Lions and tigers and bears! Oh my!

A couple of Saturdays ago we decided to get out of the house with the boys and go somewhere fun for them. Unfortunately, it was really cold and they had runny noses already and so it greatly limited our options. Luckily, we remembered one of Joseph's favorite activities - exploring the Bean Museum at BYU. So we drove down and the boys had a great time. I was reminded of when we took a very small Austin there a long time ago. It was a nice excursion and although the pictures aren't that great to show it (see my update entry to see my complaints about our camera and my excuses of my perfectionism), I thought I would give you a glimpse anyway.

Here are Joseph and the boys - they loved this moose and Matthew kept making a break for him anytime he got loose



This is one of my all-time favorite pictures of Austin! This "growl" wasn't an imitation of the jaguar, it was actually what Austin did right after he said, "Smile! Take it da picture!"

This is an uncooperative Matthew with his mother in front of the bears. At least the bears are stuffed so they didn't have any choice but to cooperate...

Christmas Pictures 2007

More user friendly!

We decided to make our blog more user friendly by changing one or two color elements. We hope that this increases your reading enjoyment. I must say that I still probably like the old version better from a design standpoint, but there must be a balance between style and utility. Hopefully this an appropriate balance.

By the way, if any of you are using standard blogging templates and are possibly interested in changing yours, I have a word document that I can send you to teach you how to do it. This is not a suggestion that yours is not good enough, only a resource for you if you already had aspirations for a change.

Happy reading!

A long road ahead...

Okay, so today it began: the blaming of the dirty deed on the younger sibling, when the younger sibling is, in fact, much to young to have done that deed himself.

This morning I asked Austin if he could help me find the light bulb that he had unscrewed from a nativity scene in the window yesterday. I wasn’t even upset! I just wanted to find it. It went something like this:

Me: “Austin, can you help me find the other light bulb that goes in there?”

Austin: (with finality) “No. Man-yew took out the light.”

~sigh!~

It will just get a little tougher when Matthew actually is old enough to take out the light bulb…

One of those moments...

Sometimes, as a mother, I get caught up in "putting out fires" all day long - even sometimes making sure that Austin isn't stepping on Matthew or pushing him over. Austin is generally great with Matthew, but on occasion feels it necessary to shout things like, "Don't touch, Man-yew!" or, "Go away, Man-yew!"

However, the other day I happened upon this adorable moment of Austin "reading" to Matthew in the library:


It is these moments that you love as a mother that make it all so wonderful and worth it! I thought I would also include a few other cute pictures of the two together from the last several months.

Google Reader

I have found a wonderful new tool on the internet (thanks to a friend of mine) that I thought might be helpful for others. It is Google Reader. It is a wonderful site that finds the updates for you on any websites you want (at least that's what it says... I have, however, only used it for blogging sites and it has worked fabulously) so that you don't have to check your favorite sites all the time. You can even put it on your Google homepage!

One of the things that I have struggled with while blogging is remembering to check everyone's blog frequently enough to catch the updates. Google Reader does it for you. You can even read all the entries of a blog from Google Reader and don't ever have to go to all the different sites to read them (although I still like to go to the actual site once in awhile). Anyway, if you know anyone who could use this information (since most people reading this probably check their blogs and websites frequently enough that they may not need Google Reader), pass it on. In my experience, parents like it for checking up on their children's websites since they don't have to remember to check each blog themselves - Google Reader does it for them.

This may sound like a commercial, but don't you worry, I am not getting paid for this endorsement...

Voting

For those of you who live in Utah, I would just like to make a quick note of the voting coming up on November 6. We will be voting on Referendum 1 - essentially for or against vouchers. I am not going to make a political statement here, but I would encourage you to get the facts about the issue, and not rely on the emotional and non-factual information both sides are trying to push on us. The only place I have been able to find actual information about what the referendum entails is in the Voter Information Pamphlet (the link to the pamphlet is located in the lower left hand side of the website). Although the arguments for and against vouchers, as stated in the pamphlet, are still largely preying on emotion, I found the introduction about where it talks about the legislation and the money involved to be the most informative of all my searches for the truth about what this is all about.

Which ever side you are on, please vote and make your voice heard!