Survivor Premiere

Ok all you Survivor Fans .... did you watch last night? Did you love seeing all those great photo's from Africa? I was so excited that it was two hours and two tribal councils! I would say this along with American Idol are two of my favorite shows to watch all year.

My current favorite is Bob ... the oldest man on the tribe that has been winning the challenges. In the photo above he is far right in a bow tie. (And I'm not picking him because of the bow tie - although Mark and I did note it last night) Of course every year they find beautiful women, handsome men, a gay guy, an athlete, a doctor and then of course some "older" contestants. We'll see how this plays out but, I'm holding strong for Bob right now.

Just admit it ... deep down you know you want to be a cool Survivor fan! Come join the club!

First Poison Scare ...

Last night Mark and I were out spraying our azalea's with a bug killer. According to one of our neighbors who has the same problem, mites have moved in - well at least to our azaleas! They have turned a light green color and on the underside of the leaves we have little brown spots. So, I found the bug killer spray that you just hook up to your hose and spray away. Do it twice within 14 days and hopefully next spring we still have beautiful azaleas.

Mark had to leave for an Elders Quorum meeting and so I finished up the side and front plants. Of course my number one helper was right there the whole time. I was so careful to keep the bottle away from him and up high enough that he could not reach. Safe, right?

Well, we wind up the hose in the front and then we go around back where the hose was completely pulled out. As I am winding up the hose, Max was around the corner supposedly pulling the hose from the garden so that we do not "hose destroy" are fragile, mite ridden azaleas! I'm calling for him, no answer so I go around the corner to see what is going on. What did I find? Max with the hose end that was recently attached to the bug killer where? Well, of course his mouth! Immediately I scream NOO NOOO NOOOOO! What are you doing? NOOOOO ..... I scoop him up, run him into the house - bumping his head along the way on the edge of the door (yes I panicked) now he is crying and saying, "Mom are you sad?" I get some water in a cup and I am now telling him to rinse and spit - like brushing your teeth! Do NOT swallow!??!! A concept that Max is still learning. I'm afraid that this is not working, so I grab papertowels put them under water and now I am swabbing out his mouth? Have not one clue if this is even right. All the while I am looking at the bottle for "In case this is bug killer is put in your 2 year olds mouth .... do this....!" After a few minutes of extreme panic, I decided not to call Mark, Max is still breathing, not swelling up, not throwing up and now calming down from the bump on his head. I think I must of asked him 50 times before he fell asleep last night, are you feeling ok? The whole I night I kept thinking, should I be taking him in to the emergency room?

Ughh ... what a crazy night. Thankfully, he is fine and I did tell Mark when he got home from his meeting. Max was up and playing in no time but, literally, just when you think you are being safe Max seems to remind me that there is always something to worry about!

Other than, this little scare .... I've been working quite a bit and helping out with upcoming RS Super Saturday. When I have the energy and time, I do enjoy making things from scratch.

Today, I helped provide some food for a funeral in our ward. I was so excited to make the famous green bean caserole with french onions as I made them with my very own canned green beans! I felt very smart that I had learned to can beans this summer and have them available at a moments notice! Everyone should experience some sort of canning in their life. You really can be prepared if you are willing to learn and make a little investment! To date, I have canned tomatoes, green beans, salsa and peaches. My tomatoes are still coming on and I even did more this week.

This weekend is our wards annual chili cookoff .... Mark's FAVORITE activity of the whole year! He is looking to take back his title of "Hotest Chili" with his habanero peppers!

I'll be sure to update this weekend!

Cousin Kiley's Visit Update

Today I took the disk I had in my camera when it died to Costco to see if I could get any pictures off of it. And, happily I was able to get 30 pictures. Hooray! Here are some of the highlights of our days in DC.



Kiley waiting in line for our tickets to the capitol. We had to wait about 90 minutes for them. But luckily Kiley had her phone to text her friends with and her ipod to keep her spirits up!

Max waiting patiently and eating teddy grahams.

Washington Capitol Summer 2008

View from Capitol - Our house is 85 miles West - do you see it in the horizon?

