Ew!!!! You licked a what?

A Slug!!!! We were at the Knouse Family Reunion last weekend and Eliza came running up to me so excited saying, "Dad, Dad, Look I found a slug!!" On a whim and partially as a joke I said, "I will give you a quarter if you lick it." which was followed immediately, without thought, with a, "No way daddy!" Phew! Sometimes I just slip into my scout leader mentality and start kicking out dares without really thinking. Well, a couple minutes later Eliza brought me the slug plate and said, "Dad, I washed the slug. Will I still get a quarter if I lick it?" I thought I had dodged that bullet but I was wrong. Eliza got the quarter.

The thing I forgot was that she still remembered the banana slug incident in the Redwood Forest in California. You see a few years ago we went to San Jose to visit my brother-in-law Joe. As we drove to the redwood forest Joe told me that if I licked a banana slug my tongue would go numb. Hmmmmm!! Sounded interesting. Always up for a new experience I promptly found one and bent down to test the tongue numbing properties of the yellow creature. Eliza started crying and screaming, "Daddy, no, what if it gets stuck in your throat?" She thought I was going to eat the banana slug. After a considerable amount of explanation she was calmed down and I tested Joe's promise! You know, you should all thank me! None of you need to lick a slug! Eliza and I already tried it! Your tongue doesn't go numb!

Oh yeah, and by the way, Eliza and Savana both held a snake that I caught while we were up there. It was a great weekend!!!

Latest on the Twins

So now Sara is up to two doctor's visits a week. All is well. No changes since last week. Sara will be at 34 weeks on Sunday. If she makes it 1 more week the doctor will take her off of bed rest and the medication and will let her go into labor. Sara asked the doctor if she could go to Katies wedding and he said it was up to her, but that if she went into labor in Orem he wouldn't be able to make it down to deliver the baby. So, Sara is going to try really hard not to go into labor in the Sealing Room or any time on the 25th because she doesn't want to steal Katie and JT's thunder. Thank you for all your prayers, well wishes, and help!

God's Fireworks Are Awesome

This morning we woke up to 27 new Day Lillies in the garden. How appropriate that on the day that people celebrate Independence with fireworks God sent us a display better than anything man-made. Hope you enjoy!

Twins, (W)Under Girls and Green Skies

So... I kind of failed miserably at posting on a monthly basis. Sorry! I got caught up in the facebook world and other internet past times fell by the way side. So, here is the update on the twins. If you don't know by now, they are both girls. So that will make #5 and #6 girls for us. We don't know if they are identical and won't know until they are born. They do both have the same nose though, and it is my nose and not Sara's (so sad for girls to come into the world with an English bubble nose instead of a sleek Italian nose). Sara is at 32 weeks and has started having contractions that are pretty much being controlled by blood pressure medications. She is on bed rest. The doctor says there is a great chance that we are safe for another 2 weeks at least, and optomistic that she can hold out until 36 weeks. We have almost decided on the names. We are going to keep with the tradition of classic names and call them Esther and Polly. Sara truly looks like she is going to split in two any day now. See for yourself.

Audrey is having troubles with potty training. Given the choice of playing and going potty she chooses the former (and let's face it, if it was socially acceptable I think we all would do the same). But in addition to her insatiable desire for fun getting in the way of proper waste disposal, it seems that she has underwear dyslexia. It doesn't matter if we tell her that the unders go on UNDER, because the other girls find it funny and mimic her. So now we call them our Wunder Girls! Something similar to this happened when Eliza was young. She was just learning her colors and, as a joke, I told her the sky was Green and the lawn was Blue. It took Sara 4 months to convince her otherwise.


I will strive to post weekly for the next few in order to keep you all in the know about the progress of Esther and Polly. And we hope you all have a W'under'ful Independence Day!