GAK

Marx found a book at the house with recipes for all of these different concoctions and he decided we needed to make one. I don't remember what it was called but it was the same as GAK. We needed glue and I didn't have any so we had to go to the store. I didn't realize glue was expensive because I always have a gallon at school but it is. The boys made the GAK, after watching a youtube video, and had a great time playing with it. I think it wound up in Texas. There was purple glue everywhere, I mean everywhere. I don't know how it got all over. It was on the fridge, floor, counters, even the patio. I'm still picking it off of stuff but it was so much fun it was worth it=)

Mano and Metate

We picked up some mesquite pods and I told Marx that if he could grind the pods into flour like the Native Americans, we could use the flour in cookies. He worked and worked, look at the sweat in his hair, but he never got the pods fine enough for the cookies. He couldn't believe how hard that work was=)

Rocket Launch July 5, 2010

This was our second annual rocket launch and I was running out of engines so we used some C engines and had some of those Alpha Rockets go pretty darn high. I think there were 5 rockets. Molly didn't want to push the button on the launcher but then was deliriously happy when the rocket came down.

Shrek Shakes

I'm not exactly sure how this happened but Cambria made smoothies out of spinach and bananas and convinced the kids that Shrek had come while they were outside and made the smoothies for the kids and then left. Even Maddox, who is notorious for being a picky eater drank the smoothie and declared that it was wonderful. We got him to drink one more and then he was done.

Summer 2010

I can't believe summer is new the end, well not the end of HOT, just time to go back to work=) Yipee!! Well, not for going back to work just for getting a pay check. The best thing we have done all summer was the Tuttle Family Reunion. We spent a week in the Uintah Mountains in the Tuttle cabin (Thanks Max for letting us use your cabin) and had plenty of food and fun. We had the potential for 39 people to be in attendance and 33 showed up. Pretty darn good. We had family T-shirts and photos were taken. There were some rowdy games of spoons, great talks around the campfire, hiking, eating, s'mores, swinging, riding on the six by six, and zipping down the zip line were some of our activities. Marx and Maddox came from Florida and Cambria and here kids were here from Mexico. We will do it again in 2013!!

Mexico for Memorial Day

We traveled to Mexico over Memorial Day weekend to see the Memmott family. We had never been introduced to baby Lydia and it was so nice to be at her blessing. We got to deliver the list of things Cambria ordered and some fun things like a quilt for Lydia. The neighbor's dog has puppies that Molly adores and carries around like little sacks of flour. Sunday night I was taking the pits out of the avocados for guacamole and put the knife completely through my hand. Greg took Roy, Alan, and I to the Mexican emergency room and I got 2 stitches. The doctor was very nice, the surroundings were reminiscent of the 70's, and the bill was $54. He didn't ask my name until he was writing up the prescription. Just before he shot me with Novocaine he asked if I was allergic to anything. I told him no and later asked him a question which he didn't understand. We went to to pharmacies to get the antibiotics and pain meds that totaled $36. Molly and Alan are enjoying the new baby although Molly might take advantage once in a while=) Cambria is feeling good and looking good. Greg's back was hurting him and we hope it gets better pretty quick.

Mother's Day

Mother's Day was great!! We went to Travis and Brook's house for steak dinner and Michelle, Ben, Deacon, and Rowan were there. We had the good fortune to Skype with Marx and Maddox, and Cambria's family. I got this cute punch container, chocolate, a music cd, and a Ped egg. We had 5 of our 10 grandkids to play with!! What fun!!

Tomatoe or Tomato??

There is a volunteer tomato plant in the back yard. I have tried to grow tomatoes in Arizona before and have never had a plant that was so healthy looking. There are blossoms, I wonder if we will get tomatoes??

Hummer Nest

Last spring we had baby hummers on the patio, mom had built the nest on the wire for the lights. I noticed a nest in one of the ficus trees the other day and a hummer with a feather in her mouth. I thought it was too late for babies but Roy has discovered two eggs in her nest that has feathers around the top, kind of like the salt on the margarita glass=) She is quite beautiful and dive bombs when we get too close to her nest.

Nameless Gnome

We have a little gnome in our family that travels from one house to another=) One night when Travis' family was leaving our house I tucked the gnome inside their van (under cover of darkness). Will got quite a bit of pleasure in returning the gnome to our house when they came again. On Easter Sunday the gnome had recently been returned to our house and showed up at the Tuttle's house before we had even visited...I wonder what happened=) Anyway, our nameless gnome is pretty fun, you never know where he might turn up...

Yard Sale Buy of the Day

Cambria needed size 3 month pajamas for her baby and someone was headed back to Mexico who was willing to take a bundle to her on Sunday. I headed out on the yard sale trail focused on jammies (and yarn, Beanie Babies, books, etc...). I found 23 pair of pj's for six bucks and was sooo excited, did I mention they are boy colors? Who cares=) My best buy of the day was this bench, oxidized to perfection=) I bought the bench with birthday money from Mick and Shirley=) Thanks!! Aren't yard sales wonderful???

What's in a name?

Here are the names of all of our grandkids (in no particular order) on the fridge. How many words can you make from these letters?

April 7, 2010

Lydia Jewel (she has been called that for months) is here!! She was born at home in Mexico and everything went very well with their midwife=) According to Greg the fat little baby (8 pounds 9 ounces) might get another name. Maybe just a different middle name...how about Rose? Lydia nurses well and Molly and Alan think she is terrific, so far. Cam says she is feeling pretty good, happy not to be sooooo prego=) Don't ya think Lydia looks like Alan? Lydia makes 10 grand babies for us and we can't wait to go see her at the end of May.

Three Year Olds and the Horses

During Spring Break (which seems like a million years ago) Deacon and Charly stayed overnight at our house. I wanted to take them to feed the goats so we got some carrots and headed out. The goats, however, were not in their usual spot so we needed to find other animals to feed. We stopped at one corral of horses and they wouldn't come to the fence. At the next corral the two huge horses were more than willing to hurry right over to the fence. Charly said, "No way, I want to go home!" and Deacon said, "Hurry, give me a carrot!!" I handed him carrots as fast as I could and the horses ate as fast as they could. The amazing thing about this is that Charly is usually fearless and the leader in risky activities while Deacon is afraid of everything and runs when you say 'boo.' I tried to teach Deacon to put the carrot on the flat palm of his hand but he just held the carrot between his thumb and index finger, he still has all of his fingers. Apparently horses lips are very sensitive.

New Front Door

Our front door was looking pretty bad and I was getting ready to put Roy on the job to refinish it, however he wasn't willing. Then the amazing Mike showed up to accomplish the job. Of course I got him started on the rainiest week ever. We had a rag stuffed in the doorknob hole for about three weeks, until we finally bought a new one. The old one didn't work anymore from darling little grandchildren hanging on it=)

So this is spring in Phoenix

We talked to Karen and Dick on the phone last night and they were talking about cold and snow. I thought I would show you what we have to deal with at this time of year. The African Daisies close up at night and open in the morning, if it is raining they also close. If you pick them and put them in water they close at night and don't open the next morning. The lemon tree is loaded and it's kind of like zucchini...no matter who I ask if they would like to have lemons they say, "Thanks, but I have a tree, or my neighbor just gave me some, or there was a bushel in the break room at work." Anyone for lemon bars??? How much lemon juice can I freeze?