uuummm... can't think of a good title...

So we haven't been up to much worth taking pictures of lately. Yak is busy sticking his tongue out a lot. He also tried rice cereal for the first time. I forgot and left the box of cereal out on the counter, so of course Lemur got ahold of it and emptied the whole thing all over the kitchen... so nice. Lemur mimicks everything we do - here he is talking to "Boppa" on the phone at the same time as Steelhead.  He carries the whole conversation by himself. Bee had a birthday on Monday and we had lots of cake and goodies for that - I forgot to get candles, so we went "red neck" and used matches - you have to sing fast to get done before the matches burn out!  Our weekend wasn't that exciting. We had a funeral to go to, Martin went camping with the scouts, Hunter put up the wall tent and some of the critters slept out in it. Monkey had a football game - I'll post pictures of that later. We seem to be going, going, going all the time and are tired, tired, tired.

There is a new blog toolbar and everything is different - I can't find the spell check button - so don't make fun of my spelling errors! :)

For our anniversary we went up to the mountains to get a load of wood. I planned a fun picnic lunch for us: bagles with seafood spread; both crab and shrip. Chips and clam dip, and a bag of frozen shrimp that we cooked over the camp fire. Yummy! Oh, and of course, gourmet soda pop. (and actually, this was my idea; Hunter had the day off work, it was our anniversary, and we both love going to the mountains and getting wood - so don't laugh)

Sharpening the saw.

Lemur just LOVES it when Daddy uses the chain saw. He sat there and watched for the longest time.

This is where Yak hung out - he was happy and even took a nap.

Lemur is the most helpful 2-year-old I've ever been around. He rarely just plays with toys, he wants to be doing what we are doing (which is usually working). He helped load the whole pickup with Lemur-sized pieces of wood.

Tuckerd out critters!  Lemur fell asleep on top of the cooler in the back seat of the pickup.

Yak slept most of the way home too.  On the way home our front pickup tire blew out - coming down a mountain pass. Of course when the tire blew (it made a huge explosion sound!!!) it jerked the pickup to the right - where there was a - who knows how far down drop off - we slammed against the guard rail and fish tailed all over the road. I thought we were going to go over the edge, and said a very short prayer, "Oh God, please don't let us die." Hunter hung on to the wheel and didn't let us over correct, but got us stopped somehow without going over the edge of the mountain or swerving into the oncoming traffic (this in spite of his half crazed wife who actually grabbed the steering wheel to try and help him keep the truck from going over the edge. It's crazy what you do in times of great stress- I normally would never grab the wheel, but for some reason I did - and I'll never hear the end of it.) It is amazing what thoughts go through your mind when you actually think you are going to die. I remember thinking: I'm glad I just talked to my other kids on the phone and told them I love them. I wonder who will finish raising them. Grandma Bear? Grandma Panda? Chamealeon? Mrs. Fox? Their Dad? I also thought how ironic it was that we were going to die on our 5th anniversary. This all went through my mind in just a few seconds. When Hunter got the truck stopped, I started shaking and crying. I am usually pretty level headed and not much rattles me, but this did. We have so much to be thankful for and there were many more tears shed over the next few days, and many, MANY prayers of gratitude for our safe arrival home. Later when I talked to Martin and told him about this near death experience, he told me, "Mom, after I got off the phone with you, I thought about your safety and I said a short little prayer asking Heavenly Father to protect you."  More tears were shed. I know Heavenly Father hears and answers our prayers.

Geese and almonds

Last week we were at a park and these two geese were just kind of wandering around.  They would walk right up to us - not scared at all. The critters were a little intimidated by they - they about looked the critters right in the eyes. After we got home from the park, I guess Lemur was hungry because he got a Costco size jar of almonds and decided to have a snack; he dumped them ALL out on the hallway floor and started eating. With this critter it's just one mess after another.

Anniversary September 18, 2009

Friday, September 18, 2009 is our 5th anniversary.  I thought it would be fun to see how much we've grown in 5 years. Wow. So much has happened in 5 years. In some ways it seems shorter than that and in some ways it seems like we've been married forever (in a very good way!)

Weekend Part A: Shad's Wedding

Saturday evening, Martin, Bee and Monkey went to the BSU football game with their Grandpa. The rest of us attended the wedding of Shad and Cassi, a guy Hunter works with. It was a very hot evening. We didn't know anyone, but hung out together, chit chatted with ourselves and enjoyed the music and good food, and the decorations... the theme was duck hunting! Even their bird dogs were there: Drake and Bella.

Lemur enjoyed crunching on the ice (and the life savers that were all over the tables)

Yak enjoyed munching on his fingers - yummy yum!

Weekend Part AA: Shad's Wedding

The Centerpiece.

The cake - I thought it was very cute (and yummy too!)

Removing the garter.

Weekend Part B: SAFE!!

Hunter has been looking and saving and wanting a gun safe/fire proof box for all of his "stuff," and he finally found a good deal on a HUGE safe. He and the boys went and picked it up on Saturday morning. Then, of course, they didn't need to call anyone to help them unload it (it is only 1,100 pounds) so they worked and grunted and got it in themselves. (I was out working in the garden, and didn't get in to take pictures of the guys unloading it from the beginning). I was actually very impressed that the three of them did it themselves, and no one got smashed, smooshed, squished or swore at. They also didn't scratch anything (well, nothing REAL important) or break anything. (I actually went out and worked in the garden because they were stressing me out - I could just see the safe sliding out of the back of the pickup and shattering the sliding glass door or landing on one of their legs... or. or. or.)

UUUuugggh!

ooooffffdah!

gggrrrruuuuuuunnntttt!

The trek the safe made from the pickup, through the sliding glass door and through the family room ... please excuse the mess. The guys kinda rearranged the family room to get the safe in.

Finally in and... well, safe! I went downstairs yesterday evening only to find Hunter dusting the safe. I'm hoping his love of dusting the safe will transfer to a love of dusting other furniture. This thing is huge - I could literally put 4 of our critters in it... hummm. Just kidding. I'll find another time out spot.

Weekend Part C: around the house

The girls had their fanny packs on and Lemur wanted one too - but we only had 2. So we found an old lunch box with a clip that we could thread through his belt loops. He stashed all kinds of trinkets and food in his bag - just like big sisters, and followed them around all morning.

Yak is so strong - he has great head control and loves "standing" in this little toy. We put it in the middle of the kitchen floor and he is entertained while we do dishes or make dinner.

So happy - no matter where he is!

So I put Lemur in the tub and went to get Yak dressed. A couple of minutes later Lemur came running out of the bathroom carrying an empty Burts Bees Baby Wash bottle.... ayyaiyai!

I decided to just make it a bubble bath moment, so we turned the water on and got that whole bottle of soap all bubbly in the tub.

Of course Lemur had lotsa fun playin' in the bubbles! We had to turn the shower on and let him play in that a while to get all the soap off of him. He sure smelled good!

in less than a minute...

On your Mark: Get set: GO!

All pillows must be off the couch. All books must be out of the basket... all of the time. No exceptions.

Whew! I'm so tired!