Heart warming...

Kalie's husband, Kevin, came to stay with us on Saturday afternoon for a couple of days. I suggested to Boyd that he have Kevin help him put up Christmas lights on the house. After all, it was perfect weather and there aren't many days left of good weather before Christmas.

The two of them worked together for about 2 hours and the results? Well, I'll let you see for yourself.

In process...

Getting closer...

The finished product. Lovely!

Ahh, I feel warm all the way to the cockles of my heart.

Thanks guys! You're the best!

Rorschach

I've mentioned it before and I'll say it again. Having older children pick out and create their own costumes is the BEST!! Court wanted to be Rorschach, a super hero from Watchmen, and has spent time putting this costume together. He bought most of the pieces from the DI. The finishing touch? The mask, which he found at Hot Topic.

A closeup...

Ready to go fight crime.

Court wore this costume to work, but ended up taking off the mask because he said that a few of the customers got nervous when they saw him.

An afternoon with mom

I spent the afternoon with my mom on Friday. When I got there she was in the middle of making whole wheat orange rolls. For all you skeptics out there who wonder how an orange roll can possibly taste good made with whole wheat, rest assured, they were fantastic. I ate two! Even being on Feel Great in 8!

My mom is cutting the rolls up to put in the pan.

A plateful of her delicacies.

We thought we'd try a little more photographic beauty, in keeping up with Kalie. However, I think I need a LOT of practice!

I couldn't resist putting this video on my blog. It makes me smile.

Rhapsody in Blue

Alyssa is in a singing and dancing group called Rhapsody in Blue at her Jr. High. It provides her with friends, singing and dancing...all of which she loves.

Rhapsody in Blue performed a mini-musical review last week. Boyd and I were pleasantly surprised at how delightful the entire evening was. The best part? It was 45 minutes long!

Some of the girls in their Guys and Dolls costumes.

Guys and Dolls

And we all remember the songs from the movie Grease...

They ended with songs from Newsies. This was my favorite part of the concert.

Court helped Alyssa put her Newsies costume together. She looked great!

Birthday week

Yes, that time of year has rolled around again and here I am another year older. What do I think of that? I'm not thinking about it much at all.

Fortunately for me, my husband has been thinking about it and took me shopping for a new camera. I wanted a small, compact camera that would fit it my purse so that I would have it whenever I wanted it. We found the most delightful little beauty, an Olympus Stylus.


It's about 1 inch thick, 4 inches long and 2 1/2 inches high. I love the fact that it has a large LCD display screen on the back so I can see what I'm doing. It also has 12 megapixels and a 7x zoom. I know that there are better cameras on the market out there but this is the kind I need. For now.


As much as I would LOVE to SHOW you all the exciting things that have happened this week, it will have to wait a bit. Our computer has contracted a virus and is at the doctor's house. Sad day, but better things are coming. I promise.

Extreme Chair Makeover

I needed a chair to sit on when I teach piano lessons. I was tired of sitting on folding chairs and dragging in chairs from the kitchen.

One day when Boyd and I were walking through the DI I spied two chairs. I thought of Sandra and her DI finds and makeovers so I talked to Boyd about them and we bought them.

I removed the seat, sanded the finish off the wood and spray painted them black to match my living room. Then Boyd and I went shopping and found some fabric that worked with the paint on our walls. Putting the fabric on the seat was the most difficult part but it looks pretty good.

It was a lot of work but worth it in the end. Now I have a comfy chair to sit on while I teach.

Before...

After...

Rhapsody in Blue

Rhapsody in Blue is the Jr. High's singing and dancing choir. There are an equal number of guys and girls. Alyssa tried out in April and made the choir. She is enjoying the whole experience, and has a fantastic teacher.

Maybe it should really be called Rhapsody in Black this year since the girl's dresses are black. They are quite nice with a sweetheart neckline and a good A-line skirt. The costume parents made white sashes to tie around the girl's waists to brighten up the dress a bit.

This was the first concert of the school year. Because the school has gone to A and B days, essentially they had half the days to prepare. Rhapsody was doing a medley of songs from "Grease". Despite the diminished time, the group did really well and the dancing was really cute.

A quick rehearsal before the concert. Alyssa was wearing her neck brace to keep her neck supported.

A closeup of Alyssa, one of the few I have so far of her new haircut.

Even though it's blurry and grainy this is a picture of one of the dances that the kids did.

Neck'n

As I was teaching piano lessons yesterday I got a phone call from Alyssa asking me to pick her up from school. I told her I couldn't come and get her because I was in the middle of a lesson. Her voice sounded funny so I asked her what was up. She told me that she had been doing a back flip at school and that she had fallen on her head.

OUCH!!

Falling on your head isn't good, but is even worse when you do it in the Jr. High commons area. It's basically a cement slab covered with carpet. Her friend brought her home and I felt her neck. She had a large swollen area on the back of her neck and an egg-sized bump on the top of her head. She told me that her neck hurt and that the pain was radiating down her back.

Panic set in.

I canceled the rest of my lessons and took her to IHC. The doctor was very unhappy because Alyssa's neck was not being supported by a neck brace. He did get one for her and then sent her to have a CAT scan done.

Thoughts of broken necks, surgery and healing processes were running through our minds as we waited for the results of the CAT scan.

The results came back and the doctor told us that everything in Alyssa's neck was just where it should be. No broken bones. She just needs to wear her neck brace as needed.

What do you mean, Murder?

I committed murder today.

Our family went up to Cache Valley to attend my nephew Spencer Jensen's farewell talk. As I was on the freeway I saw a pigeon calmly standing in the middle of my lane. He saw me as I saw him and he flew up a little too late. I hit him. Hard.

His body hit the driver side mirror and then landed on the side of the road. I could see him fluttering in my rear-view mirror and I knew he was dead meat.

Just so we are all clear, it was not premeditated murder, it was completely accidental.

Try telling that to the pigeon.

After the cruel death I looked in my driver side mirror to look for traffic and noticed my mirror was pushed in and dangling a bit. The pigeon DESTROYED my mirror! Try driving without a driver side mirror. It's hard.

When the meeting was finished I went outside to look at the remains of my mirror to see if anything could be done to help it. I pushed the mirror in and miraculously it snapped into place! I don't know how it worked so well but it did. And I am glad. Because we now have a functioning mirror again.

A picture of Spencer Jensen, the missionary-to-be. He's going to the Richmond Virginia mission.

I love this picture of Rose because she has a lovely black shirt on and her son, Matt, totally covered her shirt with chocolate slime.

Heather and Darrell with Spencer.

We caught the last of the color in Sardine Canyon; it was still lovely.

Warning!!! Graphic images ahead!

This post is mostly for Kevin's eyes. Boyd went in to the hospital for an endoscopy. He has to have one every 3 years and this is the year. When the doctor went down his throat to take a peek inside he found a bloody polyp in his stomach. He burned it off so that it wouldn't get worse.

The bottom right picture is of Boyd's bloody polyp, not a pumpkin. The photos on the left are of Boyd's very clean and healthy esophagus. Yay!!

Court through the years

Court is officially an adult, a crossroads that he has taken very seriously. I guess he feels that an 18-year-old person should know everything he needs to know and should act accordingly. But really this is what Court needs to know: that he is a...

...happy child...

...Virgin river walker...

...clarinet player (ready to go to the band concert)...

...Bowman's employee...

...artist...

...eagle scout...

...good dater...

...brother...

...friend...

...dang lucky person to have his own phone...

...good person...

...wonderful son.

Happy birthday, Court!