Nat's "Tea Party"--an actual tea party, not the political kind. ;)

Its been snowing in Idaho--yes SNOWING--in late April. We needed something to warm our hearts, so we got totally excited for the Royal Wedding!

I decided to throw an English tea party to celebrate the occasion. We had scones, english toffee, "Queen Anne" chocolates, herbal tea and hot chocolate. We also had little chicken salad sandwiches, shrimp, fresh fruit and poundcake. It was a fun girls night!

(Mom was also excited to see my apartment for the first time since I finished decorating it. This is my living room. The camping chair is not part of the redecoration. Hahah.)

We were inspired by Kate Middleton's hats...

We learned that these hats are called "fascinators"...
We set up a little craft station, using glue guns to make our own fascinators out of pipe cleaners, feathers, rhinestones and ribbon! Mom chose red, white, and blue to represent the British colors.
Suzanne, Barbara, Nat and Mom. Thanks for coming over ladies!

(This is on my couch in my living room...we are all squished in there, hence the awkward pose.)

The Cure for Nightmares

People have been asking how Mom and I are getting along without Dad. We have definitely missed him, especially during our attempts to do his chores-- like taking the trash can down the hill and brushing the burrs out of Minnee's matted fur. Mom says she misses Dad the most when she's at the house by herself at night.

To compensate for Dads absence, Mom has gotten into watching TV at night. Its so cute how excited she is to discover new TV shows. When I come into work in the morning (...noon), she tells me all about the shows she watched the night before. It is very surprising that Mom has taken a liking to intense crime dramas like...

She also enjoys these "lighter" shows...

Mom says she has been sleeping better than she ever has before since starting to watch TV. I thought the dramatic shows might be too stressful for her, but she says it allows her to let go of her real-life stress and decompress before going to bed. Who knew CSI could be a cure for nightmares??

Remember that one guy??

The brothers used to joke about how often Dad travelled by saying "Remember that older guy with gray hair who used to hang around here sometimes? I think we called him...Dad".

The joke wore thin after a few years, but unfortunately Dad's traveling hasn't slowed down a bit! Retirement has provided Dad with lots of opportunities for teaching and lecturing all over the world. He spent a few weeks in Rio at the World Federation of Chiropractic meetings, and then it was on to Durban, South Africa to teach at a Chiropractic College there. He will be there until June.

So, where the heck is Durban, South Africa?
View Larger Map

He will be teaching students about research methods, and doing other cool things like going to Rugby games! He says his apartment is "adequate", which has us a little concerned. He has his own room and shares a kitchen with the others in the hotel. He has cable and the ability to Skype us (remember he's 7 hours ahead, so midday is the best time). He will be sending me some pictures that I will blog about soon. We are excited that he's going on this adventure, even though we do miss him!

#18

Congratulations to Ryan & Heather! Looks like we will be adding another boy to our family--#18. Its interesting how the balance between boys and girls always ends up "even steven". (Seinfeld reference is for Ryan)

JJ & Jen are within a month of their due date too! Any guesses on when she will have the baby?

Due date: May 11

(but from what we hear, things are progressing well...maybe too well.)

Nat guessed May 5

Mom guessed May 1st

Here's to baby blue, blocks, trucks, dinosaurs, airplanes, animals, dirt and mud, scrapes and bruises, legos, sports, and of course, Star Wars!

Family Animals...."Faminals"

When we were growing up, each of us had a special animal that we were associated with. It was fun, and I think it helped Mom and Dad keep us all straight during Christmas. :)

Some of our animal assignments were logical, following from our given names, while others made less sense. Judge for yourself....

Barratt--Bear

Ricky--Raccoon

Ryan--Lion

Spencer--Skunk

Nancee--Rabbit

J.J.--Giraffe

Roo--Kangaroo

Nat--Gorilla

So, to carry on the tradition, we now have official animals for each of the grandkids. Some of the grandkids parents had already assigned them animals, while others let their kids who were old enough choose their own animals, and last but not least, some grandkids have the distinct honor to be assigned their animal by Aunt Natalee. ;)

Barratt's Family....

Sierra--Dolphin

Ashlee--Bunny

Brayden--Bear

Ricky's Family...

Lincoln--Giraffe

Logan--Lion

Ryan's Family...

