Answers

Remember the questions?
Here are the answers.
Re How well do you know your Dad?

1. Where did your dad meet your mom?
ASU Institute dance

2. What is the first movie they watched together?
Grand Prix

3. Where did your dad propose to your mom?
Pioneer Park, on a bench on the West side of the park

4. What sport did your dad play in high school?
Track and Field and Cross country

5. What was your dads favorite subject in school?
Geometry

6. What is your dad's favorite thing to do on his day off?
Hang out with Mom

7. What is your dad's favorite thing to do with his kids?
Have deep philosophical discussions. Read stories.

8. Where is his favorite place to go for vacation?
London

9. What is his favorite restaurant?
Rosa's

10. What is his favorite homemade dish?
Scalloped potatos

11. What is his favorite type of music?
Broadway

12. What is his favorite movie?
Was: Joe vs the volcano. Now: Return to Me.

Russ

Well, Russ is a lot like Jeff. Not a blogger. And he never has a straight answer for me so these are my observations of his observations. Get it.

The cookie jar. Mom used to be less busy :)- and always had cookies in the cookie jar when we first got married. Whenever we go over there, he still looks even after years of it being empty. It cracks me up. Who has time to keep cookies in the cookie jar? I don't. Maybe that's why he's always looking at mom's. :)

Cinnamon rolls on rainy days. I don't know how he became so familiar with this tradition but whenever it rains he asks me if mom made cinnamon rolls. Of course I never know because I never remember that rainy days = cinnamon rolls. He remembers.

Maybe one last thing. The boys' presents at Christmas time. He loves that. Who doesn't?

I guess it's our family traditions that make us memorable.

Aunt Melissa

We have a little tradition going on when the girls visit Melissa and family each summer. Melissa defies the laws of nature and "does" their hair in intricate braids.

It is one of the highlights of their visits. It is also one of the ways members of our ward mark the arrival of summer because when the girls get back from AZ they see how long they can make the hairdo last so everyone has a chance to see it. Many friends, upon seeing the hair, just say "oh looks like you were in Arizona".

We just took out Paige's hair last night. She lasted a week. And it still looked good!!

Going Under

Zachary was baptized on Saturday. It was a very hot day (around 110). I think we were all jealous that he got to go under the water (a few times) and we all just watched! It was a wonderful day!

We had a pizza party afterwards and cousins and friends played while the big kids sat around and chatted the afternoon away (eating Rice Krispie treats) - what better way to spend an afternoon when it's 110+ outside!

Thump in the Night

Have you ever heard anything go THUMP in the night?

Last night we did.

We were all sitting upstairs talking. It was about 11:00 PM. All the windows are open to enjoy the night air. Suddenly, we hear the sound of a large plastic container being tumbled around.

Now a couple of weeks ago our trash can was turned over and the trash was strewn about. I thought it was either a dog or raccoons. It wasn't a big mess so I din't think much of it.

This time I was going to catch them in the act. I ran down stairs and opened up the garage door. I grabbed a flashlight (the batteries were kinda dead so it didn't work too well) and looked around the corner were the trash can was located. I couldn't see much, but as I staired into the darkenss by the side of the house, this is what I saw.

(scroll down )

This is kind of what it looked like but it was darker

American Brown Bear

This is what he was doing

I quickly ran back into the house, grabbed my 10mm pistol and ran to the back door. I fired one shot into the ground and came back into the house. My sister-in-law said she saw it take off like a spooked horse into the darkness.

I wasn't sure if I could legally shoot it so we still don't have a bear rug in front of the fireplace.

I love living in the mountains!

Happy #20!

Is everyone ready for #21? Looks like January...

Luke Joseph Thomas

Well, Luke decided to come a little early. We were not ready! April was 36 weeks and 4 days. The doctors did not want him to come until the 26th, after she hit her 37th week. Everything worked out OK though. He had a little problem breathing for a few minutes but it went away. They did monitor his oxygen levels for the next several hours and then unhooked him and gave him back to us.

I want to take you back to the 20th. I have been working on the landscaping at our house. The HOA says that our house is too tall and they want me to put dirt around the foundation to raise it up 4 feet. To do that I have to build a rock retaining wall.


For $10 you can go into the forest and get all the "malapi" rock you want. We had been getting rock for several days and we probably only need one more load. Wednsday morning around 9:30am while loading rock into the trailer I was throwing a good sized rock in shotput style when "crack". A sharp pain between my shoulder blades. It is annoying and hurts at times but I'm ok. We finnish loading rock and come home. On the way I call the chiropractor and set up an appointment for 2pm. The doctor cracks me back into place and WOW! The pain really starts. I can hardly move. He says its my muscles that were strained by my back being out of wack.

So I go home and try to lay down. April gets back from $hopping and abruptly stops and says OUCH! She needs to lay down too. For 3 hours she lays in bed having contractions. We call the doctor and she says to drink lots of water and to relax. Nothing is helping. I start freaking out because I can hardly move. I find 2 leftover vicadin pills from my broken ribs and pop them down. Then I jump into the tub and turn the water on as hot as I can stand it. The whole time I am praying that I can recover enough to get April to the hospital. It works and I am feeling better.

Long story short, "Frankenstein" and his bride make it to the hospital and Luke is born.

He is born at 6:30 am on the 21st and weighs 7lbs 11ozs and is 21 inches long.

10 Years Old

Around our house you only get a birthday party with friends every other year. On those off years the kids get a family party and then they get a date with Mom and Dad.

Paige's restaurant choice this year was Islands. She loved the beach decor. Then we went and saw the movie Surf's Up, which I highly recommend. We loved it. The baby penguins in the movie are great.

We got a kick out of Paige as she giggled and chatted all night long just like a 10 year old. As we sat down to dinner we had to wait while she finished all the games on the kid's menu.

