Question of the Week

(Have we done this one before? I'm too lazy to rummage through the archives.)

What is your most favorite household chore?

I really love to dust--it's strange, but I do, especially dusting wood with Lemon Pledge. Second, I kinda like sweeping. It's just the moving the furniture that I hate.

What about you?

Ka-BOOM

Volcano Shoots Ash Up to Three Miles Away

Summertime, and the living is tasty...

These are my new obsession. SOOOO yummy.

Summertime, and the living is easy...

...Or not.

Yesterday I took the kids to the pool. The last three times I've been to the pool have been a blast--one of the times it was only about 85 degrees out, and the other two times it was overcast and a storm coming on. So the pool was pretty empty both of those times, and it was lovely. And all three times I went with friends, so there was someone to chat with while keeping eyes on the kiddos. But yesterday nobody was available to come with us, we went at 1:45pm, and it was 99 degrees out. And all of a sudden I remembered why I don't like summer, swimming pools, or the sun. But the kids had a ball, at least.

Ezra is getting really comfortable in the water. He was floating on his stomach in two feet of water yesterday, pretending to swim like the big kids (he had arm floaties on). Mercy loves to paddle around with an inflatable ring around her stomach, and to jump into my arms from the side. And the Gid-kid loves the water, as long as Mommy hold him. He'll splash till the cows come home if you let him.

And it will come to no surprise to any of you that Ezra and Mercy slept for almost four hours after we got home. Too bad Gideon didn't want to sleep as long, Mommy would have had such a nap AND gotten stuff done!

3 days down....about 2 left to go...

It's amazing to me how much I come to admire single moms every time Tyler leaves for a scout trip or a field trip for school or something like that. This time, for Scout Camp, he's been gone all week. He left Monday morning and won't be back until Saturday afternoon. Although Katy has been exceptionally good these last three and a half days, it's still hard to be the only one she sees all day every day. That's not entirely true, of course...we do interact with other people on a daily basis and we did spend all of Tuesday with Keryn's family, but without a car, it's been hard to really go anywhere. So, we sit at home, taking turns watching Baby Einstein and Alias and sharing bowls of cereal, oatmeal, and mac and cheese. It's so hard for me to get motivated to fix anything else, because Katy will only eat those three things and it's just me, so why bother? =) It's definitely been interesting. I can't wait to see what it's like with two kids!

Dentists Delights

See, that's what makes you two so good at that game, Text Twist. I'm pretty sure that if I had to sit in a dentist's chair for four hours, I would retreat somewhere in my mind, but I can almost guarantee it wouldn't be making other words from the word above me. =) Sort of makes you wonder, though, doesn't it? Did the creators of Text Twist come up with such a fabulous game while getting their teeth fixed? Hmmm....

Merry Christmas!

Delight-ful

Edit, get, lit, hit, the, ted, led, lid, hid, hide, tide, diet...

DENTIST WOES

Do you know many words you can make using only the letters found in the word DELIGHT?

die, tie...

DELIGHT must be the brand name for my dentist's light. During the four hours I sat in that chair this morning, lowered so that most the blood was rushing to my head, I would look up and see that light and the word DELIGHT pasted across the top. As hands were thrust into my mouth, I would focus my eyes up and start making words...

lied, tied...

They took molds (hit, git...), made eight of my teeth longer (lie, hie...), two of them pointier (lid, hid...), scraped, polished and reshaped (deli, light...), and charged me both arms, one leg and two-third of my head (glide, tile...).

And... I have to go back tomorrow and again next week and who knows how many more times before they have bled me dry and allowed me to spend my days talking and eating without a thick piece of plastic surrounding my top teeth.

leg, led...

Bildungsroman

Guess what? There's a scholarly word for what we always called the "Newberry Award" books--you know, the young person who has some destiny but has to fight though obstacles both external and internal to get through to the end. It's called bildungsroman. Pretty cool, huh? But I think I'll stick to the "Newberry" book--it's easier to say.

And here is an awesome review of the new Harry Potter book. WARNING DO NOT CLICK THROUGH UNLESS YOU'VE FINISHED THE BOOK. He discusses it pretty darn throughly. I thought LaDale especially would enjoy it, because he spends a fair amount of time comparing it to other examples of the genre.

