Float-tacular at the Parade of Lights

Click HERE to see what we did last Saturday night! (Skip to picture #3) Thank you, Arizona Republic, for the great picture! And to the Tumbleweed Tree Lighting Event that gave us our Award. What's that? You're reminding me that I have made fun of this Weed Tree Tradition in the past? On past searchable blogposts, even? Well, if I did, it was out of LOVE. Because I love Chandler's Tumbleweed Tree, piled high with Tumbleweeds; what most people think of as, well, weeds. We Reuse, Reduce and Recycle here, we make Weeds into works of Art, and then 10,000 loyal citizens (including me!) gather round, sing "Bah-hoo Doray" and watch it be lit. I love Chandler, AZ. :)

Some behind-the-scenes photos:

Would you Carrot all for some Veggies?

The girls harvested these yesterday from their own little plots in the garden. Freshly grown carrots are a different breed from bland-store bought, and I'd forgotten how delicious they were!

Thanksgiving Polar Bear Swim

This Thanksgiving, the Club consisted of One.

This One:











Sixty-two Degrees, Friends, Sixty-two Degrees.

Eli tells Mom how babies are made

Eli was in his room doing his timed reading for school.

He was reading this:

I was rushing out the door to pick Lizzie up. He ran out of his room to stop me.

"MOM! I found out how you got pregnant!"

Of course I had to stop and find out, because, you know, I'd been wondering.

Eli holds up this page:
Looking directly into my eyes, Eli tells me declaratively: "You have been pregnant ever since you married Daddy. " {Dramatic Pause, so I can let this information settle in}

For proof, he shows me this chart. "See, it says 'the male sperm cell' - that's Daddy - 'and the female egg cell' {Eli gestures to my stomach like, duh, that's obviously you} 'join together and form a zygote' {he pronounced it "zig-got"}."


"Zygote," I corrected him.

"Yep, and then, see this picture? A baby starts forming, and right there, that's the baby's face when it starts growing!"
{This is a child's view of the beginnings of a baby. A circle for a face, and two circles for the eyes. The rest is ancillary.}

showered with love!

Lisa threw me the most darling baby shower last night. I felt so loved! And I was so happy to be in attendance since I have missed two of my last three childrens' baby showers because I had the baby early. Good planning, Lisa! :)

Lizzie was so excited to come - she helped facilitate smooth present opening, as well as submitted at least 100 ridiculous baby names.

Here's me filling up my plate. I ate an unladylike amount of delicious food...

Thank you!

Irritable Ike Update

We thought concerned readers would want to know that we received the following letter yesterday:

Dearest Adam, Aimee, Lizzie, Eli, and Ivy,

It has come to our attention that one of our employees, a Mr. Ike P. Irritable, has insinuated himself into your household and proven a considerable nuisance. We hope you appreciate that our policy here at Honeycomb Turkey Industries, Int., has always been to bring joy and delight to our customers - not unmade beds, choral discord & automotive disfunction. Our turkeys are meant to sit quitely on a mantel or perch on a dining room table and BE NICE! We are distressed to have seen your video - oh, oh, we forgot the part about the torn up homework - horrible, horrible! Or as we at Honeycomb Turkey say at times of great dismay - Gobble horribilis! Gobbilis horrible! OR gobble, gobble, toil and trobble! (Hunh?!)

Please accept our sincere apologies. Rest assured that next year you can expect a much better behaved Turkey. We've already set aside a coule of suitable candidates: Mean Maniac Mike or Peter Pesky Pest. Until then, have a wonderful Thanksgiving!

Sincerely - Cyrus B. Wonkel Bottom, President & CEO

In a show of good faith, we thought we would publish Honeycomb's apology letter, to avoid any further damage to their company's reputation our turkey and his exploits might have caused. But be assured that we will think twice before inviting Maniac Mike into our home next year...

A Rare Sighting

The elusive couple, Erin & John, were rumored to be spending the weekend in balmy Tuscon. Reports circulated of a celebrity sighting of them in Phoenix when they took a day trip to the greater metropolitan area yesterday. The were able to be bribed to take pictures with common civilians. Later, the jet-setting couple were spotted dining at the urban pizzeria, Cibo's, and then hobnobbing at Symphony Hall to see the avant garde concert, "Nixon in China."

In other, lesser, celebrity sightings, Lizzie had her picture taken with the past president, Richard Nixon. He's shorter in real life.

Cheers!

The latest Symphony project has been a concert version of an opera called "Nixon in China." It catalogs the historic event of 1972 when, yep, you guessed it, Pres. Nixon visited China. Strange topic for an opera, you say? Wait till you hear the music! It's written by the American composer John Adams, and they call his work "post- minimalist" music, meaning that there is a LOT of repetition, and steady rhythmic pulses. It's a little out there. But it's actually really fun to sing, and I think I might love it.

Click here for the Phoenix Symphony's Video preview of Nixon in China

Cousins!

When you live far away from your beloved fam, it's SO nice to have someone you're related to nearby! (Photo credits: Ivy Stewart)
And even more fun when you're only 1 month apart in your pregnancies...

