Unclean FHE

In attempts to make lessons more memorable, we try to act out the various scripture stories we share during Family Home Evenings. As a side bonus, I usually just have to jazz up the preparations I have made for my Sunday Nursery class and the fantastic Behold Your Little Ones manual. One such FHE involved a dramatization of the one of 10 lepers who came back to thank Jesus for healing him. I was said leper in a moose print bathrobe and a set of jingle bells left over from a Christmas party. I came stumbling down the stairs ringing the bells and saying "Unclean" over and over again.
I am not sure Talia understood the word I was saying, but at least she remembers the idea. If you are wondering what the other kids are doing, they are working on the activity portion of the night--writing thank you notes for those people who sent us gifts for Christmas.

Christmas Time Again

Ok, so I actually haven't posted anything about Christmas, mainly because I have been searching for the correct camera cable to upload the photos. Classic non-blogging response, I know. So, here they are:



Yes, that is all I found that were somewhat decent. I think I spent more time enjoying the company and the camera they had then actually documenting the fun. The Tovars from Cali get the award for dedication. After a good 24 hour drive they still rallied their spirits and made it to church to hear Fernando and I speak and sing for the Christmas Sacrament meeting. Other fun was found building fires using nothing but grit and sticks, puppy loving, and many documentaries.

Thanks for coming. We love visitors.

(Thanks for the additional photos Tirsa)

Feng Shui*

So forgive the Asian blending of art form from a different culture, but the art of placement was all over the Japanese Sunken Gardens that we visited a few days ago. I can't tell you the number of times I have driven past its entrance and let my inquisitive thoughts fade en route to my originally planned destination. As luck would have it, my original Martin Luther King Jr. Day plans for a zoo trip was foiled by an overly crowded zoo so I opted for the gardens instead. The gardens are next door neighbors to the zoo and so it really was quiet convenient. Even in winter, the gardens were breathtaking. I even asked Fernando (more then half seriously) if he would like to have a home one day with a backyard like this:



(pardon the bad photos. . .iphones really don't have the best picture quality)
May be on a smaller scale, but I would love myself a little koi pond below a pagoda style back porch and a 60 foot waterfall in my backyard.

We're Back

After a year long hiatus, we have decided to renew our membership to the zoo. On our first visit back I wondered why we waited so long to return. I forgot how wonderful it is to stroll aimlessly around finding animals that look interesting, or just enjoying the ambiance of the jungle like landscape or eat lunch with flamingos. And how could I forget how fun the beach area is for the kids to play in.
With the goats to pet and brush and birds to hold,


life couldn't be any better.

*disclaimer: the goat (or horsey in Talia's vocab) adoration was limited to the children. . . .I was grateful for the washing station fully equipped with soap, running water, and hand sanitizer. Bleach was the only missing ingredient.

Simple fixes

The weather here has been delicious. We have been waking up in a timely manner which allows us to walk Mia up to school in the mornings, which is a much missed tradition. I usually only sport our garage door opener to make for easy access in and out of the house. This morning was no different. When I finally made it home after my hour + long conversation with some friends, I pushed my easy access button and went inside. Later, when the siren songs of beautiful weather pulled me to the park, I was shocked to find a non functioning garage door opener.

I can't tell you how grateful I was to have the garage door opener fail us post shower and post fed and napped kids. I resolved to get a new battery at the store after fun park playing and call it a day. Only problem, the new battery did jack squat. Fernando fiddled with it and amazing made our fancy built in the van car opener somewhat work, but strangely the openers are still a bit finicky.

While this was going on in the garage, I decided to get some laundry done. After loading some very stinky clothes, I push the on button. BUZZ! My washer wanted nothing to do with starting up. I fiddled and reset and did all the searching for solutions on line. I even reset the outside breaker. Nothing. My last resort was to see if something was catching things up on the inside. I moved the clothes around and found nothing out of the ordinary. Upon shutting the door, I pushed the on button one more time. BINGO! I guess my front loading washer has no problem starting just so long as you shut the door all the way. If only our garage door could be solved so simply.

Seaworld for the New Year

One of my favorite purchases of my life is SeaWorld Passes. We have more than gotten our bang for our buck. With fantastic weather and no school, SeaWorld became our home away from home. This day, we enjoyed the other side of SeaWorld with the Dolphin pool and Sharks. The kids loved to stick their hands in the water and hope for a possible encounter. Strike that, Talia dreamed of touching the water, but with her short arms and tummy on the platform rule it was out of the question. That wasn't really great for her. Luckily, there were some posters with the majestic "fish" as Talia called them. Then in the Shark exhibit, the kids were mesmerized. Talia kept singing Drummer Boy. what a good use of the day.

Eureka! Part III

When we first moved to Texas, we were in desperate need of a new vacuum. Our old vacuum was left for a friend in MD and well, even before I would get pots and pans, I wanted to have the more essential house item: a Sucky Vacuum. My eyes were set on a Dyson, but after many a consumer report no nos, I opted for another more highly rated wonder. For about the same price I could have bought the Dyson, I was stuck with a suckless wonder. (well, it only was good for about 6 months and then went down hill from there).

This Christmas, with our needle dropping tree, I decided the Dyson wanna-be had to go. A few days before Christmas I picked up the Eureka Smartboss as per my sister's recommendation. Fernando was a bit devistated. I guess the vacuum idea was his big gift to me. Oops!

He wrapped it up anyway and Mia made an adorable book to go with it. Hopefully I can figure out our new printer so you can see the pictures but here are some of the words at least:

Once there was this osm (awesome) robot
He would clean everything
The was only one problem though: His smile was attached to his nose
So nobody bought him.

In the end, the awesome robot found its way into my arms. And as much as I love my new sucky vacuum, the book was the best part of the present.