Family pictures

On Saturday, we went to my parents' house to have pictures taken. My sister and her family are visiting from Colorado, and it had been a while since our last family picture. After fretting about a photographer, Marissa, (who Tacy and I went to high school with) came and took some good pictures. Here is our official family portrait:
Marissa commented that my dad looks like he is comfortably hovering. I noticed who barely got off the ground. Tacy claims she has "bad jump timing." Yeah Tacy, I believe that. I'm also surprised that I look to have jumped as high as anyone, since all of my younger siblings have played volleyball in high school, and some played tennis. Granted, it's a jump for a picture, and Matt and Chris were wearing matching sandals, but still. For reference, we're lined up oldest to youngest.

Ok, fine, it's not really our official family portrait, and I haven't even seen the pictures Marissa took, with this exception. Here's the link to the Facebook album [link disabled, email me to see them] I made of the pictures I took.

Also, one note on graduation. My little sister's high school graduation is today. She thinks she'll be a CHS alumni. Of course, she'll be an alumna. As a Latin-based word, all forms are present in English, so alumna is correct, even in English, and alumni is only correct for more than one male graduate, or a group of male and female graduates. You know those license plate holders that say, for example, UNLV alumni? I could never get one of those, because I'm only one graduate, but I would buy a UNLV alumnus license plate holder in a heartbeat. I've often considered ordering a BYU alumni license plate holder, because that would actually be accurate, as Kelsea and I both graduated from BYU.

Yard

First of all, this is our garden:
There's no way to get a good picture of it in good light, but we have tomato plants, pepper plants, basil, carrots, peas, watermelon, pumpkin, zucchini, and cucumbers. We've already eaten some tomatoes, peas, and a tiny carrot. Zucchini aren't far away, and the rest are all looking promising. I like the size of our garden: it's very manageable, but big enough to give us some good veggies. Holly and Mia have been loving the peas.

Now here are some pictures of the little front yard section that is done.
It's your basic desert landscaping, low water usage, high shade plan. It'll take a few years to get the shade tree to do its job, but the girls enjoy the retaining wall as a little bench. Mia liked the fire hydrant, too. I think they were excited to realize we have a fire hydrant in our yard.

And of course, Jay. These glasses aren't really his color, but he still looks cool. He even seemed to enjoy them. He wasn't crying, at least.
Also, we're going to get rid of that shed, and park there. Anyone think we could move that thing (and give it to someone else), or would I have to disassemble it? Anyone want it?

preview

I haven't blogged in a while, so I feel like it's time for an update. I took some pictures of the yard the other day so that a blog update would be easy. And of course the girls followed me outside and wanted to be where the action was, so there are new pictures of them too. They'll be in the next post. Right now, just know that we are doing well, and our yard is seeing progress.

Also, I ate some tomatoes from our garden, and they were delicious.

Google Earth is getting better (or, Italian graffiti is long-lived)

That's me, in 2000, probably April or May of 2000, indicating that the Book of Mormon is for you.

I recently discovered that Google Earth has been expanding its global reach. To see something very interesting, copy the following address: 4 Via Magenta, Novara, Piedmont, Italy.
Enter that address into the search bar of google maps, then click street view and face west.

Or, try this link, zoom in close, then drag the little yellow man to see the street view at 4 Via Magenta, and look west. I was amazed.

If you're lazy, or can't quite get to the right spot, I'll just tell you that the graffiti is still there. I always wondered about that, but this is the only picture I could find that let me verify the status of any particular tag. I'll keep looking though.

Also, looking south down Via Magenta, you'll see the setting of this somewhat more dignified picture of me as a missionary.

Dietary concerns

Holly has been asking me whether certain foods are healthy, sometimes she asks whether something is good for you, and other times she asks whether something is good. She learned about smoking and coffee being bad for you in church a couple weeks ago.

So this morning, I was eating cereal with Holly and Mia, and Holly starts talking about hot dogs. She was trying to convince me they were good, and good for her. I always hesitate to say hot dogs are good for you, but I usually do, just to avoid the confusion, and so I don't eliminate one of the few meals she will eat.

Mia decided to be obstinate, however, and insisted hot dogs were bad for you, as well as bad. They argued for a minute, and I said, no, Mia, hot dogs are good. Holly said hot dogs are good, coffee is bad. Then she said, what about coffee in cereal? I told her that would be bad, too. So then she asked if hot dogs would be good in cereal. I can't remember the way she said it, but it made me think of pork and beans, and I pictured cutting up hot dogs to put in her cereal. I had to try hard not to laugh. I told her, no, that probably wouldn't taste very good. She said why? I almost laughed again at the hilarity of having to explain why hot dogs wouldn't taste good in cereal. But I just said that hot dogs taste better on buns, with ketchup. She accepted that answer.

Also, a random video, taken after we got back from the County Fair, I think.