Pizza Play

This is how we (minus me) play "Pizza".  Started 11 yrs ago when Seth was an infant.  

Daddy's the pizza, someone is the sauce, someone else the cheese, and then all the toppings.  Before, Baby Seth was the only little pepperoni.  Now there are lots of toppings!  Olives, mushrooms, anchovies.  Wait--no one likes anchovies--who is the anchovy? 

 

There's also a favorite song from the Signing Time videos the kids love:  "The Silly Pizza Song."  It goes something like this: 
"I like apples on my pizza.

I like apple pizza please.

Put the apples on the cereal, 

Put the cereal on the ice cream,

Put the ice cream on the pizza,

Don't forget the extra cheese!"

Our version:  

"I like Bridgers on my pizza.

I like Bridger pizza please.

Put the Bridger on the Aspen,

Put the Aspen on the Hanna,

Put the Hanna on the Seth, (YES--Seth is under there in the blue shirt.)

Put the Seth on the Pizza,

Don't forget the extra cheese!"

(Wish you could hear the tune.  It's a pretty catchy song.  Fun to sing!)

Buffalo away from home

 We still saw a lot of buffalo in Utah, even away from home.  (Those of you who don't know:  our neighbor has buffalo that we see every day.)  Also saw some live on a farm just outside of Peoa, Utah as we drove by.  (I looked for the ones near Heber I remember as a child, but didn't see them.)

This is at the Bean Museum at BYU.

 Across the street from the Utah Capital Building.

The painted buffalo reminded us of all the painted Quarter Horse statues all over Amarillo, TX.  I think Amarillo is the world capital for the American Quarter Horse Association, and there were over a hundred painted horses with all different designs around town we saw while we lived there.

Ironically, right across from that buffalo statue was something else that totally reminded me 

of living in Amarillo.  This sign:

 

 Not very respectful, especially outside the capital!  Reminded me of all the random street signs in yards  in Amarillo.  I ought to post pictures of those someday...They are truly "random", much more so than this one.

Spring Break Trip to Temple Square

I usually like to stay home over the short school breaks, so it actually FEELS like a rest from school.  But sometimes, if we want to take a trip, it really is convenient to go over Spring Break, especially because Troy's busy time at work is in the summer.  At least in the spring, there's not as much snow to drive through, and it's not as dark.

It's been a LONG time since our kids have been able to REALLY SEE Temple Square.  The last time, Seth was a baby.  (This time, Seth didn't end up getting to see it either--since he chose to stay home with Troy.  It was mostly a girls trip, plus Bridger.)  Besides visiting all the grandparents, we wanted Yeon to get to visit Temple Square, since it might be her only chance in her whole life.  We found a Korean sister missionary there, so it was wonderful for Yeon to be able to have the tour and things explained to her in words she really understands.  Her conversational English is wonderful now, but when it comes to church vocabulary, it's still foreign.  Gramma and Aunt Tonie kept Bridger and Molly for the morning, so us older girls could really enjoy seeing parts of Temple Square.  We also watched the Joseph Smith movie in the Legacy Theater.  Even though we'd just watched it a couple days before at home, it was much more powerful and touching to watch it there, without distractions.  Ahhh, words just can't describe how good it feels to be there and enjoy and see some of the church's history.

 This Sister actually lives in the ward right next to the Mission Office of the Teajon (Daejeon) Korea mission where Troy served a mission 20 yrs ago.  She would've been a baby then, but Troy actually served in other wards around there and not hers.  Small world though!  (Especially in the church it seems.  We can always find connections somehow.)

 It was a cloudy day, and had even snowed during General Conference 2 days before.  But there was a little bit of sun when I snapped this picture.  What a remarkable temple, that took 40 yrs to build!  (And where our family was sealed for eternity.)

 This is just outside the Legacy Theater in the Joseph Smith Memorial Building, 

where we saw the Joseph Smith movie.  Biggest Bible we've ever seen!  That page of the Bible led to life changing history, that's for sure!  (When Joseph Smith read James 1:5)

 The magnificient water fountain that only turns on a few minutes every half hour or so.
(I really hoped to get some wedding pictures by it when we got married, but it wasn't on when we were taking our photos.  Boo-hoo.)

 Some fun reflection pictures, looking into the Church Office Building windows.

 Fascinated by the waterfall falling down the side of the Conference Center.  Their cousin Quinn looked at it and said, "There are sharks and mermaids in there!"  Then she looked at the tour guide and asked, "Are there animals in there?"

 On top of the Conference Center.  It was windy and starting to rain, so they barely allowed us to take this quick picture before hurrying us off the roof.

 Bridger was most content to hide out behind the Christus, away from the crowds of people in front.

 One of my favorite part of Temple Square:  the flowers!

Molly kept saying "Big Piano!" over and over when she saw the pipe organs 

in the Tabernacle and Conference Center. 

I was lucky as a youth about 20 yrs ago, and got to have a tour back inside all the pipe chambers of the Tabernacle Organ.  There are 11, 623 pipes.  One of the neatest things I've ever seen.   And heard! (Someone was playing "Hark the Herald Angels Sing" on it when we were touring it back then.  Sounded sooo amazing to be right in the middle of all that sound!)

