The Austin Buxtons

Excuses

2010-12-05T16:00:00.001-08:00

So...at the beginning of the year, I decided that I was going to be much better about posting. That's gone well. There are a couple of excuses that I like to use for not updating the blog. 1. I never have a turn on the computer. 2. I lead a boring life, and no one wants to know about it. 3. When I do have time, there is always something to do that seems more important, like laundry, fixing dinner, or vacuuming.
There are several things wrong with these excuses. 1. I can always kick someone off of the computer. 2. Even if no one else reads my blog, at least I have some sort of documentation of our "boring lives". 3. I think that I will just stop fixing meals, and use that time to do some of the things that I would like to do. Eating and food preparation are such a pain. Now that my kids are old enough to feed themselves, I say, "Let them eat Ramen!" Lance can scrounge something up for himself. The problem with this plan, is that I am too much of a people pleaser, and I feel a lot of guilt about things. If I don't fix a nutritious meal, my family won't like me anymore, Lance will think that I'm a bad wife, and we will all be malnourished, and every illness and injury will be my fault. I can't take that kind of pressure, so I guess that I will fix dinner. It would help if the cats and the dog who are home all day, would do a little more work around. I wonder if I could teach the dog to vacuum?

It's snowing in Austin

2010-02-23T14:06:00.000-08:00

Aiden loves the snow, so when it started snowing here he was so excited. Lucky for him, they let school out early, so he promptly came home and made a snowman. Of course it is not your traditional snowman. It's an Aiden style snowman.
So the yellow armpit is nasty, but afterall, we do have a dog.

5th Grade Musical

2010-01-19T13:16:00.000-08:00

The 5th grade presented a short musical about "The Adventures of Lewis and Clark" As you can see by the look on his face, he was super enthusiastic about it. He did a great job and was a good sport. I wonder if there were any blond or red headed Indians. Brennan was just glad not to be a dog.

Aiden's haircut

2010-01-19T13:09:00.000-08:00

So, for almost 2 years, Aiden has worn his hair rather long. He finally decided that it was time for a change. he said that living in Texas, it's too hot for long hair. I think he's looking pretty good now.

Other Current Events

2009-12-25T18:42:00.001-08:00

I haven't blogged in so long that I decided to add a few more photos. Aiden up to his usual. He could at least get off the couch and use the vacuum that is sitting next to him.

Brennan and his friend Ethan were nice enough to come along for Sophie's Sunshine Generation performance. The Christmas show was really fun, and Sophie did a great job!

Brennan has been saving his money for a long long time in order to buy a pocket rocket. Lance finally decided that he had saved enough, and pitched in a little to help him out. He's had a great time riding it. I've even taken it for a spin. Not a lot of leg room.

Christmas 2009

2009-12-25T18:03:00.000-08:00

We've had a good Christmas day. The kids were really happy with their presents, and we felt like we were pretty good about not going overboard.

Grandma June was here with us again. It's always nice to have here visit, especially on special occasions.
Aiden received the usual from Santa: Legos.

Brennan was thrilled to receive a tether ball set for us to install in the backyard, as well as a DSi.
Sophie was thrilled with her new sewing machine even though it later made her pretty grouchy.

Brennan and Aiden gave each other airsoft guns. They've been out shooting targets (and most likely each other) for a lot of the day.

Lance's parents gift to our family was ROCKBAND. We've had fun with it today, and I must say that my drumming skills improved. I was really bad at first.

Finally I can post again!

2009-10-19T13:23:00.000-07:00

Lance just had to take a picture of me wearing my eye protection covers after my Lasik surgery. Recovery hasn't been bad. The worst part is that I'm suppose to wear those plastic covers when I sleep at night, and it really hurts to pull the tape off in the morning.

Brennan just turned 11! His birthday was a little drawn out due to the weather. Our original plans fell through because of the rain, so we went and saw G-Force at the discount theatre, and then went out to eat. We also sent him on a treasure hunt inside and outside of the house to find his presents. He tells me that it was a lot of fun.
Brennan and Ethan (Brennan's best friend) were bored one day, and added a few accessories to their attire. Unfortunately, Daisy was in the wrong place at the wrong time. Does this dog look amused?
The boys look like they are wearing some sort of bad orthodontic head gear.

Not working

2009-08-09T14:39:00.000-07:00

I have tried several times in the past month to update my blog. Everytime I try to upload a photo it locks up on me. I'll eventually get it figured out.

2009-06-19T20:30:00.000-07:00

I realize that it has been a very long time since I last posted. I tried once, but the computer wouldn't cooperate. I'll spare you the details. Suffice it to say, we've been happy and healthy. We've had a busy couple of months with school getting out etc. We're leaving on vacation tomorrow, so I thought that I'd post a couple of photos before our departure.

We've been ice blocking with friends. This is a blurry picture of Sophie as she is falling off.

Sophie also lost another tooth recently. Her first top tooth. It's being a slow process for her, but that's a good thing. At this point we're occasionally having difficulty understanding her speech. What will it be like when both of her top middle teeth are gone?

She got a haircut today. She's very happy with it.
Brennan and Sophie having a happy moment with Daisy. I don't think that we could make Daisy pull that face again if we tried.

In other news...Aiden did fabulously well with his artwork this year. He took "Sixth Grade Art Student of the Year", and won best of show for one of his drawings as well as several first places. We're very proud of him. I will be sure to post a photo of his drawing when we get back from vacance.

Typical Aiden

2009-03-10T14:16:00.000-07:00

Aiden came home from school today, and disappeared into the kitchen for a snack. I came in a few minutes later to discover that he was eating a yogurt and an apple. I was praising him for his healthy food choices when he says, "The ice cream was all gone." Typical Aiden.

Soccer Practice

2009-03-10T13:17:00.000-07:00

Since the race, I haven't been doing any running in an attempt to finish healing from the lovely groin pull. I've been using the elliptical at the gym, but not running, and limiting my walking. Unfortunately, I haven't been doing a very good job at limiting my food intake. Anyway...I was with Brennan at soccer practice the other night when he let me know that he couldn't find his ball. There were probably about 200 + people at this park, mostly parents and kids there for soccer practice. I proceeded to walk the path around the park looking for his ball. The park is right next to a creek, so there are a lot of trees. I was busy studying the forested area in hopes of catching sight of the lost ball when I got nailed in the head by a soccer ball. There were some teenage girls there practicing, and one of the forcefully kicked balls miss the goal and hit me. It hit me so hard that I literally saw stars. The force of it almost knocked me off my feet. Unfortunately, as I staggered and stumbled about trying to stay upright, I injured myself again. Besides feeling like I might have a week-long headache, I was really mad. I was finally feeling like I was within a few days of being able to run again, and all because I was in the wrong place at the wrong time I was back to limping. Oh well, what's another week or two of inactivity? And no, we didn't find his ball. Someone must have decided that they really liked it.