Things...

Things I've learned from my three year old in the last week -
Never pass up a chance to eat sugar
Sometimes even the walls need a bandaid
Always change your clothes 10 times a day and your underware everytime you use the bathroom
Popcorn makes a great missle
You absoulutely must have 5 baths a day
Never leave the bathroom without attempting to flush and full tube of toilet paper down the potty
If something can be complained about, do
and finally,
Everyone loves me and I can do no wrong (although I admit I already knew that last one!)

Finished

I started about when Jenafer finished, my book having finally arrived, and just finished.

Church is going to kill me in the morning, if I make it through choir practice first.

Read the reader's comment only when you've finished the book.

Book seven

I finished!!! At about 5:15 this evening I finished Book Seven, I liked it, that is all I will say!

Stir crazy

I agree. No talking.

Except that I haven't had a chance to even crack that book yet.

I ordered it from Barnes and Noble months ago. Actually, it turns out I ordered it twice. The first time I never got a confirmation e-mail they usually sent, so I ordered it again. On Thursday, I got two order confirmations and two tracking numbers and am STILL (on Saturday at 3:19p.m.) waiting to see either book.

Sadder still, I was at Wal-Mart buying some name tags for our ward picnic this morning and I saw the flat of Harry Potter books, still quite full and without hordes of crowds surrounding it. Thinking to myself how easy it would have been to just buy one this morning, I walked right by it and, of course, didn't buy one or even peek because I had one coming.

SIGH!

Since I had set aside today for reading Harry Potter, I have now cleaned my house twice over, stacked everything I am taking to school in the corner of the room (or at least retried to stack everything again into a tighter corner since I really don't have big corners in my apartment, rearranged all the furniture in my bedroom and took a nap. I am going stir crazy and still NO BOOK.

SIGH!

On the other hand, I did take the quiz Jenafer posted. I got 109 out of 113, although I did, I admit, look up how many staircases at Hogwarts and how many ax blows it took to not sever Nearly Headless Nick's head. But as I went right to the correct page to find out the correct answers, out of 3,341 different pages, (total number of pages in all six previous hardback copies of the books) I think I should get partial credit.

I love you all. Enjoy your reading!

re: Heros

I just finished the test for which hero I would be and it is Maximus with 54% but Batman came in as a close second 50%. I guess I am not very fun loving because Indiana Jones was way low on my list, 13% but it was a fun quiz.

re: everything

Okay, I am not so good about answering or blogging but here goes. First, really cute kids. All of them ( Brad, Keryn, LaDale, etc.). I got only 81% in the Harry Potter quiz but then, I don't really retain all the mundane facts that they asked about. I haven't taken the hero test yet but will let you know who I am when I'm done. LaDale, I think you should make at least 72,000 a year. I really do but as a parent I couldn't afford to pay $3.00 a child per day so I guess I'm not for it. But I love you. I guess that's all for now.

Re: Harry Potter quiz

101 out of 113 correct! Wooo-who! (Thanks to Jen for the clue to read carefully. There were a few that I made myself re-read and corrected my answer!)

So...you can tell us when you're done reading Harry Potter, but let's have a total embargo on ANY discussion in the blog--even if you liked it or not--until we get the go-ahead from everyone. I know Telima and Tyler can't read it until after Tyler gets back from Scout Camp the end of next week, and as far as Bradley and I go, we're going to be reading it aloud to each other, so it will probably be slow going.

I am SO excited I could pop!

Harry Potter

Has anyone besides me noticed absolute over gluttony 0f Harry Potter in the media today. I even took a Harry Potter trivia test on msn.com, I got 100%! But it was only ten questions, here's the website http://today.msnbc.msn.com/id/19840023/ How will you do? For a more challanging quiz, here is one with 110 questions! http://parentingteens.about.com/cs/harryp5/l/blharrypotterq9.htm
I got 95 of the 110 right. I knew some of the others, I just didn't read the question carefully enough.

