Christmas pics

I had the pleasure of being able to have Callie for Christmas this year. Even though she was a bit under the weather for some of it, we had a great time overall.

~Christmas Eve~
These pictures of the lights really don't do adequate justice to the megawatts of electricity that it must take to run them all. This first picture of the street is in Preston, ID(where Napoleon Dynamite was filmed). I'm sure if there was a way to put lights on the street itself, they'd find a way to do it!

Once you get to the north end of the main street you can see a glow on the horizon. This is one circumstance where you want to follow the light! You'll end up at this house:

Obsessed much???
We even saw some fireworks on the way up there- the picture is horrible.













Unfortunately Callie was asleep for all this. She wasn't feeling well. . .

When we got home, I got her to wake up enough to open a present or two for Christmas Eve. She got a nice warm blanket from Grandma Albrecht


I helped her realize that the box with the fun tape wasn't actually the present, but the fuzzy blanket she had tossed aside. She loved it!









She also got a couple pairs of new jammies too, one of which she's wearing in the picture.


~Christmas Day~
Santa brought various toys, books, a cute new outfit. . .

and. . . what could this be???



















a "bike"!














She cried when she had to get off to open the rest of the stuff. : (



For $2.00 at D.I. you can't go wrong with a complete set of Trouble Tracks! (ooh, ahh) with rompin', stompin' revving truck! It was a winner.














That about sums it up for now!

a simple fun recipe!

We've all done the thing where you put a candycane in your cocoa to make a nice pepperminty drink.

Here's my variation on that idea. I'm surprised that that the Reese's company hasn't marketed this idea yet. Maybe they have and I just haven't seen it out there...

All you have do is:

Put a spoonful of creamy peanut butter in with your cup of hot chocolate! Stir it around until it's melted in and then relax with your cup of goodness!

Enjoy!

what a trooper!

Yesterday Callie endured going to two churches with me. We went to my family ward first. It meets at 9 o'clock in the morning. This ward has a lot of kids in it that are her age, so I was relieved that she wasn't the only one being loud while the speaker was giving his talk. After that block, we dashed home as quick as we could, grabbed a fast bite to eat and hurried up to my old ward for choir practice before the next meeting. I unloaded all the kid paraphernalia into an empty pew and went up with the choir. She entertained herself quite well for that 1/2 hour before people started showing up. Right before the meeting got started I asked some friends if they wouldn't mind letting her sit with them while I was up with the choir and my quartet. They were happy to help out. This time she was the only kid in the audience so all of the noises were all hers(and there were plenty of them!). But they were cute noises, so I don't think most people minded too much. It was also fun to be up there and watch her down below waving her arm and pretending to lead the music from time to time.

The Christmas program went very well over all. The choir was good , our quaretet did extremely well, and the narrator read everything right. Best of all to me, perhaps, was that there wasn't a two year old running up and down the aisles raising havoc and screaming. I'm so appreciative of those who watched her. We went back home again after that and both took a nice long nap.

This weekend was a fun. Callie was still getting over being sick from before, so we didn't go outside and play in the snow at all, but that's ok. We colored, played and watched movies inside the whole time. I sliced up some apples and we put them on the dehydrator. Little did she know that these are going be treats in her stocking! It also made the house smell really good, so that's a bonus! It didn't even really seem claustrophobic being housebound for so long. We had fun!
here's a phone pic of her in her Christmas dress (it's really green) after the two meetings:

Last weekend

I got to have Callie for a while last weekend! It has been nearly a month since I last got to see her and She has grown a lot! Kids seem to do that, don't they? Here is also a picture of the hearth I made to: #1- Cover up the storage shelf that is so unattractive . . . #2- have a place to hang our stockings! And this post will bring us up to date!

When I got home last Tuesday night, this was sitting in my driveway waiting for me...(these pictures were not taken in my driveway) Not bad, eh???

Back to Oregon

Laura came back to get me Saturday night and we made the trek all the way back to Monmouth.
She was a REALLY good sport and helped me take some pictures of a tree that will become a bonsai in the future. It needs a lot of training and refining to make it look better. It is a Canadian Hemlock. Here are some others that have been in training for years and years. Some day this little guy will be like them!

More of the trip

On Saturday I went to Yelm and got to spend some more time around the places I grew up.

Thanksgiving day

Ok, on to the Thanksgiving part of the trip. I got to pend some good quality time with all the family members, it was quite fun!

Playing catch up

I'm finally getting to report on things that happened about two weeks ago!