And how fun is it when your kids are only 6 months apart and become instantly inseperable?

Thanks for a fun afternoon, Kim and Boston!

Print this if you're lost. Except if you need to find North.

Here is a writing sample Lizzie's teacher sent home with me tonight at Parent/Teacher Conferences. Sadly, it appears that Lizzie has inherited my sense of direction.

"Direction Hunting"
Telling the direction you're facing is actually really easy and a good habit for hiking and long trips, and you don't even need any tools! But before you start, make sure it is either sunrise or sunset, or close to one of those. Next, think of this poem; it's always handy:

'The sun rises in the East and sets in the West"

What's important about this rhyme is that it's true wherever you are in the world. If it is sunrise, look where the sun is/is supposed to be. The direction you are looking is East.

If it is sunset, look toward the sun or pink clouds. That way is West.

If you'd like to put them all together, or find all the directions, guess where you think South ought to be. If it is fall, look for a big flock of birds that are flying South. That way must be South.

North is the last direction left. To be frank, I don't know how to find North. But if you're doing all directions, North is the last direction.

Good luck on you're direction hunting!"

Yes, honey, good luck! You'll need it! ;)

And since I've teased Lizzie, I will share with you a compliment as well - her teachers love her creative writing! One said that not only does she have an excellent voice and word choice, but she is able to keep her writing focused without rambling - a tendancy of many writers her age. There you go. Who needs to know North and South when you can write stories about those places instead?

Pretty Kitty, Fruit Bat, and a (sometimes) Deflated Kickball

Irritable Ike

Here's our little video about a present from Aunt Janet and Uncle David...

Scarier than a Haunted House...it's...

...Traffic School!

I know, I know, you want to hear about the kids' cute Halloween costumes, but it's Traffic School that's on my mind...

Yep, the reason I'm blogging today is to share with you my new knowledge of traffic laws and how to violate them. For example, did you know that it's illegal to honk for any other reason than to avoid a collision? I didn't, but I do now, thanks to Joe, the Master Traffic School Teacher. And did you know that in Arizona, it is perfectly legal to change lanes in an intersection??? What the? I'm going to start doing it, just because I can.

Master Joe was entertaining and lively, and provided much live footage of Arizonans breaking traffic laws right and left. We saw an (empty) car get hit by a train, a view from the Light Rail system of cars turning right onto their tracks, and red light runners that make your hair stand on end.

All this reminded me of my last time in traffic school, back in 1997. I was living in Provo, Utah, and I was about to meet Adam, but hadn't yet. We spent several hours in a musty UVSC classroom subjected to a movie titled "LEMON LAKE" - cataloging the series of poor decisions a group of kids made while taking a road trip to "LEMON LAKE." It impressed me, but probably not in the way they wanted. It left me yearning to fill a void of quality film making in my life - please let me watch a B-grade movie! Or something that got raspberries on Rotten Tomatoes!

Apparently, I must have been more impressive than "LEMON LAKE" to one traffic school colleague of mine. With his shaggy half-bleached hair and a hackey sack at the ready, he unabashedly told me during one of the many lulls of "LEMON LAKE" that he was illegally parked. Imagine my surprise when the next day, when the fog of the traffic school spell had worn off, when my roommates left me a message that "Dirk" had called for me.

I warded off any potential advances this time, (12 years later, but you do get some desperate guys in traffic school), with my Skeleton Maternity Shirt.

You asked for it!

Six months along!

Five Little Piggies

This little piggy caught swine flu.





These little piggies have none!

Then this little piggie caught the fever...




We all say H1N1's no fun!

But THIS little piggy, (while he stayed home from school), cried, "Yipeee--eee--eee--eeeeee!" (WITH his fever)...

All the day long.

Thanks for the new shirt Vickie!

Order one at www.gladditudes.com!

We made it!

For the last two/three months, the family goal has been "Get through September." Since it's now October 4th, I think it's safe to say we have met our goal.

I know, we're not ambitious, but we like attainable goals.

We threw a family reunion called "Millions of Morleys" in July, we got the children's choir up and running for a new season, I directed the choir for Stake Conference, threw the elementary school's annual Ice Cream Social for 700 people, and sang a concert at the Assembly Hall. And lived to tell about it.

Since October 1st, I've been wondering what this feeling was that I was feeling, and I believe that it's relief!

Do you know what this means? It means that now there is time for things like cooking artichokes! We got two of them in our Bountiful Basket yesterday, and I'm boiling them right now and I can't wait to show the kids how to peel the leaves off, dip them in butter and then draw them between their teeth to scrape all the goodness off.

Adam is working on "Today" - the Millions of Morleys music video from our reunion this summer. I know he is working on it because tears of laughter are streaming down his face. That's a sure sign.

Lizzie asked me today if we are going anywhere, and I gleefully answered her - "No!" We're staying home and watching General Conference from the blessed comfort of our homes, and we're going to have boiled artichokes and work on Family Videos. Maybe go for a walk in the newly cooler weather. Sounds heavenly.