ZOO

I think we've been to the zoo like 5 times in the last two weeks, thanks to Alli who gets us in for free with her membership. I'm such a free-rider :) Thanks, Alli. I usually take Search while Destroy is at school (I know, mean, huh) so Search and I have to make sure that there is no evidence of a zoo trip anywhere in the car to avoid jealousy and tantrums from a-fore mentioned brother.

Look! Thing One is actually looking at the camera and smiling at the same time! Too bad the giraffe isn't... (Looking, that is. I don't think giraffe's can smile).
Wow! Thing Two is ALSO looking at the camera! A marked day in history.
Where are the otters?

Whoa! There they are! Hello!
The zoo here has a pretty cool shark pool. You can pet the sharks as they swim by and the crazy thing is that the sharks actually like to be touched! Some of the sharks think they are dolphins and try to pull some crazy tricks. The polar bear was actually moving around one of the days that we went. He was paddling around with his front paws, back and forth, back and forth. Poor bear, he must be so hot in the humidity here.

The walrus exhibit has to be my favorite, which is why I don't have any pictures. I'm always watching them. They are very social and they like to be right up against the window playing with the kids. Don't worry, this one's not real.
Search and Destroy with pals: Brandon, Taylor and William. Not pictured (due to prime poking/squeezing/licking opportunity from Search): Baby Oliver.

The penguins are so fun to watch. I love how they blast out of the water onto the rocks.

The penguin exhibit in on both sides of a hallway with a tunnel under the hallway for them to swim through. The cool thing is that the floor is a window and you can watch the penguins swim under your feet.

Aren't they cute when they do this? Luckily they held hands long enough to get my camera out!We are monkeys. Ooh Ooh, Ahh ahh! So we go to the zoo to see the animals. But you know what the kids want to see? No, not the animals. They want to watch the diggers working on an exhibit.
The mighty grizzly bear! Roar!

I Love Craigslist But Not Tornados

After a couple months of searching stores and checking Craigslist everyday, we finally found bunk beds! The kids are beyond excited and fighting over the top bunk like all siblings do. The nice thing is, since we still have Search's crib up in his old room we can still toss him in there if he's not staying in bed. Wonder what time he'll wake up in the morning? I decided to fit in with the locals today so I tied the new mattress to the top of our car and drove home. It was raining and I had to pull over a few times to let annoyed drivers pass the white trash mattress-topped-car. My top speed of 35 wasn't good enough on a 50 mph road.

Destroy thought he needed to pose for the camera and show off his monkey moves.
The best part about this new purchase is that it's a bed. That means they sleep in it. That means I'm done until tomorrow.Unfortunately, our bedtime routine was uprooted a bit. Out of the blue, a freak thunder storm came and went. Thunder, lighting, screaming, soothing, the whole bit. On top of that, the tornado warning goes off which freaks the kids out even more. Not to be outdone, my over-protective husband announces that we all have to huddle in mom and dad's closet for one hour because the tornado touched down about 10 minutes north of here. Our walk-in-closet is the safest room (if you can call it a room) in the house. Imagine four people in a very small space, two of them being two very tired little boys, one extremely worn out mom and one tired Dad sandwiched between two night shifts. It wasn't a pretty scene. But, we're still here. It took Destroy longer than normal to fall asleep tonight on account of the "torneedles".

Freak thunder storms in january, tornado warnings.

Welcome, to the midwest, Megan.

Brown County

A few weeks ago my mom came into town while Aaron was out in California tromping through the forest getting all wet and cold - aka hunting. Unfortunately the only deer they saw the whole time were from inside the car while driving. And they were only does. He was bummed but I was glad in my own way because Aaron seems to think that a deer head would look perfect next to our family picture in the living room.

With Aaron being gone, my Mom and I decided that we would go on a mini trip of our own. Indiana is known for it's beautiful fall colors and Brown county, just south of us, is especially pretty at this time of year. We stayed in a hotel with a pool for two nights and ate out every meal. No cooking and no dishes for three days!