Re: QOTW

Biking-
We made sure we all got bikes just about a year ago. I even got a trailer to tow Erica and Lillian, and let me tell you, riding up hill with about 80 pounds of trailer and little girl is quite the work out!

QOTW: Exercise

New question of the week: What is your favorite type of exercise?

Mine used to be running, until my shins stopped me from enjoying that. I adore hiking, but I sure can't do that as "exercise" because, well, I do it about once a year. I like aerobics, but walking is my new favorite. I can do it with the kiddos (probably a little bit more of a workout because pushing the stroller up hills is some good cardiovascular work), I can do it without the kiddos (my favorite is at dusk with the iPod), and I ought to do it more often!

What about you?

The Potty Training Diarys

Well, as there are four of us currently going through potty training just now, I thought I would write about my own three year olds quirks. They are many and strange! As many of you already know, my Erica has ben able to control her pee for months now, but was fighting tooth and nail to keep from pooping on the pot. She would go as far as holding it in for HOURS while I stood over her, forcing her to sit, but the second I would let her up, she would go and find a corner to squat and mess her pants! Finally, Jeff and I went on ebay and searched for all Cinderella toys. We let her choose the one that she wanted the most (a baby Cinderella, soft plush doll) and ordered it. When it came, I stuck a pin in her skirt and hung her on the wall above the toilet and we told Erica that if she even wanted to touch the doll, she had to go poop in the potty. She was only able to hold out for about a day before she finally went in the potty and was given her doll! Erica slept with Cinderella that night. The next day she was back to putting on her own diaper and pooping in it and then coming with wipes to be cleaned. So I hung Cinderella back on the wall. Erica now knows that in order to keep Baby Ya-Ya she has to KEEP going in the potty. It only took her another day to earn her dolly back. Now, Erica comes to me, hands me the doll, makes me hang her on the wall, then Erica goes immidiatly on the potty and gets Cinderella back. I'm not sure why, but as long as there are no more messy diapers or underware, I am perfectly willing to hang Ya-Ya on the wall as many times as she wants!

Random

As I sit here in the mid-afternoon, the light is a funny color. Everything's sort of a yellowy-orange. It looks like there's a ton of smoke in the air, and sure enough, it seems a bunch of forest fires are (is a bunch "is" or "are"?) causing evacuations in Nephi Canyon, among other places (including our campground from the family reunion two weeks ago).

Gideon's rolling around on the floor, trying desperately to turn over so he can gnaw (or, more accurately, slobber) all over the foot of the armchair. His feet braces make it darn hard to roll over, though, so now he's devouring my pink-checked rattle doll. Or making that "bub-bub-bub" noise by running his fingers over his lips. Tomorrow is clinic, so it should be fun to show off how big he is...and find out how much longer he gets to wear the braces full time.

I'm amused that none of us have the same action hero. Family reunions could be really fun, with Samuel and I duking it out with broadswords, LaDale slinging webs around, and Jenafer sneaking out to practice her whip and saying "X never, ever marks the spot".

Me Too, Me Too, Me Too

nice of you to join us on this side Keryn. I have been in love with Ikea for almost two years now! I only mourn the fact that I don't need most of the fabulous space saving devices they have, but my kids will have totally tricked out dorm rooms!

ILUV IKEA

Oh, my, I am in love. And I don't think it is a light little crush, although only time will tell.

Emily and I went to IKEA today. What an amazing store! If you've been, you know what I'm talking about. If you haven't, there's just no way to describe it. It's just...well, you see a pretty, princess-fancy chandelier, with pretty crystals and shiny silver. You think, when I was little I would have died to have that in my room. And then you see the price-tag--$19.99. And you think, my little girl is SO having that lamp in a couple of years. Or kid-sized play tent, just right for playing in the backyard or the playroom, for $9.99. Or the most gorgeous entryway bench, with places to store shoes, mittens, etc., for $39.99...

And play places for the kids. A place to nurse your baby. Fresh-baked, delicious cinnamon rolls for $.99. A full plate of breakfast, with hashbrowns, scrambled eggs, french toast sticks, a four slices of bacon for $1.99. Displays. A map of the store with a place to write down what you want. Little golf pencils. Elevators.