Cowtown Half Marathon

2009-03-01T13:15:00.000-08:00

On Saturday, I competed in the Fort Worth, TX Cowtown Half Marathon (13.1 miles). Competed isn't really an accurate description, because really all I wanted to do was finish. I started training several months back and was so excited about the improvement I was making, and then POW! BOOM! BANG! and maybe even ZOWIE! I hurt myself trying to get the high score on the Wii Fit Hula Hooping. I do believe that I did manage to beat the top score, but then I paid for it dearly. Apparently I suffered a groin pull. My friend Angela and I have gotten a lot of mileage off of the work "groin". It's just one of those bad sounding words.

Anyway, for more than a month I've been trying to allow this injury to heal while keeping up my training. It didn't work so well, so for about 3 weeks, I didn't run at all. I went through with the race because it was a goal I had set, and I was feeling really pretty good. I didn't suffer too much during the race, but I wasn't able to run as fast as I could have done had I been able to keep up with my training. As the day of the event drew closer, we started watching the weather forecast. We have been having beautiful weather, so that was what we were expecting. As luck would have it, a cold front moved in the night before the race. It was freezing. To add to it, we got stuck in traffic, and missed the start of the race. We started 25 minutes late, so for the first 4 miles we ran past all of the walkers. At that point, I knew that I needed to slow down my pace, so I let my friend, Heather, run on ahead so that she would have a decent time. I hit the wall at about 11 miles and wasn't sure if I could keep it up. I really don't remember much about the last 2.1 miles, but apparently I conquered. Here I am on my way to the finish line.

Lance came to support me, and to take a few photos. He was so cold that it was hard for him to get a decent shot of an already moving target. Wow! Look how fast I was moving!

Crossing the finish line.

Heather and I sporting our medals and holding onto a nice hot cup of chamomile tea. It was great! I think I'll do it again.

Susan B. Anthony

2009-03-01T12:46:00.000-08:00

On Friday, Sophie participated in a project that her class has been doing. The kids have been researching famous Americans, and their contributions to society. Then they were to dress up as this person, and tell a little about what they admired, and what advice this person might give. Sophie was Susan B. Anthony. She was very excited about this project, especially the dressing up part. Here she is in the middle of her little speech. She had to stop and think for a minute.

We forgot to fold back the sleeves. She was very cute in her outfit. Her teacher is standing in the background.

We borrowed a lot of what she wore from a sister in our ward who has one of everything. We're glad that there are people like that around.

Sophie's Baptism

2009-02-09T09:14:00.000-08:00

Here is cake #4. Sophie was baptised on Saturday, February 7, 2009. She was very pretty in her white dress, and it was a special day for all involved.

We are very proud of Sophie and her decision to be baptised.

My sister, Julie, and her son Evan made the trip to come and share the day with us. It was so much fun having them here with us. We will miss them, but look forward to seeing them this summer. It's so hard to get a good picture of a group of people. This was the best in spite of the look on Evan's face.
A family in our ward, the Silers, put together a video presentation about baptism that we showed between the baptism and the confirmation. It was really well done, and very neat. Here's the link: http://studentweb.engr.utexas.edu/cds847/SilerFamily/videos/BaptismVideo.htm

2009-02-09T09:05:00.000-08:00

A week later we celebrated Sophie's 8th birthday. This was a big one. It turned into a week long celebration with eating out, her baptism etc. We had cake and ice cream with our neighbors, the Aherns. This is Jake and Lance with Mr. Nibbles (Brennan's hamster). The little boys loved the hamster, but were a little wary all the same.

This is Collin wondering how he really feels about a rodent crawling on him.

Sophie with her balloons, cake and presents, ready to celebrate. She received her very own set of scriptures, an MP3 player, several books, a little dress, from her family, and a journal, shirt, and sweater from the Aherns.

She had a good birthday, but was disappointed that she didn't get any toys. Oops! She received money from grandparents, so we thought that she could buy her own. Not good enough. We'll remember for next year.

Here's cake 3 within a week.

2009-02-09T08:58:00.000-08:00

We celebrated Lance's birthday on January 23rd. He doesn't want anyone to make a big deal out of his birthday, so I respect that, and never plan anything big. We usually end up going to a movie or out to dinner, or just hang out with the kids. He was in for a surprise this year. When he got to work the lights were all off, and he was welcomed by being covered in "Silly String". At lunchtime his co-workers insisted that he go to lunch with them, and that he would ride with them too. As they drove past his car in the parking lot, he discovered that they had decorated his car. They spent the day telling all of his patients that it was his birthday. Not his style, but he was a good sport. Of course they brought a cake!

I had baked a cake at home, so that made two.

We celebrated quietly at home after his fun day at work.

2009-02-09T08:49:00.000-08:00

Finally, a chance to post. We've been busy the past few weeks with just life in general. Brennan worked hard on his science project. He chose to study which animal had the grossest mouth; humans, dogs or cats. Cats had the stinkiest petri dishes, but we decided that we're all pretty nasty. Stripy didn't want to be swabbed.

Daisy didn't think that it was too much fun either. Fortunately she was a pretty good sport.

Here is his finished display. Notice the empty spaces. Somehow a couple of important pages fell off during transport from his classroom to the gym. His conclusion was one of the missing pages. His teacher still gave him an "A" on the project, but he wasn't judged as high as he would have been had the pages been there. Someone else set it up for him, so he didn't know that anything was wrong until after the judging had taken place. Bummer!

More Laundry

2009-01-08T07:57:00.000-08:00

After the mouse incident on Monday, and the mounds of laundry that I washed I received another fun surprise yesterday. I got a call from Sophie's friend's mother letting me know that her daughter has lice. The school nurse is guessing that she's had them for about 4 weeks! We've had a lot of contact with this child over the passed 4 weeks. Yikes! I had just finished shampooing the carpets when she called and was ready to sit and read my book for an hour or so. Instead I spent the rest of the day doing more laundry, and vacuuming every crack and crevice of the upstairs. Fortuantely, we have yet to find a single louse on anyone's head. I'm sure I'll keep checking for the next week at least. Never a dull moment.

Rare Moment

2009-01-06T18:22:00.000-08:00

This doesn't happen very often at our house, so I thought that I better document it. Generally the kids space themselves evenly across the living room. No one shares a piece of furniture ever. So what if they're each playing their own game. At least they aren't fighting.

Mouse in the House

2009-01-06T18:04:00.000-08:00

This is what my closet looked like yesterday morning. It was a mandatory cleaning due to an unwanted guest. The kids were playing in my closet and Brennan made a discovery.

Yes, we had a mouse. After cleaning all of the top shelves on Lance's side of the closet, and finding what I thought to be the mouse's nest, I thought my job was done. I was wrong. For some reason, the mouse was enamoured with one of my sweaters. This is the remnants of what it removed from the main body of the sweater.

This is the fabulous new design that that sweet little creature left for me.

I was thrilled. It also chose to chew a few holes in the beautiful quilt that Lance's great grandmother made for him. I feel sick about it.

