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If you missed it, last year we moved our blog to http://ok.lyonmania.com - follow us there!

Change of Web Address

We've moved our blog over to be on http://ok.lyonmania.com.

We hope you'll continue following us over there, when you have time.

Mother's Day

As her mother's day wish, Missy wanted us to do some work getting our yard, particularly the front flower beds, in ship-shape. It was wonderful. Everyone pitched in to some extent. One thing all the kids helped with was to dig the deep holes for the two rose bushes in front of the garage windows. Here are some pictures since I realize you probably want to see them. We added the roses and the yellow flower in the middle to the area by the garage and Missy planted a ton of small plants in the center, island spot, along with a couple larger purple flowers.







It really was a great time and I think we all enjoyed it. At one point, I had finished the holes for the rose bushes and came over to the island to see what Missy needed me to do next. I was a little snippy that she had just shoveled dirt out onto the cement around the island instead of taking care of it as she dug (like I had). A little later, after I had apologized and we were back to working contentedly,

Missy: I notice you've been taking all that dirt to the back yard. I'm curious- where are you putting it?

Dave: Well, I put one load over on the south end by the bush the rest all in the flat empty space at the other end of the yard.

Missy: Oh.... You mean the spot I pulled all the weeds out of, planted seeds in, and have been watering for weeks?

Awkward pause...

Dave: That's the place.

Missy: So I guess we've both been a little disappointed. Are we even?

Dave: No, I think you've got me beat.

:)

As we started I realized we didn't have a wheelbarrow to cart away all the red Oklahoma dirt-clay we'd be pulling out. We didn't even have an empty bucket. So the best I could do was the container we had all the little yard things in.



Unfortunately, it was big enough that if I filled it up I could barely move it. Tricky. As I scanned the back yard looking for a place to dump the soil, my eyes fell upon this remarkable product of American industry. OK, probably not made in the US, but thought up here?



You may be shaking your head, but it could hardly have worked better. I just sat the container on top of the cart and balanced things as I pushed it along. I was surprised but it held up without a hitch. Kind of puts into perspective how much punishment toddler toys are intended to take.

As I shuttled dirt back and forth I thought about how sometimes we don't feel up to what we have to do, especially in callings. It's as if the Lord were looking for a wheelbarrow and his eyes falls on us, the little shopping cart. We protest- "I'm not up to this!" But he smiles and says "You'll do just fine." We may not think we can pull the load required. But we can. He knows it before he places the load there.

When we were kids, our parents had us memorize some poems including this one (which was my favorite because it involved swords):

This I beheld, or dreamed it in a dream:
There spread a cloud of dust along a plain;
And underneath the cloud, or in it, raged
A furious battle, and men yelled, and swords
Shocked upon swords and shields. A prince's banner
Wavered, then staggered backward, hemmed by foes.
A craven hung along the battle's edge,
And thought, "Had I a sword of keener steel
That blue blade that the king's son bears, but this
Blunt thing!" he snapped and flung it from his hand,
And lowering crept away and left the field.
Then came the king's son, wounded, sore bestead,
And weaponless, and saw the broken sword,
Hilt-buried in the dry and trodden sand,
And ran and snatched it, and with battle shout
Lifted afresh he hewed his enemy down,
And saved a great cause that heroic day.

- Edward Rowland Sill

It's sad that we often think of ourselves as the useless, blunt instrument, ill-equipped to accomplish anything. But the King's Son knows better.

Sorry if I got too philosophical. Manual labor leaves my mind free to contemplate things like that.

Here's a thought: Endowment and Dowry

Today I looked up definitions and roots of the word endowment. It can be either the gift or the process by which the gift is given. A couple things that stood out were some synonyms of one definition which stemmed from the idea of it being a talent or personal ability: capacity and qualification. As in who the Lord calls.

I hadn't even connected the words dowry and endowment which share the common latin root which means the wife's portion. Particularly striking when you think of all the times in scripture the Lord compares himself to a bridegroom and Israel/the Church as the bride. Just something to think about.