I'll stop, but wow. Time to start saving my pennies, because I am going back. There's an entryway shelf that matches that bench, calling my name...

Re: Hero quiz

Which Action Hero Would You Be? v. 2.0
created with QuizFarm.com

You scored as Maximus,After his family was murdered by the evil emperor Commodus, the great Roman general Maximus went into hiding to avoid Commodus's assassins. He became a gladiator, hoping to dominate the colosseum in order to one day get the chance of killing Commodus. Maximus is valiant, courageous, and dedicated. He wants nothing more than the chance to avenge his family, but his temper often gets the better of him.

Which Action Hero Would You Be? v. 2.0
created with QuizFarm.com

There you go. Although the Scottish dude came in second, but nearly 30% behind this one. SKT

Superhero

You scored as THE AMAZING SPIDER-MAN!
After being bitten by a radioactive spider, Peter Parker was transformed from a nerdy high school student into New York's greatest hero. Peter enjoys the thrill of being a super hero, but he struggles with the burdens of leading a double life. He hopes someday to win the heart of his true love Mary Jane, the woman he's loved since before he even liked girls. Right now, he just wants to make it through college and pay his bills.


(Now is the moment to start singing that silly spidey song from the movie.)
And paying bills is important- even to super heroes.

hear is mine!

Which Action Hero Would You Be? v. 2.0
You scored as a Indiana Jones
Indiana Jones is an archaeologist/adventurer with an unquenchable love for danger and excitement. He travels the globe in search of historical relics. He loves travel, excitement, and a good archaeological discovery. He hates Nazis and snakes, perhaps to the same degree. He always brings along his trusty whip and fedora. He's tough, cool, and dedicated. He relies on both brains and brawn to get him out of trouble and into it.

Which Action Hero Would You Be?

You scored as a William Wallace.

The great Scottish warrior William Wallace led his people against their English oppressors in a campaign that won independence for Scotland and immortalized him in the hearts of his countrymen. With his warrior's heart, tactician's mind, and poet's soul, Wallace was a brilliant leader. He just wanted to live a simple life on his farm, but he gave it up to help his country in its time of need.

Cool! Aren't we related to him somehow, Mema?

What about you?

pictures

I have no idea who the girl is. I can't decide if it is Maggie and therefore a bad guy or Wayland Smith's wife- although looking young and single.

Also, Keryn, I want that picture of those beautiful kids asleep in their strollers.

Love you all!

I thought this would be fun

I don't know if you will enjoy this as much as I did but after getting prickly, I started to laugh. $72,000 is about twice as much as I will be making next year. Sigh. But then, how many teachers do you know that got into the profession for the money.


TEACHER'S OVERPAID

I’m fed up with these teachers and their hefty salary demands. What we need here is a little initiative! If I had my way, I’d pay these people myself and I’d pay them baby-sitting wages. That’s right. Instead of us all paying outrageous taxes, I’d give them $3 an hour out of me own pocket for each of my kids. I’d only pay them for 5 hours a day, too- none of these coffee breaks, “preparation time”, correcting papers, after-hours sports or meetings. That would be a straight $15 per day per kid. Each parent should pay $15 to these teachers to baby-sit their children. Even if they have more than one child, it’s still a lot cheaper than private day care.

Let’s see now- how many children do they teach each day? Maybe an average of 25-30 in a class. Let’s day 27. That’s $15 X 27= $405 per day.

Hmmmmmmmm- sounds high. Ah, but remember they only have kids there 180 days a year. I’m not about to pay them for all those vacations! So $450 X 180 days = $72,000 a year. (Wait a minute! I think my calculator needs new batteries.)

Now, I know you teachers say, “What about those who have ten years experience and a Master’s Degree? Well, maybe to be fair, they could get minimum wage instead of just baby-sitting they could read the kids a story once in a while. We can round that figure off to $5 an hour X 5 hours X 27 children…… that’s $675 a day X 180 days= $121,500 per year.


Hmmmmmmm…. Wait a minute! Let’s get a little perspective around here. We are paying these teachers much less than we pay our neighbor’s high school teenager for babysitting. I think we should keep quiet about this – don’t you?