For the first time in four years I was able to be at home with my family for Thanksgiving. I owe it all to the kindness and generosity of my one and only Laura Licious. Without her, it wouldn't have been possible. She did it all; She bought my ticket, picked me up from the airport, chaufferred me around while I was in Oregon, made an eight hour round trip to take me up to Olympia and then made another one three days later to pick me back up again and take me back to Oregon. What a sweety, huh?

It was an action packed week! On Tuesday night After Laura picked me up from the Portland Airport, we stopped by the Portland Temple. We walked all around it and we held hands and talked and enjoyed the spirit there. It was beautiful, I had never been there before

What a great way to start the trip!

Later that night we went dancing with Laura's sister Janice. Since I'm not much of a country line dancer, I was perfectly content to stay off the floor and give the space to everyone else who was out there.

Wednesday afternoon/evening we made the trip up to Olympia. The traffic was not so good, so it took us an extra hour to get up there. She stayed and chatted for awhile but had to leave again to be home that night.

(Due to the fact that I'm at the library's computer and their computers upload pictures differntly, I'm going to have to do several different posts about the trip) This is the first one and there are more to come!

Kiwi-Lemonade

What a crazy week this has been! Last thuursday I picked up that car, i worked on it all weekend until Tuesday when we decided it wasn't worth fixing. we talked to the Dealer about it and convinced them to take the car back and give me a full refund.(that never happens!) So when I went to the dealership there was a a little hassle with getting a check back because it hadn;t processed into their account yet. They told me to wait until Thursday to be sure it had gone into their account, then they could give me the refund. When I went in yesterday to bring the paperwork back, the sales manager gave me the cvheck and also told me to keep the keys and title to the car! HE WAS GIVING ME THE CAR FOR FREE, NO STRINGS ATTATCHED! I guess he realized that it would be even more hassle for them to try to resell it again in the condition it was in. He said Happy Thanksgiving and Merry Christmas and enjoy the car. He said I could do whatever I want with it.

When I got home I was chatting with my awesome landlords in the drive way and gave them the Readers Digest version of the Taurus story. They asked what I was going to do with it and I said,

"Now that it is a free car, it might be worth putting a little more money into it to make it run really well."

They said, "OK. Well, keep us updated on what you do!" They proceeded to go into their house and I went to mine.

Later that night there was a knock at my door and it was Tim and Janet again. They seemed kind of excited and came to give me news that they had been informed that an anonymous donor who knew of my vehicle situation is giving me a CADILLAC! They said it's in really good shape and the anonymous person(I know who it is) is taking care of all the registration and liscencing and all that too. I don't know what kind it is(does it matter?) or what year it is, but they said it should be really reliable for me for several years at least.

Mom I know your reaction is going to be, 'Oh Zach that's going to be expensive to drive!' I understand that, but I'm not going to look a gift horse in the mouth. Especially if it's a thoroughbred. This might also be my escape from the junk car syndrome I've been stuck in. We'll see how it goes.

So I'm going to put spark plugs in the Taurus and sell it for a couple hundred bucks just to cover the money I put into it.

A new personal record- The parable of the kiwi fruit

Imagine yourself wanting to have a kiwifruit. You don't want to have an extravagant kiwifruit or a super exotic kiwifruit, just a nice simple tasty kiwifruit that will satisfy your wanting for a kiwifruit. Most everyone else has their own kiwifruits and theirs seem to be good kiwi's for them. You know people who have kiwifruits for sale and you get one from them. You love your new kiwi and you take extra special care of it in order to enjoy it fully. Then out of the blue someone comes and destroys your precious little treat! Ahhh! You are sad, but the person compensates you for your lost kiwi so you can get another one. You find another one for a good price and you have high hopes that this kiwifruit will be the kiwifruit for you. Nope, this kiwi seems to not be for you either, it dies a horrible death for reasons beyond your control. Something was wrong with the insides of this kiwi. So you get another kiwifruit. It dies too! For some unexplainable reason, you can't seem to keep your kiwifruit like everyone else can, but you don't give up hope! You keep searching for that one kiwi that will will be able to have and keep and it will give you the same satisfying feeling that other peoples' kiwifruits give them. You don't know why every kiwi you get seems to either get destroyed by someone else, die on it's own , or turn out to be a lemon disguised as a kiwifruit. the lemon /kiwi's seem to be the worst ones because you don't even know that it is a lemon inside until after you've bought the so-called kiwi, invested in to it and bitten into it that you find out that it is really a lemon inside. And it's not a good lemon either! It's an extremely sour lemon that is full of seeds and rotten spots and there's just no way to make lemonade out of it. You must throw away the lemon. Every time you get a new kiwifruit, you have high hopes that this will be your kiwi, but the cycle of bad kiwifruits can't be stopped! you've been through over a dozen kiwis this way and you wonder to yourself, "How can I stop this cycle of bad kiwi?"