The best part of the story is that while I was on the phone with my sister-in-law, Jodie, telling her all about the three hours of closet cleaning that I had done, and the mountains of laundry I was in the midst of, I picked up a blanket to put it in the washer, and out ran the mouse. It frightened me a-so that I hung up on Jodie. Fortunately, Daisy is an excellent mouser. She chased it into the bathroom where I was able to trap it under an empty coolwhip bowl. Sophie's friend, Kelli, was there, and thought that the whole ordeal was so exciting and fun that I should release the mouse and chase it some more. I didn't like that idea, so I let it go outside. My guess is that it's missing the warm home that it thought it had. We're wondering what it was eating? Sweater? Blanket? Plastic bags? Hmmm.

Christmas 2008

2009-01-01T17:54:00.000-08:00

Aiden wanted to make sure that his cache was viewable as well. He actually received 3 lego sets. Spoiled child!

Christmas 2008

2009-01-01T17:43:00.000-08:00

Sophie with her loot. Her favorite gift was a DS.

Brennan looked very disappointed when he discovered that Santa hadn't left him the hamster that he's been begging for. Santa was kind enough though to leave him a rip stick.

Aiden spent Christmas morning the way he likes best; putting together a lego set. I don't know if he'll ever grow out of Legos.

Brennan's parents are too soft hearted. Lance finally decided that our house already smells like a dog. Why not add another stinky pet. We wrapped the cage, and gave him a gift card to buy the hamster of his choice. Hamsters must be a popular Christmas gift because we had to call six different Petsmart stores to find one (they actually had six to choose from) and drive 30 minutes to get to the location. It was worth the trip, because he is a very cute and sweet hamster. Brennan named him Nibbles.

2009-01-01T17:41:00.000-08:00

2009-01-01T17:24:00.000-08:00

We had a very good quiet Christmas. Lisa and Sydney sent a package, and Daisy got a new toy. It's a dragon with squeaky eggs inside. She's figured out that she can annoy us greatly by repetitively squeaking the eggs while sitting next to us.

Brennan and Sophie both had very fun class parties. Sophie made a very cute and yummy gingerbread man.

Brennan's class had a brunch, and played a few games including Bingo.

The Family Rocks

2008-12-19T15:15:00.001-08:00

Send your own ElfYourself eCards

Pflugerville Christmas Parade

2008-12-17T08:13:00.000-08:00

Poor Brennan was forced into being in the parade with his scout pack. We cosidered letting him off the hook because he really didn't want to do it, but I explained to him that it's important to be supportive. "What would happen if none of the boys showed up?" I asked him. "Then the leaders would know that it was a dumb idea." was his reply. He had a point, but we made him do it anyway. I'm sure that it wasn't all bad.

We hung out with our neighbors to watch the parade. This is Sophie with Collin.

2008-12-17T07:58:00.000-08:00

Aiden had his first band concert last week. It's very impressive what the kids can learn in a few short months of school. The band directors hardly let them touch their instruments for the first three weeks of school. The kids did a great job.
Here's a sample. Slow tempo, but very good. It was fun to watch. At least it was for parents. I'm not sure that Brennan and Sophie were all that impressed.

2008-12-04T06:30:00.000-08:00

These are the kinds of doodles that I find in Aiden's school notebooks. I wish that I could doodle like that.

2008-12-04T06:20:00.000-08:00

This is what Aiden looked like when he got home from school yesterday. You must understand, that Aiden does not divulge much about his life at school, so in my mind, I'm playing through all of the possible scenarios while waiting for him to give me some tidbit of information. Baseball? Mad student? Mad teacher? Some really big kids elbow? Trombone accident in band? Meanwhile, Aiden is laughing so hard that he can hardly breathe. Turns out the theater arts teacher showed them a few stage makeup tricks. The part that surprises me is that Aiden was willing to walk around with a black eye for most of the day. Theater arts is 3rd period for him. At least he thought he was amusing, and it was pretty funny.

Last Minute

2008-12-02T20:35:00.000-08:00

So last night at dinner this was our conversation:

Aiden: Mom, would you be super mad at me if I told you that I have a project do in English tomorrow that I forgot about?
Mom: Yes probably.
Aiden: What if it was in Science?
Mom: Yes.
Aiden: What if it was in Social Studies?
Mom: Aiden, don't push my buttons.
Aiden: Okay. It really is for social studies, and it really is due tomorrow.

So, after having worked all day, a big grocery shopping trip, and 5 loads of laundry in between, I helped Aiden work on his project. A mom's work is never done. He had to do an oral report, using props, on Mahmoud Ahmadinejab. For anyone as politically illiterate as I, he's the president of Iran, and not a very likable character.

The best part of this story is that he didn't end up giving his presentation today because they ran out of time in class. He better get a good grade.

Gratitude

2008-11-24T07:13:00.000-08:00

I've been reading through various friend's blogs and their postings about what they are thankful for. It's been a good reminder to me of all the blessings that I have. I decided that I should mention a few.

I am so thankful for my children because...

They make me laugh.
Aiden figured out how to use his recorded voice as a ringtone on the cell phone. Now when it rings we hear Aiden saying "Cheesemuffin, cheesemuffin, cheesemuffin".

They keep me humble.
At the conclusion of an acne product comercial on T.V. Sophie informed me that I should buy it. I explained that that particular product is for severe acne, and not the occasional acne that I get. "So what are all those bumps on your face?" she quiried. I didn't reply. I quietly left the room to go and look in the mirror.

They are entertaining.
Brennan was doing some snappy, clappy, repetitive rhythm thing that included kissing Daisy (the dog) on the hip. The really frightening moment came when Daisy turned. He came within an inch of kissing her bum.

I'm thankful for my husband because...
He doesn't get mad when I go see Twilight with a friend while he's at work.
He's willing to let me ramble on about nothing, and pretend that he's listening.
He's willing to listen to my opinion, and often agrees (or at least he acts like he does).
And lots of other mushy gushy stuff that I won't inflict upon any of my avid blog readers (I'd like to think that I have some).

In all seriousness, I truly am grateful for the many wonderful things in my life. I'm grateful to be a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. Without the direction and guidance of a loving Heavely Father I'd be lost in this crazy world. I'm thankful for the wonderful people around me that inspire me to be more loving, generous, forgiving, and all around better.

Isn't life great when we focus on what is really important?

2008-11-22T21:06:00.000-08:00

Aiden has become very passionate about movie making. His latest projects have been stop motion Lego films. He spends hours in his room taking photos of his lego people in different poses, and then puts it all together, including sound effects etc., on the computer. Here are his three films.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F-T4gfCsPso

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zM1pma8v09I&feature=channel

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hgSrc0a91zI&feature=channel

2008-11-14T20:01:00.000-08:00

This is Aiden's new look. Funny thing is that he's been using these straw glasses to drink his water for the past 5 days. It might take a while for the novelty to wear off.

