Is It Naptime Yet

Last night a cold front came in. Jon’s been doing a graph with the girls where they record the temperature every night at 7:30. Thursday night it was 81 degrees, Friday night it was 69!

Today we’re suppose to be in the 60’s all day. Yikes! This is pretty normal for Vegas in the Fall. We get a large drop in temperature, then it usually warms up a little and then we get  another drop and it stays colder though, it might warm up a little once again.

I was pulling out the long sleeves and pants and I realized I have nothing for Lilah but two shirts. All her clothes are 4T and even though her ankles look so cute peeking out the bottom of her too short pants, they just ain’t gonna work for winter.

Eden’s has a few 3T’s, but not a lot so I’m gonna have to beef up her wardrobe too.

I may do a little shopping today for the basics because I want to be prepared for the winter and I like clothes shopping, even if it’s for the girls and not me.

A while back I was watching PBS while cutting out the fabric for the girl’s summer dresses. On was show about Harry Truman and I loved it. I found it so interesting and he’s become one of my favorite presidents since watching it, though I had liked him before.

One interesting fact is he was elected as FDR’s vice president and FDR died just a few months, into his fourth term. His doctors knew he was going to die, but for whatever reason they went ahead on  letting him be reelected for the fourth time.

It makes me think of our current republican candidate, John McCain. I know 70’s not that old, but I do worry about him dying, though it could happen to anyone at anytime, and I don’t like his vice president, not that I like the democratic vice president any more, but I don’t like Palin at all for a president.

Anyways, we watched the PBS special on Jimmy Carter the other night and now I want these DVDs on them. With homeschooling I think these biographies are so informative, not only on the person, but the world events that were taking place, since the person they’re about was a president and had to deal with these world events.

I’m just a big fan of these historical biographies and want all of them on the presidents, maybe even the one on Fidel Castro and Freud, and anyone else I think is interesting.

I’d put these on my wish list on amazon but amazon doesn’t sell them, so make a mental note honey, though you sent me the links, I want these DVD’s and I think they’re totally worth the slightly overpriced price since it’s PBS.

I was at Sunflower Market today and I was buying a couple bag full of peaches.  An older gentleman, as in old enough to be my father and then some, commented on how good the peaches were that we were buying.  I mentioned I was going to try my hand at canning and he said he’s thought about it, but why can when you can easily go buy canned peaches? I mentioned our avoidance of high fructose corn syrup and he seem pleased. He then said I should go to Southern Utah to buy from the fruit stands there, the peaches we were buying were suppose to be from Utah, but I replied I never go to Utah. He then went on to say he had a house in St. George and goes up regularly. He joked that I should give him my number and he could buy the fruit for me. I laughed and said that was a thought.

I don’t think he was hitting on me per say, I think he was joking and in a way it came out wrong. There was no awkwardness, but it was still strange.

If only I really did have a connection to the Utah fruit, though the food storage specialist in our ward has given us opportunities to buy fruit. That’s where I got my 25 lb, box of apples for Sam and me.

I bought not too many peaches because I found a video on youtube and it looks like I can make as much or little syrup for the peaches and I only have four jars to put the peaches in. The peaches were on sale at Sunflower, and all very green, so I’m letting them ripen and experimenting canning the peaches myself later this week. Hopefully next year I can be better prepared and possibly can a box of peaches.

Canning is time consuming and not necessarily price effective but I’ve found two reasons why I think it’s good.

One: It helps the environment since you’re reusing bottles. Rather than buying a new jar of applesauce, jam, or a can of fruit , you reuse and reduce waste, something I’m trying to become more aware of.
Two: you have complete control over what goes in the food. You can make reduced sugar jams, and can fruit in a better syrup, though it’s still a lot of sugar or honey. (We’re trying to avoid high fructose corn syrup and I dare you to find a canned fruit that does not contain it. I’ve looked, maybe not hard enough, but enough to see it’s in a lot of brands.)

So I’m thinking of making this a new hobby. I just don’t have the space for a steamer of my own, thank goodness for friends who are willing to let you borrow, or space for tons of bottles of fruit. I hope we can find space if I do make it a hobby.

