Pearl!

Each year since we've been dating, Clint has given me something gold for Christmas. This year, he gave me something PEARL!

Merry Christmas!

Jb and The Boy singing at their 5th grade Christmas concert.

Merry Christmas!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OvhmQZ62Mvw

Book Review

Book Review

by

J.B.

This book, Deltora Quest The City of the Rats, is very well written. Emily Rodda, the author, writes wonderful fiction books, and this is one of her best! I loved this book for it's adventure and storyline. It's thrilling, exciting, and makes you feel what the character does.

The main character, Leif, is a 16 year old boy who has hazel eyes, brown/blond hair, and tannish skin. Leif's personality is mischievous, adventurous, and cheerful. Leif's father sent him to fulfill a pledge to find the lost magical gems of the Belt of Deltora. The gems are a diamond, emerald, lapis lazuli, topaz, opal, ruby and amethyst.

Leif and his companions have already found two of the missing magical gems, the topaz and the ruby. Now to find a third. They have faced many dangers along the way. They come across a man full of trickery, that only has eyes for money. He sells them some magic beads and something called water eaters. Luckily, they come in handy! When they come across a river, they use the water eaters which make a kind of dam so they can get across it on dry land. On their journey Leif has to make many decisions, and some of them could mean life or death. There are still many more dangers ahead. Will Leif find the gem or perish in the end?

My favorite scene is when Leif and his friends have just escaped the latest danger. When they stop to rest his friends start to argue. I like this part because it's always funny when they argue.

This book was just right for my reading level, and it was great fun. The story was (in a way) believable. I thought parts were believable because anyone can run in the forest, dive to hide, and find a strange city. The book was very mind racing. It made me think hard about the codes they use, and the symbols for things. I always try to guess what is coming next. I love this book and think you will too.

Happy Thanksgiving

So here I am on the eve of Thanksgiving, feeling very grateful for the important things, like family, healthy children, warm homes, and safe havens. I am also feeling grateful for modern medicine that is giving my kidney a good chance at working normally. Unfortunately it is a long process. Over the last 6 months I have had re-occuring bladder and kidney infections, and on November 9, I had surgery to remove a 23 mm. kidney stone. I did not react well to the anesthetic and it took me about 3 days to feel "awake." A stint (like a long straw) was placed in the kidney and goes from the kidney to the bladder. It is most uncomfortable. I have to sleep sitting up as lying flat puts pressure on the stint, and causes it to twist and turn inside me. The kidney remains swollen and sore, but is finally starting to heal. I can not take anything other than Tylenol because I am super sensitive to medications and seem to over react with side effects. Hopefully the kidney will be healed enough for them to remove the stint the first week of December. Anyway, as a result of the constant ache in the bladder and kidney, I have opted out of traveling the four hour drive to see my family for Turkey day.  JB is sad that she won't see her cousins. So am I.

Boo!

Fall Hike 2009

Took a stroll at Willow Creek campground in Logan Canyon last Sunday. Rosie was like a new puppy, running up and down and playing in the leaves. She took a looooooong drink out of the Logan River, and then peed in it. (?) Thanks heaven she took her drink first.....
Jb invited a neighbor friend to come too, and it was fun to watch them looking for leaves to gather. We did some leaf rubbings when we got home. Great way to spend a lovely fall afternoon!

Secret Boo!

It was a quiet Thursday evening. The family was gathered around the idiot box watching Deadliest Catch when a mysterious knock sounded at the front door. Jb sprinted toward the door to find....no one. A phantom had been by, leaving a plate of goodies and instructions to haunt two more of our neighbors. We obtained goodies and planned our secret attack. JB and I took Rosie on a walk, and did some haunting on the way. I had forgotten the excitement of going on secret missions in the dark. This brought back so many memories of door ditching with my dad. We would often deliver secret packages of  cookies to neighbors, or even care packages of canned goods and socks to people who were on hard times. Watching JB sneak up to the neighbors houses reminded me of how it was actually quite scary to take a package to the door, ring the bell and run, hoping you won't be seen. I remember being so afraid that I would get caught! It was great to see that Jb experienced the thrill of it, too. Makes me want do door ditch the rest of the neighbors.....

Aloha! Hawaii!

Aloha! Hawaii was fantastic, and like always, Mom got carried away with the camera! Check out the other photos at our flickr page:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/tlcbull/sets/72157622620415092/

Mahalo.