Hooray - no more waiting in line!

The Rotunda's ceiling inside the Capitol.

Max wondering ... how much longer in the heat?

Max giving up a final scream, Kiley enduring to the end. I liked this shot because of the flag in the background. At this point, I had to leave the tour and Kiley finished on her own. We had to park on a meter when we were waiting for our tickets and I was sure that we would be ticketed and towed if I was not back within the 3 hour limit. Kiley kept saying to me, I'm sure it will be ok we'll only be 15 minutes late. But, I decided that I knew the DC Metro better than she and decided to make a run for it. Afterall, who wants to be stuck in DC with no car, a 2 year old who had to throw away all his snacks and water prior to entering the Capitol and who had to wake up at 5:30 am in order for us to get downtown to stand in line along with a niece who would not have enjoyed going to find the blackhole in DC where cars are towed to? Luckily, I made it back to the car to put more money in the meter, find a bathroom for both Max & I and purchase a much needed Diet Coke for myself and juice for the kids.

This same day, after recovering from my 2 mile jog back to the car with Max and the stroller(which produced blisters even with sneakers on) we were able to see The Holocaust Museum and the Jefferson Memorial. We ended up putting the car in a garage and we walked and walked and walked ... but it was all worth it! Kiley enjoyed seeing the sights and hopefully she'll come visit us again soon!

Dad's Little Helper

Summer 2008 Winchester, Virginia

Whenever Mark is going to cut the lawn ... Max no doubt wants to help. Hopefully, he will still want to help in about 10 years!

Here are some photo's of our lawn getting cut and Max being dad's big helper! Mark keeps our lawn perfectly manicured each week. Our property line is to the fence. We are hoping the owner of the 5.8 acres and motorhome behind the fence does not sell anytime soon!

Backyard toward Frank & Sharon Wrights property. Our property line goes to where the grass goes a shade lighter!

Our New Movie Watcher

Max has never been a tv watcher or a movie watcher until.... this past week. Mark bought him Walt Disney's move "The Nightmare Before Christmas" by Tim Burton. Max watched the movie with some interest the first time but, still managed to play with toys or books. BUT, he has become so addicted to this movie, it is hardly all he talks about. He wakes up in the morning and asks first thing, "Can we watch my new movie?" He's not even out of bed when he is asking? "After my nap, can I watch my new movie?" With the exception of yesterday, he has watched this movie at least 3 times each day! It truly amazes me! On one hand, we do not want him to become a movie junkie but, I will admit I certainly can get quite a bit done while he sits in his little chair and stares at the movie! "Jack Skellington, the "Pumpkin King of Halloween Town" sure does keep our 2 1/2 year old entertained for a little over an hour!

Saturday Night Live Video Clips

http://www.nbc.com/Saturday_Night_Live/video/clips/palin-hillary-open/656281/

If you have not seen the clip from last Saturday Night Live's Palin / Hillary discussion ... click on the link above! It will be the best 5 minutes you have today for laughs.

PS - It takes a minute to load and you may see one commercial.

In Come the Spiders!

Yesterday morning I was working here at the computer and of course Max is crawling all over me, the chair, the desk, etc. The next thing he says to me, "Are we going to get the big big spider?" Of course this gets my attention. So I said, "what spider?" Less than a foot from my feet and my chair sits a big old juicy nasty looking spider! Yuck! So, I tell Max "don't move!" I'm going to get a book to kill it with. Of course, after I kill it and remove it ... I then have to go find the Resolve for the carpet. Yuck... I hate spiders. Then we hear a cricket just chirping away. Max says, "what's that sound mommy?" So, then we end up pulling the couch and chairs away from the wall, kill the cricket, vacuum up more whispy little spiders along with chips and crumbs from who knows what ... and we hope we got them at least for this week! I am completely amazed at how many spiders turn up each spring and fall. While fall is really my favorite time of the year, I do not care for the little creatures that decide to join our family each year. Thankfully most of them can get vacuumed up quite easily!!