Sister Love

Is it normal to be jealous of your sisters when they are losing weight and you aren't? S3 has definitely been losing some weight and is looking great! Which is great for her...but sucky for me. Good thing S2 is still pregnant. haha.

The Case of the Hiding Dog

So, as MacGregor gets older, he has started having some health issues. He can't see very well and his back legs are really weak, so he is constantly bumping into things like door jamps, walls, you name it. Luckily, he spends 23.5 out of 24 hours of the day sleeping, so he doesn't run into too many things.

One of the funny things that has changed, recently, though was that last weekend he went through a phase where he decided that he wanted to sleep in hiding.

After a Saturday morning where it took 25 minutes just to get him into the bathtub to wash him off (and not because he is mean, but because he is a heavy golden retriever and when he doesn't want to do something he becomes completely limp and is really heavy to carry), he decided to hide from us. The only way we found out where he was sleeping was because my Mom went over by the computer and heard a little snore. She looked over, and there he was, fast asleep, between the step maching and the window - completely hidden.

Then, the next morning, while getting ready for church, I heard this amazing snore coming from the bathroom. I turned around and couldn't see anything through the partially-opened bathroom door. I poked my head around the door and this is what I saw:

He slept in the hidden bathroom spot for over 4 hours. Wow. Apparently, he really wanted to remain hidden and was still traumatized after the bath from the day before and needed to recover his strength.

Oh, Gregor, how we love you. I know Grandpa always says we should put you down, but we like you around, even if you just sleep all the time!

Love Hurts

During the holidays, we had the opportunity to watch my sister's kids for a couple of weeks while she and her husband went on a special vacation.
One of the best parts of that visit was this question from my 8-year-old nephew, Schuyler:
"Jo, what do people mean when they say 'love hurts'?"
Dare I say that I suspect my nephew has been exposed to some 80s rock? I certainly hope so...

Joy to the ...What?

So, all of the family visited for Christmas this year. It was totally chaotic and great at the same time. I caught some funny moments on my camera and wanted to post two of them. The first video is of Kirkland, Jessica's middle child, singing Jingle Bells in this creepy voice that he sometimes just decides to use. If you listen closely, he sings Jingle Bells (totally mushing up the end part), then says "Merry Christmas" "Ho Ho Ho" and then sings Jingle Bells again (that's me egging him on).

After I filmed Kirkland, Carter (Alexis' youngest), then wanted his turn to sing on camera. This one is hilarious. He is so serious. If you listen, you can hear that he actually changes songs in the middle. To what, you say? Just listen closely...

Aren't they great? Can you tell that Carter has been to Disneyland at Christmastime? Nothing like out of the mouth of babes...or 3-year-olds. You have to give props to Disney for great marketing!

Catch 'em on a good day

Just some cute pics that my sister sent of my niece, Avery, and nephew, Carter. Apparently, Carter is practicing to be a future Intel engineer like his Dad...

In the Year 1943

My grandma was the ultimate correspondant. And she kept a running journal - I really mean that. You could probably look through her numerous journals and find the cost of bread for every year of her life. Unfortunately, my grandma passed away while I was on my mission in Brazil (having lived 20 minutes away my whole life, we were pretty close). A little while ago, my grandpa gave my dad some of my grandma's earliest journals. Each of the grandaughters (my sisters and me) got to choose one journal to keep. I chose her journal from 1943.

This journal covers her student teaching and graduation year in Ogden, Utah (where she grew up). It also covers the first time (yes, there was more than one) that she got engaged to my grandpa while he was stationed in Florida. And, as you may have suspected, it has a lot of details about her life during the war.

Although her actual entries are fairly brief (and always have the weather report), there are tons of cards, dance cards, letters, notes, and newspaper clippings. The majority of those clippings are notifications of deaths or missing in action reports of the young men. It is really hard to see how prevalent those are. I have also noticed that people in Ogden in 1943 were constantly going to get malts and shakes.

This year I have decided that I will read my grandma's entry for the day before I go to bed. It has been really interesting. Here are a few of my favorite entries:

Monday, January 18, 1943: (clear, but terribly cold) "I received my airmail registered letter from George today. It's supremely beautiful. I'm going to accept him. I believe that I love him. Marilynn and I ate lunch today. I saw M.M. she treated me to a sundae. I stayed home all evening. I received this poem from Vi. The letter contained the most beautiful proposal of marriage from George. I'm engaged now."

Monday, March 1, 1943: (cloudy most of day, cold) "The school hours have been changed, so I get through at noon. I ate lunch with M.M. (a good girlfriend) Harvey Turpin is in love now. Gosh, it seems to be contagious. M.M. came for me. We walked downtown. I never saw so many friendly soldiers in my life. It would have been easy to be picked up. We ate a sundae at Keeley's. We walked home."

She also includes the items that have been recently rationed. Anyway, it has truly been fascinating to read about her life day by day as she is in her early 20s.

Snorta What?

So, everyone in the family (barring Nathan) is currently here at my parents house in California for the weekend as all the girls (and Dave) are going to the Garth Brooks Benefit Concert this evening. Now, I have to admit that even though I haven't really been into country music lately, I am excited to go to a concert to see one of the best selling artists of all time. We'll see how it goes.
In the meantime, last night after the kids were all put to bed, my sister pulled out this game:

Now, to get the idea, imagine 7 adults sitting around a table saying things like this:

"Moo, Who, no - Ribbit! Not Ribbit? What? Oh! Oh! Cock a doodle...Man! I couldn't think of it fast enough!"

It was the most hilarious thing ever. It's basically like war, but when you put down the same card as someone else, you have to make the sound of the animal they have before they make the sound of yours. Not only that, but the animals are hidden after the intial picking out of the bag at the beginning. Trust me, with 7 people and 7 animals, this gets very confusing and very hilarious. It was totally fun and I definitely recommend it for any group (even with 4 it was still really fun). You can find it here.

Say What?

When asked at preschool today what she wants to be when she grows up, Avery (age 4) responded, "A vampire." Who knew?