EVIDENCE......

That I live in a house with TEENAGERS!!

Not even sure which one of them can claim this one!!!

And thankfully (judging by the evidence), it was ONLY one roll of toilet paper! And obviously done by AMATUERS!! (Not that I would really "teach" my kids the proper TP'ing techniques!!) My favorite part was the TP tied to the windshield wipers! And the pathetic excuse of wrapping the tree! But considering that the sprinklers came on this morning, it makes it a bit more difficult to clean up! And now I am SO thankful that we DON'T have any "huge" trees in the yard! (remember yesterday's post!) Guess I'll have to wait until Carissa is in high school to get any real "TP'ing" damage!

Any of you jealous of me yet??? Yah......You just laugh NOW!!

Day of Firsts

This morning Carissa woke up at 9 (this was after she woke up at 5:30 this morning for an unknown reason) so I assumed she wouldn't take a nap this afternoon (right again), so I decided since the weather was nice, I would venture over to Wheeler Farm and check it out. I've been saying I should head over there all summer, but just never got around to it. So today was the day! And what a fun time we had!! At first she was a bit hesitant to do anything. She wouldn't sit on the tractors or walk into the barns to look at stuff. So I just let her explore. I of course had never been there, so I was exploring too. I noticed a bunch of people gathered around a cow pen, but didn't know what was going on, cause Carissa didn't have any interest in doing anything I suggested at that point. So I let it go. Then we went around a saw the rest of the farm, including feeding the ducks, who were not shy at all once they saw we had food for them!

Later on, as we were waiting for the tractor ride, someone came out of the barn and mentioned there was a baby cow and a mama in the barn. We went in to check it out, and soon realized that this little calf had only joined the world a couple of hours ago! (if that) There was a little boy that had climbed up on the fence, and right after I snapped this picture, big momma charged toward us. Just a tad protective! Then she was eyeing us very carefully! And everytime this little guy got close to the fence, she came toward us!! This little calf was still had curly hair and couldn't even stand yet! When I say brand new, I mean brand new! I've never seen a farm animal quite that "new"! So I've come to the conclusion that the people gathered around her pen were talking about the birth, and the farm hands that had been cleaning an adjoining pen (which I thought was pretty routine, until I saw the calf!) were obviously cleaning up after the birth. I must have just missed it by about 30 minutes! So sad I missed it! If momma hadn't looked like she needed some privacy, I could have stayed there all day, just watching. But you all know Carissa wouldn't last 20 seconds, so off we went for our tractor ride. I'm really surprised she was able to sit the entire time! But she was so excited to see so many HUGE trees! She kept pointing every single one out. (guess we do live in a neighborhood that is seriously lacking in BIG trees!)

She also had a really good time going on a pony ride! This little gal's name is "Marshmallow" (funny name for a black horse:-) And she had fun being led around the pen. Apparently it is "better" to not have them on a wheel, and only have the ride go for 1 minute, versus on a wheel and the ride go for 10 minutes. Hmmmm....same amount of money.....not sure I'm buying that one again! And considering that she was under 4, so I had to walk (in the mounds of poo) around with her.....yah...not doing that again! (at least not with not flip-flops!)

Do you just love this "pout" picture?? She didn't want to get out of the little tree house and go do anything else! Mean ol' mom, making her do other "fun" things!!!

Stay tuned for a big announcement on Monday! (don't you dare go jumping to conclusions.....I am WAY too old for that!!!!!!!!)

A growing up lesson:

Now that Donavan has turned 16, I suppose I shouldn't be too surprised by this, but I really didn't know he was making plans to take Sherrill to homecoming (after all, they don't go to the same school) until he told me we needed to make a trip to the store to find a tie that would match her dress. When I asked him when homecoming was, he told me "this saturday", (it was thursday at this point!). So we went off to find a tie, and believe me it took a while for him to find the "right one"! Then the night of the dance, he came downstairs after his shower and asked Nikelle to straighten his hair. When she started doing it, I knew it would be a major disaster if I didn't step in to help! So Nikelle let me take over, (I can't tell if the look on his face in this picture is because she had put his hair in pony-tails OR because I was taking a picture of him with his hair in the pony-tails!!) and the finished effect was that he looked just like every other boy at school now! But he really liked it. Too bad it takes awhile to do, and I'm NOT willing to get up to do it every morning! So I guess I'll have to settle for the "darth vader helmet head" thing going on!!

Oh, the lesson of high school romance! After spending some time together over the summer, and going on a few dates, they reached a conclusion that they should see other people (happy mom dance here!) and so the plan is to remain friends. Me for one am sad to see him sad, but now that school is back in, I really want him to focus a bit more attention on school (even though he never really has had to give it much "attention"). Now I guess it is on to the next adventure for him. Hopefully it will be a happy adventure!

Thought I would also show a cute picture of the girls! It is so rare to get a smiling/happy picture of Carissa. But Nikelle can always get her laughing and giggling! So here is a cute little picture of the two of them! (sorry for the blurry leg, but she just won't hold still while she's being tickled!)

