Wyoming Home Show

Enjoying the beautiful weather!

Not surprised at all to see these at the show - just that they were so clean.

The coveted Lollipop: She'll take one lick and put it on her plate - she's determined to make it last until next year!

Emmett found the lollipop and quickly licked it to death while she was taking a nap!

Snow Day

We had about 5 inches this morning with another 6 inches coming through tomorrow morning. The kids were SO cute today. Emmett sat motionless in the snow for about 10 minutes before deciding that the snow wasn't toxic waste. Zoë was helping Emmett realize the snow wasn't scary - after she planted a snow ball squarely on his face.

Emmett's 1st Birthday

We had such a great time for Emmett's birthday. My parents, sister, cousin, aunts and uncle came down and Alex's family came down as well (it was during General Conference). My awesome Aunt Vickie had us stay at her house and we had tons of food, candy...and more food. My uncle Rod even filled a bazillion easter eggs for the easter egg hunt.

The General

The food

The cake:

Are you sure this is edible?

Doesn't Like it

Loves it

Any more??

The Loot

What was actually incredible is that he got on it the correct way you get on a horse! The first time! That's my boy.

The fun just doesn't stop

We were looking for houses in the area - and let me tell you - some were REALLY interesting. Maybe I'm the one with the weird taste?

This little fella is called a weeping boy or something similar to that.

I guess it's the hip thing to have around here - seriously.

This fabulous carpet looked like a dog house had been placed in the middle of the room and the dog just did laps, peeing and drooling his way along. Sick.

The owners wanted the decadence without the price...so they put up PINK columns with fiberglass/foam stuff. This house was built in the late 90s!

This beautiful chandelier was probably won at church bingo night.
Those are horns by the way.

The owner finished off his own basement...I guess the electrical was a small oversight when he put the walls up.

The railing in this loft is about 3 ft tall. I wouldn't even walk over there for fear I would trip and knock myself over.

This picture is not deceptive.

The basement actually dipped significantly downward on the right.

When the kids get sick in cold/horribly windy Wyoming, this is about as fun as it gets: (it's flour by the way)

Rats

We've been so busy, I almost forgot to post about "the rodent." It has been a few months now that Anna's vehicle has been making the most awful sound when you turn the fan on - sounding like something is stuck in the fan. We finally took it into the Honda dealership to have them scope things out thinking we'd be in and out. What they found was the remains of an "unusually large rodent" and his nest. The strange thing being there was never any smell (thankfully). Oh, and thanks for nothing scrappy - the dumb thing was so big it broke half of the components in the system and cost us almost $500!

Stimulus or ....?

You know what bugs me? Hearing about the stimulus plan and never seeing the actual breakdown of where our money is going. What also bothers me is that there are so many fluff items on the plan. I'm sure that an average educated American could cut an easy $200 billion from the budget with a quick glance.

Check out this website - it's a great overview of the "stimulus plan".
http://big.assets.huffingtonpost.com/appropssummary.pdf

One thing that caught our eye is that we are giving $650 Million in DTV coupons - ummm....that's not helping the economy. Those converters' prices were jacked up by the guys who make them - so that $650 million is going to one company - one guy - one pocket. And I don't like paying $650 Million so people can watch more TV. Get off your couch and go to work.
On the flip side - they are giving $360 Million to new Child Development Centers. With the rate of children with Autism rising the "stimulus plan" gives twice as much to the TVs.

$1.15 Billion is given to border patrol. That's for everything from security, to buildings, to scanning items for weapons. $3.1 Billion is going to Lands and Parks. Really?? Our most vulnerable area of our country - the ports and border - is given a 3rd of the amount that our parks are given? Wow.

What do you think? Even if you are an Obama lover - how well do you think the stimulus package will work?

Anniversary

After 2 kids and 6 houses later Alex deserves a lot of anecdotes of love and appreciation. And even though I know he REALLY wants me to write a mushy love letter to him on my blog - I'll surprise him and just tell him Happy Anniversary.