Here we are hiking in Brown County State Park. Why are the boys smiling, you may ask? Because we were going on a bear hunt. We checked out "We're Going on a Bear Hunt" from the library and they couldn't get enough of it. So we put words into actions on our little hike. But, the only bear we saw was a big hairy white trash guy on the trail. We can never pass a playground without stopping.

And we went on a pony ride. Since my mom would not be able to fulfil her duty as photographer and guide a horse at the same time, I got to lead both horses by myself. At times I felt a bit like Wesley in the Princess Bride getting limb-stretching torture, but we made it. And they wanted to go again. And again.

Redneck Ingenuity

Talks and Callings

In our ward I have been the primary pianist since the day I got here. The very first sunday we were here they asked if I played piano and I was immediately taken into primary. I don't mind because it's probably my favorite calling that I've done so far in my church calling career. I never have to practice and all I do is show up and play. Plus, the kids are so cute and fun.
Then a couple of months ago I was asked to teach a lesson in Young Womens as a guest speaker. Sure, I said! So I am preparing a lesson on Developing Talents.
Two weeks ago the bishop called me into his office and asked me to speak in sacrament. The same sunday that I'm teaching in YW (this sunday). Sure, I said! Too bad it's a different topic. He also gave me another calling.
Aaron is in the elder's quorum presidency and Destroy gave his first talk in primary last week.

Any guesses on my new calling? What are your callings?

The Week of the Unmade Bed

So, Aaron has been working nights for the last two weeks from 6 pm-7 am. He has been on OB/GYN and he was required to get 10 baby deliveries in those two weeks. He got all ten and the last few deliveries he did all on his own! I told him that maybe he could deliver our next baby but he said he'd rather play Dad than Doctor. I'm not arguing. I'd rather have him looking at my blood vessel broken face than other places anyway. So between my sleeping and night and Aaron sleeping a good chunk of the day in our bed, it hasn't been made once until this weekend. That's two weeks of messy bed. On top of that, Destroy has been sick and sleeping in our bed during the day when Aaron isn't in there. He's been sleeping a lot this week, and now even though he isn't sick, he still wants to take naps! And he still goes to bed at 7:30! Keep it up! Right. Poor little guy was so sick that he fell asleep out on the lawn while Aaron and I were planting new grass. And he even fell asleep on the windowsill. Comfy.

When we were feeling up to it, we played school. My in-laws gave us these great step stools that can easily be converted into school desks. Destroy is very good at playing bossy teacher and Search is great at listening. They are very intent on cutting. We even put name tags on the desks.We also made fall crafts. I love the JoAnn dollar section. They sell a craft in a bag for a buck. We tried at first to use glue sticks but that wasn't working. So, I had to bust out the glue gun. Even though the GLUE-GUN sounded like a lot of fun to the boys, after burning themselves, I pretty much finished them myself because they were too afraid of the glue gun. But, I burned myself too. And if you look closely you'll notice that the scarecrows were burned too because they are crying. Or maybe that's just glue that dripped. And I had to get a patriotic shot with the fireworks behind them.

The only way I could get them to take this picture was to let the scarecrows stand on their heads.While Destroy slept his life away this week, Search and I ventured into some cooking projects. We made yummy potato soup and homemade wheat bread. Unfortunately we had some expired yeast because it wouldn't rise and even after it was cooked it was the size of the bread they serve at Outback and about as dense and a tree. But, surprisingly, it still tasted good. Or maybe that's just what Aaron said so that I didn't feel like the afternoon spent in the kitchen was a total waste of time. Do you think Search had fun? I came back into the kitchen after a few minutes and found him grabbing handfuls of flour and dumping onto the counter. The kid has a thing for flour. He's spilled it on the floor more than once. I didn't get a picture of it though because I didn't want him to think it was funny. This picture is just of him helping me.

What, my water's not good enough?

