How To Make a Chubby Baby...

Summer believes that title implies that this entry is about the process of making a baby and that I ought to change it to "How To Make a Baby Chubby..." We argue a lot about this sort of trivial issue. Anyhow, here it is, and it's not about baby-making.

Recently, Cheryl blogged about Ben's first foray into rice cereal. So, ever the competitive one, I chose to take some pictures of what Evan eats:
That's right, the 5 month-old is eating Carl's Jr. fries. Don't tell the folks at Children's Services, or the state might take him away. And, no, he didn't eat the whole pack of fries...

And here he eats some real baby food:

Snow Day!

When Summer, Evan, and I woke up this morning and Summer turned on the TV, we learned that a winter storm had hit the city and left us crippled, so much so that both the kids' school and my work were opening late. Here is the snow accumulation out front:

Later the kids' two-hour delay turned into a full-blown cancellation. For good measure, here's the backyard:

Note the ice. Pretty terrible, huh?

You Know You're Old...And News

The news will be the penultimate item. To begin, I'm feeling old these days, so here are ten signs you're old, plus a bonus item:

10) Gray hairs appear

9) The gray hairs multiply

8) You stop counting the gray hairs

7) New hairs sprout in places they didn't before

6) Your college students are closer in age to your children than to you

5) Your children can make their own beds, sort their own laundry, and make their own lunches (this one's pretty nice, but it still makes you feel old)

4) You find yourself talking wistfully of decades past

3) You realize that you've been married for nearly one-third of your life

2) You think more about retirement than you do high school

1) You're called to the Stake High Council (This is the big news for us from yesterday's Stake Conference--thanks to Mom, Dad, and Nathan for making it to town for this occasion. We appreciated the chance to spend time with you.)



And, the bonus. You know you're really old when your son is a High Priest.



Thank you, thank you very much. I'll be here all week.

legoracers

Lego racers is fun i push the forward botton dad pushes the side botton to turn
By ryan

The Story Begins...

Ten years ago today Roy and I decided to get married. I think no one was more surprised than our parents (sorry folks!) who didn’t even know we were dating. Even though we were so young and goofy, and it was a sudden engagement, it has turned out beautifully these last ten years. It is odd to think that there was a time when we weren’t together, even more strange to think there was a time when we didn’t know each other. I love being married to you, Roy. You are so kind, thoughtful and generous. You always have the ability to make me smile and laugh, even through the tears. I love you!

What's Your Color?

When I got home from work today, Evan was napping, and a few minutes later he woke up, so I went and picked him up. After I took the blanket off of him, I started laughing. You see, Summer dressed him as seen below, forgetting how I was dressed:
My own mini-me!

I told Summer, and she explained that she was dressed opposite the baby, as seen here:

So, we like blue and we like browns. Apparently Isaac was wearing blue jeans and a brown jacket when he and Summer picked up Ryan, who was wearing khaki pants and a blue polo...

The Boys at Home

The older kids are back in school, and I was off work this week, so I was able to observe both Isaac and Evan in their natural habitat. Here is what I saw.

First, Isaac speed-reading the first Harry Potter book:
And here Isaac tells Evan how it is:

After their little chat, Evan decides to try this sitting up business:

The object of Evan's interest here is, as one would guess, his mother. He's gotten to the point that he can sit like this for a minute of two before toppling over.

Sun Bread

The kids and I found a great book at the library called Sun Bread by Elisa Kleven.

In it some animals, who are tired of the long winter, make sun bread to call the sun back. On the back there is a great recipe to make your own sun bread. On Sunday, after a drizzly, gray day we decided to make sun bread. It turned out a little darker than I wanted, but still just adorable.

We all enjoyed eating it as well.

My New Camera

On Christmas I got a new camera. I have started taking pictures with it. It is silver and I can
put new covers on it . I have taken a few pictures with it. They will start being on a blog.
I will start doing more and more blogs once in a while. I will start blogging a lot now.

A New Year of Hikes

To celebrate the new year, the kids and I went to the Elena Gallegos open space on Tuesday and tromped through the snow for a few hours. The Pino trail leads east up to the mountains, eventually meeting up with the 20 mile Crest trail that runs the length of the Sandias at 10,000'. We didn't hike that much...

About 1/2 mile up, we paused for a picture of the kids:
After nearly a mile we reached the edge of the Forest Service wilderness area, where we decided to turn north and circle back to the parking lot. The trail was more involved than we expected, so our short hike turned into 2.5 miles, with a lot of up and down. The kids were great; here they hit one of the hills:

One of my favorite parts of this area is the topography of the Sandia foothills. Here's a shot of the northern edge of the mountains from about halfway along our hike:

And this is a view south from the same spot:

The snow from a few weeks before was mostly melted on the south-facing slopes, but, as seen above, in the shade and on the north-facing slope, there was still a bit of the white stuff. Much of the trail was muddy from meltoff, especially in stretches where mountain bikers had dug ruts.

And here is my favorite vantage from the hike--looking west across the valley. From this far up, you can see 12,000' Mt. Taylor, an ancient volcano that resulted in the lava fields of El Malpais, near Grants.