Author Unknown.

Weeping Rock

Remember Weeping Rock in Zion National Park? I have very clear pictures in my mind of that hike, and of the numbers along the way that corresponded to short explanations in a little pamphlet you got at the trailhead. I remember the "grotto" type place at the end that dripped a lot...and felt really good on your hot neck.

Are we having fun yet?

"Hiking" in comfort

Cheesy grin and a darling boy

Somehow it doesn't surprise me that the trail is WAY shorter than I remember. Or that there aren't numbers anymore--they have plaques with color photos and explanations. And of course you can't drive in the canyon anymore--you have to park in the visitors center and take a shuttle bus to the trailheads.

No car seats here!

But that was fine with the kids. They probably loved the bus more than the hikes and rocks and water. And I'm okay with that. They had a good time, Bradley and I had a good time, and it was nice to do some awesome stuff with our kiddos.

What an exhausting "hike" that was!

Dark is Rising

Telima and I watched the trailer, and it does look exciting. Plus, it's by Walden Media, who did The Lion, The Witch, and the Wardrobe, so...

But who the heck's the girl?

Official Site

Here is the official site, if you haven't already found it. You can see the trailer there if you want.

The Dark is Rising

Um, Caren...

It looks like Caren has blood dripping down her shoulders. Nice look for her, I must say. (Sorry about the bad picture of you, Amy, but it was the only one with Caren's "bloody" shirt that I had!)

Telima the Pied Piper...

What exactly are you reading to them, Telima?

NOT funny, LaDale!

Now I'm dying of curiosity. I went to the movie trailers on my Mac and looked them over. Is it the one about Jane Austen? Is it the one called "Stardust"? The Stardust one looks magnificent--I'm excited to see it. But I sure don't know if I even saw what you are alluding to. Ack!

Harry Potter

I just got back from the Baker's. We went to see Harry Potter.
And that is all I will say on that point.


But halfway through one of the previews it suddenly hit me what I was watching. It looks pretty good.
I lent my books to the Bakers to read.
I hope they do a good job.
Did you see it, Jen and Mom?

Love you all,
LaDale

Pictures

It took me reading the title of the picture before I realized it was me in that photo.

I thought it was his mom.



Go TECHy" Keryn!!!

Loving his aunt

Oooookay

So apparently I should find a "tech" hobby. You know, like "building homemade liquid cooling systems for your computers" or coding a video game. Because that's exactly what I like to do. (Ha!)

Oh, well. Excuse me while I go "apply my technical skills to upgrading cars".

Hobbies

So, I found this on CNN the other day and took the quiz. I was unsurprised by the results although some of the questions I did not have a clue how to answer- #3 and #4 to name two. I just guessed, my answers not being available. Also for #7, I figured since I was already a teacher I had to choose something else. It said 'any other job'. Guess which answer I picked.

Unsurprisingly, they told me I should get a hobby doing something creative.

So what category of hobbies do you fall under?

Hobbies

The mysterious Madeleine Brent...

Is in reality...Peter O'Donnell, British writer of mysteries and comic strips. And he was born on Telima's birthday in 1920.

In 1969 Peter O´Donnel was asked if he could imagine writing a Gothic novel for Souvenir Press. He was not particularly enthusiastic about it, but let himself be persuaded to give it a try - under a female alias, though, because this kind of books was meant for a mainly female audience...His American publisher never learnt that Madeleine Brent was a nom de plume for more than twenty years and the correspondence invariably went to Dear Madeleine. To give his signature a more female touch Peter O´Donnell had his wife sign the answering letters.

From "Who is Madeleine Brent?"

So...does it bother you that a man wrote "Moonraker's Bride" or "Merlin's Keep"? When I first learned that fact (a million years ago, I can't remember how), it did bother me a little bit. But I really don't care anymore.

Any other shockers out there in the literary world?

King of Summer

Queen of Summer

Vanilla

All the way.

Vanilla with chocolate on top.

And if it was just the hallucination of an impressionable mind... so be it.

It was fun.

Still is.

Re: concert pianists

That is a fabulous picture! Those are some seriously handsome boys, I must say.