In case you haven't figured it out yet, the kiwi in the story is a reference to my ability to go through vehicles like kleenex. My latest kill is the Taurus I blogged about only a few days ago!
After spending several days worth of labor and more money than I should have, we confirmed That this car is not worth putting anymore effort into. We called the dealer and they were gracious enough to accept that they sold me a lemon disguised as a kiwifruit. They are going to refund my money and then they'll probably haul it to the junk yard for giving them such a hassle.

Mom, you were right- This car was a twin to the other one, they both have their end in the junk yard.

In fact this car helped me break my old record of the number of days of owning a car before it's demise. The old record was five days + a few hours and this car wass five days minus a few hours! It's not a record I strive to beat, but that's what happens when you are me...



__________________
/ ~~~Here lies~~~ \


Another '87 Ford Taurus


May it Rest In Pieces...

De ja vu

Some of you might remember the tan Ford Taurus I had several years ago? Today I bought it's twin sister- Nearly identical in every way, even down to the ghetto speakers sitting on the back deck!(hey Joel, remember those?) She runs a little rough, is quite sluggish and there are a couple little spots of rust, but I think she's in pretty good shape for a 21 year old car. I'm especially not complaining about the purchase price of $200.00! OK so it was from a dealership and all their document fees, tax and junk added up to a little over $500.00, but I'm still not complaining to be able to have a car thats legal for me to drive! I'm sure if I had been pulled over in the manual transmission car I was driving before, the ticket most likely would have cost me more than that. . .

Here she is, this is the prettier side:

The not-as-pretty side: (still not too bad, though, eh?)

And last but not least, the ghetto speaker:

A little vacuuming, shampooing, pounding out a few dents, and she'll be good as new!

(edit) Here are a couple more from Saturday after a thorough washing

Perpetual Bonsai

About 5 months ago I gave this plant to a friend. It is a Schefflera arboricola, or Dwarf Umbrella tree. As I was trimming it back before I delivered it, I kept one of the branches and grew it out to start a new tree.

Today I potted that branch up in it's own pot to send to another friend, but not before trimming a branch from this one to grow out as another tree later!

I've got a good head start on this branch because it came with roots already!

I'll keep you updated on it's progress . . .

I did it

I turned on some holiday music today. I know! Me, the one who despises all the retail stores who start decorating for Christmas in August! I succomed to their overcommercialized, money-grubbing plans to drive away the true meaning of Christmas.

Although I only eased into it by listening to only the instrumental music and not the Santa Clause/Rudolf/Jingle Bells stuff, I realize that now I've started listening, I just can't go back...

What have I done?? Who knows, next year they might get me tostart in October and then September and before I know it I'll be one of them! AHHHH! I'm pretty sure I'll be able to restrain myself from putting up lights and the tree and all that till after Thanksgiving though, thank goodness!

Don't get me wrong, I love Christmas. I just don't like how commercialized it has become. It shouldn't be about how many twinkle lights you can cram onto your roof or having a herd of glowing reindeer running through your yard. It should be about Christ, don't you think?

Orchid

This is the second blooming for this orchid this year, which is a first for me! The second pic is just with the sunlight shining through.

Pumpkin walk '08

Here's some fun pictures from this year's pumpkin walk.
















This years theme was: EVERYDAY HEROES


Noah's Ark

The Greatest American Hero (remember that show from the 80's??)













The fearless MAIL-man!

Indiana Jones

Larry Boy from Veggie Tales

Our sports coaches and teammates can be our heroes...

Kung Fu Panda

A very thin Smokey. He must have just woke up from hibernation

All hail King Arthur! Long live the King!

Gotta remember the people who keep our guts from spilling out all over the place...














Some historical heroes: from left to right: Harriet Tubman, M.L. King Jr., George Washington. Bottom: Clara Barton and Thomas Edison.














Mo-Tab














Wouldn't want to meet this pumpkin in a dark alley...















Phelps= half man/ half Shark!















Our armed heroes















Dads are heroes















I don't know what the "FP" means














Making Christmas, la la la...!














And Logan's own Brent Carpenter

Mr T.

Gomer Pile

Andy Griffith














Moses parting the Red sea














Michael "Gourdan"



























Pele














Babe Ruth














Einstein
















Can someone tell me who this one is? Who are the darlings?














The farm animals are always my favorite ! They're so cute!