Through My Child's Eyes....

I found an old digi card today as I was cleaning out my closet, and wondered if there was anything on it. Putting it in the computer revealed a series of photos taken by Jb on our vacations in 2006, just before her 8th birthday. While most of the shots were blurry, or unrecognizeable, there were a few that showed the world as she perceives it.  I've noticed she has a good eye for one so young, and am glad I have a glimpse of what is beautiful to her. Here are some of what I consider her best shots, though she may think differently. Enjoy.

Cousin Camp 2009

We had a great time at our Madagascar themed Cousin Camp. We started Saturday Night with a dinner of Alex's New York style pizza, Gloria's Greens (Salad), Marty's seaweed on a stick (Green rock candy stick), Melman's Lime disease Concoction (Sherbet and sprite) and King Julian's "Move it move it" jigglers (Finger jello.) Then we played a lot of games and watched the madagascar movie. Sunday, we went swimming and played more games, and had a hotdog roast. Monday we went to the park and played until it was time to go home. We love cousin camp!

See the rest of our photos at our flickr site: http://www.flickr.com/photos/tlcbull/sets/72157622330946118/

Meet Newt!

Hailey Doris Eliason (AKA Newt) was born on her due date September 5, 2009. She weighed in at 7 lbs 12 oz and was 21 inches long. Jb is excited to have another cousin!

Washington DC

We had the wonderful opportunity to visit Washington DC with daddy. He had to go to meetings, and we got to go to museums. The weather was hot and humid, but the trip was definitely a treat. Thanks Daddy! Check out the other (Total count of 185) pictures that Mom took while we were there by looking at her flickr site:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/tlcbull/sets/72157622326432998/

10 years of JB!

10 years of JB!, originally uploaded by tlcbull2.

The last ten years have truly been a dream come true! Thanks JB and Happy Birthday!

Completed dollhouse!

Jb and I finally finished the dollhouse. It was great fun to work with her, she is an awesome kid. Makes me want to build another one...

The rest of the photos are on my flickr page:

Recovered doll chairs

JB and I decided we would try and recover the dollhouse chairs to match her new kitchen curtains. We thought about painting them, but decided to "upholster" instead. It was a lot of fun and really easy to do.
First, we found two chairs that we wanted to recover.



Second, we pulled the snap together pieces apart.



Then glued fabric that matched the curtains to the "cushion" sections of the chairs. We used tacky craft glue and were sure to wrap the fabric all the way around the edges of the pieces we were gluing.



After the glue dried, we simply snapped the pieces back together.

Dollhouse Demo update

Here are some pics of the dollhouse before remodel. It's going pretty slow, but hopefully things can pick up a bit next week.

Fishlake

It's kind of weird. JB is a GIRLY girl. You know, the kind of girl that can make a designer outfit out of trash bags, and look the stuff. She loves make up, hair extenshions, and won't wear sandals without toe polish. And, she loves fishing. Sure Daddy or Grandpa bait the hook and remove the fish from the line, but still she loves reeling them in and will even eat them for dinner. Weird.

Fishing with Dad

Pigs are Flying

Jb and I are in full doll house renovation mode. What has she chosen for the "Nursery Theme?" Yup. It's a flying pig. 'Nuf said.

Dollhouse Demo

Hi. It's been a while since my last update. I promise to do better. JB and I are in the process of demo-ing the dollhouse. Saw a few websites where there is an entire story with the dolls as actors etc, and thought about doing that for fun. Might just be to weird. Any thoughts? Want to go down the "are you really 40 yrs old and playing with a dollhouse" road, or should I just be a grown up?

Our Vacation June 10, 2009

If any of you have ever spent time with Gwumma before, you know that occasionally she can work her self into a laughter so strong that it is difficult for her to breath. Virtually any Chevy Chase movie can set her off, and she will laugh continually for a good 20 minutes. Well, after her second hip replacement, she was worried that Big Thunder Mountain would be too much for her. Her Doctor told her she could go ahead and try it, and if she liked it, she could go again, and if not, then no big deal. So she tried it out, and I bet if you listened, you probably could have heard her laughing all the way from California. She squealed and laughed and laughed some more. She laughed as hard as I had EVER heard her laugh, and she did it EACH time we rode that ride. (At least 4 times, maybe more.) At the end of the trip, we asked each other what our favorite rides were, but we all knew what she would say. Ask her about it, and I bet you can get her to laugh some more.