I Would Vote for Him

Because I love his website. I know. It's a horrible criteria to use, but his site looks really nice and I love his opening jab at his opponent. Of course I neither live in Salt Lake County nor do I know what he stands for, but as the clerk for the county I would (I think rightly) be most concerned with what he says on the main page- he gets the information together and to who needs it as quickly as possible.

Take a look.

I also agree on the term limits angle. I think people that spend that long in public office (20 years) completely lose touch with the people. I'm to the point that I think I would just vote against any incumbent. Think of the money and time that would be saved if you could only serve for one term in any position. For those that say that the representatives would never have the right contacts to get their constituents anything, I say that you don't understand the way our government is supposed to work.

Father-Daughter Field Trip to Sam Noble Museum

Nina and I had an awesome time last Thursday. I signed up to be a chaperone for her class, dreading that that would mean several kids to chase after. It turned out it meant I got to go with just Nina!

The museum was interesting, and our picnic lunch was great. The bus ride to and from wasn't even that bad!

Camping! Can you believe it?

Yes! We actually went camping for real last weekend! It was a very easy beginner camping trip to Arcadia Lake only 20 minutes from our house, but it was a big milestone for us. In the past 5 years our tent has never made it out of the living room. The kids were so excited and their enthusiasm was the thing that made the trip great. Dave and I both have memories of camping as a kid- and the experience is much different from the parent side. It is a lot more work. We arrived at our campsite late and even with rushing to get everything set up and ready we were still eating our hot dogs and roasting our marshmallows in the dark. Who knows how many bugs were sticking to our smores as we shoveled them in our mouths?

One thing was the same though, everything sounds creepier at night. As soon as everyone was all snuggled in and the kids were beginning to drift off to sleep. . . Dave and I heard footsteps outside our tent. And then a big CRUNCH. I guess when we cleaned up after our dinner in the dark we missed something- most likely a peanut or chip- and we had some visitors clean up the rest for us. It sure scared me for a while and Dave couldn’t even lay back down for a long time. When we got up in the morning Dave was telling the kids about the animal that we heard eating our leftovers at night and all the kids were guessing what kind of animal it might have been. “Raccoon, squirrel” suggested Grant. “”Skunk, beaver” suggested Nina. “Or a Hippo!” suggested Rachel. Yup, gotta watch out for those wild chip-eating Oklahoman hippos!

Our second wildlife experience occurred when Grant saw a baby lizard on the ground. Everybody gathered around it to see- it actually took a while before any of us realized that it was a plastic toy.

All in all, it was a pretty good experience. Nothing bad happened. Most things went smoothly, what more can you ask for in a camping trip?

Bird Mobile

Nina and Rachel and I made this cute bird mobile around Easter time. We have really enjoyed our little flock, but I can only handle decorations hanging around for about a month and now it is time for it to go. We wanted to immortalize it on our blog so saying goodbye would be easier, and so we would show off how cute and crafty we are.

Who Do You Think You Are?

I don't watch much TV. I don't think there's much I'm missing, and I'm busy enough as it is. But one show I do watch and have really enjoyed is "Who Do You Think You Are?" about celebrities looking into their family history. Particularly eye-opening/though-provoking were the episodes featuring Emmett Smith (Slavery) and Lisa Kudrow (Holocaust). A couple of the celebrities come across almost stereotypically- Missy and I would roll our eyes sometimes. But on the whole, it was interesting how normal they are. We particularly liked how Lisa Kudrow was really nervous about calling someone.

The last two episodes of the season are this Friday and next Friday, so take a look.

If you've missed the others, you can watch them free on Hulu.

April Fools Day 2010

A few April Fools events worthy of mention:

1)The "elementary school" called Grant in the morning and asked if he could be the substitute teacher for his class that day. It says a lot about Grant's opinion of himself that he agreed with no questions asked. I broke the news to him that it was a joke after he had already written out a schedule of what he was going to teach all day (I think he added a few extra recesses). He was a bit relieved, but also disappointed because I had told him that substitute teachers usually got paid. Funny thing- his teacher actually WAS absent!