New class

I am taking the type+writer class with Jessica & Liv. We started monday. I got a bit behind due to Carissa giving us a scare. She started running a fever on Monday. Didn't think too much of it, because there is stuff going around. Well on tuesday, I started noticing that she was limping and not using her right leg. I called the doctor and took her in. Of course because I gave her motrin for the fever, her leg symptoms also dissapeared, but she still wanted to follow up if it continued. So yesterday was the miracle day. The fever went away and she started using her leg again! And now she is back to her good 'ol self! But wow! What a scare!

The reason I mention it, is that this class is helping us to recognize something and write about it. I probably would never have sat down and written 4 pages about how I was feeling as I was anxious about her leg. But I'm so glad that I did. The class goes for 2 weeks, and we also get to do some digi scrappin', my favorite! If you are thinking about starting the digi-journey, hop on over to Jessica's site and take a look at the new self-paced first class, called "up and running with Photoshop". You no longer have to wait for a scheduled class to take it! Then the following courses, you'll have to wait until it is offered, but they are SO worth it!!

Here is the first layout from the class. I used Nikelle's photo shoot pictures and changed it quite a bit from the class kit. It only took me all day yesterday, cause it just does! Trying to follow the instructions just takes me longer than just doing it out of my head! But I still love it.

Fair fun

We usually end up hitting the fair the last night, and it is always so packed! This year we decided to go on opening night. Partly because the kids weren't in school yet, so it made it a bit easier. The big kids each brought a friend (well D brought his new "girlfriend") so we had to wait until they got out of school and then we headed out. The weather was perfect, and the crowds were manageable. Hardly any lines at all to get on the rides (well Carissa rode them).

Carissa went through the little farm exhibit. She rushes right through it, and wants to trade her "ticket" for a goodie! But she did manage to plant a few veggies, and harvest them. She even milked the cow and brushed the sheep! She also got to go on the ponies! She absolutely loved that. We thought we would have to walk with her, but she sat up there on that pony and just held on and loved every minute of it! And because it wasn't that busy (yet) she got like a 10 minute ride! When we went back later, it was a bit busier, so she only got to ride for 3 minutes!

We were a bit unsure if she'd be able to ride the rides. The height minimum was 36" and she is only 37"! So we had Nikelle and her friend go on some of the rides that she needed a buddy, but we were surprised that she wanted to go on the little dragon coaster all by herself! She sat there in the seat by herself and looked like a little toy doll-barely held in by the bar! But the squeels of delight, and the smile on her face made it worth it! Then she wanted to ride the little race cars. I didn't know they did anything other than go around in circles. How wrong was I! The first time she rode it, she sat in a car that was positioned so it would "whip" around the corner first. When the ride first started going, she had this look of TERROR on her face! I thought for sure she would start screaming hysterically, but by the time I had time to worry, the little car was being whipped around the next corner! This time she looked back at us with a huge grin on her face! Then by the 3rd corner.......she was squeeling and laughing! I think she rode that ride at least 10 more times!! The guy working the ride was so cool, and just let her switch to another car, rather than coming out and going back through the line! If only all the "carnie" guys were that cool!

Then we went over and watched the rodeo for a bit. They were doing bucking broncos and calf roping. Both events were pretty cool! I really don't know what possesses these guys to get on a horse that jumps around....but oh, well! (sorry no pictures of that, I need a longer lens, and a knowledge of how to not get blurry shots! Believe me I tried to get pictures of them, but every one of them was blurry!)

As we left the rodeo, I started noticing all these photographers armed with tripods, and I got curious and observed for a bit. I guess they love the challenge of taking pictures of carnies! So I shot a couple of the ferris wheel. One was before the sun went down, and the other was as the sun was going down. I guess next year I'll have to take the tripod so I can use a slower shutter speed. But for now I can see why it is a challenge!

Wasn't this a beautiful sunset??

I also have to show this silly picture! My mother-in-law and one of the cousins from St. George came up for the weekend. We met them at the fair, and this is what I see when I found them by the gate, and I just had to snap a picture of her socks and shoes! She is equally as cute, but I REALLY love the socks!!

I know you are all dying to see the first picture of the girlfriend. Her name is Sherrill. He met her at work. She doesn't work there, but one of her friends does. She seems really nice and I guess if I wasn't ready for this......I better be....right?? I can only keep him from growing up for so long...........then he takes over!

First day of school photos

It was REALLY hard for one of these guys to get up this morning (judging by the pictures, can you guess which one??) But they are official now, freshman and junior!! Brand new school, and so many opportunities await these two! I'll take Donavan out for his photo shoot on wednesday (he had to work last night) and then hopefully he'll be more awake!!!

Nikelle's photo shoot

I took Nikelle out to get some back to school pictures. She wanted to go with the "urban" look. I'll have to scout out some really cool locations downtown, but for now, this is what we found! These are my favorites out of 250 shots!!