Brennan and Sophie have been working on school projects. It's been fun because some of the projects are for the whole family. Brennan's class has been studying Native Americans, so they made totem poles. Each student was required to pick an animal that was meaningful to them in some way. Brennan decided on a duck billed platypus. It was a fun project.

I was having a hard time getting him to smile for the picture. I just had to remind him that I heard him singing "Hey hey hey, It's Fat Albert" in the shower this morning. That made him smile. I'm still not sure how he ever heard about Fat Albert, but we checked on Youtube, and found an episode. Go figure.

Sophie's project was to disguise a turkey so that it wouldn't get eaten. She chose to make the turkey look like princess Leia. We were quite proud of our accomplishment. Hopefully her buns won't fall off of her head before Thanksgiving. Have you ever wondered who should receive the credit for doing Kerry Fisher's hair that way?

Sword Fight

2008-11-07T05:53:00.000-08:00

Once again, another Aiden movie. The sword fighting scenes are a little long, but his ideas and editing are fun. Keep in mind that he is a boy, and he makes these movies when we're not around. No blood though! His singing and sound effects are amusing as well. Maybe I just think so because I'm his mother.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G0ardc7U5C0

2008-11-07T05:41:00.000-08:00

Some of the 2nd grade classes had a "Crazy Hair Day" this was Sophie's hair doo. It was pretty funny watching her run to catch the bus. She looked like some sort of Dr. Suess character. She said that most of the kids just had messy hair, so they were impressed with this doo.

Help the technologically challenged

2008-11-01T13:05:00.000-07:00

So, I want to add a few more elements to my blog. Anyone want to tell me how to add music, visitor counters, and all of the other cool things that I see on other people's blogs?

Halloween Again

2008-11-01T09:49:00.001-07:00

All of our kids went separate directions this Halloween. Aiden ended up palling around with his friend Shawn, and a few other kids from the neighborhood.

Sophie went with friends Kelly and Kelli.

Sophie was so pleased with her makeup and how hot she was looking, that she told her friends to call her "Diva". What am I to do?

Brennan went trick-or-treating with this guy. We probably should have been worried. This is his friend Ethan. Andrew also went with them, but I didn't get a picture of him. They were gone forever. Brennan came back with 8 pounds of candy. That should last until Easter.

2008-10-30T09:14:00.000-07:00

Aiden has posted a new movie on youtube. He's getting better. In this one, I like how he filmed from different locations and angles. Enjoy. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ijIeL8T1AlQ

2008-10-30T06:42:00.000-07:00

We attended our ward Trunk or Treat party on Tuesday. Of course I was finishing Aiden's costume at the last moment. I work best under pressure, or at least I like to tell myself that.

Aiden is Link, the Nintendo character from The Legend of Zelda. Brennan is Zorro, and Sophie is the prettiest devil you'll ever see.

Poor Brennan is always the one under attack.

So does anyone else think that Aiden needs a haircut?

2008-10-30T06:35:00.000-07:00

Amazing! I often think that I've got the weirdest kids. When I was little, I spent most of the day outside playing. My kids tend to play inside most of the time. About a week ago, they had a day off from school. Sophie's friend Kelli was here, and the kids spent the entire day outside playing with toads. They built this school for the toads out of construction debris. The house was such a peaceful place that day.

Brennan's 10th Birthday Continued

2008-10-12T18:00:00.000-07:00

Last night we let Brennan choose where we should go out to eat. Rudy's was his choice. Rudy's is BBQ Texas style. Considering that I come close to being a vegetarian, this normally wouldn't be my kind of place. There's not much chance that you will ever catch me gnawing on a big old turkey leg. The first time that we experienced a Texas BBQ I spent a lot of time looking for the salad bar. The only members of the vegetable family that I could find were pickles and onions. Baffling! Anyway, somehow, I've been won over to Rudy's. What little of the meat that I eat is really good, and the creamed corn is to die for. They also provide you with a half a loaf of white sandwich bread still in the bag. The kids really like that part considering that they rarely get white bread at home. Hopefully one day they will grow to appreciate the heartiness of a good whole grain bread.
We ate until we couldn't eat anymore, and then we went home for ice cream and cake. Good thing that it was Fast Sunday today.

Here's Brennan sitting in front of what remains of our dinner. It was great fun! Sophie opted to stay at her friends house for a little longer while we went out to eat. She was highly dissapointed that we didn't bring home any white bread for her.

Brennan's 10th Birthday

2008-10-12T17:45:00.001-07:00

Today (October 12) is Brennan's 10th birthday. Since his birthday fell on a Sunday, we decided to celebrate earlier in the week. Instead of choosing just one day to celebrate, we ended up celebrating for about three days. That's just how things work out sometimes, and it was great.
We went to a place called Austin Park and Pizza. We rode the go-carts, climbed the climbing wall, played lazer tag, and played arcade games. We had a great time! The place wasn't at all crowded that night, so we almost had it to ourselves.
The go-carts were a big hit. The kids thought that it was great to be driving their own cars. Lance and I both decided that we are very grateful for power steering, and that our own cars have more leg room.

The climbing wall was more of a challenge than we thought it would be. Everyone got a turn except for me. For some unknown reason, the attendant had to leave right when I was next in line. Maybe next time.

New Addition

2008-10-10T17:53:00.000-07:00

Okay, so our new addition is just a chair. We considered buying all new furniture for our living/family room, but decided to buy a chair to add more seating. We really like it, and feel better about not spending a lot of money for something that we wanted but didn't necessarily need. I've never owned a leather chair before. It makes me feel kind of uppity.

Clarification

2008-10-02T20:13:00.000-07:00

Kerry asked a good question, "Will his teacher really believe that Aiden did all that sewing?". Fortunately, we didn't have to sew anything. We used fusible webbing. You cut it out to match the shape of your fabric piece, and iron. It melts and bonds the two fabrics together. It's really quite genius, and very user friendly. Aiden did all the arranging, labeling, and some of the cutting.

Aiden's World Project

2008-09-30T09:20:00.000-07:00

Over the weekend Aiden completed his first school project of the year. For his World Cultures class he had to design a map or a globe with various required elements. He decided to make a T-shirt globe. We're hoping that the teacher will appreciate all of his (our) hard work. We think that he did a good job. I think that it looks really nice with his pajama pants.

Aiden's 12th Birthday

2008-09-19T20:33:00.001-07:00

Today Aiden turned twelve. First he tried to talk us into letting him stay home from school. We said "No", but he pretty much got his way the rest of the day. He didn't have many ideas for how he wanted to celebrate, so we just made it up as we went along. His only request was that he have a chocolate cake with chocolate frosting. We added a little kitty litter to the top.
Aiden didn't seem bothered by the treats that the cats left on top. This is Aiden's kind of cake.
We gave Aiden the option of going out to eat, but he wanted to stay home and eat a rotisserie chicken.
Normally the cats don't get to be on the couch. We made a two minute exception.
Do I ever get any respect around here? Even Sophie tries to give me bunny ears in photos. Aiden is putting together the Lego set that he received. What's a birthday without Legos?

