Last night John took Shaylee and Derek to cubs and Activity Days.  He's now in the YM so he stayed too.   While they were gone, I met a poor, sad little orphaned princess taking care of her little brother.   They were hunting for new parents and wondered if I'd like the job.  We "shopped" for new clothes since hers were torn.  We found many stores full of boys clothes which she didn't want but finally at the bottom of the dresser we found a good store of girls clothes.  A lovely blue nightgown was purchased and put on.

 We just watched a very eye-opening documentary.  It's about the massive corn industry.  Having read a book called The Omnivore's Dilemma by Michael Pollan, I was already painfully aware of the overconsumption of corn products.  This film just pointed that out more and more, and made me yet again want to never eat anything with High Fructose Cornsyrup.  I'd certainly recommend both the book and the film.  I LOVE the ending though.  

We cautiously announce we finally have a renter.  After months of nothing, we ended up having to make a choice between three applicants.  What a change.  The family we chose is hoping to buy the house in a year, so we're excited about the possibility of having it all done.  

Many kids seem to go through the I-love-shoes phase.  Derek wore his favorite Pooh shoes until we could hardly stand the smell.  Then Charity wore them completely out.  Hyrum has discovered shoes in the last few months too.  He especially loves his "crocs" (read here, croc wannabes).  He can get them on all by himself and really hates it when it's time to take them off at night.  He's grown out of his nice soft leather shoes, and no investment has been made in more, so he'll probably have flat feet.

So, who knew grapefruit could be so good.  When we moved to a house with a tree nearly ready to harvest, we vowed to eat them and like them.  After only a few attempts with tons of sugar, I'm eating them bare and loving them.  When they are completely ripe, there's not very much bitter.  Yummy.  We'll try to smuggle a few out of the state for everyone.  And lemons too.  Those should be ready then.  Missing those good potatoes though and all the yummy fresh peaches and apples and berries of the midwest.

A couple of weeks after we moved in we opened the hot tub, and to our surprise, two frogs were snuggling under the lid.  The one, much smaller, was sitting on the larger one.  The kids said, oh, look a mother is holding her baby on it's back.  I smiled

A few weeks later we noticed our sandbox, which was full of water after the insane amount of rain, had a bunch of tiny "seeds" in it.   I wondered but said nothing.  

Two days after that, presto, 300 tiny tadpoles were swimming around.  Wow!!  

 I'm going to be a bit mysterious, but we need some video clips from everyone if possible.  I think they'll need to be digital.  I'm letting you know early to give everyone lots of time.  I'm sure there are ways to email us some files, but that is not my department, so I have no idea how to do such technical stuff.  I'm just passing this message along.  We'd love some from Monica too.  And just don't ask any questions around Christmas time:)  

oh goodness, it's been so long.  Dad and Mom posted a bunch about what was happening while we were moving, and we've talked to most of you, but here's an update.  By the way, Craig, the site is so great.  I love the kids at the top.  

I've been meaning to fill you all in on the adventures we had on our camping trip, complete with pictures, and here it finally is.  

Happy Birthday Sean.  I hope you have a great day.  It was wonderful to chat with you yesterday.  We love you