It’s such hard work, but fun at the same time.

I have a guest post over at Mormon Mommy Wars today.

It’s not a topic I would normally post about, but it was on my mind after a mean comment.

I’d link directly to the post, but then they get a link to my blog in thier comments, so I’m just gonna link to the site and you’ll have to find the post.

Mormon Mommy Wars

Guest post: Baths and blogging meanies, October 8, 2008

I’ve officially gone over to the dark side, well it’s not really that dark, but I do feel bad since I’ve always used Bloglines.

I’ve converted to Google Reader.

I noticed that I had at least two blogs which were not being updated and thus I couldn’t make  witty comments on them. Not that I make witty comments regularly, they’re usually just silly comments.

So good-bye Bloglines. I wish you well for those that don’t have gmail and still use you. Hopefully you update their blogs better than you updated mine.

Just now I was watching a show on PBS about the Colorado River and the seven different states that use it’s water and how we’re having a drought and will eventually lose our natural water resources if we’re not careful.  I had no idea so many states took from the Colorado river. Arizona takes the largest amount and nearly the whole state uses water from the CR.

It almost makes me want to move to where we have more sustainable water resources, IE anywhere by the Southwest, but then Jon reminded me that where water is, so are natural disasters.

I might stay here a wee bit longer, especially since we won’t have money to move for a long time.

It did seem like Nevada is one of the more active states when it comes to telling it’s residents to conserve more water.

Lilah is very aware of water conservation and she often will say, “Once the lake runs out we’ll all have to move since there will be no more water. ”

She’s right and I hope those of us who live in the Southwest are very aware of our water situation and those who live where it is plentiful appreciate it, because one day we might evacuate to where you are, though I hope the Colorado River never runs dry because of it’s impact on the environment, not only because of the impact on my home town.

On Saturday we went to the Las Vegas Natural History Museum. My sister Kristi was taking her family to celebrate my nephew’s birthday and they invited us along. I haven’t been since I was a kid, and Jon wanted to check it out, so we all went.

I didn’t take my camera, so no pictures, but the girls seemed to enjoy themselves. They weren’t freaked out by any of the stuff animals, though I slightly wanted to be, and they loved the fish tanks and shark exhibit. They have fake dinosaurs and the T- Rex makes a loud growl/noise and that freaked ’em out a little, but they just kept their ears covered and still enjoyed the dinosaur exhibit.

It was fun and I may buy a family pass there, since it relatively close and all indoors. I do like the Springs Preserve more, but you have a lot of walking outside, with the animal exhibit also outdoors, and as winter comes this might be a nice getaway, and it can be good for the summer too.  I debate between getting a pass to the Natural History Museum or the Children’s Museum. Both are a little ghetto, but all indoors, and it mostly depends on where they would have the most fun, for the least amount of money.

We came home and I tried to watch General Conference. They girls were either pretty loud with their coloring, or I was falling asleep once I got the laundry folded.

I went grocery shopping later that afternoon and used my three reusable bags and didn’t need any plastic bags. Since Eden is potty trained now we don’t need plastic bags to put diapers in, and now I’m trying to go green. It felt good to not waste any plastic bags. Now I just need to remember to bring my reusable bags in on regular shopping trips to Target or other stores.

1. I hate drinking cold, like really cold, water. I like room temperature to cool.
2. I have to take off my wedding ring and dry it after I wash my hands. I can’t stand the feel of a wet wedding ring on my finger.
3. I still bite my nails, but that’s a little more gross than weird.
4. I wash dishes in a specific order and I prep them. I’m really annal about it and never just go and dive into washing dishes for the dishwasher.
5.  I hate taking baths. Bathtubs are gross, unless they are brand new and have never been used. Even right after they’ve been clean I find them gross ’cause there’s usually some residue of the cleaner left in it.
6. I have a vivid imagination about really crazy things. If Jon is ever late I get really worried and think of all the horrible things that might have happened to him.
7. I’m very fair skinned and proud of it. I hope to keep younger less wrinkled skin because I don’t try to tan.