Grandma June has come for a visit. We're always grateful that she's so willing to make the trip to see us. Our children have been blessed with good grandparents.
After dinner, we went to 5 different stores so that Aiden could find something to buy with the birthday money that was burning a hole in his pocket. He finally decided on the Indiana Jones Lego Wii game that he saw in the first store that we went to. It was a long shopping trip, but worth it if it made him happy.

Sophie Starts Ballet

2008-09-19T20:09:00.000-07:00

Sophie has been very excited about starting ballet classes. She likes to come home after class and show me all of the new steps that she learned. She informed us yesterday that all of the girls in her class must shop at Walmart because she recognized all of the leotards and skirts from our shopping trip.

Just Being a Mom

2008-09-12T19:38:00.000-07:00

Yesterday was one of those crazy days that happen too often with mutiple kids and mutiple activites. I worked until 3:30, ran home to sew a few badges onto Brennan's scout shirt. Fortunately, he had a ride to scouts at 4. I took Sophie to dance, left here there to pick up Brennan, took him through the drive thru at Taco Bell, gave them my money, got my change, and promptly drove away.
Brennan: "Uh, Mom? My food?"
Me: "Oh yeah."
Drive back thru the drive thru to pick up Brennan's food. Race across town to pick up Sophie from dance. Drive back across town to drop Brennan off at soccer practice. Beg a kind hearted soccer mom to please bring him home. Stop at the Taco Bell drive thru again to get food for everyone else. Feel really embarrassed because I'm sure they remember that a half hour before I had driven away without my food. Eat in the car while driving back across town to home. Pick up Aiden, throw his tacos at him, and race to the middle school open house. Race back home in time to be there for Brennan's arrival. Then I went out to walk the dog. Lance's 12 hour shifts sometimes wear me out. It's all good though.

What Was Lost Was Found

2008-09-10T07:45:00.000-07:00

Our cat Stipy is quite the scardy cat. He hasn't hardly stepped foot outside since we moved here last year. Last Friday night Lance let Stipy outside knowing that within 5 minutes that the cat would be meowing at the door to come in. He never came back. We had decided that either someone had taken him, or that he had become a coyote snack. Besides being so fearful and cautious, he's a fairly intelligent cat, so we just couldn't imagine that he would have gotten himself into trouble. The kids were sad, and we were sad (Lance won't admit to it), but knew that we would be okay.

At 6 a.m. this morning, more than four days after his disappearance, I found meowing at the door. I thought for sure that I was dreaming. I really had given him up for dead. I was so excited I had to wake Brennan up to show him. It sometimes seems silly how attached we get to our little pets, but we sure are glad to have him home. It feels as if a weight has been lifted from us. The kids were all so happy this morning. Hopefully that feeling will last for a while.

Sophie's bedroom furniture

2008-09-08T05:58:00.000-07:00

We've been planning for a long time now that we would get Sophie some bedroom furniture. The day finally came, and she now has a bed, a dresser, and a nightstand. It's very simple, but she likes it. We also redid her lampshade. She's grown out of the princess stage, so it's time to look for something new to hang on the walls as well. We'll get motivated enough to paint one of these days.

Aiden on Youtube.com

2008-09-05T12:26:00.000-07:00

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YH6r_5bF2uE

We all have different ideas about what is funny. This is Aiden trying hard to entertain himself this summer. It's long, but if you know Aiden, it's funny.

Continued Summer Updates

2008-09-05T11:19:00.000-07:00

One thing that we seemed to keep doing this summer was finding turtles. We really don't live by any water, but we kept finding turtles traveling up our street. So far we've found six. This guy was the biggest and the mossiest by far. Who knows if they appreciated our help or not, but we took each of them, as we found them, to the lake, or one of the ponds. I don't think that there was even one among them who enjoyed the car ride.

We tried to spend as much time as possible with Wade and Jodie and the girls before they left for California. That wasn't any easy thing considering all of the friends that they have. Lance and I have decided that we are way to grouchy to be that popular. Anyway, one of the places that they we went together was Landa Park. This is Brennan as he let go of the swing. Aiden (busy adjusting his goggles and nose plug), Aubrey and Wade are in the background awaiting their turns.
Daisy came through her heartworm treatment with flying colors. We're still having days where we're left wondering why we thought that we wanted a dog. Yesterday we went out for our morning run and decided to let Daisy off the leash for a while. We've done this in the past, and it hasn't been a problem. It was yesterday. We kept trying to catch her, and she just kept running. We finally managed to corner her, and Lance leaped through the air superman style, and pinned her down. Of course where they both landed happened to be in a fire ant pile. I took her back to the house, and Lance ran another two miles after he had already completed a four mile run. He was so mad, he probably could have run another two. Somehow, all the irritation seems to go away when we see Brennan enjoying her so much. I still think that she's stinky.

She is starting to calm a little, and she's learned a few tricks. She'll eat just about anything, but her favorite food is bananas. She even helped herself to one one day.

Long Time

2008-09-05T10:25:00.000-07:00

Okay, so I've been chastised by a few people for not updating our blog all summer. I've been the "Anti-Blogger", and I really don't know why. It could be that we're a computer/camera loving family, and I never seem to get a turn with either device.

One of Sophie's summer highlights was getting her ears pierced. She and her friend Kelli decided that they were both ready to endure the pain, so they did it together. Sophie has really liked having earrings, and excited about changing them out. She's done really well, and only had a couple of painful moments. Sophie and Kelli have played together a lot this past summer. One of their favorite occupations was the "toad game". I didn't know that toads like to play house, but apparently it's at least a tolerable activity for them. I'm not sure that they enjoyed being scrubbed with toothbrushes, but that was probably the worst that they had to suffer. The kids were nice enough to let the toads go at the end of the day, and go and find new toads when they were ready to play again. And to think, no one got warts. Notice the blob on the couch in the background. Is that really the way that Nintendo intended the Wii to be played?

Brennan played in a 3V3 soccer tournament at the beginning of the summer. There are only three players from each team on the field at one time, and no goalie. The halves are only 10 minutes, so it's very fast paced. The team didn't do as well as they would have liked, but it was a good experience. Brennan is #10.

Aiden has been making movies this summer. So many, that he's been requiring Brennan to sign contracts saying that he will help with the movie. Brennan is apparently tired of being bossed around, and sick of being in films that Aiden makes up as he goes along. I finally took the time to sit down with him, and type out the first three scenes of a script. The video clip is one of the scene's that he's filmed. Brennan thinks that there needs to be some scenery other than the piano and the boxes from Sophie's bedroom furniture. I'll make sure the entire movie gets posted if and when it gets finished.

Daisy and her Heartworm Treatment

2008-06-23T09:35:00.001-07:00

This is Daisy Saturday night after her treatment.