In other news, Ezra's been wearing underpants all day and we've only had one accident so far...cross your fingers!

Bonanza!

So it occurred to me when I was camping two weeks ago--Ponderosa Pines. What is up with them?

For those who didn't grow up Tobler, Ponderosas are the predominant pine tree in the mountains west of Las Vegas. And they smell good. Mema always told us the Ponderosa trees came in three different aromas: strawberry, chocolate, and vanilla. And we would smell all the trees around our campsite and decide what type each was. Even now, the Ponderosa is one of the few trees I can identify with no trouble whatsoever, and whenever I see one, I have to honestly restrain myself from sticking my nose into the bark and inhaling.

So...WITHOUT googling...tell me what you all think. Do Ponderosas legitimately smell like strawberry, chocolate, or vanilla? Or was it our imagination, with a good deal of suggestion?

Since pictures are being published I thought I would put on one I don't think I have before but that I love.

Future concert pianists!!!!

Aren't those boys cute?!?

This was taken at Heather's baptism.

Sleeping Beauties

All together now: Awwwwwwww!

BUMBO CHAIR!!

(To the tune of Go Diego's "To the Rescue" song)
Bumbo chair!
Sittin' in the bumbo! (Alrescata!)
Bumbo chair!
Sittin' in the bumbo!

Incidentally, Bradley and I decided that only the purple Bumbo chairs have teleport buttons and motors, because Gideon's blue one is distressingly stationary.

(And isn't that a nice picture of Mercy's bum in the background?)

Bumbo

Someone has WAY to much time on their hands!!!
http://video.yahoo.com/video/play?gid=406858&b=1&vid=392011&p=
and
http://video.yahoo.com/video/play?ei=UTF-8&p=&gid=406858&vid=543091&b=0

More Harry Potter

Bradley got this link in an email at work today--don't worry, no spoilers, just a place where all the stuff J.K. Rowling has said or hinted about book seven has been compiled.

I love you all!

Movie

Well, Mom, Jeff and I went and saw the new movie last night. We felt it was very well done. There were a few things we wish they would have included, but nothing that was important to the plot line, so we forgive them. There was even one thing that I felt the movie did better then the book. But that is ALL I will say. If you want to discuss further, you will have to call me! Love ya all!

Potter

Oh, and Keryn, you asked for the link that said that Dumbledore is really dead, here it is,
http://www.mugglenet.com/books/futurebooks/book7/rumors.shtml

RE: Harry Potter

I can't tell you how excited I am for the next two weeks in Harry Potter world! I know there are probably a lot of people out there who are more excited than me, but I'm waaaay excited. First of all, I wasn't expecting to be able to go see Harry Potter 5 for some time. Tyler and I just can't afford regular movies. But, Tyler's younger brother, Sean, and his best friend, Alex, are visiting us this week. Terese and Alex's mom both sent us $100 to help us entertain them, and they really want to see Harry Potter 5, so we're going! =) Yay!

As for the book, and predictions about Snape, I pretty much agree with everyone. I think that Snape will turn out to be a good guy after all (though a bad good guy, like Samuel said) and I think he will die proving it to Harry. I can't remember who I was talking to about this recently (I think Mom) but I'm pretty sure we're going to lose quite a few people before we're done with Book 7. The only ones I really, really want to make it to the end alive are Harry, Ron, Hermione, and Ginny. There are a lot of theories out there about who's going to die, and if she does it right, JKR could probably kill any one of them without ruining anything, but I really want those four to survive it all. Just my two cents. Love you all!

Time Travel

WOW. I am amazed. Keryn has already seen trailers for the 6th Harry Potter movie. Let me know how you did that and I think I might be able to help you market the product. ;-)

I also think Snape is good. I list him as a bad good guy. You know the type. Against the real bad guy but the hero never really likes him. Oh yeah. I also think he will die in order to prove that he is a good guy. But, it's been several weeks since I've seen the manuscript for book 7 and I forget. Oh well. Until next time. SKT

Harry Potter

This is going to be really quick because we're having a P'n'P kinda week at the Ross home (if I tell you that the kids have a stomach virus, you can use your imagination to figure out what I mean by "P'n'P"). Anyway, I think Snape is a good guy because Dumbledore trusted him, because what Jen says makes a lot of sense, because I like Alan Rickman, and because I think movie #6 portrays him as an exasperated, strict, but good teacher (I haven't seen the movie, but I have seen the trailers many, many times and therefore that makes me an expert). So I think that Snape is going to turn out okay in the end.

