On the first day of Christmas

Something that is mostly lost on our culture with its stark calendar: the liturgical calendar places the twelve days of Christmas starting on Christmas and going until Epiphany (January 6). 

We have had a great Christmas so far, with lots of fun activities planned by our families. We did get snowed in at Ryan's parents' house (we still have our little Neon, Betty, who is a bit timid around snow), so we didn't get to see my parents until the fourth day of Christmas.

Hooray for twelve days of Christmas!

My favorites

Three of my favorite famous people are Danny Kaye, David Brooks, and Mark Bittman. (Who?)

One of my favorite Danny Kaye movies is On the Double, and I've never been able to find it on DVD, but now you can watch it on YouTube. Very cool--well, for me at least.

As for the latest from David Brooks and Mark Bittman, check this, this, and this out.

Snowed in

The boys looked like scruffy nerfherders, the snow was piling up, and there was no way that this California driver was going to drive them to get a haircut. We have lovely hardwood floors throughout the house, and there was no way that I was going to litter every inch of it with boy hair, so we put plastic wrap down in the bathtub, and had haircuts. We just wrapped all the hair up afterward and threw it away. It sure beat sweeping! 

The boys thought it enough of a novelty that they forgot to complain.

Over the river

Lucas sings this song every time we go to Grandma's house. Today he pulled up a chair for me to sit in while he played it on the piano.

Our week

First-time home buying is a cross between Christmas and really bad jury duty. This week it was more like jury duty.

The search continues...

Halloween Safari

Safari driver, tourist, giraffe (with padding), and cheetah (with built-in roar)

Yoga

One day I found a bear doing yoga in my living room. (I honestly think he does it to mock his inflexible parents who try really hard to exercise.)

Hiking

Lucas at the trail head of Angel's Landing (which we didn't hike).













Jonathan on the river walk.


















Can you tell who is in the middle of saying "cheese"?

Observation point

Oatmeal monster

I repainted our car over the weekend. It was not the first time, and probably will not be the last time. But it was the third time.

I went through three cans of paint, every can of Bright White they had in all the car shops in Provo. Turns out it wasn't enough, so Scott took me out to Orem, and I cleaned out the Checker there also.

The result:

Nap

While we were walking home from church, Lucas told us he was tired.

Luckily Ryan had his hat to shade our fair-skinned boy.

First day

What Jonathan told his teacher he wanted to learn in kindergarten:

1. why some people have to wear glasses

2. how space shuttles get into space

How many trees must a preschooler...

Jonathan shows off all of his projects from pre-kindergarten.

Happy Birthday!

It is hard to believe that Jonathan is five. He has grown up so much in the last year. A few things I love about Jonathan: his smile, his infectious laugh, and his great imagination. He asks great questions (Do birds have ears? Why didn't you turn on your blinker when you turned?) and I love finding the answers out with him.




















Jonathan had a Star Wars birthday party for his fifth birthday.

Activities included

• Luke, Luke, Darth Vader (variation of duck, duck, goose)
• Make your own light saber
• Jedi training obstacle course
• Bounty hunter hydro-detonater fight (water balloons)

After Lucas woke him up this morning, Jonathan had an asteroid hunt to find his presents.



















The scooter was a hit.















His cake: dark chocolate cake with peanut butter mousse. Consensus: great cake, mousse too rich.

Dirt.

We went camping for the Fourth with the Christensens. Two days of lots of dirt and no baths: a boy's dream come true.

Up, up and away

More big sights

Jonathan and I contemplating art and life in front of a pioneer artist's cabin.


































Playing "Pooh sticks"








































Covered bridge in the pioneer village.

Big sights

After graduation we went with my parents to Yosemite. They are fit septagenarians! I would never challenge one of them to a footrace.
















































Can you tell that Jonathan loved all the photo ops?

Congratulations!

Help from Dad, who just went through the hooding process himself last August.















The undergraduate "processional" (a.k.a. wacky walk) at Stanford.




















Graduation according to Jonathan:

We got up early and went to Stanford graduation. Up at the stands I didn't really do much. One of the speakers was a girl (Oprah), and she talked about crazy stuff, like how they tried to change her name. Isn't that crazy?

We saw a dragon that came around the tent lots of times, an elephant, a Batman, and there were some guys who didn't have much clothes on and were carrying it on a a clothesline
















Then we went to another graduation. It was a celebration for Daddy.

Then we did fun stuff, like walking around.

Happy Birthday, Dad

Never too old to enjoy getting a Lego set. (Indiana Jones this time.)

Something worth celebrating...

Ryan just got a tenure-track offer from BYU! We would write more, but we are off to celebrate!

Zoo wild

Last week we went to the zoo with Katie, Brooklyn, Liam, and Ashlie and Nathan. Lucas loved watching the monkeys jump around.

































Today we went to Kangaroo Zoo, where we got to jump around.



















We went with Jonathan's preschool.















Don't get any closer or I'll explode!