We have a little neighbor girl who is about 6. She comes around our house every so often when there aren't bigger, better kids to play with. I feel bad for Destroy because he gets the shaft from her a lot when she sees someone else she wants to play with and ditches him.

The other day when her friends were all otherwise occupied, she came to play in our backyard with the boys. After a few minutes of playing she and Destroy came to me asking for a drink of water. So I go in the house and fill up cups of water for them. We have one of those sink water purifiers by Aquapure or some company which is a separate faucet that sits next to the main faucet that runs purified water for drinking.

I go outside and give them each a cup. My boys greedily drink up their water but the little neighbor girl eyes me warily and asks,

"Is this tap water?" I reply by saying that no, it's purified water from a separate faucet than the one the tap water comes from. She looks at me again and proceeds to plug her nose and take a couple of sips. I snort as I assure her that it's not tap water and that it really is purified. I couldn't believe that she was plugging her nose.

"I only drink bottled water" she says, hands me the cup and runs off.

Mission Accomplished: Wallpaper Desensitization

Two months after we have moved in I'm finally done hanging pictures. It being one of Aaron's very favorite pastimes, I did it all while he was at work. That wasn't hard at all because he's hardly home anyways! Ahh, the joys of being a medical resident (he's on a 30 hour shift which is now 32 and still counting). I think it took me so long because I have been systematically immunizing myself to the walls so that I could get past the fact that we have to live here, with the wallpaper, for the next three years and if I was going to hang pictures I might as well do it now. The wallpaper isn't going anywhere.

Here is the living room. While most people hang photos in their picture frames, I hang fabric swatches sewn together. I was getting a little bored with pictures of our family all over the house so I decided to improvise. Aaron made no comment. I just figure that because I was born and raised in Ashland, Oregon I have the right to decorate as eccentric as I want. After all, I grew up around hippies. Fabric on a wall isn't so bad. Actually, I saw the idea at IKEA and even though I didn't like their display much, I figured I could elaborate.

Ikea also sells super cheap picture frames which I stock up on every time I go there. See the 8x10s? Yeah, they're not 8x10. They are 8.5x11. Who does that? Oh, yes, Europeans. Sheesh. It honestly took me all afternoon to make mattes for these beauties.

NOTE: I am not discriminating against Europeans, just their idea that selling 8.5x11 picture frames is a good idea.
Home sweet ghetto. I actually really like our bedroom, the yellow wall under the rip in the wallpaper goes perfectly with the off white squares in our comforter. With the pukes stains upstairs and the rips in the wallpaper (and the blinds hanging like a loose tooth in the computer room), I really feel like we have made this place our home. And everyone who lives here after us will know that.
I'm pretty sure the kids don't ever notice the pictures that I spent so long on. What a cheery feeling. So, if you ever do stop by our wallpaper mansion in Indiana, please comment on the pictures in the boys' rooms. Thank you.
I got crazy with the watercolors because I had to somehow cover the previous nail holes in the walls of the bathroom. Come to think of it, a little Spackle would have done the trick. Oh well, more pictures to go unnoticed.

Wallpaper Extravaganza

This is a special day for you. Why? Because you are about to embark on a journey through time. To the early nineties. Yes, you are entering our home where the nostalgic varieties of wallpaper will bring back memories of your youth (or maybe not if you're older). I'm not sure what year this house was built but judging by the beauteous walls I will have to go with the late eighties or early nineties. Shall we being our tour?


Here we have the upstairs guest bedroom. The woman was seriously missing the beach because this is not the only room with sea-related decor. Maybe her husband never wanted to move to a coastal state and she was making up for it with seashell and starfish wallpaper in flat, humid, lake less Indiana. Even if I lived near the beach you would never find this in my house. Oh wait, you do. Shoot.

Next we enter Search's room, Aaron's favorite. Originally designed as a boy's bedroom, Search gets to fall asleep starting at cheerful dolphins and whales who look like they've eaten a few too many Twinkies. Not to mention the multicolored stripes on the bottom half of the wall. Well that explains why he's been so tired all the time lately! He can't fall asleep in there! Maybe I should just add some strobe lights to the mix.
Next we see the kitchen. Lucky for us we have the fourth of July all year round in here because we are constantly surrounded by "fireworks", as Destroy calls these creative brush strokes. Too bad we can't somehow show our kitchen during July instead of displaying our flag.