2) Nina tricked Dave into believing that his new Droid cell phone had been delivered, when all it really was was a box with R2-D2 and C3-PO in it.

3) Grant got a lunch box full of baby food- including baby formula in his water bottle.

4) We had a crazy mixed up dinner- some of the menu included fried humming bird eggs, fried ostrich eggs, jello-ed drinks and cookies that looked a whole lot like fish sticks.

Easter

My girls and I had a visit with the Easter Bunny at the mall. Funny thing- the Easter Bunny is deaf! We were chatting with him for a while and the girls started signing to him and he signed back. It turns out that he knows sign language pretty well. He actually must be pretty good at lipreading because he understood us perfectly, but would reply in sign. So I guess it just means maybe he just can't speak. Well, after all, he is a bunny. . . who also lives in a giant teapot. Some parts of how we celebrate Easter just don't make much sense.
Here are my sweet Easter Chicks. They were not happy to have to pose for pictures when they wanted to start inhaling their Easter candy.

Sure, she may look all sweet and innocent, but our Meg is also known as the Destroyer of Pansies. Aren't Pansies edible flowers? I hope so. But the Destroyer of Pansies does not care if something is edible or not before she tries to eat it. Her other favorite things to nibble are bits of carpet, various strings and hairballs. Yum.

Are You Mad?

I saw this somewhere online some time ago (I didn't read it but just clipped the image to write about it later- it's from Newsweek). Just the headlines say a lot about our society. Call me crazy.

Fill Out Your Census Form and Send It!

For those of you that have not received or followed through with your 2010 Census Form, I am begging you to take care of that today. A report last night said only about 50% of households have sent them back. If you send it, it costs taxpayers 42 cents. If you don't they must be law knock on your door, so then you're costing taxpayers about $60.

Saving tax money aside, recently I've been spending a lot of time doing genealogy and leaning heavily on the federal census. It is an amazing resource. I hope your descendants won't need a census record to know who you are, but you never know...

Catch-up

I finally downloaded the pictures from my camera from the last few months, so here are a few random pics and brief explanations. I am having difficulty aligning the picture to it's caption, so you will just have to match them up yourself.

Nina and I made these mini-cupcakes for her Kindergarten class when I came to teach the Meet the Masters Art lesson on Goya. The kids drew self portraits of themselves and then got to have a Goya or Boya cupcake.

We celebrated Dave Day on Feb 28 this year. Rachel and Dave have the same birthday in June, and Dave does not like sharing, so he gets his own special day on a different day of the year. Mysterious finger prints kept appearing in this years Dave Day cake. (Rachel was the guilty one!)

My two little princesses and I went out on a Girls Movie Night to see the Princess and the Frog together. The movie was OK- but none of us were very impressed by it. Too much frog, not enough princess.

The grand finale of our Valentines Day celebration was a modified chocolate fondue dessert. Rachel got a dessert and a facial treatment all in one.

The medieval fair - part 2

As Grant already wrote, we went to the Medieval Fair last weekend and except for the bitter cold, rain and whipping wind, we had a great time. When we left our house the weather was pretty nice- as an afterthought we grabbed sweaters for everyone just in case. When we arrived at the fair an hour later it was raining and a cold front had moved in. Forget sweaters, we should have brought our winter coats!

How could we miss an opportunity to dress up? The kids put together their costumes the day before. Dave indulged the kids and allowed them to do this, but absolutely forbid me from even suggesting that we dress up. Dave has a very high personal geek tolerance- but even he has his limits. After going to the fair and seeing the general type of adult who does this, I think I agree with him.
Does this dress look familiar to anyone? Nina is wearing our traditional Bachelorette Makeover party dress. With a few alterations it makes a great Medieval Girl dress. Smile Fair Lady, you look great!
Rachel was our Jester. She played her part well.
Grant would have really loved to dress as a wizard type Merlin guy, but we already had the knight costume.
It was so cold that I thought Meg would be warmer if I held her close to me in the front carrier rather than in her stroller. I then wrapped her blankie around her and tried to button my sweater around that. So that is what it would look like if I was 16 months pregnant. And the tree lady is pretty cool too.
With the stroller empty the girls took turns huddling in it for warmth. Rachel makes a really cute Jack-in-the-stroller.