Anybody want to lay odds that he (Snape) dies in the end?

I really will tell you all about our fabulous camping trip/family reunion, but right now I have to go move the laundry along. Love you all!

Harry Potter #7

Well, Keryn and I were talking today and I promised that I would record my thoughts about Snape here. So here goes. I think that Snape will turn out to be a good guy in the end. I spent the last weekend rereading the series in preperation for the movie on Wednesday and the book in 12 days. I think that Snape doesn't LIKE Harry much and has transfered alot of his resentment toward James onto Harry. Snape would probably like to see Harry mess up for many reasons, but I think that the main one is that above all else, Snape is a teacher and he thinks that Harry is not living up to his potential. Of course, he is not going to help Harry AT ALL! But he would like to see Harry get as good as he can. I think that Snape knows that Harry is the only way any of them will ever get out from under Vodermort and so he doesn't want to see any harm come to him, because he really does want Harry to win. I felt alot of sympathy for Snape in rereading book 6. He was really stuck in a difficult spot because of the unbreakable vow that Malfoy's mother made him swear and his oaths to the Order of the Phoenix. In the end, when Harry and Dumbledore on the tower with Malfoy, Malfoy has started to lower his wand and change sides so that Dumbledore can protect him and his family. Really, Vodermort had a very powerful hold on Malfoy, he knew that Vodermort would kill him and his entier family if he even refused the mission assigned to him and, being a moderatly horrible person, couldn't figure a way out of it! Before Malfoy could change sides, however, the other Death Eaters broke through and were there, egging him on to kill Dumbledore, something he really didn't want to do. Snape burst into a rather delicate situation. I think that he could tell, just by looking at Dumbledore, that he had just injested a large amount of poisen and knew that he would never be able to get any antidote for him in time for it to do any good. Dumbledore was, in essance, doomed to a painful and horrible death, no matter what anyone did. Dumbledore was pleading with Snape, and I think he was pleading for a quick, painless death. Remember, when Harry and Dumbledore were coming back from finding the (fake) Horcrux, Dumbledore kept insisting that Snape was the only one who could help. And that was before they knew the Death Eaters were in Hogworts. Snape essentially looked and Dumbledore and knew that the only thing he could do, to save Malfoy, himself, and the Order's purpose, was to kill Dumbledore. I really think that in the end, he and Harry will come to an understanding, for Lily's sake. I belive that Snape really was very sorry for Lily's death. Not James' exactly, but Lily's. I don't know of course, but these are my predictions on Snape and Book 7.

Anagrams, pregnancy dreams, and sundry other items...

As you know, because Keryn told you all =), I misunderstood what we were supposed to do with the anagrams. I came up with one by myself, which actually, I ended up liking better than the one that the site gave. I'll give you one that site gave me and then one I made up myself and you can decide which one you like better.

For Telima Smith-
Website: I'm This Metal
Mine: Hi Time Malts

Now, I like mine better because I think it's definitely "hi-time" for malts! =) The other one just makes me seem very inanimate...a metal...yeah. So, I choose mine. But in case you're wondering, here's mine with Tobler in it, Tyler's full name, and Katy's full name:

Telima Tobler Smith - Hot Belittler Names (which I also prefer Hi Time Malts too)

Tyler James Smith - Jest Masterly Him (which I laughed at...)

Kathryn Elizabeth Smith - Breathily Thank Zest Him

So, there's our anagrams! =) Now, on to pregnancy dreams! I had this really strange dream the other day (which is no surprise, really, most of my dreams are really strange right now). Since it involved a lot of you, I thought I'd share.