Our Vacation June 9, 2009

We love splash mountain!

Our Vacation June 8, 2009

We enjoyed many perks by staying at the Disneyland Hotel. We were able to watch the fireworks from our room, and were thrilled by their customer service. JB loved getting free candy each night as they left chocolate wafers in the shape of a Mickey on our turned down beds.

Our Vacation June 7, 2009

Today we started early in Disneyland, then left about 2:00 ish, had lunch and drove to Huntington Beach. We were not exactly sure how to get there from the Disneyland Hotel, so at the gate out of the complex, Daddy simply asked for directions. The man at the gate said, hang on I'll get you some directions, and pulled out a pen. I thought he was going to jot down some directions on a piece of paper and send us on our way. Instead, he used the pen to help tear off a pre-printed slip of paper that read: "Directions to Huntington Beach from Disneyland Hotel." On the back side were printed the directions on how to get back from the beach TO the Hotel. I was amazed! The mouse thinks of everything! Oh yeah, the beach was great, too!

Our Vacation June 6, 2009

Whenever we do Disneyland, Daddy always makes out a schedule of events for us to follow. We find this works very well for us because then we don't have to worry about what ride to go on next. It eliminates the worry about shopping for trinkets because time for that is always on the schedule. Where will we eat lunch? Look at the schedule. What time is dinner? Look at the schedule. I know this sounds weird to plan to such detail, but in Disneyland it really is a bonus. We know how/when to accumulate and use fast passes, and which rides are going to be the busiest at different parts of the day. By using a schedule we can maximize our time by actually going on the rides instead of spending that time discussing what to do next. With this system we see EVERY ride in the park at least once, some multiple times, and once even rode a record breaking 9 rides within 2 hours. We LOVE the schedule!

Our Vacation June 5 2009

June 5th was a great day! Mom and Dad celebrated 19 years, JB celebrated her first day of summer, and Grandma and Grandpa celebrated their retirement. Dad had made reservations for us at Steakhouse 55, a fancy, Disney owned restaurant in the Disney Hotel Complex. As a surprise he made arrangements for a huge cake to be delivered to our table for dessert. It had candles, Chocolate Mickey's, and a picture of the Cinderella castle painted on white chocolate, with the words "Happy Retirement" Grandpa looked surprised, Grandma cried, and the rest of us were left eating cake for the duration of the week. Good thing we had a refridgerator in our room and the chocolate mousse, triple layered cake was delicious!

Mouse House

Heading out today to the mouse house. Let you know how it went when we get back!

New life!

A few days ago, J.B. and I were driving home from school, just chatting, and a "flash of red" caught my attention in the field we were driving past. I looked over just in time to see the back end of a sheep, and a lamb drop to the ground. I said I thought that sheep just had a baby, so we turned the car around, parked, and got out to look. In the 30 seconds that it took me to turn around, the Momma had that baby pretty much cleaned up, on it's feet, and starting to nurse. It was pretty incredible.

"Fun" run?

When I was a teenager, my cousin Deb and I were both into Jr. High sports, and developed a bit of a friendly rivalry. Now, E1 and Deb's daughter T.H. have a similar rivalry with their High School sports. I know that E3 has a lot to look up too, and she is fairly athletic too, but need to tell her she has no need for worries about possible competition from J.B. and The Boy. Wednesday was their district wide, elementary school, mile long "fun run." Neither J.B. nor The Boy had any idea why they called it that, as they couldn't see ANYTHING fun about it. The Boy ran first, and we are pleased to say did NOT finish last. J.B. ran second, and came in close to the middle of the pack, but nearly passed out afterwards. BOTH of them finished the race though, completing the entire mile. This is quite an accomplishment which cannot be said for many students who just simply quit after 2 of the 4 laps around the track.

We are VERY proud of them both!

365 update

I know it has been a while since I updated my 365, and I realize that with my recent illness I have missed a few days of photo taking. But that's all part of the process called life, right? You have to do the best you can with what you've got. So I put as many photos as I could together for these most recent pages. Maybe my infection will get over soon and I can get back to a normal reality.

Field trip with TECS

One fun thing about being a sub is sometimes you get to go on the field trip! TECS Third grade classes went to the American West Heritage Center for their field trip and let me tag along. Fun times!