Fishy Business

In an effort to show my love for Matt and my support for his hobby/addiction, I am doing a fishing post. Matt had last Friday off from school so he hit the road fishing. Lucky for him it was a gorgeous day. And he found more luck as he caught 10-15 fish, including his biggest brown trout ever. Although the picture would have you believe it was only 17 inches, Matt says it was 18. Apparently it's important to have that clarified. And apparently we need a more accurate tape measure...



And every time Matt comes home, the kids bombard him with questions like: "where's the fish?", "did you bring a fish home?", "can I see your fish?"



Does it surprise any of you that Nina is the only one who will actually touch the fish?

Nina took a nap today...

so that means she will have a very hard time falling asleep tonight. We have learned this unfortunate trait of Nina's the long, hard way. Tonight's events are a good example of how this works. At about 2:00 pm, Nina starts to get cranky and tired. Most of the time I am able to keep her from getting her blanket and hopping on the couch for a rest. There are days, like today, where I am working on something and I don't pay attention to where she is until it's too late. Usually I wake her up to prevent the marathon night a nap causes. I couldn't do that today and so she slept for maybe 45 minutes. Here are three of the many "incidents" that have, and will continue to occur until probably 11:00 tonight. Yeah!

1. I found her under the table eating raw cookie dough.
2. I found my purse emptied on her bed and Nina under the bed with my camera. She took the following pictures:




3. Matt found her in our bathroom with a pack of curlers in tote.

I can make a prediction about what she'll do next:
-find a tube of chapstick and scoop out the contents
-poop in her pull-up
-tell us she forgot to brush her teeth
-ask for milk
-take toothpaste and desitin under her covers, oh wait, that was last week

There are probably better ways Matt and I can help her to fall asleep, but we are choosing to watch football instead. It should be a fun night!

6 + 1 days ago

6 dads stayed home with 16 kids while 6 moms went to town. Those six moms saw the most hilarious show "Girls Only: The Secret Comedy of Women". The same six ate at 3 restaurants, stayed at one hotel, visited an undetermined amount of stores in the mall, watched a Sandra Bullock movie, and stopped by Target. Don't worry dads, they hardly spent any money. It was the best weekend! Thank you everyone and happy late birthday mom!

Did you know...

that Nina is fascinated with worms? Also, she is showing interest in a career as a trial lawyer. How do I know this? Well it's really just a hunch. This morning as she was getting dressed, she was acting a little silly. She was kicking and dancing as she was getting clothes out of her dresser when she accidentally hit her hand on the drawer and banged her toes on the bottom of the dresser. As she was crying she yelled, "You stupid dresser, now you owe me lots of money!" So really, I'm just taking a shot in the dark about the whole trial lawyer career.


that Donovan started Cub Scouts? (he has since learned how to properly put on his necktie)


that Howie learned to tie his shoes and ride a bike with no training wheels? We still need a picture of him on his bike though.

Seeing things in a new light

My parents bought this light fixture as a house warming present way back in March. The missionaries serving in our ward installed it for us on Labor Day.



Matt was sad to see this beauty leave. Seriously.

Anyone recognize him?

Here's a clue:



What a difference a haircut makes.

Harvesting sunflower seeds

Back in the spring we planted the sunflower seeds that Rachelle gave us. It seemed like forever, but a couple of weeks ago these giant sunflowers finally bloomed. We had 3 that grew about 8 feet, the rest were maybe 5 feet tall. On Friday night, the kids had some friends over and we were all hanging out in the backyard. Matt and I were looking for seeds in the flowers that were dying...



...and then you all know Nina:










I guess we could be faulted for not specifying that we only get the seeds from the dead flowers. We no longer have big, tall and pretty sunflowers in the backyard, but the kids loved the seeds.