But she is also getting older. She saved her money over the past year and bought herself an iPod with all her own money on her birthday. Heaven help us. At least right now she mostly has show tunes.

Let's hope she doesn't go through some heavy metal phase like I did.

What I know about dad

As I was sitting in primary today, the teacher passed around a paper of questions for the kids to answer about their dads. She also handed me one.

I started trying to answer them about dad. I was surprised how many I didn't know.

Take a shot at the questions and see how much you know.

Post your answers and then share your favorite memory of dad.

How well do you know your Dad?

1. Where did your dad meet your mom?

2. What is the first movie they watched together?

3. Where did your dad propose to your mom?

4. What sport did your dad play in high school?

5. What was your dads favorite subject in school?

6. What is your dad's favorite thing to do on his day off?

7. What is your dad's favorite thing to do with his kids?

8. Where is his favorite place to go for vacation?

9. What is his favorite restaurant?

10. What is his favorite homemade dish?

11. What is his favorite type of music?

12. What is his favorite movie?

Whose Feet?

OK, whose feet are they? Any guesses??????

Big 8

We celebrated Zachary's 8th birthday last night (after 8) due to the busy day! He didn't mind though. Grandma and Grandpa Thomas came over for a late dinner and Melanie came too.







A package from the grandparents in Nebraska came earlier that day, so they had a good time opening that and reading the comics.

(Grandma Stara always wraps her packages in the comics.
Double bonus = presents + fun reading!)

For the past year Zachary has been riding Ben's bike all that he can - for he thought that his bike was too small. So, whenever Ben wasn't riding his bike, Zach was on it! Guess what Zach got for a b-day present this year?

That makes about nine bikes in our garage now (plus all those Razor scooters that don't have kickstands - so they lay all over the garage)... we need a BIGGER garage! AUGH!

Guess Who?

I was looking at some old pictures & found these two cuties - can anyone guess who they are?

June Birthdays

≈
Since we aren't to particular about celebrating the birthday on the actual day, we waited until this weekend for Garrett, June 2, and Paige, June 11, and Karl Watkins. Three for one.

Garrett had a party with Friends, but this was Paige's off year so she only gets a family party and a date with Mom and Dad.

Garrett decided he wanted a gymnastics party, well really he just wanted to jump into the foam pit. So we obliged.



Then Mom and Dad came over last minute.
(the rumor is true they put me in the bishopric. Heaven help our ward)

So Sunday we ate (Rib eye Steaks and BBQ Shrimp)



All three blew out candles on their birthday cupcakes at the same time.



And finally the kids got to open some presents.



Dad and Garrett figured out paper airplanes and Paige and Mom chatted.



And when Mindy got on the trampoline, which is not often, the whole family had to pile on.



A busy weekend but just one more week of school and summer starts. In fact Paige and Kate are flying to AZ on Friday morning to hang out with Sam and Alison.

Havasupi

I need to get my blog up and running again, but in the meantime, I thought I would tell you what we did this weekend!

Jeff and I, and 6 other couples, backpacked to Havasupi in the Grand Canyon. We stayed for 3 nights and then packed out. It was amazing!

I felt like I was on Goonies - exploring caves and waterfalls. It was so much fun, and a great workout. 10 miles in and 10 miles back out. (Some of my friends rode a horse out and 2 took the helicopter - cheaters!)

Thanks for babysitting Melanie - the kids loved you - and your chicken casadillas!

Sedona Style

This past weekend we took a quick trip up to Sedona with Alice & Jay Dewitt (Glenn's cousin). It was just WONDERFUL to escape the 103+ temps this weekend - it was around 85 in Sedona, but so much cooler in the evenings (55+)!

But... Before we could "hit the road" and get out of Mesa, Emma and I took a quick trip to the Urgent Care Center. As I was talking to Alice and getting directions, Emma was in the pantry trying to get the "fishy crackers!" She climbed onto the shelving (the first step) and with her hands grabbed an upper shelf with the crackers. The shelf slid out, took her to the ground and put a gash across the bridge of her nose! The gash is about 1/2 inch long and the blood began to flow.



I picked her up and applied pressure and told Nick and Chris to get into the van. I put Emma in her carseat and Nicholas took hold of the papertowel and we flew over to Gilbert & Brown (nice and close). They got us right in and within an hour we were walking out with two stitches and a band-aid. The stitches will come out on Wednesday. She's a trooper! (Glenn was out and about with Ben and Zach running a few errands. They met us at the UCC.)

We got home, continued packing the truck and took off. Where do we begin... we all had a GREAT time...

SLIDING AT SLIDE ROCK - the water was cool but it did not stop us!

(Glenn, Collin, Zach, Emma, Ben, Chris & Nick)

SWIMMING & HIKING - All that the boys wanted to do was go hiking and go swimming in the lake - they did not have much desire to do the zip line or play ping pong. Boys loves to hike by the stream and that's that!

ZIP LINE - This is always a treat, as long as Glenn and Jay can get the rope high enough!



BIKING - We haven't biked down in Mesa for the past few months. It's just been way to hot! So, it was GREAT to get the bikes out and go for a ride.



PING-PONG and SWINGING - just being together was fun for EVERYONE!




(Chris, Jack, Emma Lee & Mary)

If I could have taken just ONE MORE PICTURE, it would have been of Christopher. Screaming Bloody Murder! This is our only child that is TOTALLY TERRIFIED of any type of insect. The Great Outdoors - you said it - it's packed with insects!

Poor Christopher, even sitting on the toilet he was scanning the walls, watching for any movement of moths, daddy long-legs, beetles, bugs. Screaming at ANYTHING that moved! And at night, terrible dreams of bugs in his bed... on and on and on I could go with this one! :)