dumpster day

My enjoyment of this spectacle may be one more sign that I don't get out much, but really I find this entertaining.

Periodically (once or twice a year), there is a day where the sanitation department places many huge dumpsters throughout the neighborhood for one day. They do not need to be there a whole day however, this is a competition that is all about speed.

12:00 p.m : A dumpster is placed in front of my house.

12:01 pm: the neighbors have converged on it with their trash.

1:00 pm: It is overflowing. All the dumpsters in the neighborhood look the same way.

It never ceases to amaze me.

lost in translation

We get our movies from the library. I let Cali and Kimi pick out some for themselves and they inevitably end up with something anime. You know, the big eyed Japanese animation?

This week the movie they picked had a very interesting theme song that I just wanted to share the lyrics to.

This is the actual translation (the song is sung in Japanese) from the subtitles:

One, two, three, Fight!

Laughter on your face suits you best afterall.

pa, pa, pa, panyo, panyo, pa

So let's eat the lucky cookie together

When you're in trouble, talk to me

a little about anything

pa, pa, pa, panyo, panyo, pa

I can be of help to you

Even if we fight or cry

we get hungry during lunchbreak

Always happy, smile, hello

I love delicious things

I shoot what I dislike with lasers from

my eyes to make it explode

You see?

Happy, smile, hello, there's a picnic every day

There's a lot of happiness in a pocket

let's play forever

Immediately, happy, smile, hello

everyday is Sunday

Stumbling once in a while is no problem

Fight!

No matter how far you need to go

mi, fa, so, la, ti, do, re

Thanks!

getting out of the sixties one step at a time

This (which was seriously even uglier in person) is now rotting in a landfill somewhere:

Did you see that one lightbulb? It was the only light on that that actually worked. When we got it down Scott said it looked like something that had just been dragged up from the Titanic. No joke.

Now I have this:

SOOOO much better. It not only lights my stairway, it warms my heart.

Only one problem: it has now shed light on other things in need of updating.

Does anyone know anything about stripping layers of paint off a wrought-iron banister?

welcome home jeff

Jeff returned home this week from his mission in Texas. We went to help give him a proper reception.
We are glad to have him back, but even more glad that he served those people so well and served as a great example to our kids.

pumpkin update

I bought canned pumpkin at Smith's today.

I will sell it to anyone who would like some for $30 a can.

I'll ship it for free just because I like you all.

Just kidding. I think perhaps the reports of the shortage have been exaggerated.

Phew.

flashback friday: taking a trip down memory lane

Because I feel like the only trips I get to make anymore are trips to Walmart, I scanned a few photos from my trip to Europe in 1997 to remind myself I have been a few places and seen a few things.

The Schillerplatz in Stuttgart on a market day.

Neuschwanstein Castle on a rainy day.

The Charles Bridge in Prague at the end of an amazing day.

a post three months in the makings

Happy first day of Fall!

Can you believe it? I can't. In celebration of this day I am finally putting up a post I have been meaning to do and one that took all summer to make. This year for fun the kids and I grew some sunflowers. Who knew a dollar packet of seeds could give us this much fun?

Here is the fence area we picked right after we planted.

Imagine my relief when they popped up. For other people not as much is riding on horticultural success, but you have to remember I have a college degree in it. Laughable, to be sure.Ian put himself in charge of watering and learned two lessons.

1. Don't hold the hose straight up in the air

2. When mommy goes to unkink the hose, don't look down it to see where the water went.

This is when I thought they had reached their full height of 5-6 feet, as the packet stated.As you can see they got a little bit taller. Closer to 11 feet, but we didn't complain to the seed company.

Now they are looking a little depressed with their heads hanging down. I think they know that the summer is over. Goodbye, summer 2009, you were fun while you lasted.

WANTED!

I tried to buy canned pumpkin this week at my Walmart and there was none to be found. I thought maybe they just weren't stocking it yet, but then I read today THERE IS A CANNED PUMPKIN SHORTAGE! I look forward to Fall just so I can bake all sorts of pumpkin goodness. I am going to be scouring all the grocery stores around me, and hopefully it's not as bad as its been reported.

I'm sure something is sinking in

This is a little taste of our family scripture study last night which is representative of every night. Imagine us sitting at the kitchen table, the three older kids coloring and drawing while Scott reads.

