Family Photo Flops

On Sunday, all dressed in our finest, we had my dad use his fancy-schmancy camera to take some more recent family photos. The good ones are really better than JCPenny can do, but it is the bad ones that are more fun! Josh deleted all the 80% of the photos that had his eyes closed in them and I had to use strong words to get him to leave the rest. Of course with little ones it is near impossible to get everyone looking good at the same time, but I do crack up seeing the various expression of the individuals on the photos that don't work. Yeah for Digital photography!

Some like it Hot

This year I am proud to be a home salsa maker. Everything in the salsa was grown in the garden (with the exception of garlic and cilantro) and I made it and canned it all by myself. It took super long because the majority of the tomatoes we have in our garden are roma tomatoes, which take longer to blanch and peel, but they are sweeter and meatier. I did 21 pints before leaving our garden.

Joy in the journey

We took of from Boise a day sooner than planned, leaving Friday at 1pm. Luckily we had kept both Faith and Danny awake long enough beforehand that I had the first three hours of the drive to myself. I had determined a few nights ago when Josh was gone and I was forced to read the Book of Mormon to myself that I liked it. So I began reading on that trip..or rather having someone read it to me again.
I must mention that I super enjoy listening to the Book of Mormon because it allows all my brain to ponder what I am hearing instead of having to read the words that I am not computing because I am pondering. I found all sorts of new discoveries in the first 17 chapters of the Book of Mormon. I can't quote exactly the verse (although I could probably look them up and then have ultra study skills) but here are a few of my impressions:
- The opening invitation to read and pray about the Book is so very BOLD. If I had been half as straighforward as a missionary I am certain that more people would have actually gained a testimony about the Book of Mormon, Joseph Smith, and The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. Luckily I did assign people to read it (though the obviously didn't).
- Lemuel definately had some Anti-Social Personality Disorders such as anger managment, bi-polar tendencies and the like. I excuse Laman from many of his actions because they were careful enough to include in the scriptures that he just did what Lemuel said.
- Although Laman and Lemuel murmmured when their father asked them to go and retrieve the brass plates in Jerusalem, there wasn't a word of complaint when they were asked to make the journey back to get the daughters of Ishmael.
- Nephi, while talking to the Spirit of the Lord and getting interpretations to Lehi's Dream defines the word 'apostle' as those disciples that Christ ordained and set apart to lead his Church. It occured to me that this is the first time that apostles are mentioned in scripture. I hadn't recognized that apostles were not used in church organization until Christ established the pattern; of course they are a pattern of the 12 tribes of Israel, but it is the first time they are ordained to lead the church. The Spirit of the Lord also designates the disciples that Christ will set apart on this continent are answerable to the 12 apostles in Jerusalem, thus establishing a pattern of heiarchy to a degree much as we understand the 70s are answerable to the 12, to the 1st Pres etc. I love this organization!
- Nephi mentions that there are some parts of the brass plates that can only be understood by the Spirit, or by those who seek to know by the Spirit. There is so much of the scriptures that are thus. Furthermore, he denotes the different groups of religious learners; those who seek for themselves, those who are content to have others explain it to them (the good folks that always asked Nephi to tell them what he learned) and those who don't care to know (Lamanite type).

There were many more great impressions on my listening drive, but I thought I would leave the highlights so as to not forget.

when you are this cute...

It all started early one morning when our little Padfoot came in for our morning wake up call...on the way through the door she saw the pile of clothes laid out for packing, including her polkadot bathing suit. Before I could put her in bed with me to chill for a few minutes she was adamant that we put on the swimming suit over her pajamas. As per usual, once Faith had had our Mommy fill she went out to find Josh studying. Josh was confused thinking she had put the double outfit on in her sleep. We have had some sleepwalking in our family, but sleep dressing?
Since that first morning we have found that Faith loves two types of wear: pajamas and swimming suits. I can't blame her. I look forward to putting them on and hitting the bed or the water as well, but I had not thought to put them on WITH my other clothes. Effective or overkill?

The fast and the frantic

for those who are just getting updated to our lives again..including me. Josh is starting his second year of graduate school to be a Physicians Assistant, which means a whole year of 5 week rotations. Since PAs need to well versed in most medical fields, they spend the first year of the program on book work and lectures and then just throw them into fire. Josh has 8 different 5 week rotations to get his feet wet. We requested that our two (now three) mandatory travel rotations were in the Rexburg area so we didn't have to worry about rent.
We just barely found out the upcoming schedule and then had to decide who to move and when. We are all going as a family on Saturday to spend the full 4 months (5 weeks x 3 rotations). Josh starts out in ER, then Dermatology, and then General Surgery on the southeast side of Idaho. After that we should be back in Boise for the remainder of his rotations.
See you in the Burg.

Wlibur may not have made it...

The Western Idaho State Fair has been running since the 15th. Josh has been working there for Dr. Jaime Rick and Advantage Walk-in Chiropractic, we have been doing this since Josh proposed to me (that's why the proposal was in Boise). Today the kids and I dropped in to see the produce and animals. There were some 4-H dog shows going on, but Josh said "We paid 7 bucks to bring Faith here to see animals she can't see next door" so bypassed the show and went to see roosters, geese, rabbits, miniature horses, cows, pigs, sheep and sting ray. AND, after 3 years of thinking it was ridiculous to have to pay to see Harley, the world's largest pig, we paid our 50 cents and found it to be worth it! That pig was disgustingly large. Faith kept saying "Big Pig" for the next 2 minutes.


They had removed the stingers from some sting ray for a live exhibit where you could pet them. Faith kept her hand in the water up until the last one hundreth of a second. Josh says they feel like octopus (when did he ever pet an octopus I would like to know).


All in all, in the famous words of Rogers and Hammerstein "our state fair is the best state fair, don't miss it, don't even be late. It's dollars to doughnuts that our state fair is the best state fair in our state."

Faster computer AND internet

Now that we have our own internet connection, instead of being pirates, I have the speed I need to keep everyone up to date on the latest photos. Hopefully I will remember the funny stories of the week as they come now instead of forgetting on Sunday and turning in the boring old report.