Here's the guest bathroom. "Look, Mom! Little fireworks!" Nothing like imagining fireworks going off as you're sitting on the throne.
This room used to be the dinning room. Seeing that we only have enough tables for one room, we use this room for the computer and piano. Combined with those blue floral curtains it looks like something out of "Golden Girls".
The other ocean-themed room. The master bedroom. Isn't it beatific? I had to be sure to get a picture with the ripped boarder in it to show you how intensely ghetto the room looks.
The stairwell. Lavender paint with white brush strokes. Remember doing those splatter-paint art projects when you were a kid? I hope they didn't pay this guy too much.
Seriously, how do you decorate this place? The wallpaper speaks for itself. I've tried hanging a few pictures but I'm having major reservations in some rooms. I just have to pretend the wallpaper isn't there. You may be wondering why I don't just paint the place? Well, I intended to in the beginning but I got some bad news. After being told by the owner before we signed the lease that I was allowed to do anything I wanted to the walls, I get a call the other day from his wife telling me that there were only three areas that I couldn't touch. The dinning room from Golden Girls, master bedroom at the beach and stairway to art class. So what's the point of painting at all? I was a little peeved to sat the least. I've had my share with stupid people lately.

Firework Fanatics

The date today is July 16, 12 days past the fourth of July. Even though it is 12 days past the fourth of July I still hear fireworks outside my house. Every night. I thought I was patriotic living out west by wearing red, white and blue on the fourth, doing a few token flowers and sparklers and then going to watch the big fireworks at night. Apparently I was wrong. Here in the Midwest the fourth of July is celebrated throughout the entire month of July and maybe longer. Check back and I'll let you know. Not only that but there are several permanent firework stores near our neighborhood. Billboards around the city are advertising fireworks as "buy one get one free". They are just feeding the problem. Just when someone has finally run out of post-fourth-of-July fireworks they see another deal they just can't pass up. When Aaron went to "Patriotic Fireworks" on the 3rd to buy a few fireworks, the guy in line in front of him spent $4000.00 on fireworks!

Although I am a little annoyed with the whole firework business, we did get to watch the big show from a pretty cool place. Aaron used his connections to get us up to the helicopter landing pad on the 9th floor of the hospital to watch fireworks from all around the city. For the big show the fireworks were shot off a skyscraper. The kids actually enjoyed it because we were far enough away from all the fireworks that they didn't have to plug their ears the whole time. I should have taken a picture of the kids who were watching from the back window of the car, which was parked in the garage while we shot off bottle rockets, bees, fountains and flowers. We couldn't even get them out for the snakes.

There's no place like... a home!

Aaron and I spent three long days and two short nights out in Indianapolis this last weekend looking for our next residence. We found a great house (yes, a HOUSE) that we will fit into perfectly. The best part about it is that it's on a half an acre (don't worry, there's a riding lawn mower) with huge tall trees, green grass and a little stream running along the side. There is also a swingset for the kids and a MINIBARN! An Indianapolis must-have (everyone has one in their backyard). The house has four bedrooms, a dishwasher, washer/dryer, garage (things many of you people who don't live in student housing probably take for granted) and a beautiful deck on the back. The only thing that I don't like is the original owner's taste in home decorating. But, all of that funky wallpaper will be coming down along with the pink floral curtains. We are very excited to move from our 850 square foot apartment to a half acre area. The crazy thing is that we will only be paying about $80 more per month for rent than here. The thing that scares me the most is going to be trying to find friends out there as good as the ones we have here. I'm pretty sure that won't happen and I guess that Search and Destroy are going to start having to play together! We will really miss Irvine and all the good friends that we have here. Wow, I'm starting to get a little teary. Better stop.