The scripture is about Jesus calming the sea, and Scott asks a question.

Scott: Do you think that you would be scared if you were on a ship and waves were going clear up over the ship?

Cali: I just found out orange and pink make peach!

Scott: That's great. Kimi, do you think you would be scared if you were on a ship and waves were going over the ship?

Kimi: If we were aliens and we were on a spaceship we could just fly over the waves and then we wouldn't be scared.

Scott: Or if you had Jesus with you.

Kimi: Yeah.

family pictures

We have needed a family picture for a while now. I asked Janice to come over and snap some of us and she was wonderful to come over and do it. Luck was with us and we got one with everyone looking at the camera and looking happy. Hooray! This is no small thing with little kids.

After she left I took some of the kids so I would have some potraits.

Oh, Natalie, I just had to stick two of your pictures on here, you cutie.

(6 months)

Ian (2)

Kimi (4)

Cali (6)Hard to believe that all these cute kids are mine.

labor day breakfast 2009

Ah, Labor Day, the crisp autumn air up in the canyon, the smell of scones frying in the morning, and the sound of children falling in the creek at the Richard's annual family breakfast in Millcreek Canyon. I asked Grandpa Richards how long this family tradition has been going on and he thinks it has been at least fifty years. Now that's a tradition.

Everyone at our table was enjoying their breakfast while Grandpa Colton was frying up some of his famous eggs and little smokies.

Here's Cali and the other kids before her spill in the water. She wasn't the only one there to take a dip.

All in all, it was a perfect morning to get together with family and enjoy some good food in a beautiful place. Did I mention there were scones?

a spoonful of peanut butter helps the peanut butter go down

Now that Cali (our allergy-riddled child) has begun eating lunch at school, I was able to do something yesterday I've never done before. I made peanut butter sandwiches for lunch. Kimi had to be bribed with chocolate milk to try it, and then found it was pretty tasty.

Ian, on the other hand, found his new best friend. After wolfing down a sandwich, which doesn't usually happen, he wanted more so I gave him a spoonful. He then wanted more, and more, and more. He pulled the jar out again before he went to bed. And got it back out this morning as soon as he got up. Guess who ate a good breakfast of peanut butter toast followed by a few spoonfuls of peanut butter to wash it down.

I feel bad I have been depriving him of this for so long.

Thanksgiving Point

Some of my friends from high school and I got together last week at the Thanksgiving Point gardens. It was a two dollar admission day which was a steal to get into these fabulous gardens. It was so fun to reconnect with old friends, some of which I don't think I've seen in almost ten years. My memory card kind of seized up after this photo so I didn't get a group shot unfortunately.
Kimi was my map reader and Ian was there to give me a push from behind if we were taking too long. They are always willing to help.

flashback friday: yellowstone 2003

That is Cali and me on her first trip to Yellowstone. We were living in Rexburg and my dad called me up one morning and asked if I'd like to go for a drive up to Yellowstone with him. I jumped at the chance.

I can't believe Cali was ever this little.

I hear that driving around Yellowstone still has this effect on Cali.

ride on the not-so-magic school bus

I wish that I could post a picture of Cali getting off the bus, but it wasn't meant to be.

Unbelievably to me, we had another experience like last year. I thought I had all my bases covered so she would get on the bus and make it home. It all worked out up until the getting off at the right stop. The bus driver was new and stopped a few houses before the bus stop so Cali waited. I watched the bus stop and then leave with no Cali is sight. "You've got to be kidding me." was all I could think.

I raced to the phone to start making calls, and between calls to the school (where I got no answer) the phone rang.

"Is this Jana Colton? I have your daughter here."

It was happening again.

Cali had gotten off at the next stop which is across a busy road in the parking lot of Walmart. Unable to cross the street on her own, she broke down and cried, and some nice strangers found her and called me. Thank heavens for those nice strangers because I have nightmares of what would have happened if some not nice strangers had been around. By this time Scott was home and raced to bring home our sobbing Cali.

So I had covered all the bases except getting off the bus anywhere the bus stops on our street. We just keep getting curve-balls thrown at us. Scott made the same calls I made last year to the school and transportation, and we have told Cali to talk to the bus driver if she misses her stop.

Here's hoping that we have no more experiences like this.