Marissa--Owl

Mallory--Siamese Cat

Nathan--Airplane

Spencer's Family...

J--Skunk

Sam--Penguin

Knox--Cheetah

Mary--Monkey

Lea--Lamb

Nancee's Family...

Erica--Elephant

Sadie--LadyBug

J.J.'s Family...

Baby J.J. & Jen--Whale

Roo's Family...

Esme--Butterfly

These animals are reflections of the kids personalities, physical characteristics, and/or personal preferences. It is interesting to see what a wide variety of animals are represented in our family!

He's coming...

The Easter Bunny was just here in Pocatello, and I hear that he's going to be coming to a city near you very soon. Keep your eyes on the mail, because I hear the Easter Bunny has started using UPS and USPS to increase his efficiency. :)

Never a Dull Moment...

Sometimes I worry that I won't have anything to blog about. However, life keeps providing me with lots of material--so I shouldn't worry because it seems that there is never a dull moment!

For example, this morning when I woke up I noticed a little slip of paper under my windshield wiper. At first I thought "dang advertisements. why should I have to recycle when these people can just waste paper". Then, when I saw that the paper was from the police department, I thought "oh great. i can't believe i got ticket. what did I do this time?".

But, the paper just had a phone number and it said "contact me for accident report". I didn't get into an accident, did I? I walked around my car and didn't see anything wrong....until I got to the back and saw this...The bumper is literally just dangling off the left side of the car.
My tail light and break light were shattered, and glass was spread all over the street by my house.
The whole side is actually dented in, almost as high as my window! Its a little hard to tell in these pictures, but the car that hit me was definitely a big one to be able to do that much damage.

I know its hard to tell from these pictures but my car is jacked up. I talked to the police, but a report can't be officially released for like 3 days. They said it was called in as a hit and run, and that it happened at 3:15 in the morning which makes me think we will never find out who did this. I talked to the insurance people, who said that if we can find out who did it then we can hold them liable, but otherwise it has to come out of my pocket. How can people just hit a car and drive away?? Seriously?!

Sierra in local newspaper

The local newspaper in Temecula did a story on the High School's drama department. They had a nice quote and a picture from Sierra.

Check out the story here: http://www.nctimes.com/news/local/temecula/article_0cfa382e-4034-5f8a-b252-e1f81ccaadf0.html

Ryan & Heather & Family Visit Idaho!

We had another fun family visit last weekend Ryan, Heather, Marissa, Mallory and Nathan! They drove up from Salt Lake to spend the weekend with Dad before he left for South Africa.

The kids had fun at "Outer Limits" (our local arcade/kids gymnasium), the mall, and the museum. Marissa is really into birds (especially owls), so she thought the displays at the Idaho State Museum of Natural History were really cool. She even told Aunt Natalee that "this was the best museum I've ever been in". Hahaha. I think we'll have to take her to some better museums asap.

Grandma Tutu, Aunt Natalee, Ryan and Marissa spent Saturday morning doing a 3K charity run/walk at ISU. The race was to benefit Autism Research, and we all got t-shirts and water bottles. It was the first time any of us had done something like this. Ryan actually ran the whole thing and finished dang fast. Grandma Tutu and Marissa stayed together for most of the race doing a mix of walking and jogging. Marissa did way more than a 3K, because she would run ahead of Grandma about 100 yards and then run back to check on her over and over. Then, just to slow herself down, Marissa would do kartwheels and backhandsprings as they went along the race.

It was fun and we were proud of ourselves when it was finally over!

We also took the kids to a local science fair at the mall, where the Idaho State physics department was doing all kinds of fun demonstrations to get kids interested in science. Marissa was very interested and she knew a lot of stuff about science.

Meanwhile, I just could not get enough of Pocatello's "finest".

Mallory is very social and made friends with everybody at the play place. At one point she came up to us and told us about a boy she had been playing with, saying, "that boy gave me a hug. I think he's in love with me". Hahaha. She was very nonchalant about it, and then she went right back to playing. It was cute.

Nathan did lots of jumping and climbing and he especially liked to play on the trucks. I was impressed by how well he did with his letters and his numbers. And of course, my favorite is when he gives me lots of high fives!

Thanks for visiting guys! We loved having you!