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!

J.J. and Jen's New House (Part Deux)

When we last saw J.J. and Jen's house, it looked like this.....Then they started putting the bricks up....

And now it looks like this!!

Here's a view from the kitchen into the great room when the drywall was going up....

And the same view after painting....

Catwalk during drywall process...

Catwalk/Banister/Staircase after...

Great room/fireplace during drywall....

And after....

Kitchen being worked on....

And the kitchen now.... can I just say WOW! Gorgeous!

The bedrooms and bathrooms are coming along nicely as well.....We can't believe how fast this house is progressing. If things keep going at this rate, Baby Boy will have a brand new house ready and waiting for him when he is born in May! It will be fun to see it in real life!