things, but the stories are just fun to read. I also learn things, like how to solicit clients from The Rainmaker (that was the first of the Grisham novels I read), how much money I could make running a newspaper from The Last Juror, and how cool it would be to be the illegitimate daughter of a multi-billionaire from The Testament (I also learned from that book: money ≠ happiness, antivenom is actually spelled antivenin).
My brother Victor aka Kyle got me back into philosophy recently. He took a philosophy course in his last semester at BYU-I and he realized how cool philosophy is. Actually, I think the course made him really glad he majored in Biology. But, his questions about the material he was covering in his class prompted me to acquire the textbook he was studying and follow along in his reading. I got to read passages of Kant, Hume, Locke, Ghandi, Dr. King (among others) that I hadn’t touched since I earned my undergrad. Working with Kyle made me realize that Philosophy is not something you should ever study by yourself. (I highly recommend “the buddy system” with philosophy.) Far more interesting to read a little and discuss a little. That’s why I haven’t touched the stuff since undergrad, because there’s no one with whom I can share my witty philosophical insights. Cassi’d rather eat mushrooms or turkey (these are a few of her (least) favorite things) than listen to me talk about the merits of the categorical imperative.
So, my philosophical revival led me to pick up The Four Loves by Clive Staples Lewis. I got this book from my friend Brooke about 6 yrs ago. Many people are surprised to learn that Lewis was a philosopher long before he created Narnia (by “many people” I mean “one person that I know of”). But it’s true, he's a philosopher (you heard it here first). This book explores the nature of love and what it means to love. He explores the four loves: affection, friendship, eros, and charity. It’s interesting, but mostly in an academic sense. I don’t refer to it in my daily experience.
Let’s Roll is a book by Lisa Beamer, the widow of one of the individuals who died trying to wrest control of United Flight 93 from terrorists. I bought this book about 3 years ago at the Mesa Library (Dobson Road Branch) for like $5. It caught my eye because my Grandma liked it so much she did a book report on it for our family. It was a good book. I thought it would be more about kicking hijacking terrorists in the teeth, but it focused on dealing with adversity and cultivating in yourself the kind of character that stands up to hijacking terrorists. I was in Chile when 9/11 happened, so it was cool to read about how the terrorists didn’t completely win that day.
Reading’s fun. I highly encourage you to take it up if you haven’t. Or if you’ve recently finished law school, don’t forget about reading for pleasure.
Tuesday, May 31, 2011
White Water in the Morning
The end of April, Brad and I (and our friend Alissa) got to go white water rafting with a guide-training group from here on base. They provided all the gear, including the wetsuits.
I was a little nervous at first
but it was so so fun! The water was really cold, but we didn't fall out of the raft (we came close a couple times).
I would recommend it to anyone.
I was a little nervous at first
but it was so so fun! The water was really cold, but we didn't fall out of the raft (we came close a couple times).
I would recommend it to anyone.
Thursday, April 21, 2011
Ink Eater
Just in case anyone was wondering, this is what your kid looks like after she eats her sister's stamp.
Don't ask me how she got a hold of it in the car.
It didn't kill her, even though it was made in China, so that's a good thing.
Don't ask me how she got a hold of it in the car.
It didn't kill her, even though it was made in China, so that's a good thing.
Sunday, March 13, 2011
Cereal Thief
We noticed recently that our cereal has been going missing, so we set up a spy camera to discover what was going on. Turns out that it was an inside job.
We had to move the cereal to higher ground in order to keep Cailin from getting into it all of the time. It's cut down on messy floors by at least 75%.
Maybe this cupboard will have to become our earthquake hide-out or something.
Monday, February 21, 2011
Painting Projects
We had a few painting projects we'd been working on for a while so we decided to buckle down and get them done. On Martin Luther King Jr. Day we had a family paint day and finished most of them.
It was way too cold outside, so the garage became our workshop.
It was way too cold outside, so the garage became our workshop.
Alexa even got to join in on the fun.
Cailin isn't part of this because....well, can you imagine?
We had to do it all while she slept.
Anyway, we were pretty happy with the results. Here are two of the finished projects.
We painted another night stand and an armoire as well.
If you don't look too closely they actually look ok. At least we have some matching furniture. :)
Wednesday, February 16, 2011
Silly Boys
The other night we went and had dinner with some of Brad's coworkers. We went to a burger place in Boise called Big Jud's.
They have this challenge where if you eat a 1 lb hamburger and 1 lb of fries within an hour, you get your picture on the wall.
Well, if you know my husband you know he won't pass up a challenge. And since his friend Will was doing it, he was even more determined. To give you an idea of what he had to eat, here's his burger compared to mine. And then the fries too!
He ate the first half no problem. Then started to slow down. I tried to convince him that he didn't have to finish, but he wouldn't be deterred. He said the burger wasn't the hard part, but the fries about did him in. He made himself totally sick, but he finished in about 45 minutes. And he got his picture taken.
The next day he didn't want breakfast or lunch.
Why do boys do silly things like this?
They have this challenge where if you eat a 1 lb hamburger and 1 lb of fries within an hour, you get your picture on the wall.
Well, if you know my husband you know he won't pass up a challenge. And since his friend Will was doing it, he was even more determined. To give you an idea of what he had to eat, here's his burger compared to mine. And then the fries too!
He ate the first half no problem. Then started to slow down. I tried to convince him that he didn't have to finish, but he wouldn't be deterred. He said the burger wasn't the hard part, but the fries about did him in. He made himself totally sick, but he finished in about 45 minutes. And he got his picture taken.
The next day he didn't want breakfast or lunch.
Why do boys do silly things like this?
Sunday, January 23, 2011
1st Birthday
We celebrated Cailin's birthday on Thursday. Grammy and Aunt Moff even came up to join the party...so fun!
I can't believe how fast this year has gone. It seems like just last week that "I lived" at St Alphonsus hospital.
Now I have a 1-yr-old!
And she LOVES cupcakes!
Oh, and Brad finally got his birthday present 3 weeks late. We're always wondering where places are and then forget or are too lazy to look them up. Now we just have to look on the wall.
We love having the whole world right in front of our eyes!
I can't believe how fast this year has gone. It seems like just last week that "I lived" at St Alphonsus hospital.
Now I have a 1-yr-old!
And she LOVES cupcakes!
Oh, and Brad finally got his birthday present 3 weeks late. We're always wondering where places are and then forget or are too lazy to look them up. Now we just have to look on the wall.
We love having the whole world right in front of our eyes!
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