Daisy started her heartworm treatment on Friday morning. We had to take her to the vet early in the morning, and then pick her up in the evening. They gave her a shot in her hind end that travels through her blood stream, and kills the heartworms. The process was repeated again on Saturday. The injections kill the adult heartworms which eventually dissolve. While the heartworms are being broken down and dissolved the dog must stay very calm and sedentary. If the dog gets too excited or worked up, they run the risk of having a heart attack. We have to keep this dog quiet for six weeks. No walks, no playing fetch, no barking when the doorbell rings. We even have to put her on a leash when she goes out to relieve herself. The injections are very painful, and can make them sore for quite a while. We were initially told that she would be given pain pills that would keep her in a semi-sedated state for about two weeks. I figured that the first two weeks would be a breeze. How hard is it to keep a sleeping dog calm? We were misinformed. She acted like she didn't feel well on Saturday night, but she seems to have made a full recovery. It's going to be a long six weeks.

Out of the Nest

2008-06-23T09:05:00.000-07:00

We can't believe how much these little birds have grown. They seem to make significant changes each day. I took this photo on Saturday, June 21st.
Sunday morning Lance heard some commotion, and when he eventually went to investigate, there was only one little bird sitting in the tree's pot. We were worried that something bad had happened, but have now come to the conclusion that the parent birds kicked them out of the nest. The babies have been hopping around the yard eating bugs, and hiding in the bushes. They are really rather noisy. We haven't let the cats out, and probably won't until we're sure that the babies are all gone, or able to fly. There were six eggs, but only five hatched. The other egg was still at the bottom of the nest. It's been a fun process to watch, but I'm kind of hoping that we don't have a repeat performance next year.

Toads

2008-06-16T14:57:00.000-07:00

Sophie and Brennan have become awfully fond of the toads that roam freely here. Somehow they found their way into these PVC tubes that are in our front yard, and the kids have kept them trapped there. They do let some go when they find new ones, and somehow the toads survive. They have spent so much time playing with them, that the neighbor has started referring to the kids as "Toadologists".

These are two especially large ones that Brennan named Billy Bob, and Billy Boo. All of the toads have names, but we won't take the time to list them. I will mention though, that one evening Brennan and a friend caught 37 of them.

Eggs Hatched

2008-06-16T14:54:00.001-07:00

The eggs have now hatched, so now we have a pile of fuzzy, ugly, hungry, critters in the not so very big tree on our front porch.

Beach Vacation

2008-06-16T13:51:00.000-07:00

For our first summer vacation (hopefully there will be another), we went to South Padre Island, TX for a few days. This is one of Wade and Jodie's annual trips that they take with some of their friends. We had a good time getting to know those families, and relaxing on the beach. We passed the time by studying the local sea creatures,
feeding the seagulls,
making a giant sea turtle out of sand (Lance and I didn't help at all),
playing la cross and frisbee (This is Wade and Jodie's friend Julie Gill in action. We now consider her our friend as well.),

collecting seashells,
playing in the sand,
playing in the sand some more,
playing in the water,

and reading, and eating (only healthy fruits and vegetables of course). We also went out to eat a few times, and had fun crab hunting after dark. Regardless of multiple applications of sun screen, we all came home tired and burned. Nonetheless, it was a great time, and we can't wait to go again sometime.

Daisy wants to play with Gunther

2008-06-09T09:00:00.000-07:00

Daisy is really interested in playing with the cats. She doesn't seem to want to harm them, just play. We really haven't made much more progress than this. The other night one of the cats was brave enough to come right up to Daisy and smell her head while she was sleeping.

Aiden's Court of Honor

2008-06-08T17:09:00.000-07:00

Aiden received his Scout Badge, and his Tenderfoot rank the other night at the Scout Court of Honor.
Next time I'll remember to wear a shirt with a collar. Aiden couldn't put the pins on me without reaching down my shirt, so I had to do it myself.
As parents, we are both very proud of him. He's a great kid.

2008-06-06T09:25:00.000-07:00

This is the not so very big hibiscus tree that sits on our front porch.

This is the little bird that built her nest in the not so very big hibiscus tree that sits on our porch.

These are four of the six eggs that the little bird laid in the nest that she built in the not so very big hibiscus tree that sits on our porch.

We just hope that the cats don't discover it. They probably won't considering that they haven't hardly set foot downstairs in the two weeks that we've had the dog.

We're starting to grow accustomed to the bird flying out of the tree every time that we open the front door. How long before these babies are big enough to fly away? We're considering opening a zoo.

2008-05-30T13:48:00.000-07:00

Aiden brought home this poem that he had written about our cat Larry. Lance and I both read it at the same time, and as I was feeling silly for having a hard time keeping my composure, Lance said that it almost made him cry. I didn't feel so silly after that.

2008-05-30T13:30:00.000-07:00

Last night was the 5th grade Western Musical. It was all about the settling of the west, and the different ways that people traveled to get there. It was a great performance, and we were very proud of Aiden. Afterwards he confessed that he wasn't feeling very well. He was a trooper doing his part regardless of how he was feeling.
Aiden helped design and draw the scenery. Unfortunately, we weren't seated in the best place to take a picture of the backdrop.

Steven's Wedding

2008-05-26T16:46:00.000-07:00

Lance's brother Steven was married in the Washington DC Temple on May 17th. My mother was kind enough to come and stay with the kids so that we could be there for the wedding. It was so fun to meet Lucy, his bride, and to spend time with family. The ceremony and reception were simple, sweet, and perfect.
Steve and Lucy seem perfectly matched for each other. Unfortunately, I didn't get the camera out until the end of the reception, but I did get a couple of decent photos.

Daisy

2008-05-26T12:35:00.001-07:00

We have added a new member to our family. We've been planning this for some time now, and have been watching for just the right dog for us to come through the Austin Boxer Rescue. On Saturday we met "Zee". She met all of our qualifications, give or take a few, so she came home with us. The kids are excited, and the cats are not impressed. They feel like prisoners in their own home. Neither one has been downstairs for two days. They finally got brave enough to go down and investigate after the dog was put in her crate for the night. It didn't take long for them to hightail it back upstairs.

She's only about 9 months old, and perfectly heathy other than the unfortunate fact that she has heartworms. She begins treatment for that in a couple of days, and should be completely cured in no time.
The person that we got her from has four dogs herself, and came home one day to find this little dog tied to her fence. Apparently someone knew that she was a dog lover, and left her where they thought that she might be safe. She made contact with Austin Boxer Rescue, and agreed to take care of her until a home was found. They called her Zee, but we've decided that Daisy should be her name. She has responded well to the extra love and attention that she's been getting here. She's been perfectly well behaved other than chewing up a pen, and several potty accidents. We didnt' want a puppy for that very reason, but it looks like we got one anyway. We're hopeful that she'll improve in that area quickly.

Turtle

2008-04-29T15:46:00.000-07:00

This time it wasn't the kids, it was the mom that brought home the baby animal/reptile. We had box turtles in our yard when we lived in West Texas, and we loved them, so when I saw this cute little baby while out jogging, I just couldn't resist. I brought him home only to discover, after doing a bit of research, that he's a red eared slider. (We really don't know if it's a he or a she, but we generally refer to it as a boy.) This means that he's an aquatic turtle, and needs to be in the water half the time.

