guppoo

This is Collin-Talk for thank you. He's starting to say a few things in between frustrated screams! This little kid could single-handedly drive me insane!! It's like he's equipped with his own torture tactics. The crazy thing is... he is still so incredibly adorable. I could love and snuggle this kid and smoosh his cheeks with kisses forever... as long as he's not screaming. He's also quite particular about certain things. Lately, it's been his animal towels.. doesn't matter if it's the piggy, the duck, the lion, or the ladybug. He loves them and wants them wrapped around him even after he's all dried and dressed and eating his breakfast.

He also cannot stand anything sticky on his hands, nor will he put up with any wayward piece of food that may have fallen off his fork and onto the ground. Screams. He has turned into a big boy and will not accept my helping hand when climbing into his carseat or even while crossing the street (too bad because he gets to hold it anyway). He looooves dinosaurs and animals and babies and jumping. He loves rough-housing (as my parents put it), and Matt is very happy to oblige. He gets a kick out of how tough our little guy is, especially compared to our girly girls.

Now here he is at the store with me.. don't contact the Wal-Mart cart-safety specialist (..Melissa...) because he's not properly buckled in the cart. I'm at least glad he's IN the cart. So I had my camera with me, and Collin pulled it out of my purse so I figured it must be a photo-op. I tried out a cool thing I learned in my photography class... one of the only things I can do on my ancient/crappy camera that I learned. It just ups the exposure to make the picture lighter when there's not enough light... pretty sure what I just said doesn't make sense to anyone but me, but oh well. Here's photo #1 with normal exposure:

Here's the one after I lightened it with two clicks of the exposure button:

Do you love how he's so happy in the second picture?? It just makes the difference between both pictures even more awesome!!

We just purchased 24 pounds of chicken from the sale at Albertsons... we're gonna can it tonight! Ya, that's right. I'm getting domestic (with the enormous help of my awesome, multi-talented, and obsessed-with-food-storage husband).

So the Arctic Circle here in town got a clue and opened up a new playland for the poor kids of Rexburg who have absolutely nowhere to play besides the nasty Mickey-D's. We've been so excited about it that we might just visit weekly. I'm finding that I really like routines so an Arctic Circle Day might just work out well for us. (The gas-station where I purchase my daily Diet DP is giving me a free T-Shirt... stay tuned for a pic. I have the sneaky feeling that they don't hand out free t-shirts to just anyone. I might actually know these people a little too well. Or maybe it's just my shining pesonality? Maybe they're thinking free advertising... don't know. All I know is.. free t-shirt!!) Anyway, here's the big question for the day: Why do my kids feel the need to lick the side of a public playground??

Gross. It wasn't Jenna this time.. it was Collin. This picture is Jenna just illustrating why in the world I would object to my son licking this exact spot just minutes before. How many other children have shoved their noses into this? How many of them have licked it? Really? And I did not stage this picture.. just had my camera ready because I knew it was coming.. I just had to be patient.

Moving on. So here's one of Jonny's talents (Matt's little brother).. finding the joy in anything unexpected or bizarre.

He just bought some stilts. (I think they're for reaching those hard to reach places to paint??) Ya, we were all pretty impressed.

I was also impressed with this:This is my brother Jake at the MTC (my dad's a Branch President there so we got to go to Sacrament Mtg. there a couple weeks ago). This cart looked too inviting with its spotless, gleaming, white exterior and ultra smooth leather interior. I'm sure this cart is meant for someone truly important... so Jake decided to hop in! I love carrying my camera in my purse... never know when I'm gonna need it!! No, my dad doesn't know about it...

AND, here's the car-hottub. Not ours.. Jonny's. No, we don't have one. No, I don't want one, unless it's a convertible that I can take the top off of... and then what would be the point?

Complete with pink-flamingo lights and everything. You'll have to scroll down a few posts if you don't know what I'm talking about. Yes, I did get in. No, not for long. Yes, it gets steamy in there so you have to roll down a window. No, it doesn't get steamy in there for any reason other than that it's a hottub. I put that part in for a few of you who seem to get a little carried away at times while reading blogs late at night instead of WORKING.