I tag Anna, Elizabeth, Fallon, and Bethany.

I think I’m suppose to tag seven people, but many of my readers have already done this, or were tagged.

On Friday our home school meet up group made plans for the group to attend Bonnie Springs. We were able to attend on school prices. It was $2 per adult and $1 per child, compared to the normal rate of $20 a car.

I’ve never been to Bonnie Springs so the thought of wearing shoes, over sandals which I wear as much as possible, never crossed my mind. So here’s a warning if you go to the petting zoo at Bonnie Springs wear shoes. We were able to avoid any messes, but man are you aware of the free roaming animals which leave their poop around when you’re in sandals.

The girls loved the animals. At first I thought all the animals were in cages but as we ventured farther we saw a free roaming rooster, and then the donkey, a couple deer and then we saw a llama and some goats. I think the friendlier animals were free roaming, but their was a very feisty goat that was head butting and chasing the other goats. That was a little scary when you have a front row seat.

I forgot to call my friend Beth about canceling the dress fitting for her daughter. So she called me and while I was talking to her I looked over to see one of the deer eating Lilah’s shirt! I was unable to get a picture but she was so happy and just giggling away at this deer eating her shirt. I did get a picture of the deer while another little girl was feeding him.

While we were just beginning our exploration we walked into a small area but a llama apparently wanted out, so he kinda forced us to move out of the small walkway. Lilah thought it was hilarious, as you’ll see in the video, but Eden was freaked out by it and could not get away from the large llama fast enough. I think that made her very weary of all the animals and she only touched a ferret that a worker held for the girls to pet.

We saw lots of interesting animals and the girls loved seeing each of them.

After the petting zoo we wandered around the old town Bonnie Springs and then watched a melodrama that two ‘actors’, I use the term loosely, put on. They then had a very cheesy shooting and hanging skit.

We wandered around some more and then ate our lunch in the car off of Charleston, or a pull-off to some hike. It was a beautiful day and perfect for being outside. We watched two monarch butterflies go by our car. I think it’s migration time for them.

Here are the pictures of our adventure. The song is by Jim Gill and is called The Sound Effects Song. I only used the first half, since I’m only showing 20 pictures and the first half goes with where we were, kinda.

Last week my eldest brother Glenn got remarried to a wonderful woman, AnnMarie.

They had the wedding in the chapel, so no picture taking was allowed. My battery started to die during the reception so I have some pictures, but we probably would have taken more had it not died.

The reception was held immediately after the wedding. Things went pretty quick so I wasn’t able to get a picture of them cutting the cake, since I was returning from taking Eden to the bathroom when I realized they were cutting the cake, and the camera was in my purse.

Here’s my view, with a few pictures that Jon took, of Glenn and AnnMarie’s wedding.

Bride and groom with parents. AnnMarie, Maggie Harvey, Larry Harvey, Glenn, and Norman Homer.

Shawn, the best man, with baby Zarina.

Dad and Glenn.

Part of our table: Katy, Eden, Lilah, and Jon.

Beautiful Carolyn.

Amusing story: I was eating right handed with Eden on my lap. It was quite awkward and we kept getting in each others way. Carolyn suggest I eat left handed, and I mentioned that I would probably drop my food since I was right handed. She said “Look it’s not that hard.” and attempted to eat with her left hand only to drop the grape on the floor. Point proven and very funny at the time.

Cute Zarina.

The cut cake.

Derek is so GQ. It makes me want to have his soda.

How much food can Lilah fit in her mouth?

Wait, Carolyn’s back. Let’s take a picture of the happy couple…Well, at least one of them is happy.

Having fun with Daddy.

Cute Eden.

The couple dancing.

Look over there so I can steal your food.

(Dad and Mom with neighbors Nancy and husband…I can’t remember his name.)

The crazy Parks, Andrea, Zarina, and Brien. One is definitely a little crazier than the others.

Glenn dancing with Mom.

Getting the car ready. This was just the beginning.

Eden was never in the confetti filled car helping to put toilet paper on the seat belts, I swear.

Having fun.

One sad thing. We decorated the car, only to have the couple slip away without anyone knowing.