A friend let us borrow their aquarium, so we figured that we'd keep him for a month and watch him grow. Then, we'll release him into a nearby pond. He sure is cute, but I really don't think that he wants to spend his life in an aquarium in some one's home. Besides that, I'm already tired of making everyone wash their hands really well after handling him.
We went to the pet store and bought some turtle food for him. He seems to really like it. We don't have a filter on the tank, so it's necessary to wash it out every day.

He really likes to hide under his rock most of the day.As expected, he's a pretty good swimmer.

Too Bad

2008-04-18T18:38:00.000-07:00

As expected, the baby bird died in the night. We managed to keep him alive for two days, but either he really didn't like cat food, or perhaps he just couldn't survive without his mom. The kids seemed okay with it, and I'm sure that the experience didn't deter them from bringing home another needy orphan.

Baby Bird

2008-04-16T10:38:00.000-07:00

I'm always complaining that my kids don't play outside as much as I'd like them to (my fault, I know, I should kick them out and lock the doors). Maybe it's a good thing, because when they do play outside, they bring homes things such as this recently hatched baby bird. They really wanted to try feeding it, so we soaked a piece of dry cat food in some water, and fed it with a dropper. At one point I though we had killed it for sure. It's throat was swollen to the size of a small grape with the food we had given it. Within an hour it had managed to swallow it, and was asking for more.
Amazingly enough, it lived through the night. I can't stand to let it starve to death, and I'm not going to intentionally kill it, so what can I do besides keep feeding it?

It's really quite an ugly little critter. One of those, "it's so ugly it's cute" things.
It doesn't have it's eyes open yet, and is mostly bald. I'm guessing that it's one of those little brown birds that are everywhere around here.
The cry for food!

Flight Simulators

2008-03-28T09:26:00.000-07:00

We had such a great Spring Break! We spent a long weekend with Lance's brothers Wade and Matt, and their families. The kids never lacked for entertainment. On Friday morning we went to the Air Force Base in San Antonio where we were privledged enough to spend an hour on the flight training simulators. We each took a turn leaning the basics of flying, and in most cases crashing. Some were more skilled than others. Our camera battery died shortly after taking this picture of Sophie.
Wade had a flight suit made for Rachel when she was little. Josh wore it the whole time we were together. Perhaps we have another furture pilot in the family.

Day at the Beach

2008-03-28T09:01:00.000-07:00

Saturday we spent the day at the beach. Aiden was in the ocean before the rest of us could even get out of the car. We really need to live in Hawaii where he can play in the water everyday. Josh and the other kids had just as much fun burying Aiden as he did being buried. The kids all had so much fun together. Cousins are great!
Aiden trying to catch a few waves.
Aubrey, Aiden, and Brennan dug a huge hole. It only took one wave to fill it all back in.
Sophie had a bucket of mud and a spoon. She was feeding the ocean one spoonful at a time. She said that it really liked her food.
Brennan likes the mud too.

We drove quite a ways down the beach looking for a good place to set up camp for the day. We found a great spot, but it wasn't too long before some rednecks came to join us. The most amusing part of it all was that they weren't there to play in the water, or take long walks on the beaches. They were there to encourage every car that came past to spin out in the sand. This wasn't just entertaining for an hour or so, this went on all day. And, these weren't teenagers. It was people in their late 20's and 30's with kids. Of course they cheered the loudest for their buddies in their big trucks with a confederate flag flying from the antena, but they were happy to watch the golf carts peel out as well. They'd take an occasional break to some of the brisket that they had smoked in the smoker that was in some cases possibly welded to the back of their trucks. Somehow the whole scene didn't hold much appeal for us. To each their own I suppose. Maybe you have to have a few beers in order to catch the vision. We considered it a cultural experience.

2008-03-28T08:52:00.000-07:00

Easter morning we got up to discover that the Easter Bunny had left a big web of string throughout the downstairs. Each child had a string with their name on it that eventually led to their basket.
Sophie and Josh were dillegent as they wound their string around a spoon.
One should never leave their camera unattended while Wade is around.
The kids colored hard boiled eggs (and a few raw eggs, oops), and had an egg hunt outside. Some of the eggs hidden outside were empty. Would someone have taken out the candy and coins and rehidden the egg? Hmmm.
Everyone dressed and ready for church.

Sea World

2008-03-28T08:08:00.000-07:00

We spent Monday at Seaworld. The kids weren't at all upset about missing school. For a while we split up our group so that the older kids and dads could go and ride the roller coasters. This is Sophie and Josh by the flamingos. Sophie has been learning about animals in her science classe at school, so she was very excited to see some of the animals up close.
Matt is such a good dad. He took Sophie and Josh on this little ride. They had a good time.
One of the highlights of the day was getting to go back stage at the Sea Lion show. Wade and Jodie have a friend in their ward whose brother works there. It's all about who you know. We got to ask questions about the animals and the show. The performers are everything. They perform, care for the animals, train them, clean the cages, feed them, etc. They said that one of the funniest times to be on stage is when one of the animals relieves themselves on stage during the performance. The kids, of course, would like to see that.
After the show we all went over to feed the Sea Lions. They sure are cute.

Spring Break

2008-03-28T07:33:00.000-07:00

Here is Sophie at the Easter Egg hunt playing a game. More about the egg hunt below.

We spent a few days at the Bell's house. They were are some of our best friends while we lived in Monahans. They now live in Burleson just outside of Fort Worth. We discovered that the drive isn't bad. We are only about 2 1/2 hours away from each other. The kids had a blast together, picking up where they left off.
At the end of the week we went to the ward Easter egg hunt. Fortunately we were blessed with a beautiful day. I heard that the kids in Twin Falls hunted for their eggs in the snow.
Aiden most likely telling his dad that he's tired and bored of being at the egg hunt.

Sophie at 100 years of age.

2008-03-28T07:24:00.000-07:00

For the "100 Days of School" celebration, Sophie's teacher asked the kids to draw a picture of themselves at 100, and write a few lines about themselves. I loved her picture, but I have to wonder why she has a such a full beard. Or are those pearls? I believe that her paper says (I really should ask her): I will have horses. I will have glasses. I'll babysit my grandkids. My grandpa is hot stuff. Will have a mustache. I'll be retired. I'll get dressed in old fashioned clothes.

School House Rock

2008-03-28T07:07:00.000-07:00

The 3rd grade classes at Murchison Elementary put on a performance of some of the School House Rock songs. They performed during the day for the rest of the school, and held a night performance for the parents. Brennan missed his Cub Scout Pack Meeting for it, but he had a good time singing with the group, and was a good sport about it.
Aiden watching when the 3rd graders performed for the school.

Here is a clip of the kids singing "Interjection".