The medieval fair

Yesterday I went to well.... just read the title ! Nina and Rachel got a book and I got a wand with a real quartz on it! We saw some real sword fighting! But sadly , IT WAS FREEEEEEEZING AND SUPER WINDY! We ate funnel cake! Have more questions ? COMMENT!

FREE CONTRY!!!!!!!!

I decided to blog about a kids freedom. Well first of gdvchn cbjh HEY RACHEL STOPCCCCC RRRRRRRRRRRR DON'T MESS UP HEY TURN1` ` qsd off the yooowwww nowwwwww stopbbbbbbbbb hey I'm trzn AAAAAAAARRRRRRR! I'llHaaaaave to calloooooo you back later!!111111!111!!11dfgjyvhybcbbhgf P.P.P.P.P.P.P.P.P.P.P.PP.P.P.P.P.P.P.P.P.P.P.P.S. look for Free country,phew Rachel ls asleep

My Tofu Quest

I have a difficult time cooking meals for my family. Firstly, there are not many non-dessert foods I know of that my kids actually like (Grant is convinced that he is a dessertatarian). Secondly, if I do find a meal they like and make it for them, they stop liking it. Thirdly, I admit I am not a particularly skillful, creative, or even careful chef. (It's hard to spend much effort on something that is destined for the trash can anyway.)

Our wonderful family sit-down dinners that we have almost every night often involve screams of "I hate this", "yuck", "do I have to eat it?" and "how many bites" which is followed by "go to time out" and "you'll sit there until you eat it all." Add a little crying, a lot of whining, and even some vegetables flying and I am sure you get the idea. (And they say family dinners lead to better nutrition and family bonding?) But through it all Dave is my ROCK. No matter what I serve, no matter how badly I cook it, he is my champion. He eats it all, being the good example to the kids and telling me how great the meal was. He has a firm rule that no one says yuck or is disrespectful to his wife at dinner time. He has eaten tons of blue cabbage, pea soup, broccoli soup, spaghetti squash and zucchini- all foods that are not his favorites, all with a smile.

All until the day I put tofu in the stir-fry.

Apparently that was the line, and I crossed it. The kids wouldn't touch it. Dave only ate a few bites and even cracked tofu jokes the whole time. It was kinda like this (that's a tofu turkey they are eating in the clip). For some reason he has a very strongly held (and unreasonable!) prejudice against tofu. And that is when I resolved that I would not rest until I could make a tofu dish that every one, especially Dave would love!!! And I would keep trying and trying until they did! Wahahaha!

So far in my quest I have made two things that have proved acceptable. The first is a chocolate pudding- it calls for blending 1 cup of melted chocolate chips (how can you go wrong with that?) with a package of silken tofu adding a little milk and almond extract and viola! My family is eating tofu!! And loving it! The other is Tofu Parmigiana. It had a 60% approval rating. Dave really liked it and everyone ate it. Only Nina needed coercion. Anyway, so that's my new quest. Anyone have any great tofu recipes?

English 101 by Rachel

Rachel is the type of gal who doesn't like to be told anything, but likes to figure things out herself, and then teach others. Lately she has been explaining to me her take on some common English words. Here is a sample of a few "Rach-a-nitions" that were too funny to forget.

Safety pins- "Mom, I know why we use safety pins. It's so that we won't be scared. Safety pins protect us from monsters."

Pineapple-"Mom, do you know how to make a pineapple? You get a pie and put an apple in it and mix it up and put it in the oven and then you have a pineapple."

Butler- "Mom, I know what a butler is. A butler is a ler who brings you butts."

D.A.V.I.D. G.R.A.N.T. L.Y.O.N. pt3

L.ion

Y.????????????????

O.utstanding

N.ot non-mischef-like

Thats all!