Molly's favorite food this year

 

These pictures are from a few months ago, and it looks like she doesn't like this, but actually she LOVES it.  I need to take better pictures before this phase passes.  It's little spoonfulls of sticky (Asian) rice wrapped in thin sheets of Korean toasted seaweed.  The seaweed is called "Kim" (pronounced "keem").  A couple times this week when we sat down to dinner, no matter what we were eating, Molly would say "wice?  wice?  keem?  keem?"  (rice and kim).  The Korean kind is a little different than the more common Japanese kind that's easier to find in stores, used for sushi.  (The Japanese kind is sweeter.)

Camp Zarahemla Winter part 2

Molly and Aspen both had upset stomachs, and big stomach aches, but we went anyway.  Luckily, Molly only threw up in the van, and not the cabin.  She only drank Gatorade the whole time.  I took extra bedding in case of that though.  Aspen said it was no fun going on a trip being sick.  This was actually the first time I wondered if it was worth the effort to go.  But I wanted to make a memory, so we did it.  It took a long time to microwave everyone's dinner and breakfast and hot cocoa in the cabin, and the plastic covered bunk-mattresses woke me up anytime someone moved.  Oh well.  It' was still cozy and funnish.  My favorite part was probably laughing watching them sled, and walking to and from the bathrooms in the dark.  It's so PEACEFUL outside with the stars and quiet after dark.  The moon was reflecting on the lake.  Ahhh, those were blissful moments.  (Except for trying to keep from slipping on all the ice.)

 Some fun moments.

 Right before Seth got elbowed in the eye by Hanna.

Seth trying his darndest to smile with a profusely watering eye still.

 Happy 39th Birthday Daddyo!

Because it was also Troy's birthday, I wanted to try and make it special by doing something out of the ordinary.  That was another reason I was willing to go "camping" that weekend.  (Birthdays around here are usually EXTREMELY ordinary and blah.  I better start thinking of what to do to make it special next year for his big 4-0.  I pretty much failed back at the 3-0 mark.)

 

On the way home, passing through Yakima during a big windstorm, we saw an enormous smoke cloud billowing in the distance.  It was FEBRUARY, not summer.  What could be burning that big, this time of year?  A farmer's haystack?  Later, we found out it was that awful windstorm that spread a chimney fire in the town of White Swan, to 18 other homes that all burned.  How awful! Unbelievable! 

The famous Teapot Gas Station seen from the interstate in Zillah. 

Not bad for a drive-by picture, courtesy of Seth.

Growing Pains?

After much persuasion and bribery, Bridger finally agreed to take some medicine this winter.  He CAN be reasoned with a little sometimes now.  He's willing to take something to help his "swallow" not hurt so much.  (Though when the medicine wears off, he thinks the medicine didn't work.  Doesn't quite get that it won't cure it immediately, and it won't last forever.)

Another funny "growing" story about him:  I've told him when he eats new food, it will make him get bigger.  In fact, we pay him a quarter (he thinks it's a dollar) every time he tastes a new food--even candy.  This was right after he drank a little bit of juice, for the first time willingly.  He said something like, "I drank juice, so I'm getting bigger muscles now, see?"  and then he pointed to his elbow.  I tried to get him to show me his bigger muscles again, (with the camera this time), and he was not thrilled.  I tried again the next day, and he still wasn't willing.  Oh well, here are several attempts.  I guess it's not really his face we're after anyway.  We're just looking at his "muscle," right? (It was just so cute when he first said that with a big smile, I was hoping to capture that excited, happy expression.)

(There's the lego set in the background he's saving up his money for.  Doing extra jobs, or eating new candy to earn the money!)

Summer or winter?

Is this in summer or winter?  Take your pick.

Here's a clue.  See what's on the water in the top of the next picture?

ICE.  

Yeah, I did NOT support them swinging over an ice-cold lake!  I told them if they fell in, they really could seize up from the cold and die.  (But when they did it anyway, I took pictures, hoping the whole time I wasn't taking their last pictures!  Scary.) 

We heard it was fun to go sledding in the winter at Camp Zarahemla, so we went up one night last month to try it out.  The whole way there, there was no snow!  I was worried.  Luckily, there was a little left at the Camp.  The sledding hill was very icy--and the kids all got hurt the first few times down.  But then they figured out how to stay safe, and have lots of fun.  It was odd to be sledding in warm weather.  Didn't even need boots or gloves.  (I did haul all that bulky stuff up there.)  Hanna was still in her shorts from PE, with slip on shoes and no socks.  But when she used the top of her foot to brake herself, she got a "snow-burn" (ice burn?).  Ouch. 

 We figured out they had to use their feet at brakes in front of them the whole time, otherwise there would probably be broken bones, it was so icy!  Some of these pictures were just before dark, thus the low quality.  We went sledding again the next morning.

Maybe I'll post more pictures in another post.  This is enough for now.  (Takes a lot of pictures to show everyone at least once.)