First Soccer Game of the Season

2008-03-08T11:54:00.000-08:00

Brennan has been so happy to be back on the soccer field again. We missed the deadline for the Fall season, so he hasn't played on a team since Spring 2007. About 5 of the boys on his team have been on the same team together for a couple of years, so they have learned how to play together. Brennan is really starting to find his place on the team. The boys are learning to work together and pass to each other in order to score. He has made two of the three goals that his team has scored during the last two games. It's so fun to watch them all improve their skills over the season. He's excited for the next game.
He got to be #10 which he was very happy about.

Entry

2008-02-25T12:42:00.001-08:00

These two pictures are looking from the front door into the house.

Bored Kids

2008-02-25T08:08:00.000-08:00

Our House #2

2008-02-25T07:31:00.000-08:00

Master bedroom looking towards the bathroom and closet.
Master bedroom looking towards door.
Furry black blob on the bed.
Family room
Kitchen looking from the family room

House Photos

2008-02-25T07:23:00.001-08:00

The front of the house. Please note that I had the camera sitting on a tripod, and the tripod was crooked. We really do need a new camera.
The front entry way.
The dining room looking in from the entry.
The dining room looking towards the front entry.
The kitchen looking towards the family room.

Sophie's 7th Birthday

2008-02-25T07:01:00.001-08:00

Sophie's cute cake. It had kittens and butterfly's on it. It was made by Sophie's friend's mother who runs a bakery out of her home. It was so cute we didn't want to eat it. We waited until Sunday when Wade, Jodie, Rachel and Aubrey came to celebrate with us. It sure it fun to have them close.

We celebrated Sophie's birthday by going to Gattiland. She took her friend Savannah, and even though the place was a zoo, everyone seemed to have a good time.

This is a bad picture of Sophie and Savannah. It's time to get a new camera. Something is wrong, or maybe it's just the photographer.

Sophie's main gift was a bike. She didn't seem overly thrilled when she first saw it, but she has since decided that it is great fun.

Iron Bog Hike

2008-01-19T13:13:00.001-08:00

I thought that I would post a few photos from one of our trips to our family cabin this past summer. We hiked to Iron Bog. It was a great hike and the lake was beautiful. We can't wait for summer and the chance to do some more hiking.

Aiden takes a turn

2008-01-19T13:10:00.000-08:00

There is a tree near our cabin in Mackay, Idaho with a long chain attached to it. You give a running start, and swing way out over the ground. It's really quite exhilarating. Aiden was willing to be one of the first to try it out. The only part that was truly scary was the landing, at least for Karen and Julie.

Brennan's Turn

2008-01-19T13:09:00.000-08:00

Brennan was his usual cautious self. He watched and learned before he was willing to give it a try.

Karen on the Swinging Tree

2008-01-19T13:07:00.001-08:00

Julie and Karen weren't so coordinated, and wiped out a couple of times. It was worth the bumps and bruises.

Lance on the Swinging Tree

2008-01-19T13:03:00.000-08:00

Lance ran a little too fast, and swung out a little to far perhaps.

Brennan with glasses

2008-01-19T13:00:00.003-08:00

I forgot to post the photo of Brennan with glasses. He's a rather handsome fellow.

Christmas letter and summer vacation

2008-01-10T18:16:00.000-08:00

I thought that I would put our very late Christmas letter on our blog. Dear Friends and Family, December 29, 2007

Due to the fact that Karen is an expert in procrastination, and that she recently chose to work retail, this Christmas news letter is late. So what was last year’s excuse? There wasn’t one. Suffice it to say that in this instance, late news is better than no news. Her New Year’s Resolution is to get the Christmas letter done early. Consider this it. Wow, so far she is really on the ball.
2007 has been a good year for us. One highlight was our trip to Northern California. We spent a week visiting Karen’s sister Lisa. She was an excellent hostess and tour guide. We spent time hiking through the Redwoods, picnicking, and swimming in the bitterly cold ocean. We’d love to make the trip again.

2007 has been a good year for us. One highlight was our trip to Northern California. We spent a week visiting Karen’s sister Lisa. She was an excellent hostess and tour guide. We spent time hiking through the Redwoods, picnicking, and swimming in the bitterly cold ocean. We’d love to make the trip again.

Our biggest event of the year was our relocation from Twin Falls, Idaho to Austin, Texas. Karen’s favorite part of the move was the three day drive with three kids and two cats. Her mother was kind (or crazy) enough to volunteer to go with her. Fortunately, the trip was rather uneventful with the exception of the downpour in New Mexico that soaked everything in the trailer, and the overflowing toilet in the hotel.
Lance, of course, really enjoyed loading/unloading and driving the moving van. His friend Eric Myrup made the trip with him, and loved every tedious mile of it. We’re thinking that we’d all like to do it again next year. (HA!)
Everyone seems to have acclimated quite well. The kids like their school and their teachers. We’re in a nice area that is located on the outskirts of town. We really like it, but are having a hard time getting used to living 15-20 minutes away from the church. We’ve always lived within a few blocks of the church building, so it’s not bad, just different.
Aiden spent the first part of the year as a member of the YMCA swim team. He loves to swim, and had a great time on the team even though he’ll never admit to it. He recently discovered a love of reading, which pleases his parents greatly. His current favorite past time is playing with the Wii that we got for Christmas. He is sure to make time to torment the cats, and tease his siblings.
Brennan played spring soccer in Twin Falls, but missed the deadline to play here in Austin. He was disappointed, but is still practicing in preparation for the next season. He recently discovered that Jesus wants him for a Sunbeam and not a sunbean. Beam, bean, whatever. He acquired glasses a couple of weeks ago. His vision isn’t bad, but the glasses sharpened things enough that it’s been fun to watch him rediscover a few things that he was missing.
Sophie, not long ago, determined that her eyebrows make her look evil. As her parents, we don’t believe that any type of eyebrows could make Sophie look evil, or anything else for that matter. She is quickly learning to read, and is loving the new world that has been opened up to her with this recently aquired ability.
Karen is working at Old Navy a few days a week. Her first day on the job, she was asked to clean the bathrooms. Not exactly what she envisioned herself doing, but at least she got paid for it. She is also working with the Cub Scouts. Her particular group is a far cry from calm, but she considers it a weekly exercise in patience.
Lance likes his job, but has difficulty, at times, filling the hours. He’s working at a walk-in clinic where they only treat minor illnesses and provide immunizations etc. When there are no patients to see, there isn’t much to do. He’s considering working one day a week at a more traditional clinic in order to break up the monotony, and to keep his skills.
We appreciate the cards and letters that we’ve received, and are grateful that so many of our friends and family members are happy and well. We are filled with gratitude at this Christmas season as we reflect upon the blessings that we have received this year. We hope that this coming year will be filled with happiness for all of you.
Love, The Buxton Family

2008-01-08T17:35:00.000-08:00

Rachel and Aubrey gave Brennan and Sophie Webkinz Pets for Christmas. They were having so much fun playing online with their pets, that Aiden decided that he needed one as well. The pets names are Ralf, Violet, and Leopardstar.