I really don't know how we got to this point, but I know a bunch of really important, spy-like things were happening. (I've been reading Mrs. Polifax and watching the show Alias recently, so that would explain the spy-like atmosphere in my mind.) Suddenly, I was driving Samuel and Caren to the grocery store. It was the MOST important thing that was happening right then and we were running from a bunch of bad things in order to get there. When I looked back, I realized that what we were running from were different zoo animals, but the really scary ones to be running from, like lions and different predator-type animals. After we got away (because of my amazing driving skills), we decided to stop and eat lunch at a restaurant that I recommended. As we were eating, there was a sudden commotion in the next room and people start streaming past us. I asked someone what was wrong and they said the restaurant was being attacked by monkeys! You know, the kind that destroy everything, like in Jumanji. I looked through a window and saw that Keryn and LaDale had brought the monkeys that were attacking us and they were trying to get us to not go to the store. Samuel, Caren and I made it back out to the car and just as were about to drive away, Keryn and LaDale behind us, chasing us with the monkeys, I woke up. It was the strangest dream...and I thought you might appreciate it. =)

Anyway, in other items, women of the family, look for your copies of Katy's first birthday picture to come around the next time in the book, after I get it. Since I get it last, you'll have to wait for the second time it comes to you (oh! incentive to keep it going!). I'll put them in the little flap in the back. We're all doing very well, miss you all so much, and can't wait to see all of you again (which won't be for a while). I'm still working on that head shot for the picture, but I'll get it to you Keryn! Love you all!

calling all pictures

So, I have talked with a few of you about pictures of your family. I am looking for whatever you want to share. I tried to go onto the blog and download the pictures that have been posted there, but they do not come out very well. I would love to have you e-mail me any you would be willing to share. I have more of the kids than of the adults, so those would be even more welcome.

Thanks,
LaDale

re: Battlestar Galactica

I think the reference you were looking for is this one at Millennial Star.

No such luck

No, Jenafer, but thanks for asking. I have called and a technician is coming out tomorrow. It is possible that the t.v. just needs to be programed to accept the cable signal- silly- but as neither the lady I spoke to on the phone nor I have any idea how to do that- some person smarter than I in the ways of electronics is coming to my humble abode to fix my problem. I even read the manual from back to front (or at least the English part). SIGH!!

They don't tell you about all these little things when you buy a new television. (Little $$$ things that end up being much bigger $$$$$ things!!!)

Heat wave

Ya'all have fun there in Vegas. I'm headed for the mountains above Cedar City to escape the heat!

cable and junk

LaDale, did you get your cable working?
Keryn, I will post a picture for you by the begining of next week, sorry it's taken so long!

Yesterday

I am so proud of my oldest son! Saturday night, he taped a cartoon that he wanted to watch but didn't come on until after his bedtime. Sunday morning, he asked me if he could watch it. I asked if the cartoon was Sunday appropriate. He said that I hadn't addressed that because this cartoon doesn't come on usually on Sunday. I told him that I would leave that desision to him because he knew the cartoon and I was not that familiar with it. He was disappointed and begged a while for me to make the desision for him, but I wouldn't do it. I told him that he knew on his own what he should and should not do on Sunday and that he was old enough for me to trust him to make the right choice. To make a long story short, he watched his show this morning, not yesterday! I am very happy with him!

Battlestar Galactica

I think at least one of the writers for Battlestar Galactica was Mormon.
My arguments are as follows:

-They don't get married- they get sealed together forever.
-The ancient gods came from a planet called Kobol.
-They are descendants of the 12 tribes and are looking for the lost thirteenth written about in their scripture. (They actually use the word scripture not legend or folklore but scripture.)
-At one point, their leader (named Adama) says something along the lines of, "Didn't you know, the great gods of Kobol were once like us and we can become like them."
-They are always saying things like, "Go say your prayers," or "Pray for me," or "I'll pray for you". (Not that only Mormons pray, but I think you catch my drift.)

I looked up Battlestar Galactica online and read a bit about it in Wikipedia (not the most credible source, I know, but interesting). They had a section called Religious references. It only talked about how the twelve tribes were named for the astrological signs of the Greek zodiac and how several characters were named for Greek gods.

So, I could be wrong.

What do you think?